I so appreciated all your comments on your experiences cutting things out of your diet. I think it’s so interesting how experimenting with cutting just one thing out of your diet can make such an effect on the way you feel. If you haven’t yet tried eliminating anything from your eating habits, you might consider giving it a try. Just for a week at least, just to see if you detect any changes. Even if you don’t think you have any problems to fix. Maybe (hopefully if it’s a food you like) you won’t feel any different, but maybe, as some people have written, it will eliminate some headaches or joint pain or asthma. You never know until you try, right?
After at least 20 days off of wheat, I think I can say that giving up wheat for me personally, doesn’t make a huge difference. Well, it certainly has eliminated my spring allergy sore throat, but I think I’ve actually gained weight this month! I was hoping to get rid of a pound or two as we’ve been thrown full swing into swim suit season, but instead my shorts and tank tops are fitting a wee bit tighter! Maybe it’s from substituting corn chips & nuts instead of crackers and bread.
My son’s asthma is still active, but still seems less active than normal. My daughter’s eczema, which is the entire reason we’ve started this experiment hasn’t been eased at all. Poor thing.
Maybe we haven’t been eating wheat but we have been eating from the garden! After parenting three toddler’s we can say that shelling beans (these are favas) can hold a two-year-old’s attention a surprisingly long time!
Thanks for your diet comments, keep them coming!
Hello! Thanks for your blog! I find it very refreshing and you always have some beautiful photos on!
Anyway, you say that you are cutting thing out of your diet and that wheat didn’t make too much of a difference. I have been cutting and adding and experimenting too and I think that may be sometime we can be focussing too much on cutting out and not enough on what may be missing from the diet and by that I mean the vitamins and minerals and other essentials. I have been supplementing (some people say that the purpose of this is only to make expensive wee but I think this isn’t terribly constructive!). Sadly our foods and soils have diminished in natural nutrition for various reasons and may be you are missing out on some of them. Your children too if they are suffering from asthma and eczema. I can tell you that since I have been topping up on good vitamins and minerals my mood has seriously improved for the better… Still waiting for the weight to vanish tho! Also I have been listening to 2 very interesting guys on podcast, you may already know about them: Ben Fuchs and Dr Peter Glidden – they clearly are selling a product but the nutritional advices they give make a lot of sense.
http://pharmacistben.com and http://fire-your-md-now.com
Take care,
Axelle
Since you said you wanted “diet comments”, I thought I’d tell you of the BIG change I made. I was introduced to a book called, The China Study by T. Colin Campbell. I was shocked and amazed! It was a life-changer for me. Since I’ve had cancer, I was more interested in eating right than in losing weight, although I do need to lose some pounds. In ONE day I changed from an “eat as healthy as possible” diet, to a “whole foods plant-based” diet! (Which is not a diet!) I then found a book called, Fit for Life by Harvey and Marilyn Diamond. This book explained the WAY to eat. Within 1 week I had lost 5 pounds! Finally! I’m eating to live!
I’ve been thinking of trying the wheat free diet to see if it helps…Hubs is totally against it so will be difficult to plan meals but if it will help I’m willing. Hopefully wheat won’t be an issue cause I do love my bread and pasta.
Have you tried eliminating lactose for the eczema? My son had horrible eczema on his face and it took us forever to figure it out. We started giving him lactose free milk and limited his cheese intake. It made a HUGE difference. After about a year, we reintroduced regular cow’s milk and he has done fine since then.
I had moderate/severe asthma for 16 years, then as an experiment three years ago I cut out dairy (and meat too, but it doesn’t affect the asthma part I think). Anyways, after 4 months I lost some of my medication (I was on $600/month worth) so I procrastinated to see how long I could go without it. Turns out, without dairy, indefinitely. I know I hadn’t “grown out of it” prior to cutting dairy out because even with so much medication I was getting attacks that would come through. When I eat dairy it isn’t an immediate thing to get an attack, more cumulative (I put minor amounts of dairy in every 1-2 days, two weeks later, asthma problems start). Even goat products I have to be careful with, though they are better. I am not the only one, met more than a few folks it is the same with. Also, high glycemic levels wreak havoc, so avoid sugar binges and lots of treats, and soda/carbonation=3 day immediate asthma attack. Go for kombucha or water kefir instead.
You may want to try a couple months so it really allows your system to clear out any possible inflammation happening with a possible food sensitivity.
I don’t know if that would help your son (and daughter, asthma and eczema usually come as a pair and cutting dairy usually helps eczema too), but hey, it may be worth a shot! Asthma is no fun!
Have you tried cutting out dairy? GMOs? I read an excellent book by Robyn O’Brien called the Unhealthy Truth that links childhood Allergies, Asthma, Eczema, ADHD, and a whole list of other health complications with our diet. I tried a juice fast two years ago, juicing only fresh organic fruits and vegetables for 23 days as sort of a detox, and have truly never felt better!
Love your blog! My son, now 11, has suffered terribly from severe eczema. The allergist wouldn’t give him a scratch test until he was 4. When he finally did we discovered a grass pollen allergy. The solution was showering every night before bed and applying lotion liberally. That simple step almost completely eliminated his flare-ups. I wish I would have known this while he was still an infant/toddler. Hope this helps.
Hey, I LOVE your Blog
Have your tried Aloe Vera Gel for your doughters eczeme?
or pure propolis?
Many greetings, Susann
It’s all information, right? And those toddlers can really focus.
Oh I feel badly when folks think that eliminating anything, especially wheat, is going to help with weight loss. A friend often says that Diet Coke and potato chips are gluten free and vegan but not at all healthy. But it can totally help with other things. I’ve actually found that dairy is bigger for me than wheat. And then not so long ago I read that humans are the only species to do two things: 1. drink milk past weaning. No other species consumes milk after being weaned. and 2. drink milk from another species. No other animals drink milk from a different animal. So it makes sense that our bodies aren’t really designed to process milk for so long and from other species. It’s hard because I love cheese and ice cream. So I am sadly, very inconsistent. But when I am careful to eliminate wheat and milk, wow, it makes a huge difference!
KK