Progress update: 18 months on for the children,
2 years on for me
The twists and turns of healing just astonish me... I would never have thought we would have had such a dramatic turn around in our diets over the last 2 years. When I look back and read about where we started and then the progress just over a year ago, I am so excited to share with you how far we have all come...
Here are the previous posts to give you a history:
http://www.kerstenskitchen.com.au/2012/12/our-story-to-healing.html
http://www.kerstenskitchen.com.au/2013/01/childrens-journey.html
http://www.kerstenskitchen.com.au/2013/08/update-childrens-healing-journey-six.html
My children grew up eating a very small selection of foods... initially just rice and lamb, then they were able to tolerate celery, choko, chicken, potato. We used Nuttelex and Sunflower oil for cooking. Luckily so many things can be made using those ingredients and you can find all the recipes in my first couple of books.
When we started biomed we were able to add in some moderate salicylates - cucumber and carrot mainly. But we got stuck, I could never increase from one quantity a day... any more and they reacted. So I decided to try adding in small amounts of healing foods (which is discussed in detail in the above posts). The progress was exciting but again we got stuck...
So we decided to try homeopathy. This was not a quick fix, it has been challenging but we have seen amazing healing. I think this has been the key for us.
I continued trying to increase the children's tolerance to foods and we began seeing success!
I wanted to keep adding more healing foods:
BROTH
We cooked everything in broth... to cook rice pasta, I would add a cup of broth to the cooking water; to make savoury mince, I would add broth instead of water; to make sushi rice I would add a cup of broth to the cooking water
FATS - GHEE and COCONUT OIL and TALLOW
We continued to cook all meat in ghee. Tallow was added and we now cook all roast veg in that. Coconut oil is used extensively in baking.
BAKING - COCONUT FLOUR and NUTS
Slowly the kids were introduced to cookies and cakes baked with nut flours and coconut flour. The cookies were very well received by all. My girls loved the cakes, but my son was very attached to his egg free rice based cupcakes. I was really pleased when he eventually (after many many efforts of sampling) he declared he liked them and refused to eat the rice based baking... yay!
FERMENTS and KEFIR
We don't use Kefir and fermented drinks often anymore, but we do eat sauerkraut and other fermented vegetables. My girls and I enjoy them very much, my little man not so much... one day he will join in :)
SALICYLATES and AMINES
They tolerate everything now... slow cooked meats, all manner of fruit and vegetables. They even eat tomato several times a week... Very exciting!FODMAPS
We had major issues with all the groups of FODMAPS. So these were the last foods to try. At first I added leeks to our broth when cooking... then when that was tolerated, I added them to meals where broth was used, eg casserole, soup, bolognaise. Then I started adding in Brussels sprouts to meat balls, casseroles, bolognaise. Now I add lentils to dishes as well.
With fruits, we started with low fodmap ones and now have progressed to include the others too. They are so excited that this month we introduced apple with success. Started with a tiny piece, now they have a whole one each day. (Last time we challenged apple, we landed in hospital for a week)
TIMING
Healing started slowly but about a year in, it jumped into top gear and progress was really fast. In the early days we would have a tiny portion once a week, then every three days, then every second day, then daily. Once ok, we would do another food.
WHAT DO WE AVOID NOW
We are coeliacs, so we avoid all gluten.
We choose to avoid soy and corn. I have challenged corn a couple of times for the children and it has always been a very big fail.
We avoid cane sugar - we use coconut sugar and rice syrup as sweeteners.
We minimise grains but still enjoy them every so often. They are no longer an every day food. I use buckwheat and quinoa often.
We avoid beef - still causes bleeding bowels.
So what does our menu plan look like now:
BREAKFAST
lamb meatballs and toast
(bread is homemade multi seed buckwheat and rice loaf)
scrambled eggs
LUNCH (school)
one protein portion:
sushi made with broth cooked brown and white rice and cucumber
sausage roll
chicken schnitzel
buckwheat pizza with tomato passata and lamb mince
fruit:
selection of rockmelon, watermelon, strawberries, blueberries, kiwifruit, banana, apple
treat:
bliss ball (dates and coconut)
berry custard (coconut custard cooked with strawberries)
chocolate yogo (homemade yummo)
cinnamon coconut cookies
chocolate cake or vanilla cupcake
DINNER
spaghetti bolognaise
slow roasted lamb with lots of veg
roast chicken with lots of veg and Yorkshire pudding
meatballs and pasta
chicken schnitzel and chips
chicken and vegetable casserole
stir fry
SWEET TREATS
All baking is grain free and made with either coconut flour or nut meals and recipes can be found in my Grain Free and School Lunchbox books.
chocolate from Loving Earth
chocolate cake with frosting
vanilla coconut cupcakes
macadamia cupcakes
pikelets
cookies
marshmallows
jelly jubes (pomegranate juice and gelatin)
bliss balls
coconut icecream (plain or fruit flavoured)
ice blocks (coconut water and fruit)
potato chips
It has been a crazy healing journey and each path has been important, even when I felt it was not the right path, each taught me so much and introduced me to lovely women who have been my support network. So take each step as it comes, give something a try and if it isn't right for your family, jump back up and try something else. We are all different and what works for one, will not work for all. Good luck on your journey xo