The new normal

 Yesterday I talked about the many food allergies and intolerances we have recently had to deal with.  I have to be honest. Before our journey with these issues began I was one of those parents who got annoyed with other kids food allergies. I had very little understanding or respect for just what those kids and their parents were dealing with. I could only think of how it affected me and my children. I never gave any thought to how much those other parents must worry. I never thought about how hard the simple things like family get togethers could be for someone with an allergy to wheat, gluten or dairy.

  One thing that was frustrating for me is the nut allergy issue. I think it's a bit different in the states, but here in Canada all schools have banned peanuts. Our local school has banned all nuts and strawberries. This can make it difficult to pack a healthy, well rounded, simple vegan lunch. Some days I just want to be able to do a good old peanut butter sandwich for Jacob. However, I cannot.

  I have slowly come to terms with not being able so send nut products. It does make baking a little harder. I would normally send homemade granola bars with almond butter or peanut butter in them. Many of my healthy muffins call for nuts. It is what it is though and I have had to make the necessary adjustments to recipes when I plan on sending them to school with Jacob or preschool with Lucy. Yes even preschool has nut bans here!

  One of the things that makes me a little upset is that schools have gone so far to accommodate certain allergy issues but not others. I understand they ban items that cause anaphylactic reactions, which makes sense as much as I hate it admit that when I'm having a stubborn redheaded moment. I am talking more about what they offer at the school cafeteria. I would like to see the cafeteria be a little bit more sensitive to those with dairy issues. The only thing my son can buy as a vegan is French fries. You guessed it, he doesn't buy often!

  I'm not suggesting I want him to purchase his school lunch all the time. I like packing it at home so I know what he is eating. Lets be honest though, kids like to be included in all aspects of "normal" school life. When he sees his friends buying lunch he would like to buy lunch too. They have a "healthy" meal option each day, which always includes meat and dairy. They offer pizza almost daily and fries. Generally a meat sub (as in sandwich) or something similar as well.  As you can see, not vegan friendly. My children are not the only non meat eaters or kids with dairy issues at the school, although I admit the numbers are very low. Rural Canada doesn't produce many vegetarian/vegan kids.

  Is it too much for a mother to ask to see some salad on the menu? Maybe a veggie stir-fry? How about a veggie burger? I could even deal with that. Every time I have tried to find the right person to talk to about this issue I hit a brick wall. I guess our cafeteria is run by an outside party. They are separate from the school. This has proven to make contact with the head person difficult.

  I want to take a time out for one minute to say that our school does amazing at trying to encourage kids to eat healthy, as in fruits and veggies. They also have this amazing program called paw fit, in which the kids run or walk laps around our new track every morning! In an age where gym classes are being cut at many schools I appreciate our school working hard to add physical activity instead of cutting it out. They also offer a breakfast program for all the kids every morning. They do a lot of positive.

  Back to my point. Now that my kids have allergies we have to deal with I better understand what these other parents go through. It is really hard to monitor everything that goes in the kids mouths everyday. It is hard when they are at friends houses or visiting family. Thankfully none of their allergies are life threatening. We have been very blessed in that way.

  Eating out is not something we do often as a family. It tends to be something that Trev and I do for a date. The kids get restless in restaurants and it ends up being more stress then it's worth. The few times we have taken them out since going vegan, we have been able to find items for them to eat without much trouble. Sometimes a little imagination has been needed, but we have managed just fine. Eating out with a wheat intolerance? Well that's a whole different story!

  Last Sunday Trevor and I attempted to go on a date. Our usual date as I mentioned before would be a nice dinner out. The problem? Every vegan option I would normally go for at the "sit down" restaurants contains wheat! Pasta is our usual go to. We like to go to East Side and enjoy pasta, salad and bread. Obviously that was out. Any place where I could get a veggie stir fry was a big temptation for Trev in the meat department. We didn't want fries. So we ended up going to Thai takeout. Not the healthiest, but it's what we could find! I guess I'll be a cheep date from now on since I'll be sticking to salads when eating out most of the time.

  That was probably the lowest moment for me during the last week in dealing with my own personal food allergies and issues. Realizing something that was once fun, eating out with friends and family, is something that will now be a challenge. I am a huge food lover and losing wheat from my diet has taken a lot of joy out of food for me. I'm hoping that's a temporary thing. For now I'm sticking close to home, because home is safe. I control what we eat here.

  That said, the weekends have been a little sad. Trevor, being the amazing father and husband that he is, makes breakfast on Friday, Saturday and Sundays. He even lets the kids get involved and help out. His go-to's include cinnamon buns, pancakes, waffles and crapes. See the problem? Our tradition of nice family breakfast has been rained on! This morning he did take a crack at making me wheat free gingerbread pancakes. They were not half bad. I still miss wheat though!

  Breakfast in general has proven to be the hardest meal of the day. I would normally grab a healthy muffin from the freezer, or make some toast. Those are not an option. At least not until I manage to make a yummy wheat free bread and muffin! My breakfast of choice these days has been a green smoothie. Green smoothies are amazing! Packed full of good for you nutrients, energizing, and well, green. The color freaks Trevor out a bit, but even he has to admit the taste is awesome.

  I have been having green smoothies for the past several days. If it's a busy evening and I have to jet off somewhere before having dinner, I have even enjoyed a green smoothie for dinner. They are truly going far to repair my dull, pale competition and give me some pep in my step. My only complaint is my current blender. It can't process the chia seeds and flax seeds I would like to add. I'm coveting a Vitamix. I recently had a smoothie made in a Vitamix at Costco. There were not even strawberry seeds left. Awesome! Someday people, someday I will own one.

  Here is my favorite breakfast and dinner green smoothie. Keep in mind, if you don't have a high powered blender you may want to avoid the chia seeds and flax seeds, or just grind them up prior to adding them to your smoothie.

Green smoothie- Breakfast

2 handfuls of organic spinach
1 teaspoon of flax seeds OR one teaspoon of flax oil
4-5 peach slices (frozen)
5-6 chunks of frozen mangos
1/2 cup pineapple juice
1/2 cup coconut water (organic and pure)

Blend until smooth and enjoy!

Green smoothie- Dinner

1 handful of organic spinach
3-4 cherry or grape tomatoes
3-4 baby carrots or carrot sticks.
1 teaspoon chia seeds
1 banana
several chunks of frozen mangos, apricots, peaches
1/2 cup pineapple juice
1/2 cup coconut water (pure and organic)

*You can also add a few frozen strawberries if you want. I didn't like the flavor combination of the strawberries with the veggies. But that's just me.
 
Blend until smooth and enjoy!