Monday, August 15, 2011

My temporary fear of green smoothies.

When I started 12 steps to whole foods two years ago and started serving green smoothies everyday, people asked if it helped in all the ways I had hoped. Yes and no. I felt that it had really improved my childrens' nutrition, but I could not say that it had made any difference whatsoever in behavior which was so disappointing.  They still were more likely to stand on their heads than to sit on a chair. Also, with whole foods, I was trying to avoid gallbladder surgery. Well, I still have my gallbladder, but whole foods and green smoothie did nothing to heal it, in fact after two years on 12 steps to whole foods my gallbladder disease got, much worse. Also I was having energy crashes after my green smoothies.  I started to become convinced that my family was not thriving on the whole foods diet and that confused me. Why not?

Update November 2012:
My first guess was sugar.  After reading piles and piles of books on health and physiology, behavior, gallbladder, etc, I decided maybe the problem was sugar, there wasn't much bad stuff left in my diet, but there was still sugar and green smoothies are pretty sweet.  I wasn't seeming to get energy from drinking them anymore.  In fact I was more and more exhausted all the time, especially after a big GS.  I quit drinking them.

I read books on how to get off sugar and tried and tried, but it was really hard.  One book said you need to keep a food journal of how foods make you feel.  After doing this for seven months I finally found something.  My worst feelings came after eating pizza and store bought cookies and cakes.  I googled pizza and exhaustion and was overwhelmed by the correlation to GLUTEN.  Pizza crust is made out of special high gluten flour, store bought cookies and cakes are made out of white flour (more gluten than whole wheat flour) and sugar and nothing else to soften the blow.  Since I eat whole grains at home most of the time, when I was cheating and eating these extra gluteny things away from home it was really overwhelming my body.  Also, I very often had a couple slices of toast with my GS, which explained why they seemed to make me sick.

I went off gluten immediately and my gallbladder pain evaporated, I was amazed.  I was also able to get off sugar after about a week of gluten free.  I didn't even try hard, my sugar cravings just shrunk to a manageable amount and I forgot to eat it.  No books or programs needed.  I stopped needing a two hour nap after every meal.

After three months I decided I was crazy being gluten free without an official diagnosis.  I went back to cookies and sugar for a weekend and my gallbladder exploded with pain.  I quit sugar and gluten for another three months and felt great.  Then I started doubting so I went back to gluten and sure enough gallbladder pain returned and sugar cravings spiked.

Now I just avoid gluten and I can have green smoothies again without fear that the sugar is going to cause some kind of sugar shock.  They don't make me crash anymore.  I am absolutely totally convinced that my children are also gluten sensitive and my husband has actually been diagnosed as wheat intolerant.  It explains about twenty things about my family and family history including really specific behavioral issues.  It explains why whole foods didn't seem to improve my family's health.  I kept giving them whole foods with gluten in it.

I have not decided to attempt a totally gluten free diet with my children though.  My husband who actually has an official diagnosis refuses to avoid wheat,  he has pizza two or three meals per week and he loves giant handmade flour tortillas.  Those are things he can't live without.  To him, it is worth the discomfort.  So, being a gluten free family is out of the question, respecting my husband and not alienating him comes first.  If my kids ever have a health crisis that makes them want to change on their own, at least they won't have to search as long as I did to find the culprit.  For now we learn to accept and deal with behavior and other health issues the best we can and stop dreaming that veggies will fix it.





Thursday, February 10, 2011

12-steps to whole food, transforming your family's health on a budget!

"12 steps to whole foods" transformed my family. For about 8 months I obsessed with the goal of the month as if I was doing it for college credit. I've worked in the other 4 chapters here and there. We only got sick about 1/4 as often the first year except for my husband who was constantly sick (unknown wheat allergy). Now we are in the second year and sickness is a rarity, once every other month or so, one or two of us get sick, and it is rather mild when it comes.

If you can't afford 12 steps to whole foods, you can still take on a new healthy habit or two a month. The reason the program, which retails around $160, is worth it, is the info in each chapter about WHY!!! I'm much more likely to make a change if I know why and what it will do for me. It is organized and when you make that monetary investment it motivates you. I've spent $160 in a month and half just on doctor copays, steroids, and antibiotics that made us sicker, so 12-steps is a BARGAIN. Also, you can try to talk your library into getting 12-steps or a green smoothie book for you! Most libraries take patron requests and they usually order "recipe" type books if you ask.

Anyway, I'm going to post my super-condensed 12-steps program. It'll do the trick for anyone on a tight budget!

12 healthy habits, try to adopt one a month!

1)ditch soda, chips, processed meat, and refined sugar & drink a green smoothie a day instead

2)serve a green salad that comprises half of your dinner every day

3)learn 2 home salad dressings that use extra virgin olive oil and use those instead of commercial dressings

4)stop using vegetable oil, shortening, and margarine. Use olive oil, coconut oil, and flax oil. get a coffee grinder ($10) learn how to grind your own flaxseeds.

5) plant a garden or join a csa or both

6) learn how to cook qunioa. Try to do 3 different recipes this month. Note: rinse 3x in cold water before cooking! My favorite quinoa is just adding some bouillion to the water. Then I stir in peas and some kind of nut (sauteed almond, cashews, etc) My second favorite is cooking the quinoa in a 50:50 ration with steel cut oats and serving it like oatmeal for breakfast.

7)try soaking 1/4 cup of sunflower seeds (not roasted of course) in a jar for 8 hours. drain. put them in refrigerator. They will slowly sprout lasting you about a week and will taste excellent on salad, pb sandwich, and granola. Voila you are a "sprouter". Sprouts are super healthy!

8)learn how to make homemade yogurt (boil 1/2 gallon milk to 180 cool to 110, add 3 tablespoons yogurt, let sit in warm place like oven with a light on for 8-10 hrs, refrigerate. If you want it thicker drain of whey in a colander lined with cofee filters or add 1/3 cup milk powder with the yogurt starter.)

9) stop using white flour, try substituting soft white wheat flour instead.

10) learn a healthy granola recipe and some healthy pancake waffle recipes that soak the flour over night before baking. Google soaking grains.

11))"Healthify" 3 treats this month. A good resource is Simple Healthy Tasty

12)learn about alkalinity, consider buying a water ionizer that will alkalinize your water for you. These are too expensive for me, but maybe someday...

Bonus:
for school kids
make sure they have sack lunches. Every sack lunch should have a fresh fruit, a fresh veggie and water. My entrees are famously healthy, but they aren't too bad either, just be creative there. (Please no juice, chips, or fruit snacks!)