Food has become a BIG, NASTY, MONSTER ISSUE!

[ariatrance]

First let me say that I have created this monster issue myself. However, I do not need to hear any "Just go back" type advice because that is not a true option. I really need some concrete "make it better, make it easy" solutions that I just am not thinking of myself.

Back in mid-January, my family switched from a low-meat, whole-grains (except whole wheat) based diet to a Primal Blueprint-style diet (www.marksdailyapple.com). This new diet is meat, veggies, fruit and no grains, no legumes. We do consume dairy right now. I feel fantastic eating this way - I'm not over-fatigued, I no longer have daily headaches, I no longer have uncomfortable bathroom issues. I do not know how my kids feel or my husband - he seems to not care one way or another and the kids are almost 4 and 2, without the understanding to relate their physical feelings to me.

The problems:

1 - I cannot cook and I have lots of problems coming up with a menu that everyone will eat. My kids are starting to skip a lot of main meals, choosing to go hungry rather than eat my less-than-stellar food. It is basic stuff - stews, chicken, fajitas, sloppy joes, crustless quiche - both just turn their noses up even when I think it tastes okay. I guess it is really that bad.

Previously, there were few meals that were turned down. Pasta was great, beans and rice, pancakes/breakfast night, quiche w/ crust - all were eaten 99% of the time without complaint or coercion.

2 - Sugar cravings are through the roof for everyone! I have found my son eating 1/3 gallon of ice cream, candies at grandma's, and this morning drinking the maple syrup straight from the bottle! Though he is a fruit-a-holic, and the fruit was accessible, he chose to drink maple syrup. Bleh! I have been eating tons and tons of ice cream - going out after kids' bedtime to get pints, if there isn't any in the house.

3 - Satiety is a huge problem too! The kids and I have been snacking a lot throughout the day and we've eaten pounds and pounds of trail mix (nuts, raisins, berries, sometimes chocolate candies). The three of us ate two pounds in the last five days and one weekend, the four of us ate three pounds in three days. I don't like the idea of filling up on blank calories (like grains) but it would certainly be less expensive!

4 - Our budget is not a budget anymore. I used to spend $80/week for four people exclusively at Whole Foods, usually including canned cat food, toiletries, household products too. Now I am lucky if I spend less than $120 on my main shopping trip with a mid-week trip of up to $50 sometimes. I think a lot of it is the snacks - I'm not completely dense - but I'm still not entirely sure where the rest of it is being spent either because the breakdowns don't seem unreasonable. Our last trip was $40 produce, $30 meat, $30 other cooking stuff, $15 household stuff.

5 - Dairy. My son was really sensitive as an infant but didn't seem to react after his 1st birthday. However, the kid is always snotty. And it is driving me crazy! I can barely tolerate listening to him snort it up into his head, then he shows off his 'lugy' to everyone. So I am going to be cutting it out for at least a month to see if there is any improvement. But what are we going to do for satiety/snacks because yogurt is a breakfast staple, milk is used in our eggs, etc. If we are already having issues, what will this do, you know?!

6 - Eating out. We still do too much of this - at least 1x per week, usually pizza (I eat salad 90% of the time), sometimes 2 or 3x per week, if I'm having a busier-than-normal day and don't get back home until late or lunch on the go situations. We also eat once a week at my in-laws, which comes with its own food issues, but anyway - won't be grain-free, legume-free or dairy-free, ever. So we are always going to have that in our diets, regardless of what our standard, everyday-fare is.

I have gotten to the point where I hate food. I hate thinking about food but I think about it all day long. I just want to cook something fast, simple and tasty that I can enjoy eating. I am unsure I can give up my food ideals because I do think certain foods are harmful to the human body - and how can I 'purposefully' harm my children's growing bodies, let alone my own that has been through so much physical stress in the last 29 years?

I cannot eat wheat, period. So at least, out of all this trial and error, I know that for a fact now. I knew whole wheat gave me migraines but now I know that refined wheat gives me headaches. I do not have a diagnosed allergy to it. My son has not been diagnosed with any allergies (the test for the main allergens came back negative for everything), yet I wonder if he still has issues processing dairy because as an infant, he was colicky, had digestive/poop issues with dairy and symptoms disappeared without.

This is really long. Thank you for reading it. Thank you for any and all suggestions, ideas, solutions you feel like you can pass on. Thank you, thank you!

[laohaire]

The one thing that jumps out at me is that you guys still eat a lot of sugar and wheat and so on. I know a lot of people can "ease" into a new way of eating, but for me, it just doesn't work, I never really adjust. So if pizza and ice cream are still staples in my diet, my body doesn't really change the way it processes food, and just keeps craving (and holding out for) those easy sugar highs.

What if you guys resolved to a finite amount of time - 14 days, perhaps - purely on the diet that you are aiming for? If you typically eat with your extended family, I think it's entirely reasonable to skip it for a couple of weeks while you sort this out. No pizza or ice cream for two weeks. And then see if you guys kick the addictions, at least to some degree? Then, if you like, you can go back to the in-laws (or maybe the week you resume eating, YOU host) and perhaps one meal a week won't have the same effect on you guys anymore.

My DD and DH kicked wheat and sugar and it took them some time to adjust. DH was feeling weak, and both lost their appetites for a while, preferring to just abstain rather than eat stuff that wasn't wheat-based. I can only imagine that it would have taken longer for that adjustment if they had gotten a pizza right when they were starting to make some changes.

[BabyFireFly]

I think the key with changing your eating habits is to always do it gradually. Even if you are just going dairy free or wheat free - these changes should be made over time. Now, with the diet that you have chosen for your family, it is much more complex than just eliminating one food group, which means that it will take you even longer to adjust. I was watching a program the other day about eating disorders - people who over eat to be exact. It was a group rehab type setting, and without fail within the first two weeks of being at the center and having their diets totally turned upside down, the people were both physically ill and dealing with a whole slew of mental issues due to the huge change in just a short period of time. It was literally like watching an alcoholic attempt to dry out or a heroin addict trying to kick their habit (both of which I have seen first hand).

You have to remember that your diet of choice is not just a simple eating guide, it's a whole lifestyle change....it spells it out very clearly as a holistic way of being, not just only eating this or that. It's possible that the "side effects" come from making one change, but not going along with the others. You have to remember that having your children not eat, or consume huge amounts of garbage just to follow one of the "in" eating plans is not good. And I mean no disrespect, but you have to examine these things from all angles before you make your choices. On the site that you pointed to, they are peddling their own nutritional supplements....you have to take that into consideration as well. Sometimes the "best things" for our families are not spelled out on a diet blueprint.

I was fortunate to grow up around women who were all stellar cooks, and they always made it a point to include me in their preparation of meals, so I have a good foundation when it comes to that. However I know that many people are not that blessed or just have a natural cooking "disfunction." There are many outlets that you can turn to, from community cooking classes, books, TV cooking shows and also friends who are skilled in the cooking arts. I've always found that mastering the small basics and then building from that is the key. Each week I ask my family to give me a list of things that they would like to eat then I plan my menu around that.....that way they get what they want, and I can "twist" the meals as I see fit....meaning eliminating the ingredients that are not so good and replacing them with healthy alternatives (or in your case, the foods on the "OK to eat list")

It seems like the sugar cravings are par for the course with this diet as I have read many blogs where people go into a sugar frenzy....when you make such a drastic switch from high to low/no carb this is a side effect. Again, back to my original point about taking it slow, letting your body adjust comes into play. We do not consume refined sugars in my house, but I substitute them with fruits, juices, honey, etc. The other "side effect" of the primal diet is always being hungry, and if you think about the concept of "eating like a caveman" you should be able to understand that way back when, we were constantly scouring for food, in fact it was survival based due to the diet that was consumed. So basically, if you want to eat like a caveman, it's not only the type of food, it's the rate and frequency of the meals that are going to change as well. Also a lack of healthy fats in the kid's diets may be contributing to them wanting to eat all the time - especially with the types of snacks that they seem to want.

Now for the issue of eating out all the time. This is something that we do as a "treat" and to tell you the truth I have not had a prepared meal outside of my home for many months, if my husband wants to go out for a meal with his friends then I say go for it, but I'd rather eat at home. I realize that I am lucky to be a SAHM who happens to have the time to prepare all the meals in our home, but I know what it's like to work two jobs, be exhausted and not want to cook as well. When I was working full time and had almost no free time to cook, I would make the bulk of my meals ahead of time on a Sunday afternoon and freeze them. When I got home I could just defrost and serve. Throughout my current pregnancy (knowing that there would be days where I didn't feel like cooking) I would double a recipe, serve half for dinner and then freeze the other half so I would be getting two meals out of one preparation. Just something that may be helpful.

Bottomline, don't make yourself crazy over this....and don't turn food into the enemy. Good nutrition is key to happiness and health!

[akmeg]

I just couldn't read this post without commenting because I feel this way sometimes about food!  It's not fun!  And I'm dealing with a similar situation as well.  My body feels much better on a primal type diet, but I have such a hard time sticking to it.  My family actually likes a lot of primal foods, but the expense is something that gets to me.  We can't always afford to eat meat at every meal, and pasta and potatoes are always such easy fillers. 

My sugar cravings are crazy sometimes!  It's so frustrating!  And I can totally understand the part about having no appetite.  Sometimes I'd rather not eat at all if I can't  have something that I'm craving.  I also feel a little bored with the same foods over and over, and then I lose my appetite.

Lately I've been feeling this way about a lot of our diet choices.  I've decided that I really need variety and new ideas in my food.  I've been trying to come up with new recipes, which is easier said than done!  It's sooooooo much easier to just throw together something I've made over and over, but those things aren't sounding good to me right now.  So maybe you and your family need to seek out new and interesting recipes.  MDA has tons of recipes, and there are a lot of primal blogs and a few cookbooks.  I'm sure there's something out there that would appeal to each of you. 

And about the budget......I find our groceries are totally over budget when I'm trying to stick to a healthy diet with possibly more expensive foods, while at the same time we're giving into temptation and eating out or buying treats because of feelings of deprivation on the healthy diet.  I don't really have an answer here, except that maybe you might at least find answers in your own budget if you keep track of everything you spend food-wise.  I actually do this in a spreadsheet every month and I love it.  I just make a column for produce, dairy, proteins, pantry staples, frozen foods, bread, other (includes household items), and treats or eating out.  Then I put each item that I buy in its column and watch the numbers add up on the bottom.  It's such an eye opener!  In fact, I was just doing this a few minutes ago and realized we've spent way too much this month on eating out so far, and we're only 2 weeks into the month!  I know this sounds totally crazy and time consuming, but it actually only takes me about 5-10 minutes each week after I go grocery shopping.  Maybe I'm a little weird, but I love seeing the numbers add up and seeing where my food money is going.  I have a terrible memory sometimes, and I'm afraid that if I didn't do this I'd feel like my grocery money just slipped away from me!  And stats are fun to look at!  :)

[ariatrance]

Clarifications:

We were strict about eating no grains (and not eating out except 1x per week at Grandma's which may have included grains for the kids/husband but not me) from mid-January until late February. At that time, my husband really started getting noisy about not enjoying a meal out as a family, so we re-started our pizza night out 1x per week. Then as the kids went from veggie-happy to veggie-not happy, starting about early Feb., I started getting more frustrated with the food not being eaten.

My ice cream habit is directly related to how much stress I feel - more stress = more ice cream, so as food has become a bigger and bigger nightmare, I have consumed bigger and bigger amounts of ice cream. This will only be controlled through easing my stress, which is mostly about food these days!

We have never kept ice cream at home for the kids until last week and my son got into while I was nursing my daughter for naptime. He ate 1/3 of the gallon by the time I found him - with his hand. This may be a separate issue (though I have no thoughts on the maple syrup incident this morning) - we limit desserts/treats to Grandma's house if they eat at least 1/2 their dinner and/or one treat out a week, like on Saturday afternoon after being at the park. I can't wrap my head around having treats available all the time (whether homemade or not), so the treats become just another food rather than a 'forbidden' food BUT maybe that is exactly what our limitation has done. I don't know. I really struggle with trying not to make food issues for my kids as I have problems with food, temptation, over-eating (see ice cream issue above). I don't know that we are succeeding.

I am a SAHM too but I have yet to find a way to cook with them around - helping me is not an option as it just stresses me out even more. I am actually more of a baker (ha!) than a cook but obviously can't do that without grains. Funny thing is, we were headed in a vegetarian direction (without soy though) when my husband started getting noisy about needing more meat in his life. He eats his own breakfast/lunch five days a week - I really think he could eat all the meat he wants at those times. I really hate handling raw meat, cooking meat and if my family is any indication, I do not cook it well anyway. I read Mark Sisson's book, which is better than the website, and it made sense to me - though the 'carb flu' symptoms (cravings, fatigue) and hunger issues are supposed to go away after your body adjusts. I just really think those should be gone if we are only eating grains 1 to 2 times a week - which is what we were doing late February through early April. It's been the last two/three weeks that have really gotten out of hand.

Fat - I really felt that the kids were getting enough. Full-fat milk and yogurt every day, butter in and on everything, olive oil if not butter, fat in the meat, cheese - maybe not really? Fitday.com gives me a rough estimate of 50-60% of our daily calories coming from fat, which seems like it should be enough.

Maybe I should just give up what I think is an ideal diet and go back to how we ate before, but wheat/dairy free. Can you tell how stressed I am about what should be a simple issue??!

[akmeg]

I just read your second post and I just wanted send you a little internet (((hug)))!  Sometimes I wish I didn't know all of these food "ideals" and I could just ignorantly and happily eat whatever sounds good to me at the moment.  But I really want to be healthy, my only problem is that sometimes I don't know how to balance healthy eating with a relaxed and peaceful state of mind!  If anyone else out there has some great ideas about this, I'm all ears!  (Or eyes, rather, as this is the internet!)

[Gator-mom]

It is obvious that this is definitely a stresser in your life right now, so first off, ((Hugs))! 

I know you are trying to get away from grains, but I was wondering if you are eating any non-gluten grains, such as buck-wheat, quinoa and millet?  If you are not, what is your reason for being off all grains? I have been off sugar for about a month now, and trying to severely limit my simple carbs as well, which I have included wheat, white rice and potatoes.  I am still eating those non-gluten grains though, and not sure how I would feed my family if we didn't have that option.  This summer we will start to get a CSA package and should have a good amount of produce from our garden, so I am planning to eat more raw, but right now, that is not an option for us.

For us, it is important to eat more frequently which means incorporating healthy snacks. we eat a lot of nuts, salads and occasionally a boiled egg for snack.  We also do air popped pop corn for a snack everyone likes.  Ds eats a lot of fruit for his snacks.  My Ds is also as of recently, lactose intolerant, so I give him hummus and carrots or peanut butter and apples for dipping, which I feel like replaces the protein and some fat that he misses from dairy.  I found with my DS that once we got the junk food out of the house, he started eating what I gave him.  It's like once he realized he couldn't hold out of the junk food, he would just eat what we gave him.

Maybe check out a cookbook that is allergy free (usually grain free) or a raw foods cookbook from the library.  I self taught to learn to cook.  I just started buying cookbooks that had the types of food I wanted to cook, and started with the easy stuff and worked my way up to the more complicated stuff.  The problem is, eating healthy takes planning.  Once you know what you can eat and what is satisfying it makes it a lot easier to figure out what to eat when you are starving and need to eat something quickly. 

I hope this settles soon for you and you can come up with a reasonable system!  I know it's really frustrating when you feel like your family is not in line with how you want to eat!  My DH was not really on board with this, until I made him watch Food, Inc with me last week.  Since then, he has been on the wagon with me.  He's still eating sugar, but at least he's off processed foods and only eating home baked foods, and adding organic cane to his coffee. But at least it's progress!

[bodhitree]

OP, I really sympathize with you. We used to be whole-foods vegetarians who ate a lot of grains and beans and some dairy. Then I started figuring out that DD and I had food intolerances, and after months of reading and learning and thinking, now I'm wanting to eat Primal as much as possible while DH still wants to eat a grain-heavy vegetarian diet. Trying to feed all three of us makes me crazy sometimes.

In terms of solutions for you, I agree with the PP who said that the amounts of grain, sugar, etc that you're still eating are going to cause you problems with eating Primal. You're supposed to completely cut those out so that your body can adjust and stop craving carbs. If you're still eating those things, you will still be experiencing insulin spikes, which is going to make it hard for your body to run primarily off of fat. Personally, I would cut out all grains, dairy, and dried fruit for a few weeks and see what happens. I know he talks about the 80% rule in the book, but I think you really need to try 100% for a while to see if it works for you or not. If it doesn't, you can always move in a different direction afterwards. For me, just making a firm decision about what I'm going to do can really reduce the food stress, so maybe it will help for you?

As for what you can eat if you completely cut those things out, I don't think you mentioned eggs. You can do veggie omelets, scrambled or fried eggs with bacon, hardboiled eggs, etc. (You can use coconut milk or water in eggs if you're not using milk.) Fresh fruit with bacon could also be a good one. Actually, there's a whole breakfast discussion in the Paleo/Primal/Grain-free thread in the TF forum. For snacks, nuts and seeds (minus the dried fruit and bits of chocolate) are probably your best bet for satiety. Celery with almond butter would be a yummy snack. Or jerky works well too.

For the budget, the best thing I can suggest is going someplace other than Whole Foods for as many things as possible. Personally, I just can't afford to buy much at Whole Foods, even though I love shopping there. A lot of times I find the exact same item someplace else for much cheaper, but also a lot of the time I compromise and get conventional instead of organic. In my ideal world I would do 100% organic, but I just can't afford to. So I buy lots of stuff at Costco (nuts, almond butter, produce, frozen fruit, recycled paper products) and some stuff at Safeway (mostly produce). You just have to decide what you're willing to compromise on and what you're not willing to compromise on (for me that would be meat).

I think your cooking will get better with practice. That's how most people get good at it. For your kids, personally I wouldn't worry if they choose not to eat what you make. I think it's your job as the parent to decide what/when they eat, then they get to decide whether/how much they eat. When they get hungry, they will eat what you provide. You don't need to cater to them or try to get them to eat. Just serve healthful foods and then let them be in charge of whether or not they eat it. They won't starve themselves.

[HollyBearsMom]

I agree with the PP that you are still eating WAY too much sugar and grain for a true Primal diet. You need to cut those out ASAP. Either bite the bullet and throw them all out now or pick a day (Monday?) and spend the next few days finishing them off. Spend the the same amount of time getting your pantry and freezer and in order.  A well stocked pantry can help you avoid a lot of binging and eating out.

Not sure how a weekly pizza night is the only answer a to a family meal out? Why not try something ethnic? Many Asian cuisines focus on lean meats with loads of veggies. True mexican food the focus is on pork, seafood and beans. 

How about enrolling in a cooking class?  Not sure where you live but you could look into your local community center, community/vocational college or find a friend who loves to cook and see if she would be willing to come over and cook with you.

[laohaire]

Originally Posted by ariatrance 

1 - I cannot cook and I have lots of problems coming up with a menu that everyone will eat. My kids are starting to skip a lot of main meals, choosing to go hungry rather than eat my less-than-stellar food. It is basic stuff - stews, chicken, fajitas, sloppy joes, crustless quiche - both just turn their noses up even when I think it tastes okay. I guess it is really that bad.

Previously, there were few meals that were turned down. Pasta was great, beans and rice, pancakes/breakfast night, quiche w/ crust - all were eaten 99% of the time without complaint or coercion.

I meant to reply to this before but I forgot. This does not sound like a talent problem :) You are probably a good cook. The problem is the transition. DH, DD and I each had a period of low appetite where we'd just pick at our food or just skip it rather than eat it. There is probably a scientific explanation for the transition our bodies were going through, but I only know what I've observed - my body was previously attuned to digesting certain types of food. With the new food, it was like exercising new muscles or something. We would not feel this blood sugar high after eating it, and so it was kind of a letdown. It was probably a lot more work for our bodies to digest at first. But after a few days, we adjusted. Still no blood sugar high - in fact, now we just felt blessedly even-keel. But the new food was going down the hatch a lot easier than it was before. After a little while, if I slipped up and ate some of the old foods, it would make me feel woozy, and I'd wish I had just eaten some protein instead.

I still personally believe from what you've described that you guys are prolonging the transition period, and it's probably painful. It seems that for some people (maybe most people), you really have to fully embrace the new diet for a while before your body will change the way it digests. As I've said before, some people prefer to transition slowly, but for me, that's just agonizing because I will continue to crave my addictions plus feel just really denied. If I move 100% to paleo or whatever, transition is a few days but then I'm DONE, I'm FREE, I'm ON THE OTHER SIDE!

[ariatrance]

As it is apparent that some posters have not read my second post clarifying certain things, I will restate those here:

1 - we were completely grain free and dessert free for six weeks before adding back in pizza night, ice cream treats and in-laws dinners - each being 1x per week. Apparently six weeks is not enough time for our bodies to adjust to new foods, new tastes, new digestion?

2 - I shop at Whole Foods exclusively for several reasons but I don't need to change where I shop to control our budget. If I can shop there for $75 per week for four months and $80 per week for 3.5 months, for a family of four. It is all the snacking because of lack of satiety, eating out because of lack of time to fix primal meals.

3 - pizza is one thing the kids will eat - neither enjoy ethnic food like asian or mexican.

I appreciate the attempts to help out but I don't think I'm going to find the answers I need here. Likely those can only come from my own self. It was good to put it out there at least, though I didn't get what I wanted (and perhaps that is okay too). It's all food for thought.

[laohaire]

I'm sorry you didn't get the answers you were looking for (truly). BTW, would your kids eat a grain-free pizza? There are recipes for crusts made of almond flour, or buckwheat, etc.

[Calliope84]

I know not everyone agrees with this... but the body NEEDS carbs to function. Carbs are not evil, you just need to get them in a complex form. It sounds to me like your kids are dying for more carbs and that they are hungry. I don't think you need to be so extreme in the diet you want to do.  It does sound to me like you have a dairy sensitivity in the family. I'm of the mind that babies don't just grow out if their allergies. Their bodies just get better at dealing with them so you don't see as many outward symptoms. Cut the dairy altogether. 

I also need help learning to cook, but we eat a lot of rice. Esp brown rice. We have a rice cooker and I make all kinds of delicious meals in it using veggies, herbs, spices and sometimes a small amount of sugar. I got a teflon free stainless steel pot, too with the cooker. We use spelt bread and I make egg salad sandwiches with spinach and tomatoes and BLTs with the spinach. I always use organic / free-range eggs and bacon. We could have organic oatmeal for breakfast and coconut milk (you could have soy or rice milk, but soy is frequently an allergy that goes hand in hand with dairy. ) 

Find a local farm on eatwild.com and buy some free-range healthy meat in bulk. Maybe you can get the eggs, too. See if there is a local CSA to get your veggies from (localharvest.com). Buy rice in bulk. Or just shop at whole foods since you like it. I find we can afford awesome high quality stuff if we do it this way.

You can fry stuff in bacon grease or get some soy free earth balance at whole foods. I am also trying to stay away from gluten because celiac disease is in our family. We buy whole chickens and after eating them I throw the carcass and extra stuff in a pot to make chicken stock for use in the rice and other meals. I feel really good eating like this. I still have coffee with coconut creamer for breakfast, too. 

[ariatrance]

I never said we were carb-free. Grain free does not equal carb free. Both kids eat a ton of fruit and did eat a ton of veggies until recently (like the last two weeks).

I have tried to use local sources for meat, eggs, veggies - it isn't cheaper for us and is actually what caused our budget to go haywire. That said, the meat at Whole Foods isn't as cheap as other stores but it is the only source for grass-fed that isn't local (and it is cheaper than local).

What do you do for your chicken? Every time I've made a whole chicken, it has come out I-don't-see-the-point-in-eating-this bland - even slathered in butter and spices. I usually try to use the crock-pot but have also used the oven. No one likes the chicken and the leftovers get fed to the backyard chickens. It's hard to give that nice, expensive chicken to my chickens instead of my kids or even me.

[womenswisdom]

Originally Posted by ariatrance 

What do you do for your chicken? Every time I've made a whole chicken, it has come out I-don't-see-the-point-in-eating-this bland - even slathered in butter and spices. I usually try to use the crock-pot but have also used the oven. No one likes the chicken and the leftovers get fed to the backyard chickens. It's hard to give that nice, expensive chicken to my chickens instead of my kids or even me.

When I roast a whole chicken, I stuff the inside with a cut lemon (in half) and a bunch of garlic cloves then salt and pepper the outside.  I roast it in the oven.  Yum!

[krankedyann]

Is it possible your little boy has yeast issues?  The die off drives a major crazy desire to sugar binge, hence the ice cream and drinking maple syrup.  Of course, it's not the only reason that could happen but I did want to throw that out in case it might help.  Sometimes, trying to figure it all out is a big, frustrating puzzle.  Hugs.

[Calliope84]

Originally Posted by ariatrance 

I never said we were carb-free. Grain free does not equal carb free. Both kids eat a ton of fruit and did eat a ton of veggies until recently (like the last two weeks).

I have tried to use local sources for meat, eggs, veggies - it isn't cheaper for us and is actually what caused our budget to go haywire. That said, the meat at Whole Foods isn't as cheap as other stores but it is the only source for grass-fed that isn't local (and it is cheaper than local).

What do you do for your chicken? Every time I've made a whole chicken, it has come out I-don't-see-the-point-in-eating-this bland - even slathered in butter and spices. I usually try to use the crock-pot but have also used the oven. No one likes the chicken and the leftovers get fed to the backyard chickens. It's hard to give that nice, expensive chicken to my chickens instead of my kids or even me.

Well, I am just  saying that in my experience (and years of failed diets), rice and oatmeal and such are much more filling than just fruit and veggies. I've read all about grains potentially being toxic and not good for humans to eat, but of course a lot of people also think they are good for us. I feel like "grains are bad" is just a popular opinion right now in natural food / wellness circles, but I am not totally convinced that it is true. Can you guys eat more potatoes, at least? 

Anyway... for the chicken I just cut up potatoes, carrots, onions, a bit of garlic and some butter or my no soy/dairy spread, put it in a baking dish, put the chicken on top, sprinkle all of it with chicken type herbs (parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme haha) and salt and pepper. I cover it with foil and cook at 350 for about 3 hours. First two hours with foil and the last 1/2 hour to 1 hour without. I flip the chicken maybe 4 times. It is divine, esp the veggies. If the carrots are organic and fresh it is even more amazing. We eat chicken two days in a row with the veggies, then I take the rest of the chicken off for chicken salad sandwiches (or salad with chicken on top.) I save all the extra meat / skin / bones / fat from those two days and throw it all in a stock pot with an onion, two carrots and some celery. And lots of herbs, usually in a pouch. I let it simmer all day long and eventually it is done and I just strain it and freeze bags or containers of it. It makes a lot of chicken stock (2 gallons sometimes?), which is good because we go through 2-4 cups of it every day that we make rice. Organic free range chicken stock goes for like $5 for 4 cups, so that is great!

[flightgoddess]

It sounds like (ie super sugar cravings and super snacking) that your kids maybe still need a little bit of carbs. They are growing, and use and burn calories differently than adults. There are tons of different kinds of wheat free pastas out there. Explore them, and se what works for your family, even if it is a 'treat' every other week or so. And there are plenty of nut flours out there to make good 'crusts' for quiche  (I like Elena Amsterdam Almond flour cook book and blog) and there are some great coconut flour recipes out there too! (technically, it is a nut/fruit off a tree) Some people do great on the higher protien diet, but some people need a 60/40 or 50/50 balance of protien and carb in their snacks and meals. Other blogs to see: Cheeseslave, Nourished Kitchen

Oh, have you read Nourishing Traditions? Maybe soaked/presprouted grains are something to try?

Edited by flightgoddess - 4/25/11 at 11:55am