2 Months of SCD

I have made it two months on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD). The first 2 weeks were the hardest. I adjusted to it very quickly, and honestly, it feels like I've been eating this way for much longer than 2 months (but in a good way). I would say I'm 97% good about sticking to the diet. I'm grateful I don't have food allergies, because I can be a little lenient. I can still eat the sacrament bread, and this week I had a tiny bite of Aggie Ice Cream.

Physically, I have felt pretty well, I'm still not 100% better though, and I'm still trying to get off some medication. So I will probably be sticking with this diet for a while. A year or 2 doesn't seem so crazy to me now. Nuts are allowed on the diet, and I've baked a lot with nut flour. But I've learned that I still need moderation, especially with nuts. I made some yummy strawberry shortcake cupcakes for my birthday. I've also made some good muffins, donuts, cookies, granola, pizza, and beef jerky.

I've had to switch my mindset with food though. Food has usually been an inconvenience for me. I felt like spending too much time in the kitchen was a waste of time. I think we ate reasonably well, but I definitely preferred to not cook everything from scratch.

I've come to better understand how important it is to eat real, healthy food. The one common thing in all the books I've been reading is that disease begins in the gut. If our digestive systems aren't eliminating food in a timely fashion (12-18 hours), then that food basically rots in our gut, creating toxins that can cause damage and disease elsewhere.The Western Diet is not gut friendly. Fruits and veggies are really the best at keeping food moving through your body.

Also, probiotics and fermented food are really important. We have a whole ecosystem of bacteria in our gut called our gut flora. But many things can throw our gut flora out of whack, a big one being medication. Especially antibiotics. If you ever have to take antibiotics, make sure to take probiotics to help replenish the good bacteria in your body. Also, mothers pass on their gut flora to their babies. When a child is born, they have a sterile gut. The gut flora is establish through breast milk within the first 30 days. Formula cannot do that, which is one reason it is so important to breast feed, if able.

The thing I found really interesting, is that if a grandmother had mild digestive problems (too much gas, nothing serious), then she will pass on a slightly imbalanced gut flora to her daughter, The daughter's gut flora becomes more imbalanced due to the Western Diet, fast food, and medication (maybe the birth control pill). She then passes this out of balance gut flora to her daughter, which may be manifested through food allergies, ADHD, autism, and a whole spectrum of disorders we see affecting our children today. So what we eat not only affects us, but future generations.

I've also been amazed at how sugar is in almost everything. You don't realize it until you can't have anything that has added sugar, which seems to eliminate 90% of what is available at the grocery store. We are really addicted to sugar here.

Addiction is another thing I have been observing. I don't think it is possible to be addicted to healthy food. I've enjoyed eating most of the food I make now, but I rarely get the craving to have more of something. The only exceptions have been some cookies I made that have a lot of honey in them (so not the healthiest thing). But that tiny bit of Aggie Ice Cream that I had the other day, was like a hook on the end of a fishing line. I almost gave in and ate more. The desire to eat more was intensely strong. So I think we should take good notice of what foods we are addicted to, because we probably shouldn't be eating those foods.

Anyway, this is just a hodgepodge of thoughts I have had while on this diet. I've been spending a lot of time in the kitchen, but I think it is worth it to keep my family healthy. The food we eat becomes a part of us in a very real way, and I want to be the gatekeeper for my family instead of trusting the food industry to do it for me.

Baby Steps and Biting

P2 is almost walking! She took her first two steps a couple weeks ago, but she always stops walking as soon as she realizes what she is doing. She can walk really well if she can hold onto one of your fingers, but as soon as you let go, she will start crawling.

P2 also started biting. There was a 24 hour period where she bit her brother 4 times. Once was on the cheek and that left a nice bruise. She bites when she gets mad or frustrated. Fortunately, her brother has now realized that she will bite, so he is a little more careful around her.

2 Little Monkeys

Two little monkeys jumping on the bed...

P1 likes to sing that song while he and P2 jump on his bed. Fortunately no one has hit their head yet!

The Merry-Go-Round

I took the kids to a newer park that is in our stake, and both times we have been the only family at the playground. The kids love the merry-go-round. P1 calls it his boat. P2 loves to crawl around in circles trying to run away from me. I get a lot of exercise from running around the merry-go-round to make sure she doesn't crawl right off the edge. 

Napping

P1 is sort of outgrowing his naps. But there are some days he still needs them. I usually try to put him in his bed for quiet time, and if he is tired then he will fall asleep. But sometime I let him keep playing and then this is how I find him:

P1 loves his sunglasses, so he will even try to sleep in them!

Father's Day

We had a nice relaxing Father's Day at home. These kiddos adore their dad, and for good reason. He is patient, kind, loving, and fun to play with! I don't think I've ever heard him raise his voice in our home (which I can't say about me!). And he works hard everyday to provide for our family. Thanks for being an amazing father PE! We love you!

Bear Lake

We went on our first vacation with the kids! We took them up to Bear Lake with my family. We rented a 3 bedroom condo at Ideal Beach Resort. It was a really nice facility, and we enjoyed our vacation.

We had our own bedroom, and the kids did really well for being away from home. The condo could sleep up to 16 people, but we decided it wasn't set-up to feed that many people. The kitchen and dining area were small, but we managed.

The resort was a really nice place. They had playgrounds for the kids, swimming pools, tennis/basketball courts, big grassy areas, mini-golfing, and of course, beach access to Bear Lake. P1 liked collecting all the little seashells on the beach.

Breakfast time at the condo! The kids would wake up at 6 because it was really bright outside.

One day we went to Rendezvous Beach because we had a boat rental there and they had a nicer beach area. We ate lunch and played in the sand.

P1 is the only boy I know who loves dirt but hates being dirty. He would keep crying because he would get sand on his shoes and toes. Finally we convinced him that it was fun by burying his feet in the sand.

Then we went for a long boat ride. P1 was excited to go on the boat. P2's life jacket was horrible, and I don't think she could breathe in it when it was buckled all the way. In hindsight, one of us should have just stayed on the beach with her. She tolerated the boat ride surprisingly well, but I don't think she enjoyed it all. Oh, and we lost P1's hat during the boat ride, he was really sad about that.

 We went tubing for a little bit, and P1 called it a balloon. So we were riding the balloon. I think we lasted about 5 minutes, and that was good enough for P1.

 

 

A tractor pulled our boat out into the water, so when some of us wanted to get off the boat, we rode the tube back in. We had fun, but next time I would only do the boat for an hour with the kids, and then play more on the beach. And then maybe I wouldn't have gotten sunburned.

   

 For dinner we got the giant Old Ephraim pizza. I had prepared my own grain-free pizza crust before-hand, so all I needed to do was throw on the toppings and pop it in the oven. I even bought a can of pre-sliced olives so it would be easy (and a can of mushrooms instead of using fresh mushrooms). Unfortunately, there was only a cheap, broken can opener in the condo. So it was quite the hassle getting the cans opened.

P1 loved mini-golfing. He was too cute! I would help him hit the ball correctly the first time (once he got a hole-in-one), and then I would tell him to hit his ball in the hole when it was his turn again. He would then pick up the ball with his hand, place it right next to the hole, and push it in with his club (more like shuffleboard). He really enjoyed it, and wanted to play again, but we were done since P2 would only let me or my mom hold her.

PE took P1 and they set-up a hammock. That was PE's goal for the vacation, mine was to play catch which I was able to do with my brother and dad. I haven't used those muscles for a while, but it was fun to throw a ball around.

The last night we were there, we went to the Pickleville Playhouse for dinner and a show. The kids went back to the condo with PE after dinner. The food was good, and the play was enjoyable. We saw "The Drowsy Chaperone."

All in all, it was a pretty good vacation. Exhausting, but good. Traveling with kids is hard work, and it's good to be back home!