Anyone else working on healing their children TF style?

[crunchy_mama]

I feel we have made good progress on the food intolerance front, but admittedly in the last months of pregnancy and pp our diets have not been the best. Homecooked meals and all that, but I haven't been making bone broth and they do way too much snacking on less than optimal food- ie dates and nuts(not soaked).

2 days ago I noticed my oldest(5.5) has a cavity. Not surprising considering the above. I had also noticed as of late that his face doesn't seem as broad as it was and his ears stick out a bit. Now, he has plenty of room for all of his teeth and they have good space, but plenty to work on still. My daughter(almost 3) has a smaller face and her teeth are closer together- I worry if nothing changes the permanent teeth will be crowded. She has always been very small though so that is not a surprise. The babe already seems better off with a wider face and bigger head and I want to make sure she stays on that path.

So, this set me off on reading on such things and trying to buckle down and do what needs to be done. I have put on a carcass for broth. And am working out cutting the snacks down so they eat more of their nutritious meals. In the past month I have been working on a set supper time to discourage the afternoon snacking.

I am wondering if there are others out there in the same or similar situation? Healing teeth- or guts(I am sure we still have some work to do here as well)- or just focusing on making their TF diet more TF?

My current goals:
1) bone broth- made weekly
2)adding butter- we have been off of all dairy for a while but I have pretty good confidence that it is the time for us to start adding some back in(especially as they have been entirely gf for over a year)
3)hvclo- every day(as I am not the best w/ making sure it is an evry day occurence I need to commit to making this happen regardless)
4)adding in a more vit c to help block the phytic acid they do get
5)liver- weekly- I have sadly not made liver since the babe was born 10 wks ago- I have some and the kids love it have just haven't made it for some reason
6)probiotics- I am hoping to be able to add in some milk yogurt as it is the only probiotic that I particularly car for- if not I have to work on being consistent w/ some other probiotics!!!

things I am hoping to stop:
1)b/t meals snacks on nuts, seeds, dates and figs- replacing w/ things like hardboiled , eggs, jerky and fermented milk products(if they are tolerated) looking for more snack ideas if someone has them
2) cutting out oats for bfast- in the fast few months I have started letting them eat gf oats for bfast a few mornings a week- must cut this out!!!!

Here are a couple of TF links for those interested in the teeth aspct.
http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.co...ental%20health
http://www.cheeseslave.com/2010/01/2...th-rami-nagel/

[Koalamom]

We went TF several years ago and I am slowly changing to a kind of less TF in he way most think of it here. I have found that we were eating too extreme that it was creating issues especially for my almost 3 yr old. We have changed things for the better and still are and my dd's 2 cavities are just about healed. Well the top one is completely and the bottom bigger one is just about there.

What we are doing is:
1. Cutting out all non really good meat even if it means eating less of it. If it is not local, organic and pastured, we are staying away from it. Any less best is not healthy.
2. Going gluten free (we are going on 2 months and I still miss sourdough bread.) The grains we use are always soaked, except for the 1-2x wee splurge.
3. Juicing everyday.
4. Green smoothies everyday
5. Liver 2x week
6. Lots of steamed greens too covered with butter (ghee in our case)
7. Sea greens
8. epsom salt baths 2-3x week
9. More nuts and seeds (particularly cashes, sunflower seeds, and chia for me and chia, and pumpkin seeds for dd)
10. Lots of properly soaked legumes (especially for the kids for needed minerals and molybdenum mineral)
11. Add back in goats dairy (raw)
12. More camu camu for natural vitamin C
13. water kefir everyday since we don't do other cultures without allergies

I feel that I need to eat more raw and that my dd's sensitive gut needs more lightly cooked foods. I am taking digestive enzymes until I can get in gear to eat more raw.


As a comment to Ramiels talk, I am not cool with it as I don't agree with everything he says.

[crunchy_mama]

I think we all have to follow what is best for our families and our kids. For me it is in sync with what I had already been thinking. Just a couple of weeks ago I was lamenting about how they were snacking too much and I know we need more broth and liver, just gotten out of the habit lately. I have gravitated away from nuts and seeds for myself as well eating maybe 1 serving a day when it had been a couple daily.

However, I also feel good w/ lots of veggies and enjoy juicing. On the positive side though we have a freezer full of grassfed chicken and beef, not to mention grassfed tallow that I use a lot as well.

I also see the studies Price did w/ kids who only got one good meal a day and still had improvments, so that gives me hope that we don't have to be perfect. I would like to still do some nuts and seeds but make sure they are properly prepared and much more rare. (I had lost the dehydrator in a house fire and never replaced it).

[barefootmommy]

You are all way ahead of me!

Our kids don't have any food intolerance's or cavities, but my first child was vaccinated (didn't know any better back then) and shows signs of insulin sensitivity and he just seemed "off" for some time when he was on a really bad diet back when I was pregnant with my #2 (before I knew about TF).

We do a lot of green smoothies. I add romaine leaves, wild blueberries, a banana, yogurt or kefir, celery juice and sometimes a supplement like powdered natural Vitamin C or superberries or something. Last night I made a raspberry smoothie with cream, raw egg yolks, powdered natural Vitamin C mix (Madre Labs), wild blueberries and yogurt. My hubby said it's the best smoothie I've ever made. Yay! Can finally get raw eggs into them!

I find the best way to avoid snacking is to increase fat and protein during meals as to avoid cravings. We have carb addicts over here so it's very difficult! Love the coconut oil though! You can add it to so many things!!

I'm doing the primal diet right now, so we're also doing a lot less grains (I'm doing none, so is my daughter) and that helps too.

[FairyRae]

Healing was what brought us to TF. Gut/food sensitivity healing issues.

food-based things we do daily:
green smoothies (ds *sometimes* drinks them)
Concentrace mineral drops
juice kefir
at least 1 egg yolk daily
epsom salt cream (ds is avoiding baths right now)
fermented veggies (kimchi, kraut and bubbies pickles--I have problems making my own pickles )
clo
coconut oil added to various foods
(I'm taking b-vits to work on sulfation pathway issues, along w/ molybdenum drops for the same issue.)

weekly or more often:
bone broth (added to all sauces/soups--my favorite is the better bbq sauce from The Garden of Eating)
liver (pureed, added to various ground meat based meals)

We use ghee a lot--I'd LOVE to add butter but don't see it happening right now--hoping to re-trial raw cultured goat's milk at some point. We are gluten/dairy (aside from the ghee)/soy/corn free, ds is free of all nuts (except peanuts--legumes), oranges and chocolate. I'm also grain free, and ds eats lots of grain free meals, but still eats grains here and there.

I'll be watching this thread w/ interest!

[425lisamarie]

I have really buckled down after slacking a little. Sometimes it's hard to keep up. I am glad they can do dairy, because even though I try to follow a more primal diet, I do think fermented dairy is really good, and my kids LOVE it.

Some things I've been doing are:
Making chicken broth. I actually made a huge pot a couple weeks ago i'm still going off. I froze a few quarts, saved the fat for pate, and then boiled it down and froze 3 trays of ice cubes with basically boullion strength broth. I really like doing that, because then I can make a really small lunch portion of soup for me and the kids, and just pop in one or two cubes.

My biggest thing, is trying to keep DD away from all the crap at my mom's. I mean she means the best, and we are over there a couple days a week, wednesday afternoons and dinner, and all day saturday, and sometimes even sleeping over fridays. We make great dinners, but the freakin cookies and crap is just getting really old. I need to just ask her to please keep them somewhere. DS doesn't even like candy/junk, but my DD just can't self regulate being a chocoholic and only 3.5!

Snacks are a big one for me too. They mostly do yogurts/smoothies with yogurt, or some homemade bars. DS is more like me and eats a few meals, while DD likes to graze more. I try to get her to do more meals less snacks but it's just not her and I'd rather have her eating and not hungry.

I'm just happy with myself that they have only eaten pasta one time over the last maybe 3 weeks!

[crunchy_mama]

FR you reminded me I have gotten out of the habit of epsom salt baths, doh! that will be especially critical w/ trialing dairy- I need to look into that cream.

We are grainfree here as well. But I have let the kids do the oats for bfast, just from laziness and I haven't felt good about it,but w/ a new baby it could have been a lot worse.

I need to look into that vit C powder, we are sporadic about intake. Oh, and that is a good tip about increasing the fat and protein I have been working on that lately and notice my carb-lovin daughter is finally gravitating towards more meat and fat. My son has always loved meat, but depending on the budget we haven't always had a lot so I am sooo happy right now that we have so much good stuff for them to eat. They do love bacon and eggs so they already have that a lot of mornings, but I need to expand bfast meals, so we don't get bored.

[crunchy_mama]

lisamarie-crossposted w/ you- ya I don't even try to regulate the parents too much as it is too much stress they keep them gf/df though so that automatically cuts out a lot of crap and the kids don't visit a ton- so that helps. My mom has started making them these meringue cookies, which is still too much sugar but much better than just candy and at least it has lots of eggs in there.

[425lisamarie]

Originally Posted by crunchy_mama

lisamarie-crossposted w/ you- ya I don't even try to regulate the parents too much as it is too much stress they keep them gf/df though so that automatically cuts out a lot of crap and the kids don't visit a ton- so that helps. My mom has started making them these meringue cookies, which is still too much sugar but much better than just candy and at least it has lots of eggs in there.

See the trouble I have is DD cannot have eggs, and nuts....well she can have sunbutter and hazelnuts, and pumpkin seeds. I want to try to give her cashews but i'm nervous. She can tolerate a teeny tiny bit of egg, as in a bite of something that has one egg in a whole batch, but I"m not ready to be giving her heavy doses of egg yet.

Right now I'm just loving that she could LIVE on tzatziki!! ALl that good fat from the EVOO and greek yogurt, and the good qualities garlic has, it's a great go to snack for her.

[crunchy_mama]

had a sucessful day yesterday! one thing I have noticed is that the kids want to eat a banana or whatevr first thing in the am b/f bfast and I have always let them. Howevr, I think that was interfering w/ their appetite, espcially dd1 as she doesn't eat as much anyway.

so, yesterday I made bacon and eggs and they had to wait until after that for fruit(orange). We had liver pate w/ celery and carrots for lunch, some dark choco and pear for a snack and chicken/veggie bone broth soup for supper.

Anothr reason I have wanted to make some changes is that I think that it is way too much sugar they are getting(evn if in natural forms that is not good). Plus, those carb calories are replacing protein and fat calories.

here is a site w/ some dif ideas for healthier snack/food options for kids(I am not keen on all of these like dried fruit, but good ideas nontheless)
http://everydaypaleo.com/2010/01/31/...fast-and-more/

I was thinking more of bfast ideas- I guess in the trad bfast there are eggs, milk(or sub), veggies, and meat. I need to work more on ideas.

[Koalamom]

FairyRae, That cream sounds amazing for... me. I am just too bust to get in the salt bath. And I am going to tell my grandma about it. She has serious leg cramp and circulation issues but has a colostomy, etc so she has a hard time taking a full bath. Thanks for sharing.

But I don't need the extra zinc, I have too much, so I wonder if I can make it myself without zinc...

[FairyRae]

You can google epsom salt creams, and epsom salt cream/lotion recipes. (Scroll down for the recipes.) We needed the zinc, and this one doesn't have some of the questionable ingredients of some others out there that you can buy. I've read on MDC (in allergies) that homemade can be a pain in the butt--trouble keeping emulsified or something, but you could totally try it!!!

[JaneS]

For us we are really trying to focus on the K2 and extra D (since we live in Massachusetts) for teeth and bones. It's the fat soluble vitamins that are key to utilizing the minerals in the diet.

So lots of raw pastured cream, butter, and cheese. egg yolks, shellfish, occasional salmon roe, pastured lard and tallow plus D supplements is our current focus.

And I am on a huge epsom salts kick right now too. Really noticing some great effects from it.

[crunchy_mama]

As always Jane, love to hear your opinion. I just reread the whole long dental thread yesterday. Which shellfish do you concentrate on? And do you make broths with them as well or just eat the meat. We are already doing supplemental D3(in addition to the fClo) and am ordering some butter oil- I really think we can handle it and hope that I can also add in butter. They love eggs and meat (grassfed). I have grassfed tallow, but no lard- I have never heard about the tallow having the D like the lard though.