3 little GIANTS go Gluten and Dairy Free

Life with 3 little GIANTS has been busy as usual, but we are now entering into a new season of life that I am actually very excited about and plan to use my blog as a way to share it with you. I hope you will come along side me and share in Living Life with 3 little GIANTS!

Many of you may know that we have struggled with some behavioral and emotional challenges with our Princess little GIANT. Daddy GIANT and I started seeing a family counselor in January to see if there was something we weren't doing that would help her. During our monthly visits we received lots of positive feedback that we were doing things well and handling most of the situations the way she would recommend parents to. We received a couple of tools and were also able to really understand and learn about what the specific challenges are that our Princess little GIANT faces and that she's not JUST "strong-willed", it's so much more than that!

She did suggest that we have our Princess little GIANT evaluated for ADHD because some of the challenges she faces are symptoms of it. So, we did some online evaluations and most of them stated that she was definitely in need of professional evaluation for it. We started researching different treatment methods and really tried to educate ourselves. We made an appointment wit the Pediatrician and was given the "official evaluation" for all of the adults who lived with her to complete as well as her teacher. During this time of waiting to receive the form back from her very busy teacher, we started learning about food allergies. We uncovered that on both sides of our family there are some food allergies to gluten and dairy. We also learned that the allergic reaction to both of these things tends to be emotional and behavioral. When we received the form back from the teacher, we found that we were all on different sides of the form and learned that if a child truly had ADHD they would rate the same for behaviorally at home AND school. Our little GIANT is a remarkable student, is very well behaved, follows directions and is excelling above her grade level in reading and math (I'm bragging just a little as any proud mama should!). So, it seemed pretty clear that she did not have ADHD.

Another interesting thing that happened during this time is that our insurance didn't cover her visit to the doctor, which it did previously when at 2 1/2 she was seen by the Pediatrician for the same reason with the same insurance and coverage and at that time was diagnosed "at-risk for ADHD". We prayed about it a lot and really just felt like God was closing the door on us continuing to test her for ADHD and that He was using the insurance as a way to say "quit going down this road for a diagnosis because you will have to pay out-of-pocket every time and that's because she doesn't have ADHD." So we listened and I am sooooo glad we did, especially since there are so many kids misdiagnosed with ADHD. We didn't want her labeled with something like this that would follow her for the rest of her life.

So, after even MORE prayer, we have turned our focus to food allergies and what form of treatment we are going to pursue for them. Now many of you maybe thinking and wondering, "did they go to a doctor for that diagnosis?" and the answer is NO. Why you ask? First off, money... insurance does not cover the type of testing needed to diagnose gluten and dairy allergies, also many Allergists won't test for it because there are 3 different strands of allergies and it's not found in the common one doctors test for. It could cost over $600 per child for the testing and it's not even guaranteed that a gluten or dairy allergy would show if they had one. We are going to do an elimination diet this summer, which we are slowly transitioning into,  and we are going to see if removing those two things help with our little Princess GIANT's emotional and behavioral challenges. In addition to going Gluten and Dairy free, we are going Organic and pretty much Wholefood/ Plant-based as well.

You may also be wondering why we are making this change for every little GIANT as well as ourselves. The answer to that is because through our research and look back into health history for each of us as well as family lines, we see A LOT of things connected to these allergies. For example, the kids all have a skin condition very similar to Eczema which is a symptom of a dairy allergy. Our littlest GIANT had Eczema on his face pretty bad and with the changes we've already made, it seems to be clearing up. So, we are going to see how much better we all feel after these changes and see if any other health issues clear up because of the changes being made.

All of our little GIANTS are receiving most of the changes pretty well so far. We have done away with all Cow's Milk. Our Princess and Baby little GIANT's love Almond milk while our Middle little GIANT prefers Rice milk. I have also cooked quite a bit with a whole grain very high in protein called Quinoa (pronounced Keen-Wha). It really takes on the flavor of whatever spices your cooking with and can be used in place of ground turkey, beef, and chicken. I made fried rice with brown rice and Quinoa and other organic ingredients the other night and it was a HUGE hit! We have also been teaching the little GIANTS about portion control (the little GIANT's love using the measuring cups to actually measure their food before they eat) as well as what it means to eat Wholefood and Organic versus the food we ate before and why it's good or not good for us. We even watched Forks Over Knives (a documentary I HIGHLY recommend as well as Food Inc.) as a family and the little GIANTS were pretty interested!

I am very excited to see what this change in "diet" does for each one of us this summer. I am going to use this blog as a way to chart this experience. I'll share the good and the bad as well as recipes and foods that are big hit or a big flop. I am open to questions and comments and am in no way trying to push this lifestyle change on anyone else, so in return please respect what we have chosen to do for our family.

No matter how much work being "Gluten free, Dairy free, Organic, Wholefood, and Plant-based" is going to be, God doesn't give us anything we can't handle! I believe that He will provide us the finances and provisions needed to live this way. And if it truly benefits my family in the way we believe it will, I'll DO IT, because I LOVE Living Life with 3 little (healthy) GIANTS!