4 Weeks and Counting....

4 weeks is how long we have into the journey with our new diet. Jacob has had health problems for some time (noticeably for almost a year). Through the course of time, we have had several tests run and come up short until 4 weeks ago. We found that his body cannot digest certain foods (they tested well over 100 of the most common "problem" foods). The recommendations came back to cut out dairy, gluten, and eggs for 8-12 weeks. After that time we can reintroduce 1 item every 5 days and see how he reacts.

I love to bake and cook. One of the ways that I show love to others is by making them their favorite foods.  I get that from my mom. She always makes people feel special by spending the day preparing your favorite dishes when you are coming to visit. And every time they taste amazing. To hear that we had to change our diet was a blow to all of us. But one that I will gladly make. I would do anything to make our son feel better.

He responded almost right away. Some of the improvements include his face clearing up, his tummy was not hurting every time he ate and he seemed much happier. There were other improvements, but not ones that need to be posted ;). I could not believe it. It had only been 3 days. Shopping and meal planning have been difficult, but worth every second to help him feel better.

A week had gone by and the improvements we had seen early on were going backwards. I was keeping a journal of his food, the way he felt, monitoring everything I could think of. What were we doing wrong? I poured over his results, library books, and blogs. It did not make sense.

Last week (after reviewing all our notes) we decided to cut out corn as well, even though his results said he was OK with corn. This left us with very few (in my mind) options for eating, but we wanted to see what would happen without the corn. Once again we started to see amazing results. We have several weeks to go, but given the improvements I am not sure that we will be returning to our "old" diet. Thank goodness for fresh fruit, vegetables (except corn), nuts and meat!

Shopping, cooking, and just plan eating is so hard when you are not including eggs, dairy, gluten and corn. I am using ingredients that I have never heard of and utilizing my food processor more than ever before. We are looking forward to a garden! Dining out is not even an option any more. I have found some great recipes at Maid in Alaska , Gluten Free Home Maker, my dear friend Holly, and we love these bars at Kitchen Stewardship. The more I read, the more I realize we are not alone in our diet. I am so thankful for those that are willing to share their recipes with everyone. It has made cooking fun again. Each day is getting better, PRAISE GOD!