Giving Up Grains

My Collin

 Collin is our 8 year old who was diagnosed with autism at the age of 20 months. I have learned and constantly learn so much from this child. Much of which involves food as Collin has been on a gluten free, casein free diet since he was 2 years old. 

The diet brought about many positive things like SLEEP and focus and a happier boy and family all together. In Novemeber 2009 I attended a Robb Wolf Paleolithic Solution seminar  which lead me to the decision that our entire family needed to eat gluten free. As a side note I had another child who was 3 now who had been a REALLY tough baby due to not sleeping and a lot of throwing up and fussiness. Ryan could not tolerate milk and I eventually took him off gluten as well. Anyway, our whole family ate gluten free for a year. After that year passed I know there was still something not right with our son's diet. Collin had been off dairy, off soy and off gluten for years at this point but his belly was distended and his bathroom trips were not regular or normal! I asked my husband if he wanted to attend Robb's seminar as he was coming back to Atlanta agin. He said yes and he went to Robb's Seminar in October of 2010 and came home with Robb's new book "The PaleolithicSolution:The Original Human Diet". He had also had a short conversation with Robb about Collin and Robb stated that we needed to get Collin off the other grains.

So here I was once again about to take a huge chunk of Collin's diet away. No gluten free pretzels, gluten free toast, gluten free crackers, gluten free ice cream cones. No more popcorn, gluten free cupcakes or potato chips. But we did it and it was fine. KID ARE REALLY ADAPTIVE. So many people say to me "I could never do what you do because my kids would never agree." Well they do. It was really only about three day of suggesting other options at any request for crackers, chips,popcorn ect. So now our entire family eats a grain free diet. I spend a lot of time in the kitchen trying to" paleofy" recipes or dream up new snacks for the kids which is why I started this blog. We have all seen posative results in eating a grain free or Paleo-ish diet and Collin looks and feels better and better. I hope these recipes and information help others who think they can't do it. Your really can, and nothing makes me more happy than when we are in the market and my just turned 5 year old says "Mom, I need a healthy snack. Can I get some beef jerky and a bowl of cut up fruit?" True story!!!

Collin is still autistic but the changes in his focus and behavior have been major all due to proper food choice. I am very happy that our family has chosen to eat for a longer healthier life.

Easy Dinner

Tonight I made a quick EASY meatloaf. This is so very versatile. I used about 1/2 pound of ground turkey, 1 pound of organic ground bison and 1/2 pound of organic ground grass fed beef. I chopped up about 1/2 an onion, added parsley, crushed fresh garlic, some organic tomato sauce,some salt and pepper and then 1 egg and a couple tablespoons of almond meal. I molded it into a "bread loaf sized" baking dish and baked it for 45 minutes on 350 plus a little more time on 400 to brown it. Delicious! You could add many other chopped veggies like carrots, spinach, peppers...anything really. I just used what I had available tonight. I then steamed broccoli and made Elana's Pantry Ranch Dressing to go over it. Dairy-Free Ranch Dressing ¼ cup grapeseed oil vegenaisse 1 tablespoon lemon juice, fresh squeezed 1 clove garlic, pressed ⅛ teaspoon minced scallion pinch celtic sea salt Combine all ingredients in a small mason jar Shake well to serve over salad Or to use as a dip refrigerate to chill and thicken What a great easy dinner. I love these dinners because they are kind of like a "clean out the fridge" dinner. Just about any ground meats (pork, bison, beef, turkey,veal) can go into meatloaf and just about any finely chopped veggies too.

These crackers were fabulous!

Thanks again to Elana's Pantry, I made some really great crackers. These are Elana's Pantry Rosemary Fig Crackers. Rosemary Fig Crackers 1 ½ cups blanched almond flour ½ teaspoon celtic sea salt 1 teaspoon rosemary, minced 3-4 dried figs, chopped 1 egg 1 tablespoon olive oil

1. In a large mixing bowl, stir together almond flour, salt, rosemary and figs
2. Mix in egg and oil until well combined
3. Roll out dough between 2 sheets of parchment paper until ⅛ inch thick
4. Cut dough with a knife or pizza cutter into 2 inch squares
5. Bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes until golden brown
6. Cool and serve

Dairy?

This podcast from Robb Wolf clears up many questions I get about dairy. This is the iTunes podcast link. The first 10-12 minutes of the 12/8 episode is very informational. http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=340221970 or you can get it straight from his site. http://robbwolf.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Paleolithic-Solution-Episode-5.mp3 In a nutshell......dairy makes you grow! (good if your a body builder or underweight athlete  but bad if you have pre cancerous cells)If you are trying to lose bodyfat and/or have ANY autoimmune disease you want to stay away from dairy. If you are trying to "get big"and are healthy already....some dairy consumption would help. Raw milk and grass fed dairy would be best as it is full of Omega 3's.(we need MORE Omega 3's to help fight the 20:1 Omega 6 to Omega 3 ratio our country has developed) Dairy does give you an insulin spike! You have to use it wisely. My son's Collin (age 7 w/autism) and Ryan (age 3 and typical) have never been able to tolerate dairy. Collin has been on the gfcf diet since age 20 months.  Ryan  always threw up and never slept or felt good when I breast fed him (I ate and drank dairy) and/or when he took  formula as a baby. It was not until he switched to soy that he calmed down. The day we started Collin on the gfcf diet he slept through the night after MONTHS of not sleeping well or even waking up at like 1:30am FOR THE DAY! It was crazy! [caption id="attachment_177" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Dairy?"][/caption]

Birthday Parties and Cupcakes

So Ryan has a birthday party today too. We made grain free dairy free brownies (in blog below this week) for his party on Friday and today he is going to PLAY for another. Ryan and I made cupcakes following this recipe. Gluten Free Vanilla Cupcakes with Vegan Chocolate Frosting ½ cup coconut flour, sifted ½ teaspoon celtic sea salt ¼ teaspoon baking soda 6 eggs ½ cup grapeseed oil ½ cup agave nectar 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1. In a medium bowl, combine coconut flour, salt and baking soda
2. In a small bowl, blend together eggs, grapeseed oil, agave and vanilla
3. Mix wet ingredients into dry and blend with a mixer or hand blender until smooth
4. Pour batter into well oiled muffin tins
5. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes
6. Cool completely
7. Top with chocolate frosting

We made these in kind of a hurry. I was rushing out to go teach CrossFit. As I poured the batter into the muffin cups I realized there was lots of flour on the bottom of the bowl. So they did NOT turn out great. BUT they have a delicious flavor. I will try them again, probably this morning b/c I still need cupcakes for the party. What I usually do with my kids is make a dozen or two of cupcakes that are gluten free and dairy free then freeze them and when a party comes up or an event at school where the Mom's are bringing in cakes ect. I send in one cupcake for the boys. The teachers and staff are all aware of their "allergies" and are always good about asking me what they can and can not eat. Yesterday one of Collin's teachers brought in apple pie and knew to e-mail us to ask if he could have some ("NO"). If I know in advance what they are going to serve I can pretty much duplicate it with the ingredients I choose. Parents ALWAYS ask me "how in the world do you keep up with that, find time, figure it out ect?" I have been doing this so long for Collin who has been on the GFCF diet since age 20 months due to autism, that I really don't know any different. I do it for Ryan (age 3) just the same and it really is not that difficult. Ryan's school has pizza day every Wednesday and I send in a gluten free pizza for him every Wednesday. I either make it or buy a frozen one form a specialty store. I just try to stay prepared.At Collin's and Ryan's school the parents send out an e-mail to the class list and will let us know a day or two in advance when they are going to come in and bring a "treat" for a child's birthday. I just grab a cupcake out of the freezer and add it to their lunch.I use these little carriers. My kids are fine with this and so far it has never been a problem!