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!
 

I'm Back!

  Hi everyone, I'm so sorry I've been MIA recently! Things have been a little crazy here. It has been a busy few month full of lots of big changes for our family. As always, big changes with kids are a little harder. We have also just been plain busy with the crazy back to school schedule! Jake and Lucy are both in extracurricular activities this year. Combine that with all the committees we are on and the volunteering we do and it makes for some very full weeks. However that's not what I want to talk about.

  We have discovered the reason behind Jacob's MANY headaches and migraines. Many people have argued with me over the past few years and told me that a young child of six does not get migraines. Really? Because I have gotten them since I was that age. I still do. I know the signs. It's not normal for a child to get a headaches everyday. One that generally leads to him throwing up. It has kept him from leading a normal happy carefree life. After two years of trying to get somewhere with our family doctor I finally took matters into my own hands. We went to see a NAET certified allergy specialized.

  After the initial consultation we discovered that Jacob is allergic to whey and casein. The two main milk proteins. He is also allergic to refined sugars. Finally! An answer. This is why my little guy has been dealing with headaches and stomach aches  nearly everyday over the last few years! Everyone's first reaction was oh no! how are you going to cope with that?! My reply? Very easily! One of the biggest bonuses of baking and cooking our food from scratch is that I can easily control what goes into our food. I have wanted to go vegan for awhile, so I figured I would just do this with him.

  Lucy had also been complaining about her tummy hurting a lot. We decided to take her in to the clinic as well. Guess what she was allergic too? Food dyes! She also had a dairy intolerance. An intolerance and an allergy are two different things. That is why she was having different symptoms then Jacob. Different but no less painful and upsetting. Avary is still too young to "officially" diagnose but Lori (our NAET practitioner and natural doctor) says she shows many signs of a dairy issue as well. 

  I know your not going to believe what I say next, but here it is. Since all our children have issues with dairy my meat and cheese loving husband decided to go vegan!! Okay, to be completely honest, the movie forks over knives might have helped a little bit too.  Bottom line is, we have now been vegan for four months.

  Here we are four months into our journey and the kids are doing a lot better. Some foods they struggle with not being able to have, but over all they are being real troopers! Trev is doing wonderful. He has taken on this challenge and is seeing some great health benefits. He has increased  energy, has lost weight and says he feels a lot more alert and has greater mental clarity. That's amazing! I'm so proud of him!

  I have also been a little jealous! I've been eating the same food as him and yet I've been gaining weight, or rather, appear to be. I have had no energy and have been feeling generally worn down and blue. I knew there had to be something wrong. If I'm eating what the rest of the family is, why am I not seeing the benefits?!

  Back I went to Lori. For myself this time. Guess what? Turns out that I too have a dairy intolerance (which I figured, dairy never really sat right with me). But wait. I cut that out four months a go. That's what your thinking right? That's what I was thinking. I also have an egg allergy. Again, I haven't had those for four months. Then she uncovered it. I have a wheat intolerance. Not gluten. Just the wheat. That was pretty much the worst news ever. I LOVE whole wheat and multigrain everything! LOVE IT.

  However, as much as I may hate it, I do have a wheat intolerance.  Do you know all the ways that can mess up your body? Allow me to educate you a bit. It can cause: Swelling (remember the appearance if weight gain I had?!) joint pain, depression, "stomach problems" (to be polite), indigestion, lack of energy and many more. The symptoms I listed were most of what I have been struggling with. Everyday I have just felt unwell.

  So now that I know what's causing me to feel awful I need to eliminate it from my diet. Trust me when I say that is WAY easier said then done. Wheat is everywhere!! The only items without wheat are the gluten free products. They happen to be very expensive. Also it's worth mentioning that any gluten free product that is precooked or baked is loaded with eggs. So that cancels out me being also to cheat and purchase some baked goods to get me started. This is going to be a jump right in and figure it out thing.

  I have to admit. Since getting diagnosed a week a go I have had many different emotions. Uncertainty, anger, frustration, loss, relief, acceptance and hope. I wish I could say they were in that order and that I have paused on hope. However that is not the case. Sometimes I still feel a little cheated and overwhelmed.  I am however, looking toward the future. I am starting to feel better physically and that makes me feel hopeful that I CAN do this. I can figure out this new diet.

  I also have to mention that having to give up my beloved wheat has taught me how our kids must feel having to give up the dairy they were use to having and the candy and freezes they love! In some ways it has helped me better relate to their struggles and be a little more patient with them if they are struggling with a bad craving. I have a lot of admiration for how well they are coping with this big change in their lives.

  Since there seems to be a shortage of vegan blogs that have recipes excluding wheat you can count on me blogging about the recipes I'm going to have to create. I know, I know, how will I ever cope having to spend countless hours in the kitchen baking and experimenting? Don't worry about me I'll manage just fine ;) I promise that they will still be yummy, even for you non vegan, wheat loving readers.

  If any of you have tips, or advice please share! Also any recipes or blogs on the topic would be really appreciated! Until next time, which I promise will not be so long, night all!

Family goals for a new year

In the past few years I have stopped setting personal new years resolutions. I found that after a month or two they always seem to fade away and then I feel like a failure. Instead we have been setting family goals. Things we want to work toward as a family.

If we make some progress we are happy. We don't have to meet all our goals perfectly. Even meeting them half way makes huge difference. This year will be no different. Even if we cannot come to a perfect completion of all our goals, our family will be better off for the progress we make.

This year our goals are as follows:

To get the kids doing chores, daily, in exchange for an allowance.
We have recently noticed that our children (especially our oldest) have a huge disregard for money. They also lack respect for items bought for them. With this goal we are trying to teach them a good work ethic as well as the value of money.

We are going to continue with our date nights.
This is something we started doing for ourselves and our marriage. Our marriage is happy and healthy, and we want to keep it that way. We have recently realized the benefit of some alone time. We get to be two adults, flirting and having real conversation- without interruptions. It's really quite lovely. Our family is also better for it, because happy parents make for happy children!

Our next goal is better eating.
Now, we do eat healthy at meal time. We have noticed however, that the children seem to have an incredible amount of junk food! Most of it seems to appear when family come to visit or after returning from visiting a family members house. Though we distribute it over an amount of time, it's still adding up to a lot. I do not want my children's to struggle with weight and poor self image the way I have. We also don't want them to suffer the bad health consequences of too much junk food.

Routines and organization are next on the list.
While I was suffering from depression earlier in the year some of these got left behind and forgotten. I assure you our home runs much better WITH them then without them! A small space and five people can only function well and stay clean with a lot of organization a some important routines! I can't wait to get a handle on these again!

Family worship and personal bible study.
Family worship is something we have started and let fall by the wayside many times. We want this year to be the year it sticks. The kids are at such a tender age for teaching them about Gods love. We are generally good about doing their sabbath school lesson with them daily, but we could do a little better there as well. This is something that I know will benefit and bless each member of the family.

Te last thing we want to do in 2012 is actually more of a challenge then a goal. It's something I am personally very excited about! It's a consumer challenge. As a family we are pledging to do our best, and not purchase anything that is not a need.

If something large or household becomes a need we are going to try and source it secondhand. Excessive clothing, toys, excessive snack food, and random "things" are some of the items that are not imperative to our survival. I'm really excited to see how much we save by not giving in to consumer greed!

Well, those are our goals! What does your family do? Does each member set their own goals? Do you set goals as a family? Do you usually reach them?

I hope you have have a very safe and very happy new years! May the lord bless you and yours and may your year be full of the love and laughter of those who matter most!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Caught up.

Life is a constant growing process. Or at least it should be. Experiences, situations, relationships, they all force us to mature and learn new lessons. However, it is so easy to slide back. To revert to old habits and forget the lessons we have learned and the changes we have made. This is a struggle I am currently having.

The choices we have made in our family have called for some tightening of our belts sort to speak. Having three children and living on one income demands some good budgeting and a little big of frugal behaviour. This is something I have gotten very good at. Recently this is something I have been struggling with.

I'm not quite sure why staying on budget has become so hard. For some reason it has. The little things that use to come so easy and help save money seem to be escaping me. I have suddenly become caught up in commercialism, which just happens to be something I hate!

The society we live in is one focused on ease. We want to make everything simple, save time and put forth minimum effort. I have always taken pride in doing things the "old fashioned" way. Knowing I am providing my family with homemade and handmade items.

For anyone who has ever doubted the savings in doing it yourself, let me assure you, there is savings! I have been making all our baked goods and treats for over a year now. Recently I have been buying about half of those items. I have also been buying more pre-packaged items. Our grocery bill has almost doubled!!

I have also missed the feeling of accomplishment and pride from providing my family with wholesome homemade food and handmade, quality items. I really need to kick myself back into gear and get organized. I miss being little miss homemakerand that's not a line I thought I would ever say ;)