Food Revolution in our home

It has been a while since I blogged. Life has been busy, to say the least. For the past few weeks, I have been keenly watching Jamie's Food Revolution. I was mesmerized by this one-man-army, as it seems, trying to change America. I know that he's already made a change in the UK but I had my doubts about his revolution in America. I hope, that his efforts in Huntington don't go unrewarded and we can see the ripple effects throughout America. Watching Jamie and then Food Inc., our family started to make slow changes in the way we eat but nothing drastic. We thought we were healthy enough, not overweight, generally doing ok.

At the back of my mind, however, I knew something was going on with my eldest daughter. Her teacher also pointed out that she was keeping behind her class and was always tired. She's been a fussy eater for the past 3-4 years but I assumed it was due to growing up and the family changes of having a baby sister added to the mix. I knew my time with her had decreased but I was trying my best to get her to eat healthy.

We did what all parents do and took her for a checkup. Eventually, we got the test results and believe me, the results were shocking. Her little body was not absorbing proteins and was under extreme stress from having to process cow's milk and other processed foods. As a family, we knew we had to make a change before our daughter's body started to shut down. The nutritionist advised us to stop giving her cow's milk and switch to goat's milk. Of course, processed foods were out. We read labels like crazy. Everything, and I do mean everything, had corn syrup! Even things that don't need it, like pastry dough. Now my daughter is on a strict diet for a year and then a less strict regime of healthier eating. Her diet right now involves, brown rice, fresh fruits, vegetables and goat milk. After a year, she can start having wheat again so life should get back to a little normal. The nutritionist has also given supplements to get her acid levels back to normal. Giving her the supplements is going to be a challenge. She has been really good about the food. She's read the list of things to eat and not eat, herself, so it has sunk in and she is following it to the letter. But the supplements, are another story.

I wanted to write about this major change in our life to help other parents with children on special diets. My day one for a lifetime change, has begun with an overhaul in the kitchen. I have gone through the pantry, fridge and freezer and taken out anything with corn, corn syrup or corn derivative. Next step was to get groceries for my daughter, where Whole Foods really helps with varied choices.

I will be posting everyday about things she eats and what changes I have made to the way I cook, challenges I face and what I tried to help solve the problems. I want other parents to benefit from this blog. If we pool our ideas together, we can help raise our children on a healthy lifestyle. This is our legacy. We are responsible. Pass on the message and continue the food revolution.