Some background info

I thought it would be good for me to look back and kind of catalog the ways I've learned about eating and changed over the years.

I grew up in a home where we ate mostly home cooked, healthy meals. We always had fruits and vegetables and my sister and I were annoyed that our drink choices were "milk, water, or apple juice." We had our share of Southern cooking, but we were always active. My sister and I both took dance lessons, played outside, rode our bikes, roller skated, and were generally always moving.

In high school, we at more junk, but still stayed active. Teenagers can get away with eating Spires mozzarella sticks at 1am and still be "healthy."

In college, I took an environmental studies class where they showed a video of animals being slaughtered and I decided I was a vegetarian. I had never been a huge meat person, so it wasn't a big challenge. Don't get me wrong...I wasn't a HEALTHY vegetarian! I cut out meat, but didn't replace it with anything. I'd go to McDonald's and order a cheeseburger with no meat...very nutritious. I did (and still do) love salad bars and stir frys, so I usually had a pretty balanced diet. I continued to eat this way for ten years, but when I married Kyle, I started eating chicken if he would do the preparing. Then when I was pregnant with Isaac, my iron was so low that I started eating some beef.

When Esther was about 3-6 months old, we discovered she had some food allergies. At first we thought it was dairy, but that didn't clear up her problems. We took her to a gastroenterologist who told me to cut out dairy, soy, eggs, and nuts to see if that helped, and we narrowed it down to the dairy and soy. So for the first time in my life, I couldn't have cheese, glorious cheese! Or lattes! (Do not under any circumstances try a latte made with hemp milk! Rice is ok...but not the same.) Any baby weight I did have literally flew off in a matter of months. I don't know how much I weighed, but my pants were falling off and my arms looked somewhat skeletal. Sir Mix A Lot would not have liked me very much. BUT! Then I learned more about things that I could eat like coconut milk yogurt and ice cream, and butter substitutes and I was back on track. Even though I was tired from nursing a baby at night, I felt good physically.

Once I weaned Esther, I got back on the dairy-wagon. Mac n cheese, ice cream, pizza...all the good stuff I missed! Of course I didn't eat like that all the time...I had learned to make a lot of meals from scratch (mostly because of hidden dairy and soy in so many products) and also learned that you don't NEED cheese on everything. But over time, the little belly pudge returned, and with it, just feeling kind of...blah. (I'm not one of those skinny girls who thinks she's fat...sometimes I'm just more flabby and bloaty than others!)

During this time, Kyle was dealing with his own food issues. He visited a naturopath for fatigue, congestion, post-nasal drip, and general blah. After a lot of blood work, he was given a bunch of supplements to balance things out and was also told he had a gluten sensitivity. He kind of ignored the gluten part, and felt MUCH better with the vitamins and hormones. But...still not great. We tried off an on to cut out gluten, but it's honestly hard. About 8 months ago, Kyle decided he really wanted to give gluten-free a try, so I began cooking that way and we worked together to figure out meals at restaurants and snacks. Now he really notices a difference when he DOES have gluten, and has decided nothing is really worth feeling that way.

So, that's where we are now. I'm not a short order cook and refuse to make three different dinners each night, so we all basically eat dairy, soy, and gluten-free. The kids eat bread and wheat cereals, and if a meal would normally have cheese, I just leave it off of Esther's portion. We do a lot of chicken, rice, and vegetables with a variety of sauces. We eat pretty healthy most of the time, so I'm excited to see how we'll feel after cutting out animal products!