In My Kitchen: My Happy Boy
Serving customized cooking, consulting, and meal planning.
I love this picture showing my youngest boy’s inside joy and enjoyment of life! Hard to believe once upon a time not so long ago, he had a painful and bloated belly, face full of rashes, runny nose, and seizures on a regular basis since he was one week old.
Look at him now!! Glowing, apple of my eye, truly xox
Him …. “Momma, what’s for lunch?”
Me …. “Spinach salad with balsamic dressing, red peppers, cultured beets and sauteed liver n’ onions.”
Him …. “Yummy in my tummy Momma!”
A feast he will enjoy with the same enthusiasm in which he greets all of life around him. This child who has been restricted in what food he can eat as I aim to help his gut be stronger so that one day, he can eat more variety. For now, he seems to not be missing out. I have been attentive in feeding him well!! He is cheeky and content and will eat nearly anything put in front of him, whether a fish head, marrow bone, or liver.
From the Inside Out Nourishment
My oldest son had food restrictions too. His appeared when I started him on solid food that had been pureed. In months (due to my lack of awareness that he was sensitive, allergic to refined gluten and cornmeal). He went from a fairly chubby normal baby to a scrawny sick toddler and was eventually placed in the intensive unit for fluids and nutrition.
I learnt quickly how a child can bounce back when food sensitivities / allergens are removed, and “healing” food brought in. His transformation in health motivated me. I was a single mother, working 70-hour weeks. I woke an hour early before him to do a quick yoga routine before packing his food for day-care and later school. He ate only what I fed him and over time those foods expanded and he blossomed!
By the time my second baby was born, I was full swing into food preparation and already in full gear so to say with doing the following ….
- Steer away from refined gluten and sugar foods.
- Eat breads, etc. made with sourdough rather than baker’s yeast.
- Practice food combining.
- Eat unsalted probiotic-rich food with each meal.
- Make gelatinous meat and bone stocks for stews throughout week.
My children and I are stronger in our digestive and overall body systems now. I believe the changes implemented above had the most to do with this evolving upward rising movement. Eventually we have confidently branched out to explore eating what’s available and what we please.
Nowadays, I find most any food works fine for my youngest, except quinoa which gives him a migraine. My oldest continues to avoid refined gluten and cornmeal (his choice, he reads ingredients, grocery shops, and is currently looking for an apartment with a big kitchen mom so I can really cook he says. I smile and keep cooking, though a whole less now. You will more find me right now at my computer helping others as a nutritionist.
To this day, I do not regret spending such time in the kitchen. A trade off really, as one I had full control, the reigns I needed to influence their health in a positive long-lasting way and two, the more I cooked, the better they felt. In turn, I spent a lot less time worrying about their health and tending to ill symptoms.
Our health is our wealth.
Lunchbox List for The Body Ecology Diet (for adults too!!)
Keeping Kids Cavity Free: Thumbs Up Mom
Lazy Guy Mayo
*Best to wait to introduce bone stock if just starting out with gut healing, wait until you no longer have so much discomfort. If you introduce bone stock too early before “sealing” gut properly, then more likely react to the free glutamates in a longer cooked stock. Stick to meat stock made with meat only (no bones) or cook a meat on bone for much less time.
Schuette, K. (2012). Stock vs. Broth – Are you Confused? Retrieved online at https://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/stock-vs-broth-are-you-confused/
May All Bellies Be Happy!!
5 replies on “My Happy Boy”
Tara, hi!
Thank you immensely for your reply. I have a question about colon cleansing. I am wondering if you did enemas on your son to help him heal or did you just rely on the diet to cleanse his colon? I am doing colonics now for myself and I am feeling so much better, the difference is huge. I am thinking if I should do it for my son, too.
And also, do you know what should be the ratio of good yeast to bad yeast in our gut?
Thank you so much! I am so glad to have found your website.
Jenneta
P.S. As an expert, do you think it is absolutely necessary to do GAPS intro diet to heal the digestive track and eliminate food sensitivities or can it be done with stage 1 BED?
Jenneta,
Your son may be craving fats while taking Young Green Coconut Kefir because his body is shedding toxins and repairing tissue, which is made up of cells. Healthy fats feed every cell in our body, so we need plenty of fats! Especially when a lot of old tissue is being replaced with new tissue as happens on a healing diet such as Happy Bellies Diet.
I am a big fan of healthy fats and the role that they play to heal a damaged digestive tract. It is proven that natural unadulterated animal fats, dairy fats, egg yolks, fresh fish and other natural sources of fat are essential to health.
Natural fats help to restore a strong immune system. The brain is made mostly of fat and needs fats to function well! Animal fat contain the amino acid, glutamine, which is primary source of fuel for every single one of our cells!
That said, if the gut lining is permeable and irritated eating meat stock or soups instead of bone broth or the actual fat on the meat, may be easier on a healing digestive system – especially when digestive enzymes are low.
Meat stocks differ from bone broth as they are carefully strained of cooked saturated fat. This is done cooking some meat on a bone with water for a short period of time and placing it in the refrigerator where the fat will harden and rise to the top to be skimmed off.
Your son may be healing fast as children usually do and be ready for cooked saturated fats and bone broths. My children would choose roasted marrow any day over most other foods! I do not hold back as they are receptive and salivate for good fats. I eat them too and my cholesterol levels have been better than ever the past 3 years in eating the way I do. Coconut oil, egg yolks, raw cultured butter, bone marrow, bone stocks and meat stews, liver, etc. are all wonderful forms of fat. I also now use the fat that rises to top of my meat stock or bone broth and use it to cook the rest of our food with.
Here is a great video by the Healthy Home Economist about the benefits of healthy fats: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9A-30Twp1k
As for your question about parasites..Our doctor diagnosed my oldest with parasites (intestinal) as he was itching like mad down there and had a lot of irritation in the area.
Tara,
thank you very much for such a thorough reply. Do you mind me asking why you are concentrating on healthy fats to heal your son’s sensitivities? My son craves fats when he drinks a lot of YCK and I would like to know the connection between them. I have read somewhere that high fat diet can also feed candida. Did you find it true in your experience?
Also, how did you find out that your oldest had parasites? I am wondering the same thing with my oldest, as well.
Thank you,
Jenneta
Both of my kids have been enjoying B.E.D. now for over 3 years. They love all the foods, including the sea veggies. Mind you I was fully macrobiotic before finding BED so they were already used to eating foods other kids may be less familiar with. Children’s bodies heal so much faster as they have so much more life energy than the average adult! My oldest nearly died from leaky gut and undiagnosed food sensitivities when he was 2 years old. He is now 10 years old and can eat ANYTHING. Though he does not and makes very good choices! My youngest still eats only what he is served. Both of my boys showed a lot of improvement in their health within 2 months of starting the body ecology diet. Many of those health issues have not returned.
My youngest is still quite sensitive in some areas and we focus in on him with more fermented cod liver oil and good fats and egg yolks and organ meats, etc. He loves bone marrow and hiziki sea veggie with gusto!! Neither of my kids have been “diagnosed” with yeast overgrowth. Yet, because I had been diagnosed with systemic Candida when they were young and the fact that it is the mom who passes her gut flora on to the kids I very much felt that yeast overgrowth played a key role in both their issues. I had taken IV antibiotics during the birth of my youngest and his health suffered quite some with breath holding spells, mini seizures, thrush, cradle cap and diarrhea/bloating/gas as a toddler. My oldest had chronic parasites, bowel issues and lots of food sensitivities throughout life. Neither have these issues anymore, though my youngest still has a spell of diarrhea on the odd day, mostly due to poor food combining at school (fruit with grain).
I did have a consultation with Donna Gates when I was first diagnosed with Candida and she said to work on my own health first before attempting kids. I am so glad she said this. As I would have been overwhelmed to deal with so much at the time of learning all there was to learn!
I did not use supplements other than fermented cod liver oil and Body Ecology’s Vitality Green Powder and Potent Proteins. We eat real food that is whole, properly combined and gluten-sugar-yeast free 🙂
May all bellies be happy!
Tara,
My son and I have many food allergies and sensitivities due to our leaky gut and candida overgrowth. I have been doing BED with him and for me for a while now and I have seen improvement in him and a bit in me. I slipped a few times, but kept strict with him. Did you cure your son’s food sensitivities just doing the BED or did you have to use supplements, as well? How long did it take you and your son to overcome yeast overgrowth? How diligent did you have to be with your diet to achieve the results you wanted? I am sorry for asking so many questions, but I really want to heal my gut and my baby’s gut, too. I am still learning and implementing BED principles even though I have been at it for a year.
Thank you very much,
Jenneta