This week I want to talk a little about allergen-free dieting, as in:
This dieting stuff is making me NUTS!!
Just had to get that off my chest, but the real story here is that I’m letting go a little bit. I think it’s just absolutely fine that we are:
- gluten-free
- casein-free
- preservative & “fake” food free
- mostly MSG-free (we are back to packing kids’ food for restaurants, except Red Robin)
- GMO-free as much as we can possibly know*
I put a little star by that last one because, while I totally think GMOs’ are really horrible for children, if I were to take every food OFF the list not approved by the non-GMO project, we wouldn’t be able to eat. It’s bad enough Amelia can’t keep on weight (her BMI dipped again, and I’m hoping homeopathy and returning to probiotics helps resolve this), it’s just that I’M LOSING MY MIND. I cook as much as possible with healthy meat, buy organic when I can and avoid the dirty dozen other times.
And, we have reduced phenols a LOT. Returning bananas – and peppery spices and tomato sauce, all in moderation – to Zoe’s diet made ZERO appreciable difference, so I’m done with this insane restrictiveness at least for now. It’d be one thing if the kids got crazy afterwards or sick but they’re not.
The lesson this week for me is two-fold:
- Don’t sweat it so much. I’m already strict and authoritative with all those bullets above, and my children have a LOVELY, wholesome diet. I need to get back to adding more vegetables, variety, and legumes before I go nuts over little things.
- I’m trusting that praying over food works. I know this sounds crazy, but lately, Amelia has not wanted to eat her breakfast in the morning. I remembered having luck when I prayed over food before, so I tried that again. And, viola! Breakfast plates are cleaned to nearly the last bite, and lunch containers came home empty – including the stuff she’s SUPER picky over. Why not apply this to the safety and wholesomeness of what I’m serving? I’m doing my best as a mom and a daughter of Christ to ensure their food is good for them, so I’d DONE freaking out over it.
This has given me a whole lot of peace, in this one area. Now if I could just translate to peace about their future, I’d be sitting pretty 🙂
