Day 5 - It gets worse before it gets better

Today is Day 5! I am so proud of myself for sticking to this 100% for 5 days. I have never stuck to a diet for 5 days without cheating in my life, and I sure have been on enough of them. Its a lot different when the health and happiness of your child depends on it.

I wound up taking $72 worth of pantry items back to Wal-Mart, and I stocked up the house with FG approved basics for only $30 out of pocket.

I then went to Earth Fare and wow! I love that place! I signed up for their e-mail newsletter which got me a coupon for a free organic chicken, and then I signed up for their text alerts which got me a $10 off $25 coupon. I found amazing, approved sourdough bread there, called Rudi's, among other things. Pretty much everything in there is approved, sans salicylates.

The food hasn't been as hard as I thought it was going to be. Geeking out my shopping guide made getting through Wal-Mart fairly easy, and for the most part I am familiar with the approved foods. A lot of it is just switching brands - instead of buying Kraft American cheese, I buy Land O Lakes white American. Instead of Mission tortilla's, I buy Azteca.

Meal planning has been no more challenging that it ever was, considering I really, really do not like to meal plan.

Lunches are going very well thank-you-very-much Laptop Lunch box! It really doesn't matter what I put in there, if it is in that fun, colorful bento he will eat it happily.



I am also a terrible mother at lunch time - I let him eat lunch in the floor watching tv. Breakfast and dinner we sit down together but lunch, whatever.

Behavior

So here's a quick rundown on his behavioral changes. Day 1 was typical. Awful, eery second of it.

Day 2 and 3 he was really good! It was like, briefly, I had a totally different kid. He didn't tell me "I hate you" or call me stupid for two whole days! This was HUGE!

For those two days, we were able to read books for the first time in months without me getting frustrated and him getting in trouble.

I actually enjoyed spending time with him, for the first time in a really long time.

Day 4 and today, Day 5, were rough at times, but still better than pre-FG. On Day 4 a friend came to visit with her nearly 2 year old son. In the past, we have always had to hover and stay extra vigilant because Henry would be mean and push the little one down, or take toys away from him or yell at him and make him cry.

As soon as my friend walked in the door he said to her, "My mama has figured out that there is petroleum and bad stuff in a lot of the food I was eating and we have stopped eating it and now I can be good!"

And he really was! He was kind and gentle with the little boy, and shared his toys happily. I just about cried when he was showing off a new helicopter that he got for Christmas and then handed it to the little boy and said "here, you can play with it now."

Thinks declined a bit as the day wore on, and I have decided that he is quite sleep deprived. So, he was in bed asleep by 8:30 last night and as I type this at 8:55 tonight he is in bed, but still talking to himself.

I am still so excited, and so very certain that this is the key to getting him back. I am excited for each new day, knowing that we are one day closer to detoxing his little body of the chemical overload he has been exposed to for far too long and getting our sweet, smart boy back to a good place.

Getting Excited! Initial thoughts and ideas, planning...

I am getting so excited to get started! I do admit, it is overwhelming at this point, but I am confident I am going to master this new Feingold lifestyle.

Program Materials

I got my materials in the mail on Saturday. I have been spending every second of down time I have either pouring over the handbook and the shopping guide or lurking on the Feingold Members Support Board.

I am taking the total immersion approach to learning this, because I feel like I do not have any more time to waste getting started.

Henry's behavior is more out of control by the day. He is five this month, he should have a better grasp on appropriate behavior.

I was buckling him into his carseat over the weekend, and he was fighting me as he always does. He said, "I am going to slap you!" and then he actually did! I think he was more surprised by it than I was. That's what I mean when I say he is out of control. He does these things that he knows are wrong, and then instantly regrets it. I have no doubt that he loves me, but he has no impulse control AT ALL. Telling him not to do something means he has to do it RIGHT THEN.

The shopping guide that comes with the Feingold Program materials is a daunting 296 pages. But, it is separated into Stage 1 and Stage 2 foods, so I have been able to make it through the stage 1 foods in about 2 (broken) hours.

What I am doing to make my shopping go a little faster and help cement the approved foods in my head is this: I started at the very front, and highlighted everything listed that I am already familiar with and have already purchased. Doing this has been somewhat of a relief in and of itself - there are a lot more products that are approved that I already buy than I imagined!

Grocery shopping, returning unapproved foods

I have been staring in my pantry for days, looking at all of the unapproved food and sighing. I regularly donate to food banks, but money is tight right now and this new lifestyle is going to cost more, no doubt. So, I called Wal-Mart this morning and spoke with the Customer Service manager. I explained that I recently discovered my child has a severe food allergy, and I have all of this food that I cannot use. They said I could bring it back and get store credit! No receipt necessary, just bring it back, easy peasy! They will check the dates, but nothing is close to expiring, so I am excited to have some store credit to get started.

Bread

One food that I have had a hard time locating a familiar name in the food guide is bread. Just regular ol' sandwich bread. I have a lot of friends that make their own bread, so I started reading about bread makers. It sounds really EASY! I always thought I wasn't domestic enough to make our own bread. But, I have discovered, with modern bread makers there is really not much to it! Put your ingredients in the bread machine, turn it on, and voila! - fresh, home baked bread made with no petrolum based preservatives or vanillin (paper mill waste product that is frequently used to flavor foods because it is cheaper than pure vanillia).

I am taking my change to Coinstar this week to cash in for an Amazon gift card so I can buy a shiny new bread maker (Breadman, $59). I already have $50 in Amazon gift cards that I earned in December, thank you Swagbucks, so I am not going to spend any money out of budget to get started. Of course, I have to buy a bread knife (why do I not already own a bread knife?) and a bread box to keep the bread in. The savings from baking all of our own bread are not going to be realized immediately, but I am confident that the bread machine and accessories will pay for themselves over time. Haven't you noticed how loaf bread is steadily creeping up in price?!

Meals, lunch inspiration

I am anticipating breakfast and dinner to be easy, because I all I have to do is sub a few approved ingredients for those - we already eat pretty well for those meals.

Sweet snacks are easy, too - Breyers and Haggan-Das both make several approved varieties of ice cream, and then there are Walker's shortbread cookies I (yum!) and most variety of Giradehilli chocolate (and we have an outlet close by great prices and coupons).

What I am most nervous about is lunch. Henry is not big on leftovers for lunch, but I think he is going to have to change his attitude on that.

I had a brilliant idea last night to encourage him to eat better at lunch time and to encourage me to feed him a more well balanced lunch. Years ago, maybe when I was still pregnant with Henry, I bought a Laptop Lunch Box in a co-op. It has been sitting in that hard to reach cabinet above the refrigerator ever since.

I bought it because it made sense - children are more likely to eat [healthy things that you want them to eat] if you make it fun for them. Colorful bento boxes (there are several other brands, I just happen to have this one) with small compartments for varied foods make eating fun!

I can probably always get him to eat some carrot sticks with [home made, made with approved ingredients] ranch dressing if it is in the fun Bento box.

Tomatoes are hard. You don't realize how often you use tomatoes until you have to avoid them as if your life depends on it. They are in everything! Tomato soup (duh). Home made vegetable beef soup. Almost all of the pasta dishes my family enjoys - spaghetti, lasagna. Swanson beef broth. Ketchup! The list goes on.

Ketchup will probably prove to be the hardest. I am a big utilizer of ketcup. Typically, if Henry doesn't like a meat that I have cooked giving him ketcup will get him to eat it.

I am going to do my best to replace ketcup with either ranch dressing or honey. It worked great for the grilled chicken I cooked last night - I gave him a small ramekin of honey to dip in and he thought he was having dessert! And he has never, ever eaten so much grilled chicken.


Okay, my window of quiet to write has passed, the children need attention and I am sure something needs cleaning.