Our Backyard Homestead

Teff, my new favorite grain

Taking a break to re-hydrate from a major garden work day.  Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to post pictures of what was our Bradford Pear, now nicely mulching the garden!  I am about halfway finished covering over the "weed patch" that has haunted me the past three years.  Yea for progress!!

Since I am so far behind on blogging, I thought I would share a quick entry on our new favorite breakfast.  In checking out the gluten free grains, I picked up a bag of teff grain last month.  The tiny, brown seeds kind of scared me, so it sat unused for a while.  This week I felt inspired to try it as a hot cereal.  The entire time (15 minutes) that it was cooking, I was thinking that we were going to hate it.

Much to my surprise, the cocoa looking porridge had a wonderful flavor and we all loved it so much that I had to cook up a second batch!  A tiny squirt of honey and a pinch of coconut palm sugar sweetened it nicely and both days that we made it, there have been no left overs.  I love that one serving contains 20% of of your RDA of iron and 24% of the RDA of dietary fiber.  There are lots of other great benefits and I encourage you to read more in this great article! 

I just ordered 10 pounds and assuming the product and service are good I will be sure to share the link because it is not a cheap grain to buy from Whole Foods.

Gluten free is the future for me

I have spent most of the last decade of my life thinking I was too young to feel so bad.  Shortly after The Tornado was born, I invested time in attempting to get medical answers when the pain was so bad that I could barely climb the stairs in our two story house.  Encouragement to go to physical therapy and a diagnosis of a small amount of arthritis in my spine were all I came away with.  You have a baby and two very young children, your body will heal the orthopedist reasoned.  Arthritis in my spine at age 30?  How does that happen?  Eventually, the pain in my hips subsided a little and I learned to live with the rest.  My children passed the age of being carried on my hip, yet the pain did not go away.  I have attempted not to dwell on the nagging question always lurking in the back of my mind of if I feel this bad in my thirties, what will I feel like in my 50s or 80s?

The decision to embark upon our major elimination diet was solely for the sake of my two children who have struggled with food sensitivities since they were born.  Eating ultra healthy would be a benefit for the rest of the family as well.  If I dropped those few pounds that were causing the clothes to fit a little tight, it would be a nice reward for the effort involved on my part.  Within a week, I started to see much greater benefit than dropping a few pounds.  Chronic issues such as major sinus congestion were disappearing.  The itchy ears were itchy no longer.  But, the greatest improvement was yet to come.

Around the three week mark, I got out of bed one morning and realized that my body didn't hurt the way I was used to.  The pain in my hips that had once kept me from climbing the stairs had vanished.  The spot of arthritis had disappeared.  Maybe I was just having a good day because this was too strange to consider to be a result of our diet.  However, over the course of the next few weeks, my body felt better than I have felt in a decade.  I had so much more energy and came to realize just how much chronic pain I had been in, but had learned to ignore.  I had no idea how much of my energy was going towards just surviving the day.  No wonder I felt tired all of the time!

This past week we began to experiment with adding gluten back in beyond a few spelt trials.  This past week, the muscles in my back felt like they were on fire, yet it didn't register that it could be related to the food.  By Thursday, with only a few minor exposures to wheat, my sinus congestion was getting much worse.  I chalked it up to allergies.  Afraid that I was getting a little too paranoid about what I was eating, I threw caution to the wind and ate a honey wheat hamburger bun at my niece's birthday party.  It was the only thing that I ate that was different.  I brought our own condiments and chips to the party.

Within 30 minutes of eating the hamburger bun, every bit of pain was back in full force.  My entire back radiated with burning muscle pain.  My hip pain was terrible and severe to the point that I was struggling to walk.  It was awful and I never want to feel like that again.  I am still in shock that one little hamburger bun could make me feel that bad.  A few hours later, the pain had subsided somewhat and by Monday it was almost completely gone.

James 1:2 says to consider it joy when experiencing various trials.  As I have journeyed through the past decade of being the obnoxious mom that won't let my kids eat the foods all their friends are, it has been difficult to keep the joy.  Especially when the allergist and pediatricians left me feeling as though I am over top and because my kids don't have hives or come up positive on their tests, I must be exaggerating their symptoms.  Today I have great joy in a future with specific and big diet changes.   When we began our elimination diet I prayed that the problem foods would be obvious, but I didn't realize that the prayer would be answered for me.  I thought this was all for my kids!

What's for breakfast?

As part of our "starvation diet" a big issue to overcome was the dilemma of what to serve for breakfast.  I take no shame in saying, a box of cereal is just easy and what Matt and I grew up on.  Strangely enough, I had noticed in the past that I had more energy on the days that I made green smoothies and we did not eat cereal, but that was hard to pin solely on what I ate as so many other factors could influence energy levels. 

If we were eating eggs, our breakfast options would be endless, but alas The Tornado reacted to eggs when we put them back in the diet.  After a year long elimination from his sister's diet, she was able to eat them again, but never wants to.  So the two of them remain egg free, as does our baking, however, for a quick meal, the other three of us will eat a fried egg every once in a while.

Yesterday, I took one of our favorite breakfast recipes from my favoritist of favorite cookbooks, What the Bible Says about Healthy Living Cookbook and amended it to better fit with our current diet.  Before I share our recipe, I want to offer a commercial for this cookbook (with no incentive from the author or Amazon to do so!).  Every single recipe I have made from this cookbook has been well received by the family, which anyone who is cooking for kids knows is a difficult thing to do!  It is filled with simple and healthy eating options, and in my opinion a wonderful starting place for anyone interested in improving your diet without going super extreme as we are right now.  I have enjoyed this cookbook so much that I bought it for my three sisters, my mom and my grandma.  One of my sisters went on to buy a copy for her best friend.

After realizing that we needed specially grown, gluten free oats, we cut them out of the diet for about a week while waiting for the gluten free variety to arrival.  When we ate oatmeal with the gluten free oats, all but one of us got a tummy ache and therefore, we have not eaten them for several weeks.  I have gone back and forth on my opinion about the need to soak grains.  There are sooooo many theories on diet out there that it is really difficult to sift through and determine what is valid and what is junk science.  However, now that our diet is very basic, it is quite easy to determine when what we eat affects us, good or bad.  I soaked our gluten free oats to make our oatmeal bake and everyone was able to eat it without discomfort.

Our Favorite Oatmeal Bake

• 3 cups oats soaked overnight with just enough water to cover and the juice of 1/2 large lemon

In the morning, rinse drain the oats well.  Set aside while preparing the additions. I leave them in my strainer dripping into a bowl to get as much liquid out as possible.  In a separate bowl, add:

• 4-5  Medjool Dates, chopped
• 3/4 cup flaked, unsweetened, unsulphured coconut

Pit and chop the dates into small pieces.  Drop into the coconut as you chop to keep them from becoming a big, sticky ball of sweetness.  This step is really worth the extra effort!!  Add to coconut and dates:

• 1/2 cup organic raisins (or craisins, but we actually prefer raisins)
• 2 heaping teaspoons of cinnamon (to taste, we love extra cinnamon)
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt

Stir well so that cinnamon and salt are well mixed.  Add in the oats.  Mix again.  Finally, add in:

• 1 cup organic applesauce
• 3/4 - 1 cup of coconut milk (the beverage variety, not the canned variety - we used to use cow's milk-rice or almond milk would likely work too, but we love the flavor with coconut!)
• 1/4 ish cup of honey or maple syrup
• 2 granny smith apples, chopped (I use my corer/peeler to make quick work of the apple)

Stir.  Press into a greased 9x13 pan and bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes.

This makes enough that we have some leftovers to snack on throughout the day.  If I served it with a smoothie, it would be enough to feed us for two mornings.  The original recipe had dates as being optional.  I only used them once and a used pre-chopped variety.  After making it with freshly chopped dates, we find the dates are not optional and make it the yummiest breakfast ever!!

 

What if???

A child in the 70/80s, I can remember all of about three kids I went to school with through the years that had major allergies or health issues.  This come up in conversation recently with more than one friend and it seems I am not alone in this memory.  So if we were healthy kids with no allergies or health issues, why are we giving birth to a generation of children with peanut allergies, milk allergies, egg allergies, wheat allergies and a host of health issues?  Why does nearly anyone I know, especially if parenting a boy, have experience with reactive airway disease with their young children?

What if the very food we are eating could be to blame?  What if by simply changing your diet, you might be able to pack away the nebulizer for good?  What if modern food science has shortchanged us and genetically modified foods have genetically modified our children?  Yes, that is a bit of an extreme conclusion, but I was pleased to read an article in a mainstream publication about the possibility of rising rates of gluten sensitivity.

Although much remains unknown, it is clear that gluten—a staple of human diets for 10,000 years—triggers an immune response like an enemy invader in some modern humans.

A new study in the journal BMC Medicine may shed some light on why. It shows gluten can set off a distinct reaction in the intestines and the immune system, even in people who don't have celiac disease.

"For the first time, we have scientific evidence that indeed, gluten sensitivity not only exists, but is very different from celiac disease," says lead author Alessio Fasano, medical director of the University of Maryland's Center for Celiac Research.

I highly recommend reading "Clues to Gluten Sensitivity" over at the Wall Street Journal website.  Recently, Matt has recommended to more than one patient that removing wheat and/or dairy from their diet, might just be the answer to lingering health problems that have not been solved by modern medicine.  The feedback he has had from patients seems to align exactly with the article.  The experience of our family with our elimination diet this past three weeks has turned us into a healthier family nearly overnight.

I have so much more that I want to research and write about on this topic, but for now I ask you to read this article and consider if you or your children might benefit from a gluten free trial.  What do you have to loose?  This coming from someone who has been suffering with chronic congestion and sinus infections for most of the last decade.  Even with seasonal allergies causing much havoc right now, I have not been able to breathe like this in years!  Literally the congestion would be so bad some mornings that I felt I was suffocating.  I don't know yet if it is dairy, gluten, corn or soy contributing to my issues, but without a doubt I am 99.9% improved since we began our elimination diet. 

I fought going nuclear with our diet because it seemed too hard in an era of modern food conveniences.  Now I regret not doing it years earlier!  It likely would have spared my children much agony had we done it long ago. 

"Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."

I give full credit to Michael Pollan for today's title and for changing the way our family shops and eats.  After reading In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto we began to take bigger baby steps in changing our diet.  Previously, I had attempted to eliminate high fructose corn syrup from our diet, but I didn't really know why other than it seemed like a good idea.  Reading Pollan's books armed me with the why's and gave me all the more inspiration to continue liberating our family from our highly processed diet that I thought was a pretty healthy one!

Last spring, we picked up a copy of Food Rules also by Michael Pollan.  I wondered if it was worth buying since we had read In Defense of Food, but the Amazon reviews convinced me I wasn't wasting $5 on it.  And the reviews were correct.  This tiny gem of a book is now what I recommend anyone interested in making change to their diet read as their first primer on the topic.  It is an extremely quick read, yet filled with helpful insight.  We felt that this book was so valuable that Matt actually ordered enough copies so that every exam room in their large clinic would have a copy for patients to glance through should they choose.

Until our recent starvation (elimination) diet as I have jokingly been calling it, I must confess that I was not doing all that great with the "Mostly Plants" part of the equation.  Yes, my kids ate plenty of fruits and veggies, but especially for meals, it was more of an obligation than a true hunger to eat mostly plants.  Since eliminating dairy/corn/soy/wheat/gluten/chicken and initially beef we have been learning to thrive on mostly plants.   It has been almost three weeks of eating a nearly vegan diet and I must say that I am not sure I want to go back to the old ways. 

We do have a freezer full of grass finished beef, so we did add that back, in small quantities, first.  Everyone seems to tolerate it with no problems.  The second challenge to try after two weeks of elimination diet also seemed obvious.  Seven chickens providing nearly seven eggs a day times 14 days left us with a large stockpile of eggs.  I had prayed that God would make it obvious as to what the problem foods are that need to stay out of our diets for the time being.  I am thankful for a very clear answer to prayer, but sad to report that eggs will remain out.  With two egg exposures, The Tornado began clawing at his arms and cheeks, the very places that have been covered in eczema for years.  By the third day of having a small amount of eggs back in the diet, the bumpy skin that had nearly cleared was returning to the sandpaper look he has sported for so long.

For now we are on hold of introducing any other foods back into the diet.  I want him to recover from the egg exposure before we complicate the introduction of any other foods.  Yet, the longer we go, the more I find I am truly enjoying our new eating habits.  Cravings are going away and I am finding that I am not nearly as hungry between meals.  Last night for dinner we had roasted broccoli and asparagus, grilled sweet potatoes, caramelized onions and one pound of steak for the five of us.  There was left over steak but not so much on the veggies.

I am currently reading The China Study that was recommended to Matt by one of his patients.  I appears that the final outcome of the book may be along the lines considerable evidence showing that "mostly plants" is the way to go.  At the snails pace I am reading, I hope to have more of a review on the book in a few months!  

One giant step

Little did we know that our journey away from the Standard American Diet (SAD) began with the birth of our sweet nine year old daughter.  Within hours of her birth, she began not just spitting up, but vomiting.  The first three months of her life were misery for her and for me, helpless to understand what pained her and exhausted from a newborn that never stopped crying and slept very little.  Because she was gaining weight, the pediatrician dismissed my concerns.  Matt was working 100+ hours a week in his intern year of residency.  When he was home, he was exhausted.  Besides, none of his training in medical school addressed the link of nutrition and health beyond the basics and as related to treating diabetic patients. 

Thanks to the internet, when she was six months old I finally made a connection between her extreme fussiness and a milk protein allergy.  Being that she had never had formula, this meant the milk protein was coming from my diet.  I initially switched from cow's milk to soy milk but she became even fussier.  I don't know if the statistic has changed, but up to 40% of children that cannot tolerate cow's milk will also be intolerant/allergic to soy.  Now that much is coming out about the negatives of soy, I am very thankful that she didn't tolerate it.  As she got older, it seemed she could handle yogurts, cheeses and butter.  It was not until we switched to raw, unpasteurized milk that she and also her also dairy intolerant younger brother could make the transition from rice milk to cow's milk.

However, at many seasons over the past nine years, she and more recently her brother, have struggled with reflux and GI issues, seemingly related to food.  Allergy tests revealed some minor allergies, but after a time avoiding those foods (eggs for her, peanuts for him) they were given the all clear to go back in to their diet.  Endoscopy, allergy tests, prescription medications, etc. etc., it seemed our kids were headed for a lifetime of tummy troubles. 

As we began to take baby steps to eliminate some of the modern convenience foods and other processed foods from our diet, we began to see improvements.  The switch to raw milk seemed to provide improvements in their health and, for the first time ever, our daughter could have milk without vomiting.  The more baby steps we took, the easier it was to take that next step.  At some point in the past three years, our diet came to look rather radical from the SAD.  Yet, nagging issues remained.  Our son continued to battle reactive airway disease and was covered in eczema.  Our daughter still suffered periods of reflux.  Deep down I felt that an elimination diet would be helpful, but was so overwhelmed with how to make it happen.

Ten days ago, at our daughters request, we took the plunge and decided to see what would happen if we eliminated wheat/gluten/corn/soy/dairy/eggs/chicken/beef/pork free for at least two weeks.  Once we make the two week mark, we will likely begin to add some things back in one at a time to see how they are tolerated.  I must say, though it has been a lot of work cooking three meals a day from scratch, I am loving the way I am feeling.  My sinuses are clearing up.  My ears that have been chronically itchy most of my life are no longer itchy!  My energy level is improving and I have shed a few unneeded pounds! 

I have seen some evidence that the dietary changes are helping the kids as well.  The Tornado's bumpy skin is clearing up which is huge!!  On Saturday evening, I cheated and added a little butter and sour cream to mashed potatoes.  Our daughter vomited upon waking on Sunday morning.  We stayed home from church assuming she was coming down with something, but as the day went on it was clear that her troubles that morning we caused by reflux and not a virus.  It seems possible that the dairy we thought she was tolerating could be what has been causing her issues all along.  We pray that in time we will have a clear answer for both of the kids.  In the meantime, we are learning to become practically vegan with a little bit of fish and turkey on the side. 

To help in our new mostly vegan efforts, I picked up some beautiful lettuce transplants yesterday.  Hopefully in the next few weeks, we will be harvesting our salads from the back yard!

 

We've got the beet

I think I have accomplished the impossible!  In attempt to get back on track with healthier eating we are trying some new things.  My sister gave me a subscription to Everyday Foods a year ago and while I have tried some of the recipes, I have never tried their week-long meal plan.  Yesterday we took the shopping list from the magazine and bought the ingredients for all five meals.  Last night was Seared Cod with roasted beets and broccoli.  Much to my surprise, not only was it well recieved, we were wishing for more.  Other than using beets in borscht (soup), I have never served them.  While they are not something we would want to eat every night, the kids didn't have a single complaint about eating them!

This morning I pushed the beet even further, I added the greens to our smoothies!  Spinach, carrots, beet greens (including stems), peaches, strawberries, blackberries, a tad bit of greek yogurt and orange juice made up our breakfast in a glass.  The reading I did compared beet greens to swiss chard, which has a very bitter taste, so I really thought I was ruining our smoothie.  Much to my great surprise (again), the smoothie was one of the best ever!  The kids loved it, as did I!!

 
January is a time for seed catalogs and beginning preparation for the spring garden.  If the weather cooperates and I get my act together, I plan to get some beets planted in our own garden in February.  On tonight's menu...brussell sprouts.  Another vegetable that I have never even tried let alone prepared!

Pizza night, garden style

Breaking news!  We have now tried both the malabar spinach and the purslane!!  Not only have we tried it, but we had it two nights in a row.  Last night I went out in the rain to pick some to add to our salad.  Tonight I made it out in between storms in order to pick toppings for our pizza.

The purslane might just edge out basil as my all time favorite plant!  Not only is it beautiful and insanely easy to grow, but the leaves have great flavor.  And to top it off,  you can pick the leaves off of the stem, put the stem in a cup of water and it will begin rooting in a matter of days.  I just planted another edge of my kitchen garden with slips that the chickens broke off of my potted purslane on the back porch. 

The malabar spinach was also good and didn't have too strong or bitter flavor.  However, a few of the bigger pieces had a somewhat slimy consistency in the center of the leaf.  I am not sure I would want to eat it much in raw form, but I think it could work for green smoothies or cooked.  Baked on our pizza tonight, it was great.

I wasn't sure if the kids would go for the garden veggie pizza, but I didn't give them any other options.  Toppings included patty pan squash, malabar spinach, onion, red pepper, fresh basil, purslane, tomatoes and black olives.  The only thing that did not come from the garden was the black olives!!  I'll confess, I was a little afraid to taste it, but 4/5 of us loved it.  A certain Mr. Tornado did pick a few peppers off and wished for his normal ham and pineapple, but overall it was a big success. 

I also must confess that this entire post was inspired so that I could post a picture of my red bell pepper.  Peppers have not been something I have succeeded at so to have my first successful pepper in three years of gardening deserves a little celebrating!

I was quite thrilled to discover that my summer squash is not entirely lost to the squash bugs!  This little patty pan was a happy discovery this morning.  I decided to break out some neem spray in hopes possibly killing some of the rapidly increasing squash bug population in attempt to salvage my remaining squash plants.

 

BC ~ Before Cheese!  The green that you see is the malabar spinach.  I added chopped basil after adding the cheese.  The finished pizza is above.

 

The second pizza, this one had purslane instead of the spinach.