I've made lots of Paleo stuff over the years just to (hang on, gotta change another blowout...) make something without regular white flour and sugar. Like, instead of regular muffins I would make Paleo muffins to at least cut out that amount of white stuff from our diet. For those who don't know what it is, a Paleo diet is basically eating only what hunter-gatherers would have eaten before cultivating the land. This includes meat, vegetables, fruit, nuts, seeds, roots aaaaaaand that's about it. What is not allowed are any dairy products, refined sugar, processed oils, legumes (including peanuts), and any grains including wheat, oats, rice, corn, quinoa and all of the lesser known grains. So that's a lot of no-no's. There are many counter-arguments to Paleo, for example that broccoli didn't exist ages ago, etc., but whatever. This is what the doc is recommending and I think it's good that he wants to work with the diet and not just medication alone.
When I think about it, the Paleo diet is actually more restrictive than Vegan, gluten-free and dairy-free combined. At first I thought, "Well it won't be so hard to switch him to gluten-free pasta and cereals." (Leaning into microphone) WRONG. It's all grains. No pasta or any kind of warm or cold breakfast cereal. This means that literally everything he eats, unless it's a piece of fruit, has to be made from scratch or prepared by >>this gal<<. Obviously I have to cook meat and he's not old enough to chomp on raw vegetables...well, he could but in his case he just sucks the juice out of the carrot and spits out the pulp. I mean, it's a good thing - cooking whole foods from scratch, but, geez, as if I weren't in the kitchen enough already. I can't imagine how this would work if I also had a paying job to manage. It's so time-consuming and something always has to be cooking. My heart goes out to parents who are dual-income earners and have to deal with all this cooking.
We have two other older boys, ages 5 and 8, and so far they have no problems with any foods. So this makes things tricky for D, who is only two and a half. He doesn't understand why he can't eat the stuff he used to eat and why his brothers still can. I don't want to force them into a strict Paleo diet just because their brother has to. Plus we live in Germany! There are bakeries on practically every corner! It's so cruel! I used to be able to go in and buy a loaf of bread and a huge pretzel for the boys to share on the way home. Of course they always ask for something but now I have to ask them how they would feel if everyone got to have something except them. I can't explain to D how eating a pretzel could hurt his tummy (colon). Buuuut, I still buy bread to pack in the big boys' snack boxes for school. Like I said, I can't deprive them of everything.
I do feel bad, though, because we had three Advent calendars with chocolates inside for each boy, but I had to chuck them. There's no way D would stand for it if his brothers got to open a window everyday and get a chocolate but not him. So, these are some of the little everyday things we're dealing with right now.
I'd like to share a recipe that I've already made a dozen times because its easy, it's Paleo, and everyone likes it.
It's found here at The Paleo Mom.
You make the meatballs (easy) and the juices soften and cook the vegetables underneath. The squash is great but I switched to carrots because they're sweeter and easier to peel than a giant squash. Plus my five year old is extremely picky and would sooner eat a carrot than squash.
D loves to dip the meatballs in ketchup, which may not be Paleo because of the sugar, but as our doctor says, "I live in the real world" meaning sometimes you have to make small exceptions, especially when it's a little kid.
It's a great dish to try!
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