You Are What You Eat!

That old saying...."you are what you eat"...man is it true!

I like to watch what I eat, read ingredients all the time (since my 14 yr old was a baby due to his many allergies and sensitivities). We've avoided dairy (except cheese...I love my cheese lol), avoid sugars in food when we can, avoid ingredients that I've never heard of, etc etc. I try to buy as much organic as I can but that can be tough because of extra costs and I always plan on having a great garden of veggies, fruit and herbs but because my patio is always in direct sunlight it seems to fail. This year I need to make some sort of cover so they don't get scorched because I have a lot of organic seeds this year. Not only do you know what you use to feed your plants that you will be ingesting but it saves a lot of money as well.

The time I really noticed that the old saying was true was when my middle son was little and a homeopathic doctor had put him on a restricted diet, avoiding many things he was allergic or sensitive to. Before this diet he was a very temperamental little boy, got upset so easily. Not only did he have these allergies but he was also battling with asthma. The homeopathic doctor said it's no wonder he's temperamental, his body is going against itself all the time and in constant turmoil because of these issues. So she had put him on a 2 week diet...took everything out like potatoes, rice, grapes, no rice milk, no soy, no yams, etc etc etc. I was like, "well whats left for him to eat?"
Anyway, after the 2 weeks...well, during the 2 weeks....he was like a different child. Was calmer, more agreeable, more pleasant to be with with no freaking out. I was shocked and amazed! Even my dad asked what I did with him lol  Taking these foods away from him really worked and settled his body down to normal. Even though it was hard finding foods that he could eat during that time, we managed and it made a world of difference!
After that he could go back to these foods, but we still kept his usuals out like dairy, and would never feed him soy milk anyway but used rice milk, almond milk, coconut milk instead and we still do. Our usual is the coconut/almond blend...just watch that it doesn't have carageenan in it.

There's so much crap in foods these days that you really do have to watch what you eat...and especially for our children. You'd be surprised at what's in stuff that most parents send with their kids to school everyday..even when you think it's healthy.  Granola bars for example...read the ingredients. Yet there are easy ways to make your own with healthier options:
http://ohsheglows.com/2014/08/26/back-to-school-21-portable-allergy-friendly-snack-recipes-vegan-gluten-free-with-nut-free-options/


I have recently thought about putting together weekly 'clean' meals in the fridge. Make our meal preperation quicker and easier. I've been checking out the internet to find some good ideas for vegetarian meal prepping. And there are a lot of great ideas and easy things to make that will save time and be healthy. Here's a quick example that had meal prep ideas as well as smoothies, and easy healthy snacks etc. : https://hurrythefoodup.com/vegetarian-meal-prep-ideas/


We try to avoid meat, since we rarely every bought it anyway...I'm too picky with it and it usually grosses me out lol  And the boys are all good with not eating it..they don't care either way. They have gotten used to bean burgers, tofu, etc instead.
Here's an example of a today's foods in our house:

Breakfast:
-frozen peaches, strawberries, mango, and pineapple with coconut/almond milk, water, chia seeds, flax seeds, cacao with pumpkin seeds and cinnamon smoothies.
-homemade oatmeal with coconut/almond milk, bananas and cinnamon.

Snacks:
-Were either a banana, or organic apple/strawberry sauce today.

Lunch:
-Veggie mushroom burger (vegan) in garlic Naan bread.

Snacks:
-Celery sticks with peanut butter...or snacks from earlier. (I didn't have either lol but kids did)

Dinner:
-Homemade vegetable soup with rice, beans, lentils, green onions, green beans, mushrooms,carrots, garlic, chili flakes, organic vegetable broth...sea salt and black pepper. Smells so good in here right now! And I put some of the soup to the side for the dog (without broth).

Tonight I'll be getting some ingredients to try a granola bar recipe out without peanut butter since the schools have a no peanut zone in class. I'll post the results soon! :)

Almost time for dinner!