Harry stayed with the diet longer and better than I'd initially planned or expected. For a picky eater and a kid not given to easy changes, he's been remarkably strong and determined to see this through. He's made me very proud.
However, he informed me the other day that one week from today is his high school's Junior Prom (of which I'm acutely aware, having a Junior daughter). Harry's escorting a friend and what I wasn't focusing on (although he certainly was) was the food. He told me in no uncertain terms that he'd ordered the eggplant parmesan, and would be eating it. He also told me that should there be a chocolate fountain (and he's hoping there is) that he'd be partaking. Who can blame him.
To find if any of the foods I've eliminated are causing his symptoms, it's time to start adding them back now. So, tonight's the night he gets to eat....something from the long list of banned food. Which one that'll be, I still haven't decided. But, with eggs, dairy, and wheat in eggplant parmesan, I'll be starting with those.
First, however, some observations. Harry's throat clearing is definitely better. Not gone, but better. He definitely is not as sick as he usually is this time of year when he usually sports a runny nose, watery eyes, and a sore throat because of spring allergies. He reports that his energy is better, which is good because he's back to distance running after taking most of the past year off due to injury. He still gets what I call "brain fog", but not as often as before. Interestingly, his taste buds have already changed. This really doesn't take long at all, but most of us don't believe this until we experience it for ourselves. Harry's always had a sweet tooth; now that he's not eating processed sugars, he delights in the taste of an apple (before this diet, he tolerated apples but didn't enjoy them). My daughter made cookies for him the other day: unsweetened cocoa, gluten-free flour, a tiny bit of stevia - an herb which does not raise blood glucose and can be used as a sugar replacement - which barely sweetened the cookies because too much stevia leaves a chemical taste. Kit knew that before the diet, Harry would barely be able to choke the cookies down but after a week without sugar, he raved about them!
The past few days I've been making him a quinoa pilaf to take to school for lunch. I've been making it in the morning and it's lead me to think about how we convince ourselves that cooking healthy food from scratch is just too hard and time-consuming to do. However, I make this dish while I'm drinking my morning coffee (and really, I'm kind of a slug in the morning, so if I can summon the energy for this, anyone can). It goes like this: first I pour the coffee my husband's been kind enough to make for me. I take a sip and then boil 2 cups of water and add 1 cup of rinsed quinoa to it, stir, lower heat and cover. I set the timer for 15 minutes. Then I sip some more coffee, dice an onion and add it to the pot. Sip again, wash and chop a few leaves of kale and add to the pot. Sip coffee and stir quinoa. At some point that I'm up for a walk, I stroll across the kitchen, grab some walnuts and sunflower seeds, add five more steps and these ingredients to the pot (see? now I'm drinking coffee, cooking quinoa, and working out - who says I can't multitask?) By this point, the timer is probably dinging, so I slug some more coffee, add a tablespoon or so of olive oil to the pilaf, stir and it's done. I could be reading the newspaper, but why? That's a habit that's worth reconsidering. Preparing a healthy meal is more nourishing to the body and soul than reading about the day's tragedies - they'll go on without me. BTW, this pilaf makes enough food for a sizable lunch for an active teen, my lunch, and an after school/work snack for whoever else is interested. I made it three days in a row and Harry loved it each time!
I'll start blogging tomorrow about the results of adding foods back to Harry's diet. I'll also soon post a recipe for chick-pea patties, both the usual way I make it and the gluten-free, egg-free version that I made last week.
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