It's Been a While

Not sure when I will get my blogging mojo back... but if anyone still happens to stop by, here is what the Dunbar Crew looks like nowadays.

Stationery Card

View the entire collection of cards.

FOOD- Part 3

November and December were hard transitional food months for us. Especially December… the baking, the cookies, the brownies, the fudge, the goodies… all of that was OBSELETE. There was no baking, none. And there were very few goodies because Bogie was on the most stringent part of his diet.

We ate a lot of fish. Plain fish with a little bit of salt and pepper and olive oil .

This was my plate since the rice has corn in it and there is lemon on the fish. But for anyone who is changing their diet this is a perfectly healthy dinner.

We drank smoothies 2-3 times per day. You know you're family is going through a lot of spinach when the Costco sized spinach is gone in 3-4 days. I went to every market in town that I had been told would have something Bogie could eat. (There are only so many apples your kid can eat.) I went with a girlfriend of mine, who wants to be a nutritionist, she showed me things at the organic market in town, and I would toss it in the cart, or put it on my list for next time. I spent $7.50 on bread- that he did not like. I spent $6 on 6 tortillas, that he ate, thank goodness. I spent $6 on english muffins that he ate, then I went back and spent another $6 on english muffins only to find out I bought the wrong ones (had corn) and those were thrown out because nobody else would eat them. That was a regular thing to do if Bogie wouldn’t eat it, pretty much nobody else would, so I would just chuck it. Yup, money down the drain. Trial and error.

Blogging was the last thing on my mind. I was on a mission to get my kid healthy. Not to mention the holidays were around the corner, so along with that chaos, I was trying to change our families diet DURING the holidays. Madness, I don’t recommend it for anyone.

So I have a few tips I’d like to share with you if you’re thinking of overhauling your family’s diet.

1.) Buy lots of the fruits and veggies, but only the ones you KNOW your family will eat. If its apples, buy apples. We have tried every red apple known to man. Fuji, gala, braeburn are all “yes” around here. They are a go to snack or side dish for lunch. I can get my kids to eat eat spinach till they are green in the face, but I can not get them to eat broccoli to save their lives.

2. Start your meals with what you know you can eat-protein. I would choose either chicken or a fish for the night, or choose whether it would be a vegetarian night. From their I planned my dinners.

3. Next choose your sides. Utilize what you CAN have. So much of what needs to be cut out is the gluten and if your family is anything like mine-pasta and cheese are pretty much the norm. So you need to think outside of the box. You need to remember what IS on your eat list and build meals from their. One of my biggest wastes of time and money was trying to recreate meals that we would normally eat with ‘other’ ingredients. Some work, some don’t. But introducing new foods to your family at every meal is going to end up in some frustration for both parties, so use what you know.

4. When you do get creative, have a back-up plan. Rice chex worked for us and when something flopped and my kids were still hungry I could give them rice chex and an apple to fill them until the next meal.

5. Ask for help from people who ACTUALLY eat this way. Everyone has an opinion, everyone. So if you’re looking for advice, or recipes, ask moms who have families and kids with limited diets, they have walked in your shoes and they are pretty ready to share. My best new recipes have come from moms who have actually gotten kids to eat these whole natural foods.

6. Make a decision and a commitment to changing your eating. Commit to reading labels and commit to planning out your meals. This kind of eating takes time and planning, its not as simple as going through the drive-thru.

6a. I’m a mom to three active little boys and the drive thru is a God-send for a lot of us, especially if your kids are in as many activities as mine. So know where you can go, and what you can eat. There are all sorts of apps to help you find places. Chick-fil-a and El Pollo Loco are our go-to’s in a pinch. And yes, I am now that person who gives 20 specials orders to the drive thru and doesn’t leave unless its followed to a T. At restaurants I just speak to the manager directly, at church I talk with the head teacher, at school his teachers have a list of what he can’t eat and when they're not sure they just don’t give it to him.

Okay, I’m sure I could go on and on and I know everyone wants pictures, I’m trying. Its getting harder and harder to take photos of food the more these boys of mine are growing.

Any questions I can answer??

instaFriday, only its Saturday

I am linking up with Jeanette from Life Rearranged for a slam dunk of iPhone pics from this past week.

Hooray its February and I am ready to get in the mood with a heart tee. “get the drift.”

We went to a birthday shin-dig last weekend from some of our closest friends and had a wing-dinger of a time. Good friends are the best!

Sitting down at the dojo. This is the only time of the day I seem to be able to catch my breath and plan out all of what has to happen the next day.

Finally got some breakfast burritos made and stored up for Mr. Dunbar’s breakfast. It makes life so much easier when these are prepared and I can just toss them into his lunch bag.

It was a cozy-comfy dress day this week.

And my favorite shot of the week;  “the world really does need some more super heroes.” These guys wanted to wear their costumes all day long and it was fine with me. They were creative and active, two characteristics kids could use more of these days.

FOOD-Part 2

Can you name the most common food allergens amongst kids today? There are generallay 8. Try and name them, go.

Milk

eggs

peanuts

soy

tree nuts

fish

wheat (gluten)

and shellfish

Most of what Bogie’s diet eliminated was the most common allergens associated with kids these days. But of course, he was on a total detoxification, so it went further than just the common allergens. Not everyone has to do what we did and if you are thinking about completing such a complex and stringent diet- consult your doctor. He was completely monitored by a doctor, he always had enough calories, never went hungry, and was always always hydrated.

We did all of this BEFORE seeing the following video. This video was like the “A-HA” moment of the “YES, this is what we’ve gone through.” It is very informative and I hope will also change the way you think about what you feed your family.



I have more to share, so much more. Stay tuned.

Too read Part One of FOOD.

Lets talk FOOD, Part 1

Notice: I started this post in January! Eeek.

It’s the beginning of the year and most people I know are making resolutions to , “Eat healthier,” “Eat cleaner,” “Stop eating junk food” etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. And I think it’s a joke. Seriously.

I’ve come to the conclusion that what you believe about food guides how you eat, truly. Convenience in food has sold us on the idea that healthy food lasts over a year on your shelf, whole food now comes with stickers and labels that say “Just add water,” and things like dextrose, fructose, and nitrate are now ingredients in anything you put in your mouth at each and every meal. And its all a lie.

Let me take you back to the start of November, where we took Bogie to see a new doctor for his skin. He had been having severe breakouts of eczema and the only thing that seemed to help was progressively stronger steroids. He’s four. He’s been on steroids for over two years. Over half of his life, I had allowed topical steroids to be part of my child’s daily regimen. And when I looked around I saw that I was not the only Momma hocking her kids up with drugs; daily. But when I thought about it, or when my mom would ramble off about how kids did not have all of these problems when I was a kid, I would just push it back to the ‘nod a smile’ and move on. But, I don’t want my kids hocked up on meds each day AND I’d like to be a grandmother someday, so the steroids had to be stopped.

This new doctor really believes it’s a food allergy/sensitivity Bogie has. How do you relieve the build-up in a body from a food allergy, you detox. You take all of the “bad” stuff out of your diet, fill it with “good” stuff and let your body do what it was designed for and get into optimum health from the inside out.

Sounds pretty simple, right? Sounds like common sense, right? It is, but it is damn hard to do. And I don’t think I would have ever changed the way I fed my kids had somebody not told me that what I was putting into their bodies was HURTING them, meal after meal.

Let me tell you all of the “No’s” of his diet.

• No gluten.
• No wheat or whey.
• No dairy.
• No eggs.
• No red meat.
• No pork.
• No processed sugar or processed foods.
• No corn.
• No peanuts.
• No oranges or grapes or lemons.

I’m sure there’s more… it just became easier to say what he could eat.

• Lean white meat (chicken, poultry, or fish.)
• Fruits.
• Vegetables.
• Good fats.
• Beans.
• Rice.

I was like, “WHAT? You want me to give my kid what to eat?!? It’ll never fly. We will starve! He will starve!”

When I was put into the  position that something that I was giving my kid was making him sick, literally sick, I had to re-think my whole idea of food and how we eat. I had to wipe away everything I’ve ever thought or cooked and start from scratch. And after a bazillion trips to the market-multiple markets, and a doubled grocery bill, I am finally figuring it out.

Its crazy hard. It takes a lot of work. It takes a lot of planning.  And that’s why I think starting at the beginning of the year with “I’m cutting out sugar” or “I’m going to eat healthier” is just bogus because these statements do not correlate to true change. It it  is a lackadaisical approach to something that we don’t really want to change. Because it is HARD. And these statements tell me that the person has not truly arrived with a whole belief that food can either aid or hinder your health. People who do, eat differently every-day-of-their-lives.

In the coming days and weeks, I’ll show you what a I feed my kids, what I’ve discovered, what has happened to Bogie’s skin, and what we teach our kids about food. Join me?

MOOOve over

Last week the two Littles and I went on a field trip to the Dairy Farm.

Get it… “mooo’ve over”? I crack myself up.

All of those cows are female. Did you know that? I was stunned. Our guide told us that there are 200 females for every one bull. HUH? And then it dawned on me {like 24 hours later} that we were at a dairy farm… bulls don’t produce milk. I had a nice little ah-ha moment to myself. Oh and the cows are artificially inseminated, that bull doesn’t ' have a real harem of cows.

I wanted to take this one (in the below picture) home. His spots were the deepest chocolate brown and he had the biggest endearing eyes ever. But then I remembered that I don’t want to live on a farm. Ever. And I don’t like the way animals smell and they poop… and well all of my thoughts of bringing him home vanished in like a millisecond.

This guy finally let me put him down from the Ergo and then he just ran amuck.

Here they are getting a lesson on how cows are milked. The guide turned on the machine and all I could think about was the darn Medela Breast Pump. It was the same thing for cows, only bigger and for like 80. EEEEKKK.All of the milk from the day before all bottled up and ready to be shipped to markets.

And the fun part for the kids getting to feed more animals.

Fun morning.

Wax On- Wax Off

Can you name the movie?

One of the greatest movies made in the 80’s. Or as my oldest son says, “The 19’s.” Yes, Monkey, this movie is from the 19’s.

The name of the movie is…

wait for it…

The Karate Kid.

And I’ve got 3 of them. Technically 2 for now, but number 3 doesn’t know that. Anyhow, they are getting quite good at this karate thing.

Well the little Dunbars are continuing to advance in karate. Bogie went from a white belt to a white-orange a few Saturdays ago.

We love these two sensei’s. They take the time to show the boys the right technique for each move, to encourage them, to joke with them, and overall they just plain invest in the boys each week. Sensei Toby, on the left, just graduated from law school and wants to be a DA. Sensei Brian wants to own his own dojo someday.

Monkey advanced from a purple-white, to a full purple belt. One thing I love about this dojo is that the kids really have to earn their belts. You don’t just get to show up for a month or two and then get handed a new belt, you have to show true knowledge and competency in all areas. And it takes a lot of hard work to advance.

This girl right here has been taking karate since she was 4 and will be testing for her black belt in February. She’s a great example for the boys as well as a fun playmate and quasi-babysitter for the Small Fry.

And all three of the Dunbar boys in their fight stance.

Great work, boys. I am so proud of you.