This might have been the toughest day so far. It makes sense that the farther along we are, the tougher it will be for Harry in many ways. As I mentioned yesterday, Harry had a dinner with his track team. It's never fun to be the person eating differently from everyone else; it certainly can't be easy when you're 17. At least one of the guys at his lunch table has made disparaging remarks about the looks of the bread Harry's sandwiches are on. And, worst of all, last night, at the end of a long day (school, track practice, and track dinner followed by the school annual boys' beauty pageant) someone in our house decided it was a good time to eat the Toblerone chocolate my daughter brought home from Italy. As that was being enjoyed by everyone but Harry, he looked at me, told me he felt no different than ever and asked when he'd start getting his usual foods back, and in what order. Poor guy - I know him and I know he'd never say it aloud, but foods, especially special, sugary foods (i.e., something brought from Europe - even if the same thing can be purchased here) are a pleasure for him.
The big success of the day was that I baked Gluten-Free/Sugar-Free Carrot Cupcakes. I used stevia powder for the sweetener as this is considered a safe sweetener for people with candida issues. Everyone (but me) loved them. I found they tasted a bit "chemical-y" - stevia is very strong (1 t = 1 C sugar), so if you overuse it, even a bit, you'll really notice it. I would use less next time.
I also realize I've made some mistakes. When I was cooking his dinner yesterday, brown rice pasta with a sauce made from organic, grass-fed beef, onions, tomato, and kale, I threw in a handful of wilted greens from our previous night's supper. As soon as they left my hand, en route to the pot, I realized I shouldn't have thrown them in: wilted veggies are start to mold and foods with mold should not be eaten by those on a candida diet - it gives the candida something to feast on. Likewise, Harry had been asking for sandwich meat for weeks. I won't buy this normally - I only buy animal products from humanely raised (and hopefully slaughtered) animals. I found some at the Berkshire Coop the day before, and although I was hesitant that pre-packaged meat might, again, be older/moldier than acceptable for the diet, I went ahead and bought it, and gave it to Harry for lunch yesterday. I remembered this morning that vegetables should be peeled, again because the skins have a higher mold content. I hadn't been peeling Harry's carrots. So, I need to do more research and be more careful with what Harry's eating.
We forge ahead though. I think it's both too soon to say which way this is going, and I still have reason to believe that at least some of the foods Harry's been eating have been affecting his health. I no longer think we can do this experiment properly in just five days: some say that's long enough to test for candida overgrowth, no one says it's long enough to test for food allergies. I can't yet say how long we'll go for: I can't do this without Harry's agreement and cooperation - I still have that, but I don't know if I'll have it for long.
Here's what Harry ate today:
Breakfast: The smoothie (see Day 2 for ingredients), hot quinoa flakes cereal - this highly nutritious cereal is even quicker to make than Pop-Tarts. Boil twice the amount of water (salted) as quinoa flakes (I used 1 C water and 1/2 C quinoa). Once the water is boiling, add the quinoa flakes and stir. It's ready in a minute.
Lunch: Organic turkey breast on gluten-free buckwheat bread, apple, carrot sticks, seltzer, walnuts.
Dinner: Brown rice pasta with meat sauce (see above). Carrot cupcakes made with Bob's Red Mill Gluten-free Baking Mix, carrots (duh), coconut oil, baking soda, salt, vanilla, stevia powder.
I need a good idea for dinner tonight. Harry needs something different and great to keep him going on this. Time to put on my thinking cap, but if anyone reads this and has any ideas, you know how to reach me! (Just leave a comment.)
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