My last blog told about our three-week weight-loss diet we
were starting. It didn’t go as great as we would have liked. Gene lost 10
pounds, I lost just five. But we came out of it with some changes. We liked having
our meals laid out week by week, it made grocery shopping so much simpler, and
we both knew by looking at the week’s list what to prepare for any given meal.
It’s not easy each week to take time to sit down and plan, but eventually when
we have about four weeks planned that we enjoy, we’ll just repeat them. We’d
only done one week so far, then my husband got a tooth infection and needed a
root canal. No planning happened then. And then we had vacation. Now it’s time
to spend time laying out a few weeks of menu-planning.
Another thing the diet did for us…
That diet included a lot of avocados – a very nutritious
fruit. We want to keep that up. And on that same note, I want to incorporate
chia seeds into meals. I have no trouble just taking a handful of seeds and
swallowing them with water (like itty bitty pills). But Gene won’t do that, so
I’ll need to look at my meals once they’re laid out and see where I can toss
them in. (Why chia seeds? They’re an omega-3 food, and ever since I started
using them as a supplement over a year ago, I ceased having eczema-like patches
on my hands.)
We want to continue the raw fruits and vegetables. Even
medical experts will tell you that if you want to avoid cancer, eat vegetables.
I know a couple of people (I know there are many more) who just don’t like
vegetables. One is my daughter. We didn’t have a lot of money when she was young,
so sadly we didn’t have veggies at our table often. Plus I didn’t know how
crucial it was so I don’t know if we would have had them anyway.
The veggies I ate as a child were corn and green beans.
Growing up I much preferred the meat and potatoes, and the pizza and chips, and
the PB&J and chocolate milk.
So my great apologies to my children!!
My advice to new parents: teach your children a different
normal than what you grew up with. If it’s normal, that’s the heritage they’ll
love.
Let me tell you a story…
When my second grandchild was born, he had serious digestive
and *neurological issues. My daughter decided to take the very hard road and
learn the difficult lessons of healing with food. By the time her third child
was born, she was ready to put all three of them on what’s called the GAPS
Diet. It was torture, for her and the grandparents. To get children to eat
veggies when they’re not used to eating veggies, it sometimes seems as though
you’re starving them. But in hindsight it was good for all of them. For
healing, yes. But now they ALL eat raw veggies, and yes, they eat culturally normal
food now – pizza, donuts, candy. But they’ll eat veggies too. My oldest
grandchild, who in some regards had the most difficult journey of giving up
those sweets and pops he had been enjoying, now loves “crunchy” vegetables.
(And by hard journey, I mean I witnessed his anger through it. He wanted his
sweets! Desperately!) When he’s at Grandma’s, and I list an upcoming meal, and
if veggies are on the list, he’s all over it! The last time he said that
relatively new cultural line, “You had me at veggies.” Kids’ eating habits CAN
change. So can adults’.
*I’d like to mention here at the end in case someone happens
upon this story who has a child with the same issues.
The neurological issue my second grandchild dealt with was
speech apraxia. He couldn’t make consonant sounds. He’d look at you and “talk”
about something very important to him, but nothing came. It was all vowel-like
sounds – he’d hold his mouth open and never close it as he formed (or didn’t
form) words. He didn’t seem to even notice the sounds that were missing – he
was young, but he sometimes seemed frustrated that we didn’t understand him.
The diagnosis of speech apraxia made so much sense. A few days after starting
the GAPS diet, the proper sounds began to come through. It took time and work,
but you should see him now. I just gaze in wonder at him and his beautiful
nature and personality. There are so many horror stories of children with
speech apraxia, and other neurological issues, whose parents never hear that
healing the gut is so powerful for physical and neurological healing. And even
if they hear it, it doesn’t make sense to them. How can diet affect the mind?
Next blog: “Honoring God”
Don’t be impressed with your
own wisdom. Instead, fear the Lord and turn away from evil. Then you will have
healing for your body and strength for your bones. (Proverbs 3:7-8)
