BTW, I've be come a "foodie"

for my online novices..BTW = by the way :)

Our little Corban would eat and eat and eat then poop and poop and poop, but never getting fed. His food went strait through his system without absorbing the nutrients from his food, staying in a constant state of hunger. His diapers were overflowing and a huge mess multiple times a day and Mama needed a solution. Our pediatrician said he didn't know a whole lot about special diets, so I took some friends' advice and called up a nutritionist.

When we first tried giving him dairy (at 11ish months) it didn't seem to go over very well, even when we used raw whole milk instead of the dead milk they sell at the grocery store, interesting concept. Pasteurization isn't really for our health, but actually for the convenience of shipping milk all across the country.

Corban has been on a Gluten Free and Dairy free diet for the past 4 months....it seems like it's been forever though! He's been wheat and dairy free since April and started an enzyme as well which really helped his appetite. Two days before we went to see the nutritionist we tried giving him some Goat's milk, to see how he would react and he had his first "solid" BM since...maybe ever!

The nutritionist (Lorrie Metford) did a finger prick and we looked at his blood under the microscope. His cells were 3 different sizes and clumped together so she advised that we start a few things. The gluten free diet helped his appetite and nutrition absorption issues some, but she advised that we continue the enzyme as well as the gluten free diet but keep doing the goat's milk, she also added in a pro-biotic, zinc and b complex whole food supplements. Things were shaping up nicely...especially in his diapers! They were what I think is "normal" and only once a day for a change. Which is great when he was having 5-6 a day that were a complete mess!

Well a few weeks ago, I didn't make it over to the dairy to pick up the goat's milk...which is much cheaper there than the store ($9.50 vs $16 per gallon) and I started noticing that his diapers were going back to how they were before we started all the supplements. The past few days we stopped doing the supplements also just to see how he reacts and we aren't seeing much of a change, so I think all in all it's the goat's milk that is really helping the most. Come to find out, interestingly enough Goats milk is the most closely realated to human breast milk and what people have been consuming as "milk" all over the world, and it's mentioned in the bible. Imagine that, God knows what we should be eating, maybe we should ask Him instead of the food network?

I'm prayerfully considering taking him to see a pediatric-dietitian or an allergist. Meanwhile he will continue the healthy diet, and hopefully help get the rest of the family off processed food and sugar....which leads me into my food rant, you have been forewarned: enjoy!

Researching all this nutrition information has made thinking about food very frustrating. We've been convinced over the past 50 years that what we are supposed to eat was based on balancing the profit margins of the main areas of the food industry rather than our nutrition. They have won us over by chemically addicting the American people to THEIR idea of "food" which means as long as it only kills us off slowly, is shelf stable, cheap to make and sell all they gotta do is slap some bold and misleading label...like "all natural flavors" or throw in the tiniest amount of "fruit or vegetable" in the recipe and call it Yogurt Blends or Sweet Potato Puffs....so we feed it to our infants and Voila....our babies are slowly drawn into this unhealthful addiction as soon as they are off of 1st stage foods (that's the little jars that they eat for the first 2-3 months, at least they only contain water as an extra ingredient.)

I knew that processed foods were not the best, everyone does, I think. What about baby formula which is also a culprit and represented as the "only" option (it is not) besides breastfeeding. Since I make my own "baby food" I know for sure what is going into the food and thought using "basic" ingredients would be enough. Nope. I found that I didn't even realize that some things are processed that seem natural. I found that I could get puffed wheat by the bag, the only ingredient listed was red wheat, and it was cheap...Score!! I fed it to Corban around 9 months of age and he loved it, it was a great alternative to cheerios, which daddy is not fond of, even if anyone tries to convince him that they have a "breathing hole". One choking episode with his niece a few years ago was all he needed! Anyway, a few weeks ago, I read about a little study on puffed wheat. you can read it here: should we eat puffed grains? Evidently lab rats are better off eating a card board box than what the grocery store sells as cereal. The ones who got cornflakes died before the ones who got cardboard box and the ones who ate puffed wheat lived 2 weeks, while the ones on regular whole grain wheat lived over a year. I didn't really think about puffed wheat even being processed...who knew, don't I feel stupid! Then there's also the sugar issue, even the rats addicted to cocaine chose sugar over their drugs. We wonder why we're the most unhealthy people in the richest nation in the world. Forget health care, we need an overhaul on the food industry, maybe if we stop filling our bodies with garbage we'll feel better and live longer....but then again it means more time and work and getting past that addiction. I think unfortunately most Americans would rather die and enjoy it while lasts, so sad.

For more information on food check out the Weston Price Foundation its a great resource, very interesting reading.

Cookie Monster in the house!

Recently I purchased some gluten free Arrowroot Animal Cookies for Corban. Refined sugar hasn't had much place in his diet, I usually use fruit to sweeten anything I make for him. But atlas...the Cookie monster has emerged. Cookies are a requested every 1-15 minutes or so of his waking hours and we often have a very angry boy when the answer is not to his liking. It was so cute when I first figured out what he was trying to say when he looked at me and so sweetly said "t-t" and looked to the cabinet where I keep them. He's learned how to sign for it also. We usually break the cookie up in to as many pieces as possible, but recently I let him have a cookie in the living room and he walked around with it for 10 minutes just happy as a clam just savoring it [read, licking it instead of eating it].