Dairy Freedom

I have a cold, and all I want right now is some hot chocolate, but I've finally taken the last step into Dairy Freedom.  I have cut milk out of my diet.  I am so glad I did because it was the final thing needed to help Grace make "stinkers" (as we call them at our house) even easier than she was after I cut cheese and other processed dairy out of  my diet.  Now to work on the other kids.  Specifically Lydia and Henry. These are my two milk-lovers, and not surprisingly, both struggled with withholding their "stinkers."  Henry still does to a point.  I think that when they were babes, the processed dairy made their "stinkers" so hard that they began holding it in because it hurt to come out, and then it became a habit.


Ben is a cheese-lover and is having a hard time admitting that since I've stopped using cheese/cream cheese/sour cream in my cooking that his allergies are better.  He says, "I didn't have that big of an allergy problem!"  How we forget so soon.  He and I struggled the most (his and my favorite lunch was cheese tortillas which we ate 2-3 times each week), and this past fall, being cheese-free, neither of us had ANY allergy issues.  Given the chance, he eats cheese still.  I hope to get him fully on board with Dairy Freedom.  :-)  I need to pray about that one, I guess.

I remember a few years ago reading about a famous actor and how she didn't eat dairy.  I thought, "What a freak!"  (Yes, I am so kind)  It's funny how time changes things.  My favorite quote is by Harvey Bluedorn, of Trivium Pursuit.  Well, this is a paraphrase...my copy of  "Teaching the Trivium" is where Grace is sleeping right now, so I can't go get it....anyway, it goes something like this: "if I'm supposed to be in New York, but you see me in Chicago, don't judge me.  I'm on the road to eventually get there."

We are all on a crazy, one-of-a-kind journey, aren't we?  I enjoy the peace that Harvey's words gave me.  I don't have to get all worked up because I hear a story about my best friend's next door neighbor's cousin that proves she is "obviously" on the "wrong path."  Nah, I can give her Grace (not my baby, Grace, but you know, GRACE) knowing that she may not be too far behind me on the journey and just maybe I can encourage her through prayer or a word spoken at the right time.

I feel that Grace every time I talk with a friend from high school, or college....really, any of my friends from those early years.  I look back and just cringe at some of the things I said or did and wonder how I still have those friends.  How do I still have the love of my husband and children, for that matter?  Ever see that movie, "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"?  The characters in the movie erase memories that become distasteful to them.  I would like to do that to everyone around me first, and then me, so we can all forget the time that I picked a fight with Darin because he vacuumed BEFORE dusting, or the day that I forced the kids against their own better judgement to re-enact "Peter and the Wolf" as we played it in the CD player...it seemed like a fun idea until I wigged out because they weren't as "into it" as me.  ;-)  I would also like to forget the day that I had TWO venti chai teas from Starbucks, but that's going to take more than a mind-erase.  More like several workouts...

Sometimes the biggest things I want to erase are the things I know now.  Like the whole dairy thing.  Wasn't it so much easier to just eat cheese/sour cream/cream cheese/milk?  Recipes with these yummy products are easy to come by, and easy to eat, and no one looked at me sideways for being that "freaky dairy free woman" that throws a wet blanket on their pizza party.  Ignorance is bliss - but then so is life without Claritin, nose spray and a baby who can make "stinkers" without stress, ya?  ;-)

Drug Free!

Darin has suffered with GERD and a hiatal hernia for years.  Really....YEARS.  He has taken Prevacid for longer than we can remember, and it's a prescription that is supposed to only be used for a few weeks.  Our chiropractor told Darin that he could get off the Prevacid if he wanted to, but neither of us really believed it could be done because of the hiatal hernia, which is basically a continually open hole in Darin's stomach, leading into the esophagus.  We were told by "real" doctors that he would have to have surgery to fix it. 

But one morning as I watched the news while getting ready for the day, I saw one of those commercials.  You know..."If you or a loved one have taken the drug Prevacid and suffered from 'blah-bitty-blah' you might be entitled to compensation......"  I told Darin what I saw, and then he saw it the next day.  That was the last day he was on Prevacid.  He quit it cold turkey and then we left town for 10 days.  He carried the Tums with him and when we got back, we dusted off the recipe for Brasco Broth that Dr. Erb gave us to start us down the road to healing Darin's tummy.  I took a crash course in chicken feet and local sources for grassfed beef and free range chicken.  Darin was supposed to drink nothing but the broth for 3 days.  We realized on the 2nd day that we needed a plan and turned to Dr. Erb.  He directed us to Restoring Your Digestive Health.  We found it at Barnes & Noble here in town, and followed what is called the Guts & Glory Program.  It's been over three weeks since he started down this path, and nearly two weeks since he has felt one little "urp."  We just can hardly believe it.  We never thought it possible!  Here's some little tidbits that we learned:

1) Most digestive problems are caused by too much candida/yeast. 

2) Darin's lifelong stomach issues were probably passed along to him by his Mom when he came through the birth canal.  She probably had a high level of candida/yeast and Darin took some with him as he left.  :-)

3) As Darin ate the Standard American Diet all through life, the yeast from all the carbs that we all love so much, multiplied his stomach issues and the issues became worse as he got older.  The yeast buildup in his gut is what actually caused the hiatal hernia.  The Guts & Glory Program starves out the yeast and detoxes the body.  Now Dr. Erb will give Darin adjustments that will help close up the hiatal hernia.  No more hole!

This article, Acid Reflux: A Red Flag, really solidified things for us.  It spoke to us on every level concerning what Darin has been experiencing for 20 years and more.

Making (more) Changes...it's all good.

Darin finally installed Photoshop on my new laptop (thank you, Darin!) and I was going to post some pictures of the kid's latest fun.  They turned our kitchen table into a ping-pong table.  But Ben just joined the blog world and beat me to it.  Check out his blog and see what my fun kids did this weekend. :-)

I've been feeling kind of frustrated lately because we have been making some drastic (to us!) changes in our eating habits and I thought that the pounds would start melting off.  Well.  I'm still only four pounds down.  I guess it's better than four pounds UP!  Cruising around the blogosphere this weekend, I came across a great blog entry written by Vin Miller on his blog, Natural Bias.  It's titled Finding a Strong Source of Motivation for Healthy Living.  Read it, because it's really good.  What I'm taking from it is that if we make changes in our diets only to lose weight as our main motivation, we will usually lose interest/motivation/the will to continue because the excitement certainly wears thin after awhile. (no kidding)  Vin says that if we choose to make changes in our activity or eating habits to be healthier then we will usually be more committed and the change we look for will naturally follow. 

I've been doing it backwards.  I've changed some eating habits to lose weight, and to be honest, haven't been 100% faithful because I've felt constrained by "the diet."  So this week my goal is to work on my outlook and see what I can come up with.  I am totally on board with making changes to be healthier.  Darin and I have already made a lot of changes in order to be healthier and have noticed a difference in our overall health.  But more changes - it just interferes with my Chai Tea obsession, that's all.  If you're interested, the best way to order a Chai Tea from Starbucks is as a Venti, Breve, 10-pump Chai.  Heaven.  Creamy Heaven.  I've been able to let go of all "man-made dairy" except the chai.  The "breve" is half-n-half.  Oh, the calories.  So good. 

But no, don't do it.  My goal is to encourage you and me to make healthy changes.  Chai Tea is not a healthy change.  If only...

ANYWAY - I'm going to pull out my copy of Nourishing Traditions again and read, read, read.  Especially the section on Dairy, since that's been something I've been working on lately.  As I've mentioned before, we drink milk kefir which is great, probiotically speaking.  ;-)  Lots of good stuff for our guts and it's not a good-for-you food that breaks the bank.  The next thing I want to start doing is making my own yogurt, following the recipe found in Nourishing Traditions.



This is Jack.  He is our very own All-Around Animal Whisperer.  Here is a picture of him with a lizard he chased down in our front yard.  And no, we are not adding "lizard" to our diet.  This is a totally random picture posting.  ;-)

Chai Lady

After I gave birth to Grace back in December, Darin did a lot of the grocery shopping for about a month.  Lydia and I have a weekly grocery shopping routine.  We both missed it.  We go to SuperTarget, step in Starbucks for a tasty beverage while we read a chapter of a book together (we're working through the Elsie Dinsmore series), then shopping.  I always, ALWAYS  order a venti, breve (breve is half n' half), 10-pump chai.  I'm addicted to the chai in no small way! 

Lydia and I missed getting out together and we learned that the baristas at Starbucks missed us, too!  Darin took the older 3 Christmas shopping.  They did their shopping, then he installed them at Starbucks while he finished our shopping for them.  While the kids were ordering a drink for themselves, the barista asked, "Did your mom have her baby yet?"  The girl working with her said, "Who?"  She responded with "You know.  Chai Lady."  ;-)  So I'm Chai Lady.  But next time I go in to the SuperTarget Starbucks with Lydia, I'm not going to order a chai.  I'm going to order an unsweetened, venti Passion Tea.  That doesn't roll off the tongue like Chai Lady.  Passion Lady....Passion Tea Lady...<blush>.

Back at the beginning of the month, I was chatting with a friend who told me that her son had complete relief from his seasonal allergies when he quit eating dairy.  Our allergies have improved so much since going to a chiropractor but not completely, so I wondered if we chilled on the dairy if it would help? Goodbye Chai Tea... only I didn't realize how entrenched dairy is in our diet.  It seems that just about every meal includes some sort of dairy product.  So I'm working on slowly weaning everyone from it, but I went cold turkey.  The first thing I noticed was a difference in Grace!  At 5 months, she's still nursing.  Right away, she stopped spitting up so much.  We used to have to have a burp rag extremely handy because she spit up so much.  Now it's almost nothing.  I also have noticed a difference in her dirty diapers.  She doesn't have as many blowouts as she did.  Well, she doesn't have ANY blowouts.  It's a complete night and day difference. 

My big dream is for us to move into a home with 2 acres (I'm not greedy ;-)) so we can have our own goats or cows and have our own milk.  Our chiropractor calls all the pastuerized/processed stuff "man-made dairy" and encourages us to find raw sources for milk and other dairy products.  We used to get raw goat's milk from a family here in our town, but they're working on moving and have sold all their goats!  They sold their milk at a reasonable price.  I've done a little searching around and the cheapest I can find goat's milk around here is $16 a gallon!  That's just not in our budget.  We do use milk from a local ice cream shop (Braum's) to make milk kefir.  We make smoothies from the kefir - its consistency is a little more runny than yogurt.  The lactose, which is what most people react to in dairy products, is "pre-digested" in the kefir making process, making the good stuff in the  milk easier to absorb. 

Another great thing I've noticed from leaving dairy behind is that I'm 3 pounds down.  I've done a little research to try to find the benefits of a dairy-free diet and have only found a small list so far:  relief from acne, migraine headaches, ovarian cancer and autism.  As if those aren't enough, I wonder, do you have any info to share on this topic?