i scheduled an appointment for mia to meet with tara. she is both a friend and a life coach. she is the person who is teaching sophia’s ‘coaching and cooking with teens’ class that soph just adores. i struggle so much with mia’s eating habits, that i am sincerely hoping that tara might have more luck influencing mia’s choices towards a healthy direction.
so, mia met with tara for an hour. after the meeting, tara had quite a few suggestions and will, hopefully, continue to work with mia. after listening to her suggestions, i did a bit more online research. it is amazing that a child can have so many food issues! we have known about her gluten and casein issues since she was 3. but now it seems other things are starting to show through.
it looks like mia needs to eliminate soy from her diet. this is going to really be hard, because the one source of protein i can always get into mia is soy. she eats protein bars, composed of soy and rice, when she needs a snack. it was a relief to me that i found them, because she does not like meat at all. but now i am going to have to keep looking. and what the heck do i do with all these protein bars! (i should not eat soy, either. ugh)
it also would be prudent to eliminate all processed foods. mia’s diet is comprised of a very limited number of foods.
- gfcf chicken nuggets (processed)
- beef hot dogs (processed)
- deli ham (processed)
- nugo protein bars (soy and processed)
- gfcf pretzels (processed)
- potato chips (processed)
- lucky charms cereal (processed + food dyes)
- fruity pebbles (processed + food dyes)
- french fries (deep fried AND processed)
- dill pickles (processed)
- vegan cheese (soy and processed)
- soy ice cream (soy and processed)
- gfcf donuts (processed)
- scrambled eggs
- bananas
- apples
- clementines
- water
so, if i ‘clean up her list to only include non-processed foods, i get…..
- scrambled eggs
- bananas
- apples
- clementines
- water
yeah… not exactly enough food to live on. that means i get to try and change her diet again. this time, no gluten (wheats, barley, rye), no casein (milk protein found in most dairy products), no soy (her cheese and ice cream), no food dyes (her favorite cereals) and nothing processed. whoo hoooo!!!!
so the right thing for me to do in this situation is definitely NOT the easy thing to do. but it is the right thing. i WANT mia to get healthy. i do not want her to continue to eat foods that are making her body sick and unhealthy. i want her to feel good, not complain about her tummy hurting all the time.
this is going to take some time. i don’t think ‘cold turkey’ is going to work on this. we are going to have to eliminate things slowly and replace them as she will accept new foods. and as if a gfcf diet wasn’t already expensive…. a gfcf, no soy diet is going to be off the charts expensive.
so please say a few prayers for both of us. i HAVE to do this for mia. to me, for a parent to refuse to put the effort into a special diet is the same as child abuse. mia is not old enough to make the choices on her own. she needs my guidance. that means hard work for a while, if not forever.
*sigh*
and if you have any ideas or suggestions, please feel free to share… i’m going to need them!
Besides being an awesome Momof3girlz, what a gifted blog writer you are! I love how you have summarized everything here including photos to illustrate the points. Mia is a very smart and special girl and I truly believe that cleaning up her diet, even if it takes a while, will benefit her tremendously. One step at a time. Most people don’t learn to ride a bike the first time they get in the seat, and changing her way of eating will be a similar experience. You will try and maybe fall down, but you will get back on the bike and try again. Sooner or later, you can enjoy the ride! Know that I will be adding you and Mia to my prayer list.
tara, thank you so much for everything. it is going to be slow, because amelia does not like change, but i am determined to do whatever will help her be healthy!
kath,
I am wondering why Mia was not put on this regimen years ago and just now its being brought up?
Elizabeth has been on this diet since she was 15 months old, no whole milk either – it worked wonders and we credit this along with therapy to the normal little girl she is today – let me know how you make out with Mia – also no regular ice cream – did you know that hyper barick(sp) oxygen treatments work wonders also – doug N Steph invested in one – look into it
Start with the soy – it is the biggest because it is in everything! One item at a time if you need to. As for the cereal, check the health food stores, a lot of the colored cereals are naturally colored. Even though it’s processed it will be an improvement. Try not to add much new processed food if possible. Praying for you.
thanks, kim. i am going away this weekend, so i will start the detox process on monday. it’s too much for mia’s dad to try and handle. until then, we will keep her on her current diet. once monday comes, i will eliminate what i can and probably make the rest from scratch. i mean, who needs to sleep, right?
http://www.turtlemountain.com/
Have you tried their yogurt? We have Zachary off dairy — and he loves this. I occasionally buy him the the ice cream sandwiches. We’re also looking in to some things … so I’ll pray for you too!
i will check them out, caara! thanks so much for the link and for the prayers 😀
How can we help?
Dad, you and Mom already help beyond measure. I promise I will let you both know what Dr. Kathy says. If soy is not an issue, we will continue with the status quo. If it is, I might need you to help me create her foods. Mom told me you have become quite the cook, you see 🙂 Thank you for asking! I love you <3