Diet Changes

Y'all know we are struggling over here.  As the days march on towards the end of our 90 day commitment to healing, we have decided to change things up.  Smoothies have always been a problem for John.  The hyperthermia has been no picnic either lately.  Matt at the FAR Clinic told us to change the goal temperature to 101, but it hasn't done a bit of good.  Something had to give.  It was the smoothie.

Instead of suffering through this barely drinkable delight, John and I decided to put his nutrition in the old fashioned way:  through food-shaped food.  No blender.  No smoothie.  The reason why this switch was made now is:

1. It's awful and I was afraid we wouldn't make it the next 18 days through both hyperthermia and smoothies, and hyperthermia is more important.
2. John has been noticing increased food sensitivities to things that didn't use to bother him - right now, coconut and all things coconut are problematic, so that wipes out a lot of alternatives like coconut oil, flour, water, and milk.  We need his gut to heal, not get worse.
3. John's blood work did not look better despite this drinkable nutrition.  Shouldn't the struggle at least give us better results with that?

Today was the first day of our switch.  We went to Paleo, and in most cases, auto-immune Paleo.  What's Paleo?  If it was living at one time, it's Paleo.  This covers any meat, fish, fruit, eggs, veggies, nuts and seeds.  Auto-immune Paleo (AIP) removes eggs, nuts, and seeds.  Some also need to remove nightshade veggies like white potatoes, tomatoes and peppers.  Grains for sure are out, while sugar is reduced to sources like honey, maple syrup and dates.

Why can't he just eat normal food like the rest of us?  Oh, how I wish!  It'd be much cheaper and much easier.  I promise, we don't like being difficult.  This style of cooking is a PITA for me.  The advantages are:

1. The foods are nutrient-dense and filling (reducing the need for snacking while increasing the stuff his body needs).
2. Paleo foods, specifically AIP foods, are non-inflammatory and easier on the GI tract.
3. Blood sugar spikes and cravings for junky food choices are reduced.
4. The foods he can eat are rotated daily, so he can't get stuck on one food all the time.  When he gets stuck in a rut, he's more likely to develop sensitivities to that specific food.

Breakfast is always our challenge.  For the past year, all John has wanted is one of two things, organic oat or rice-based cereal or organic peaches and brown sugar.  Since September, John has found all cereals and all milks bother him (digestive distress).  He switched to peaches and brown sugar and would happily eat them for breakfast every day.  I know brown sugar isn't the best right now (is it ever?), but you pick your battles when everything is a battle.  With Lyme, it's all battles.   Peaches aren't AIP friendly because of the fiber and high sugar, even if it's fruit sugar.  We want the food to stay with him instead of flow through him, and we want his blood sugar stable.  This is a convenient time to eliminate peaches for a while because organic peaches aren't readily available anyway.

I went off to the grocery store this morning, VISA card in hand.  About $330 later, I had all the food to maximize nutrition for the week, except daikon radish (maybe a 3rd store will have it).  Remember when I said this way of eating is a PITA?  Ain't cheap either!  I came home to find John laying on the couch (which is pretty normal).  I asked him if he ate yet.  "Nope, I didn't know what was Paleo."  His stubbornness will be to my advantage.

Breakfast was from the Blissful Basil cookbook that my cousin wrote.  A berry compote over a "pudding" of chia, flax, and hemp seeds.  Yes, I know AIP removes seeds, but it was already 10:30am, and this was already half-made, and I haven't found these three awesome seeds to cause him any problems.   John had two huge bowls of this, as berries are like old favorite friends.

Lunch was a recipe from Practical Paleo.  Basically, it's baked thinly sliced Yukon gold potatoes.  They got topped with pineapple poblano guacamole from Aldi, bacon, onions that had been fried in the bacon grease, and olives.  He had two platefuls of this too, probably over 10 slices of potato toasts, as the cookbook calls them. While John was eating, his grandma called.   He was describing this dish to her, and I could tell by the way he spoke that this will become weekly staple.  This kid has always been a picker and a snacker.  Having a plate with variety and color has always been appreciated.  This is going to be a welcomed change.  Side note, we are trying to use cast iron as much as possible hoping to get its benefits to show in his blood work (he's anemic).

        

"Hey, are gluten-free Oreos Paleo?"  Umm.. no, bud.  Sulking.  "But if you'd like, we can eat Oreos and drink smoothies."  Umm.. no mom.  Anything but those smoothies.  

So far, his appetite has been huge.  God, please let me kid get healthy.  Please let my kid grow.  We need good days.