School and Stuff
I gave AJ a new Boxcar Children book to read when the girls went upstairs for quiet time around 3:30 this afternoon. She had read the entire book by dinnertime. Her eyes sparkled as she told Daddy all about the book and how "very exciting" it was.
M&M has been doing great with her reading, too. She finished the Kindergarten level A Beka science book in one sitting, so I'm having her read a First Grade level Health, Safety and Manners book (A Beka). She is really loving it.
I'll tell her how much she has to read each day, but usually she wants to read more. I keep thinking that she finished her assigned section so quickly she can't really have read it thoroughly. But when I take the book and ask her questions about what she just finished reading I'm always amazed at her near-perfect recall and excellent comprehension.
AJ is really enjoying her Christian Liberty Press science and history books, too. In science she's learning about things like weather and the water cycle right now. I think her favorite project so far was making the various types of clouds (cumulus, stratus, cirrus, nimbus) out of cotton balls.
In history AJ just finished learning about the Pilgrims and the Declaration of Independence, and now she's studying the Colonial Era. She seems particularly impressed with George Washington.
Baby E's favorite activity right now is washing her hands. She begs to "osh hans, peeese?" constantly throughout the day. Of course, her idea of washing her hands is standing on a stool at the sink and playing in the water for an hour.
All three kids and DH seem to be coming down with a cold tonight. Baby E has been particularly fussy and high-maintenance the last few days. We had been trialing her on bread with yeast in it, and I don't think that's going well.
Today I didn't serve kids any fruit, sugars or grains, along with the dairy products and other foods we're already avoiding. We ate a lot of potatoes, carrots, parsnips, broccoli and green cabbage today. For dinner we had cauliflower topped with marinara sauce and hamburger, with sides of broccoli and raw cabbage. I'm not sure what we'll do tomorrow yet.
I've thought about going to mainly just green vegetables and meats for a while, as suggested by many of the hypoallergenic, anti-allergy, flora-balancing or intestine-healing programs. But I've discovered in my record-keeping that I have to eat at least 2200 to 2500 calories per day just to keep from dropping under 97 lbs.
There's just no way I could eat 50 to 100 servings of vegetables every day (the non-starchy veggies carry only about 20 calories per serving) even if I could pick up 500 or 1000 calories a day from meat and oils. Already we often eat more vegetables in one meal than most people eat in an entire day.
Being unable to eat so many foods like legumes, eggs, nuts and seeds, avocado, coconut, seafood and dairy products makes most of those diets unworkable for us--especially with such a limited selection of corn-free organic vegetables available this time of year.
Mostly, I think we need to go back to eating no or only very limited amounts of refined sugars and refined carbs. Those Kosher for Passover foods are exciting, but I don't think the sugar and cottonseed oil is good for us--especially when confined with all the artificial colors, flavors and preservatives. We hadn't eaten that kind of junk in ages.
M&M has been doing great with her reading, too. She finished the Kindergarten level A Beka science book in one sitting, so I'm having her read a First Grade level Health, Safety and Manners book (A Beka). She is really loving it.
I'll tell her how much she has to read each day, but usually she wants to read more. I keep thinking that she finished her assigned section so quickly she can't really have read it thoroughly. But when I take the book and ask her questions about what she just finished reading I'm always amazed at her near-perfect recall and excellent comprehension.
AJ is really enjoying her Christian Liberty Press science and history books, too. In science she's learning about things like weather and the water cycle right now. I think her favorite project so far was making the various types of clouds (cumulus, stratus, cirrus, nimbus) out of cotton balls.
In history AJ just finished learning about the Pilgrims and the Declaration of Independence, and now she's studying the Colonial Era. She seems particularly impressed with George Washington.
Baby E's favorite activity right now is washing her hands. She begs to "osh hans, peeese?" constantly throughout the day. Of course, her idea of washing her hands is standing on a stool at the sink and playing in the water for an hour.
All three kids and DH seem to be coming down with a cold tonight. Baby E has been particularly fussy and high-maintenance the last few days. We had been trialing her on bread with yeast in it, and I don't think that's going well.
Today I didn't serve kids any fruit, sugars or grains, along with the dairy products and other foods we're already avoiding. We ate a lot of potatoes, carrots, parsnips, broccoli and green cabbage today. For dinner we had cauliflower topped with marinara sauce and hamburger, with sides of broccoli and raw cabbage. I'm not sure what we'll do tomorrow yet.
I've thought about going to mainly just green vegetables and meats for a while, as suggested by many of the hypoallergenic, anti-allergy, flora-balancing or intestine-healing programs. But I've discovered in my record-keeping that I have to eat at least 2200 to 2500 calories per day just to keep from dropping under 97 lbs.
There's just no way I could eat 50 to 100 servings of vegetables every day (the non-starchy veggies carry only about 20 calories per serving) even if I could pick up 500 or 1000 calories a day from meat and oils. Already we often eat more vegetables in one meal than most people eat in an entire day.
Being unable to eat so many foods like legumes, eggs, nuts and seeds, avocado, coconut, seafood and dairy products makes most of those diets unworkable for us--especially with such a limited selection of corn-free organic vegetables available this time of year.
Mostly, I think we need to go back to eating no or only very limited amounts of refined sugars and refined carbs. Those Kosher for Passover foods are exciting, but I don't think the sugar and cottonseed oil is good for us--especially when confined with all the artificial colors, flavors and preservatives. We hadn't eaten that kind of junk in ages.
Labels: food, just life, learning
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Posted by purple_kangaroo at 9:29 PM[Permanent link]
8 Comments:
You might be interested in a few books by Karen Defelice (Enzymes for Autism and other Neurologial conditions). A friend of mine is using enzymes with her son who displayed serious symptoms of Autism. He couldn't tolerate wheat, corn, soy, etc. and she faced similar problems like the ones you have with Baby E. After a very restrictive diet her son is now on Enzymes and she has seen amazing changes. It may be unconventional but worth looking into. If you would like to get in touch with her let me know and I can send you her e-mail.
This is Katia again. I really am quite interested in your post of late cause I am going through kind of the same frustrations.
I have a few questions. Can you eat oatmeal? Not instant (that is processed)just rolled oats. That is about the only grain I eat. It doesn't seem to bother my arthritis at all and the kids can digestit easily. I put Agave or stevia on it when I serve it as cereal. I also can make cake, cupcakes, crepes, pancakes, muffins, and pie crust with oats and agave. Agave is a catus nector. It has a low glycemic level and you can only find it in health food stores. How it is bottled I am not sure but it seems to be pure catus nector. Also Stevia is from the stevia leaf. The powder is ground from the leaf and even you can buy the leafs fresh and grind them yourself. It taste kind of like black licorish and is ten times sweeter then surgar so the glycemic level is really low. Well these are some things I use. I make cookies with just oatmeal and agave. It sweetness is comparitive with honey. You can use applesause to soffen it if you can't use butter. I have also used oat flour from the health food store bins and just mix it with water and oil and it makes pie crust of you can roll it flat and slice it and bake it as bread sticks. I have done a lot of experimenting. I wish you luck. Let me know if you have tried any of these things like agave, stevia or oatmeal. I am curious to know if you have and found them problems as well. For my girls I let them have jack sprat bread which is made with few ingrediants and mostly with sprouted wheat which is easier for them to digest. I myself can't eat it right now while I'm cleansing but They seem to do ok with it.
I just relized I have to cut out my lunch meat from my diet and this is depressing because it is so easy to go to the fridge and get a peice of lunch meat when I get the munchies. Now I just grap a handful of almonds. I feel better today. I think I am finally coming on the upspring I hope at least good luck to you.
B in portugal, thanks for the information. I've heard that book recommended, and the enzymes. There are some enzymes that people on the corn avoiders forum have been trying without reactions. I've been thinking about trying them.
Katia, hi! Unfortunately Baby E is allergic to apples and oats, we can't do any nuts, and she won't eat anything with Stevia in it for some reason.
We have used agave nectar and honey with some success. For lunchmeat I just cook up a beef roast or chicken and shred the meat for sandwiches. It works well, except that we're avoiding yeast again now, so that rules out most breads. :)
Katia again. Wow this really is hard for you. What have you made with agave. I'm always looking for ideas and recepies. Does Baby E have not reactions then to agave? Have you tried the breads at the health food store made with no yeast. they taste different but I guess are healthier. have you tried. pumpernickle or rye. I don't like it but it they make it without wheat or yeast. I have a hard time with the taste. Squash is my friend as far as things that fill you up. I have even put spaghetti sauce on spaghetti squash and I like it. I planted tons of squash last year and enjoyed being full on zuchinni, spaghetti squash, banana nut, and yellow squash. I especially like zuchinni. Also Sweet patatoes are very filling. This makes great baby food. Squash sometimes is the only thing that fills me up when I have to be really strict. Let me know what you think of these ideas. Thanks for your quick responce. It is fun to chat with someone who is akin to my feelings on health.
Katia, I haven't made anything with the agave nectar that requires more than a tablespoon or two, just because it's so expensive. I was using it to sweeten plain yogurt back when we were eating that, and will occasionally add small amounts to fruit smoothies or Baby E's compounded medicine. I have used it in fruit muffins, too.
We love spaghetti squash, and even have a favorite family recipe using it. But it is so expensive--last time it cost me $10 for a single squash. I can't wait until our garden starts yielding. How do you store squashes to keep them fresh through the winter?
We've been using the yeast-free bread, and I really like the rye and spelt versions. I'm not 100% sure she's tolerating it, though . . . it is fermented (sourdough) and does contain yeast organisms, although there's no regular baker's yeast added.
katia said
I freeze squash. peel it chop it and freeze it. I wish I had a bigger freezer then I could store more. A little goes a long way with agave epecially if you don't eat sweets a lot. How bout sweet potatoes have you tried those. Have you tried looking for zuchinni on sale it is time to time around here. Can baby E have wheat. Have you tried mixing wheat flour oil and water and making bread sticks. like from a pie crust recepi. I guess it is what is called unleven bread. Its really fast to make. I can't have yogurt or wheat so that is why I use oats.
i winder if oyu could just take tablespoons of oil for extra calories. kind of disgusting, but at least some calories?
Katia, do you freeze spaghetti squash too? I was wondering if cutting and freezing before cooking would affect the stringy quality of it.
Bridget, I have been using a lot of flaxseed oil as a condiment. :)
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