Winter in Germany can be depressing.

Cold.

Dreary.

Gray.

Dark.

Ick!

There was a need for some cheering up and celebrating. Spring and summer are such busy months, so I thought it would be fun to get some girlfriends together and have some yummy food, some drinks and catch up on the fun things we had planned for the summer.

I saw a really pretty party on Pottery Barn for a Tapas and Sangria themed party. I couldn’t really define what a tapa was, but any mention of Sangria and I’m sold. Thanks to pinterest I was able to gather some lovely ideas to put everything together.

The decor was really simple and summery. I just wanted to vibe to be bright, fresh and summery. I made up some signs in photoshop to add some personalization to the party.

For the menu I made a few tapas myself and then the girls brought some dishes to share.

The girls brought:
-Potatas Bravas ( a traditional Spanish tapa)
-Salmon Bruschetta

-Sopapilla Cheesecake
-Honey Mustard Chicken
-Macaroons
-Blueberry cupcakes with a lemony frosting

I blame the Sangria for not allowing me to take pictures of ALL the food.

I made:
Bruschetta
Made this the night before. The flavor was bursting the next day. I used this recipe from allrecipes.com


Veggie Quesadillas by the Pioneer Woman

These were incredibly delicious!! I sauteed the veggies the night before and also shredded the cheese the night before for easy prep before the party.

Pineapple and BBQ Chicken Quesadillas also by Pioneer Woman
Also incredible!! I cut up the pineapple and had the cheese shredded for this, but I grilled my husband grilled the chicken right before the party. Could have definitely grilled the chicken the previous day. Would have stilled tasted delicious (the leftover were great).

Pasta Salad
I used a recipe for homemade dressing from allrecipes.com Served in individual cups. Just a little detail for entertaining to keep things simple and cute.

Pico de Gallo
I kinda just eyeballed the ingredients and threw this together, sorry no recipe to share.

Sangria
Whoa! Was this stuff STUH-rong or what. The fruit was soaked in rum overnight. Delicious. After one drink we were all feeling happy and lovey.

Besides food and decor a party needs music! I downloaded some spanishy and fun songs on itunes.

Drinks. Music. Laughing. Games. And even karaoke! It was such a fun night. I also downloaded some free printable photo props and those turned out to be quite fun.

I could rock a stache.

As the night went on we got sillier. I was so happy my Ikea solar lights worked.

They added a little glow when the sun went down.

Not everyone came with their lips all red and saucy. But, for the sake of looking good in pictures, everyone wanted a freshen up and I whipped out my Revlon colorstay in tomato. This red worked on EVERYONE, don’t ya think??

It was a great night. I love girls nights. Can’t wait to do it again.

And I leave with what I consider the best picture of the night:
 Sorry fellas. This spicy lady is spoken for

Until next time my sweet friends.

xoxoxo

B

I’m so excited for our trip to London coming up. London was never on my top places to visit in Europe, but after a friend went and raved about it’s awesomeness, I was curious to check it out. I found airfare for all four of us for $390 USD on Easyjet.com.  How do you NOT go when airfare is that cheap?? (Well…what I didn’t realize was how INSANELY expensive lodging is in London. Like crazy. The exchange rate is crap. Basically it costs us double in U.S dollars. I found a great apartment though and I’ll share that later.)

I’ve been researching a little bit on the web of where to go and what to do. We will be there for 3 1/2 days and at first I was thinking that might be too much time. After buying the Rick Steves London guide I think that’s not enough time at all! There is SOOO SOO much to do. I’m working our itinerary out and hoping we can do all of the things we really want to. One thing that will help us survive this trip is keeping the kids busy and entertained. My little guy will be happy with food and just being able to run around. But Little Wright is at the age where she can really understand a lot, so I want her to be just as excited about the sites and history as we are.

I made a little “I Spy London” card. This week we are going to talk about all the different sights shown on this card. Her job will be to find these sites and then take a picture.

BTW, I plan to make this available for people to download. However these images are not mine. I’ll insert my own photos when we get back and make it a pdf if anyone would like the file to use

I found this London Tower Unit on Lucy Learns. Aside from the facts and pictures of London Tower, there is a little cartoon about it too. Little Wright will love that.

Of course the Olympics are in London this summer. Though we won’t be there for the actual Olympics, there will be all kinds of signage and things going on to prepare for the events. I think some brief information about the Olympics would be fun for her to learn about too. At Get Set London they have activities and games specifically for 3-5 year olds (and older age groups).

Project Britian has all kinds of information and facts on London’s main sights and attractions.

I’m hoping that by learning about London, it will make the trip come alive for Little Wright The thing I’m most worried about is the two hour flight. With my two year old. Who is a maniac. Wish me luck

xoxo

B

I’ve been meaning to write a post on our trip to Rome for months now. We went over Thanksgiving weekend and came back in time for Christmas craziness. I’ve had writers block ever since

We were in Rome for 3 full days and I think November is a great time to go. Not only was it much less crowded, the weather was wonderful with temps in the upper 60′s and we had sunshine everyday.

Our apartment street, just 5 minutes from Spanish steps

We stayed in an adorable studio apartment just a few blocks from the Spanish steps. It was a great spot because we were within walking distance to all the major sights and had a place to crash or freshen up whenever it was needed. Which with two little ones in tow breaks were absolutely needed

When I first started planning our Rome trip I felt super overwhelmed. If you don’t have a guide, then you do have to be prepared to get the most out of your trip to Rome.  We used Rick Steve’s audio tour guide as well as his text tours for everything we saw. Can I just say Rick Steves rocks! His tips and tours are so easy to follow and just so wonderful for anyone who wants a DIY tour. Based off his book I created a daily itinerary that incorporated some play time and of course nap time.

Day 1
-Ancient Rome in the morning (Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine Hill, Arch of Constantine)
-Back to hotel for nap/break for kids (and us!)
-Exploring the city in the late afternoon/evening (Pantheon neighborhood, Piazza Navona)

We started out bright and early on Day 1 and after breakfast, headed to the Colosseum. The walk from our apartment to the Colosseum was everything you imagine Rome to be. Vespas zipping around corners, quaint little cobblestone laden alleys and cafes galore.   One of my favorite views on our walk to the Colosseum was of Piazza Venezia.

Piazza Venezia

As we got closer to the Colosseum, these cheeky gladiator characters started to appear. Rick mentioned these guys in his book saying they could be frisky. Apparently some tourists have been known to pay 100 euro for having their picture taken with a gladiator! This guy cost us 5euro for a picture. Yes we fell for the silly tourist trap.

And then we fell for it again

We had booked our tickets for the Colosseum online as recommend by Rick. We went during off season, so there actually wasn’t a line. During peak tourist season though, I would suggest buying the tickets online just in case to bypass any crowds. BTW I wouldn’t recommend buying any snacks or drinks near the main sights unless you don’t care to be charged an insane amount of money. We bought a bunch of bananas (only 4) and two coconut slices (trying to be healthy) and it cost 8 euro!

Once you get into the Colosseum it really is breathtaking. Even though the structure was built in 80 A.D, I thought the layout resembled our modern day football and soccer stadiums. I’ve heard people say the Colosseum is “ok” or it’s overrated. We really tried to imagine what it looked and felt like thousands of years ago. Rick’s book also helps you create an image of what it would have been like back then.

After existing the Colosseum, is the Arch of Constantine. If you’re a Christian, this is a symbolic sight because it was Constantine who legalized Christianity in Rome.

Arch of Constantine

The Roman Forum is located right next to the Colosseum. These tickets can also be purchased online and are usually included with the Colosseum price. The pathways in the forum were made mostly of stone and I was so grateful to have our Phil and Ted’s stroller. Definitely need a stroller with air tires to get around in there. There were a few places with stairs, so we were able to incorporate a bit of a workout

Inside the Roman Forum

It was so much fun to imagine what this city looked like thousands of years ago. Imagine what Denver will look like in thousands of years. Will it be a pile of rubble someday?

I loved this view of the Colosseum from inside the Roman Forum. After exploring Ancient Rome all morning it was about lunch time, so we headed back into town.

 We ordered some lunch and lattes at a little cafe. And what happened next was a “pinch me moment”.  An adorable little waiter, wearing artsy black-rimmed glasses and a black cafe style apron, brought this out to me and said, “preggo”:

Thanksgiving afternoon, and there I was. At a cafe in a little alley. IN ROME.  Drinking this too-pretty-to-drink drink and all I could think was *pinch me*.

After soaking in my nostalgic Roman lunch, we did some shopping and strolling around the city and then went back to our apartment to freshen up. Then back out to the streets we went. We were just exploring and looking for somewhere to have dinner when we first saw The Pantheon.

The Pantheon at night

Gorgeous isn’t it? Now imagine to the right of this picture a man standing near a fountain with a box at his feet for donations. He has a crowd surrounding him and he is singing opera, alfresco.  So quintessential Rome. So romantic. So perfect.

And that was our first day in Rome

Day 2…coming soon (hopefully).

-B

Although I do want to write up a post about our decision process to decide to homeschool our daughter, right now I’m more excited to share the curriculum program we have decided to use. The program we have decided to use is from www.k12.com. I am so exited and happy to have found this program. I have spent many hours on their website going through every sample lesson, the catalog, FAQ’s and all the videos they have available. The best way to describe it I think is that it’s like online college classes, but for kids k-12. It’s very customizable. You can purchase individual courses, semesters (part time) or enroll full-time. If you do enroll full-time you have access to individualized learning plans, a teacher and tutors.

Since we live overseas we have to pay for the tuition cost (thankfully my husband’s job pays for it) which for full-time is about $5k/year. They do offer a military discount as well as payment plans. Though this price seems hefty, it includes all the materials required for the year except for common household items. But textbooks, science materials, art materials, manipulatives, etc are all included and shipped out. It is considered a private school and is fully accredited. I know one concern I had about homeschooling was whether our daughter could get a diploma versus a GED. Through this program she can get a diploma. They keep track of all her credits and transcripts as well.

If you are physically living in the U.S, then depending on your state, there is no tuition! For example Colorado and Hawaii (the only two states I looked up) are state funded. How cool is that? Not only that, but there are co-op groups that meet for all kinds of groups like a cooking group and an aspiring music artist/actress club. In the U.S kids are able to join extracurricular activities and sports at the schools in their community, so there’s no missing out on that. Another neat thing is kids can do show and tell via skype.

Even though a teacher is assigned for full-time students, the parent is still heavily involved, so I would still consider it homeschool. I think that once kids get older, like middle school or high school, they can be more independent. But especially in elementary school the caregiver has to be willing to still teach their child. The classes themselves aren’t done online. The lessons plans are provided online and some activities are done online, but most lessons are done like in a typical classroom. Here’s a sample lesson for kindergarten science I took from their site:

This particular lesson is for Kindergarten science and the field of study is the human body. This is what a lesson for one day would be like. The lesson starts with a recap of the previous lesson, brief intro to the next lesson and a fun fact.

 I love how the lesson gives me clear objectives and also shows me what supplies will be needed.

I really like how they provide ideas to present the information in an interesting and fun way. I also like the structure of the lesson. Giving background knowledge and preparing the child for what will be taught.

The next part is to investigate. This provides an opportunity for the child to think about some of the facts they learned and to put the information to use. I also like the opportunity to incorporate a craft/project related to the topic. It makes it more fun for a 5 year old to learn about bones

Having the child reinforce the information is awesome! They get an opportunity to show they understood and processed what was being taught.

This is one of the interactive online lessons. I went through it and it’s really fun! I like that it not only reinforces the lesson material, but your child is also learning computer skills. If you click here, you can go through this sample lesson online and see the Dr.Jones online activity.

This lesson provides an optional learning activity to help reinforce the information and also have a little fun.

After each lesson is an assessment to ensure the that the information taught was understood and retained.

According to the course catalog each science lesson is about 45min and you could teach science just twice a week and get through the 32 week course on time. There are 70 science lesson plans. I’m working on our schedule for the fall and trying to decide which days we will do which subjects. We will most likely do a 4 day a week school week. That’s the cool thing about homeschooling! And no homework either, woohoo!

I really, really love this curriculum and hope that by sharing this with other people they will see and understand the opportunities that  are available through education.

BTW I feel like I should mention I am in NO WAY affiliated with k12.com. I simply am a parent who is very excited about the product they offer.

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It’s amazing how flavorful and delicious a raw salad can be! I believe there are two key factors that make a salad, with just a few ingredients, burst with flavor:

1) The produce should be organic and preferably locally grown. The further away the produce travels, the older it is. Thus less flavor and less nutrition. I have also noticed that produce that isn’t pre-packaged (lettuce or carrots for example) tastes much more fresh and flavorful. I always grab loose lettuce and spinach now for salads.

2) I know this is probably obvious, but well cleaned produce tastes better too. Proper washing and cleaning of produce is essential to help avoid food related illness. My mom gave me a great tip for washing lettuce and it really works well. Fill a large bowl with cold water and add the lettuce to the water. With your hands, swirl the lettuce around in the water for about 30 seconds, then remove lettuce from the water and place in a colander and rinse with cold water. I always notice dirt in the water bowl! Repeat this process a second time to thoroughly clean the lettuce. For the rest of your produce definitely use a brush to scrub everything well. Even foods with peels I wash because I don’t want cross contamination on the knife.

You can add whatever you want to a salad. I usually include mixed greens, sliced red bell peppers, celery and cucumbers.

I got so super excited because last week I found hemp seeds at my local biomarkt (organic supermarket), so I’ve been adding those to my salads too. They are an excellent source of plant based omega 3′s and also are a great source of protein! They don’t have a very strong flavor. I’d say they taste like very, very mild sunflower seeds. I love how crunchy they are! Amazon sells them in bulk for a decent price. Well a decent price compared to what I can buy them for in Germany.

Anyway I throw all these ingredients together and then I just make a simple dressing using olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Though the olive oil and balsamic vinegar aren’t considered “raw” by most raw foodies, I don’t mind because I’m not doing a 100% raw food diet.  I’m tellin’ ya, eating like this really is delicious and satisfying!

“The reason that one vitamin can cure so many illness is because a deficiency of one vitamin can cause so many illness.” Andrew Saul

We recently watched the documentary Food Matters.  What an incredibly fascinating and life changing film that has been for our family. I thought we were pretty healthy before, but after watching the documentary we have really made a full on lifestyle change. The best way to sum up the concept of the documentary is to share this paragraph from the film-maker’s website:

“With nutritionally-depleted foods, chemical additives and our tendency to rely upon pharmaceutical drugs to treat what’s wrong with our malnourished bodies, it’s no wonder that modern society is getting sicker. Food Matters sets about uncovering the trillion dollar worldwide ‘sickness industry’ and gives people some scientifically verifiable solutions for overcoming illness naturally.”

The film elaborates deeply into the philosophy of nourishing our bodies with vitamins and nutritious food as a method of preventing and treating disease and illness. Several leading experts in nutrition lend their knowledge of how exactly food can not only improve, but actually save your life.

Being a mother, I want to live as long as possible to see my kids grow up and to experience life to its fullest. Not only that, it is my responsibility to protect my children from harm. I refuse to feed them food that introduces toxins into their bodies and also provides little to no nutritional value. Aside from a tragic accident or natural disaster, the one thing I can control to ensure we do live a long life free of health complications is to feed our bodies with REAL food.

How many times have you gone to the doctor for some type of symptom and walked away with a prescription? I personally  haven’t experienced many doctors who try to find the source of the symptom.  Instead medicine is prescribed to mask the symptoms. Then what? How does the actual cause of symptoms ever get solved?

These are questions people should really ask themselves. We have made a decision as a family that we want to change. It isn’t a diet, it’s a lifestyle change. Some people can go cold turkey, while it takes a slower transition for others. We have transitioned to this point.  We have made the decision to eat a 70% raw food diet. For us this means green smoothies for breakfast, raw fruits and veggies throughout the day and a salad for lunch and/or dinner. We still cook food. That’s the other 30%.

Whether you are sick or healthy I encourage everyone I know to watch Food Matters!

I’ve always been a believer of holistic approaches as a first attempt to treating illness and battling disease. It only makes sense that what you put into your body will affect how you feel and how your body functions. Ever since I saw the documentary Food Inc. I have changed the way our family eats. Though we don’t cut out processed foods completely, we have made a dramatic change in our lifestyle. It’s a gradual process and I feel we are ready to move to the next level of wholesome nutrition by becoming even more discerning with our food choices. I have decided to cut white and even wheat flour out and just use almond flour (for now and will experiment with other types later on). I really want to take on the challenge of  a truly healthy (and maybe eventually Primal) diet.

My first experience with almond flour was today when I made Zuzana’s Powerballs. Zuzana is a badass chick from bodyrock.tv. I can say that her FREE workouts are hardcore and will produce results. She is a true health nut. Anyway, on to the recipe! What I really love about these powerballs is how insanely healthy they are and the fact they taste so good you wouldn’t really know. The coconut oil adds just a hint of the coconut flavor and because carrots are naturally sweet, the flavors really come together so well.

Every single ingredient in these powerballs has a health benefit:

Honey is a natural sweetner that is high in antioxidants.

Almond flour is low carb and gluten free.

Carrots are also high in antioxidants as well as vitamin A and recent research has found that the phytonutrients in carrots can inhibit the growth of colon cancer cells.

Spinach ( I added this, it wasn’t an original ingredient) is of course another well known antioxidant super food. According to the WH Foods (World’s Healthiest Foods), spinach was ranked number one for nutrient richness. WH Foods also mentions how in a recent study “spinach showed evidence of significant protection against the occurrence of aggressive prostate cancer.”(2011)

Coconut oil Plays an important role in the prevention of diabetes and kidney and gall bladder disease. Mark from Mark’s Daily Apple wrote up a great explanation of the health benefits of coconut oil here.

Almonds have so many health benefits to list that it’s better to just link the source. Read about all the many reasons these nuts are so good for your body.

Now on to the recipe!  I changed a few things about how I put all the ingredients together and I also added spinach because it has such a mild flavor, yet is so good for you. I honestly couldn’t taste the spinach at all. I used our Vitamix blender for making these, but a food processor would work fine too.

First, grind up one cup of oats to form an oat flour.

Then add 2 cups of almond flour to the oat mix and 3 tablespoons of baking powder.

Here is where I did it just a little different. I combined the 4 tablespoons of honey and the 4 tablespoon of coconut oil in a bowl together and mixed them up a little. I then stuck the bowl in the microwave on medium setting for 30 seconds.

Heating up the honey and coconut oil makes the mixture much easier to stir into the flour mix. After taking the bowl out of the microwave I found it was easier to use a fork to mash up the bigger pieces of coconut oil.

Dip your pinkie finger in and have a  taste. mmmmmm.

Add the coconut/honey mix to the flour and stir up. It will be clumpy.

Next add about a cup of carrots to the Vitamix blender and puree until mostly smooth. Then add 1/4 to 1/2 cup of spinach to the carrot puree.

If you don’t have a vitamix, you can do as Zuzana suggested and cook the carrots until soft and then mash them up with a potato masher and add chopped spinach to the mix.

Add the carrot mix to the bowl and stir well. I kind of mushed it all together with a spoon.

Line a baking sheet with parchment or wax paper. Then roll the dough into balls (I made 20, but it depends on the size you roll). Then take some crushed almonds,  and roll the balls in the almonds.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

Then let cool for 15-20 minutes. Enjoy!

Btw, my kids loved these! I had to take the plate away

Add scientific researcher to my resume! I have been following the scientific method and  making hypothesis’, experimenting, refining my ideas and have finally reached a theory. I feel like I’m having an AHA moment and wanted to share with you guys, especially those with kids who have sleep issues or have been diagnosed with ADD, ADHD and/or food allergies. I believe I have found the cause of my son’s sleep issues: salicylate intolerance.

My now 20 month old son has had issues on and off with sleep for the last 6 months. There have been nights where he is up screaming for hours at a time. I have researched everything under the sun and have gone to different doctors (one of whom told me to just let him cry it out for however long it takes, seriously?!) I’ve looked up restless leg syndrome, acid reflux, night terrors, separation anxiety, asthma, food allergies and just about any sleep disorder that exists. On the nights he isn’t sleeping he seems very uncomfortable and will squirm his body and kick his legs, which is why I thought it could be restless legs or acid reflux. As a parent it’s heart-breaking to know your child is struggling and to feel so helpless. It’s also frustrating and extremely exhausting.

His sleep isn’t a chronic issue though. It seems to occur sporadically, specifically after we travel. So logically I felt  there had to be something causing it, I just didn’t know what. I wasn’t sure if it was mental or physical, but something was causing my child to have sleep issues. The lack of sleep wasn’t just affecting my son, it was causing a lot of strain at times on our family because when no one is getting sleep, no one is at their best.

My sister had suggested keeping a journal of all the things he eats because the more knowledge I have, the more I can explain to a doctor. I basically needed to be our family’s researcher  I had started keeping note of the foods he ate and what (if any) effect were taking place. I was keeping a written journal and then just got busy and didn’t keep up (bad idea of course). But mentally I was paying attention to what I fed him. We are really healthy most of the time and limit processed foods greatly. We incorporate a lot of fruits and vegetables in our daily diet, which I thought was a good thing.

One of my favorite snacks ever is this honey greek yogurt sold in our grocery store. I love to add frozen blueberries to it. Of course every time I eat it, my kids want it too. Well last week I had a feeling and an idea ( a hypothesis!) to stop feeding it to my son just to test it out. Well the next night and then the next 3 nights after that he slept in his bed all night! After more than six weeks of frequent night wakings, we finally got a few full nights of sleep. Hallelujah. I was talking with my husband about it and wondering if it was just coincidence, but just to be safe decided against giving  him the yogurt or blueberries.

This past Tuesday night I made teriyaki chicken. I made the sauce homemade and it was delicious! However that night my son woke up in the middle of the night and ended up sleeping in our bed. He has had diarrhea since(today is Thursday) and I’ve been trying to figure out what the heck could be causing him to have it.

Last night for dinner I made roasted potatoes, broccoli and pork loin for dinner. I made sure to give him plenty of broccoli since it’s just so healthy. Well at around 1am he woke up and was very irritable, so I brought him to our bed.  He tossed and turned the entire night, poor mommy and daddy!

So this morning I googled “toddler sleep broccoli” to see if anything would come up and I found a site talking about salicylates.

http://www.fedupwithfoodadditives.info/factsheets/Factsalicylates2.htm

The symptoms listed for salicylates from the above site include:

·         headaches or migraines

·         itchy skin rashes such as hives (urticaria), eczema and others

·         irritable bowel symptoms – reflux in babies or adults, nausea, vomiting, stomach bloating and discomfort, wind, diarrhoea and/or constipation

·         bedwetting, cystitis

·         asthma, stuffy or runny nose, nasal polyps, frequent throat clearing,

·         behaviour problems such as irritability, restlessness, inattention, oppositional defiance, symptoms of ADHD

·         sleep disturbance – difficulty falling asleep, night terrors, frequent night waking, sleep apnoea

·         anxiety, depression, panic attacks

·         rapid heart beat and arrythmias

·         tinnitus, hyperacusis, hearing loss

·         joint pain, arthritis, and more ….

The reason I thought he could have asthma is because he has had 2 respiratory illnesses (inflammation in his airway) in two months time. Sometimes he sounds like he’s wheezing, but it’s also hard to tell if he is just doing it to get my attention. (He knows to cough and that sort of thing to get my attention). As his last doctor’s appointment the doctor listened to his lungs and said they sound fine. Which from what I’ve read doesn’t actually mean anything because he could still have asthma related symptoms that just worsen at night. Also, asthma isn’t technically diagnosed until age 3, so I’m still not ruling that out as a possibility.

Anyway the symptoms of sleep disturbance, skin issues (he has several dry patches of skin on his body), stomach bloating and diarrhea are all symptoms he has. Those symptoms in combination with the foods he has eaten gave me my AHA moment.

I found several sites listing the foods, products and medications that are high in or contain salicylates, they include:

  Fruits: Apricots, avocados, blackberries, blueberries, blackcurrants, redcurrants, cherries, cranberries, dates, grapefruit, grapes, guava, kiwi fruit, loganberry, lychees, melons (all types), nectarines, oranges, mandarins, satsumas, tangerines, peaches, pineapple, raspberries, strawberries, plum dried fruit (sultanas, raisins, currants, prunes)

  Any product made from the above fruits, e.g. jams, marmalade

  Soft drinks and fruit juices of the above fruits

  Vegetables: Alfalfa sprouts, artichoke, broad beans, broccoli, chicory, chilli, courgette, cucumber, gherkins, okra, olives, peppers, spinach, radish, sweet potato, tomato & tomato products, watercress, zucchini

  Nuts & seeds: Almonds, Brazil nuts, macadamia nuts, pine nuts, peanuts with skins on, pistachio nuts, water chestnuts

  Tea, coffee

  Wine, beer, cider

  Ice cream

  Sweets: Liquorice, chewing gum, fruit flavoured sweets, mints, peppermints

  Honey

  Maize, corn, sweetcorn and products made from corn or maize, e.g. fast food French fries, maize-based snacks, popcorn

  Cake mixes

  Spices, condiments & sauces: Commercial gravies & sauces, all-spice, aniseed, bay leaves, basil, black pepper, caraway, cardamom, cayenne, cider vinegar, cinnamon, cloves, coriander, cumin, curry, dill, fenugreek, garam masala, ginger, Marmite, Vegemite and other yeast extracts, mint, mixed herbs, mustard, nutmeg, oregano, paprika, pimiento, rosemary, sage, tabasco, tarragon, thyme, turmeric, pepper, vinegar, Worcester Sauce

  Oils: coconut oil, olive oil, sesame oil, walnut oil

  Meats: Any processed meat/fish in sauces (check), canned, processed meats
Read more at: http://www.mealplansite.com/medical-salicylate-sensitivity.aspx

The teriyaki sauce I made this week had soy sauce in it. We had broccoli for dinner last night. Soy sauce and broccoli are both high in salicylate. Also on the list…honey and blueberries. It’s all making sense now….

In my research I also found this interesting,: “Researchers at the University of Sydney in Australia found that three-quarters of 86 children with ADHD reacted adversely to foods containing salicylates.” (http://www.foodforthebrain.org/content.asp?id_Content=1631) Actually the evidence appears to be very strong that diet and ADHD are directly linked.

Anyway I feel like I have found the problem.  Part of this post is an AHA moment and the other part is a vent. I am so sick of doctors trying to mask the symptoms of my child instead of trying to source the problem. I have learned as a parent it is our responsibility to do our homework and challenge doctors who just want to push medications at us. I strongly believe in holistic approaches to healthcare. Our bodies are very sophisticated machines and while I’m not against modern medicine I do believe there is a balance.

Why don’t doctors ask about diet? Why haven’t I had a doctor suggest I keep a journal of what he eats? Why haven’t I had a doctor mention issues like salicylate intolerance being related to sleep disturbance?

WHAT IS GOING ON WITH HEALTHCARE THESE DAYS???

I am not lumping all doctors into this category. I know not all doctors are like this, but gosh darnit why is it so hard to find a doctor that seems to give a damn? I will say in my experience I do appreciate the German doctors because I do feel like they generally are more holistic and actually try and find the problem. I just want to say

Before giving up.

Before injecting your children with medications.

Before just accepting a life of little or no answers.

Think about the simple things. Trust your instincts. Food and body go hand in hand. What we put into our bodies does greatly affect our entire being. Logically, that is what makes sense. The air we breathe (exposure to pollutants, chemicals, toxins), the food we eat and anything else we expose our bodies to affects us.

I’m curious to know if anyone else has had experience with illnesses/disorders being improved by diet/lifestyle changes. Please leave a comment if so!

We finally have internet! After 9 brutal months we can connect to the world. Ahhhh. So happy

Will share pictures form our trip to Rome later.

Hope everyone had a blessed Thanksgiving!

xoxo

B

I have internet! After 9 grueling months I have internet. YAY! I want to share the invite I made for the holiday party I’m throwing for Mr.Wright’s students.

I am having SO much fun planning this party. I hope to make it my best yet. I have a whole board on my pinterest with fabulous ideas, check it out.

Can’t wait to catch up on blogs and share more stuff! I’m working on a sparkly craft and will share it later on.

xoxoxoxo

B