G Free

So without getting too much into it, M's doctors have been a bit worried about his growth rate and metabolism for some time.  After a full six months of really concentrating on increasing activity, making sure his diet was full of whole grains, etc., and watching portion sizes, it was not improving at all and was actually getting a bit worse. Add to that the DAILY battles we had about food ("I'm hungry" "You CAN'T be hungry you just ate a bunch.  You are just bored." or "Drink some more water"), and I knew that we were on the brink of a very unhealthy situation.

Anyway, it was becoming more of an issue than we'd like it to be and we started searching for some alternative routes to help us get it under control. I read a lot about gluten intolerance and how in some people gluten causes weight gain, mood swings, inactivity, skin problems, a persistent feeling of being hungry, etc.  (I am not talking about Celiac Disease here.  It's related but on a completely different playing field.)  In any case, I felt like the symptoms were similar to what Marshall was going through.  (However, I also recognize I have a four year old and lots of these things are par for the course. :))  We went to a naturopath for some guidance, and while she referred us to a program at Children's Hospital, she also said to go with gluten free if we thought it was something our family could do.

And so we jumped in head first about two weeks ago.  (Which can be the excuse to why I haven't really been blogging because I have been reading all I can about living gluten free, but really....I'm just a procrastinator)  So far, it hasn't really been that difficult.  I realize that we are clearly still in the Honeymoon phase and that Marshall isn't in school either, so monitoring his diet isn't really that challenging, but really, it hasn't been that huge of a deal.  Ready made gluten free bread is out of this world expensive and not super great for you, so I have started making our own.  (Which sounds super Martha Stewart-y, but is honestly not that difficult) and we've found lots of alternatives to our usual wheat-based carbs.  Fruits (dried and fresh) and nuts have become major parts of our diet, but other than that, not too much has changed.


And we can ALREADY see a difference.  Marshall is so much more active and looks so much healthier.  Yes, we have discussed that it might be because we have started eating healthier or that Marshall is swimming almost everyday (which he has been doing since June), but heck, who cares!  If it takes us going gluten free to maintain this lifestyle, than so be it!  We are just so thrilled that we are all living healthier and the food battle is dwindling! Hooray!  See you later Gluten!