Grain Free Meal Plan, April 28 – May 4

So…we’re trying again.

After the neverending cold came in and dismantled my last attempt at gluten- and dairy-free AND after we met a nutritionist/chiropractor who offered some advice AND after my ongoing dismay at seeing nothing change and my desire to meal plan drop like a tired mom into bed, we’re finally trying again.

We’ve been grain-free since this last Tuesday when the kids finished off the last of Dad’s leftover pancakes for breakfast. It’s my intention to pull milk from the diet for a week when we run out of our farm fresh milk and see what happens.

To re-iterate why I’m doing this:

• One child is chronically constipated. This child has also been having headaches and stomachaches recently.
• One child has chronic diarrhea.
• One child has ongoing nasal drainage and practically white stools.

Apart from these issues, they’re otherwise happy, beautiful, intelligent (yeah, I’m biased) children. But these problems are not normal. And they need to be fixed. Sooner rather than later.

As I was reading Kelly Dorfman’s book (the new second edition), she summed it up like this:

“Beyond the basics, most nutritional problems fall into one of two areas: Something being consumed is irritating or something that the body needs is irritating.” (pg. 12, “Cure Your Child With Food“)

We are seeking to remove the irritants. I’ve had milk issues in the past. My sister has both gluten and milk issues. I suspect that several of my children are sensitive to citrus and, honestly, I need to research that option a little more. In the meantime, we’re working with the ones we know about.

The nutritionist wanted us to try a couple of things:

• Eat a practically paleo diet for two weeks. She was okay with certain things like amaranth and quinoa but I’ve currently left them out.
• And, specifically for me, do a 21 day sugar fast. One thing at a time, mkay? 😉

We’ve been doing the practically paleo – using almond flour, coconut flour, recipes from Beyond Grain and Dairy and several of the other cookbooks that we picked up from the Grain-Free Bundle of the Week a few weeks back. I’ve also been drawing a little bit from Well Fed. I haven’t printed it out yet, but what I’ve managed to read through the e-reader has been helpful.

And…I’m glad to report that it seems to be helping a bit.

So far, Child One has started using the bathroom more frequently. Hooray! Child Two seems to be pooping a little less frequently, but now has a slight yeast rash in the perianal area. Child Three doesn’t really seem to be affected at all.

(I’m trying to collect this information here as the notebook I was using has disappeared. /sigh)

So…this week, we’ll be finishing off the milk and staying off the grain and, Lord willing, we’ll get some answers. If not, well, then we’ll try the allergy testing. I know it’s imperfect. I know that it doesn’t show everything and may give false negatives. But…it may also give us some other avenues to try out.

This Week’s Menu:

Sunday, April 28

Breakfast: Bacon, eggs, and Grain-Free Lemon Poppy seed Muffins
Lunch: Leftover picnic fixings: ham, salami, cheese, carrots, cucumber slices, roasted tomatillo dip with grain free multiseed crackers
Dinner: Butternut Squash Pizzas

Tasks: Start soaking walnuts, pull a chicken out of the deep freezer to thaw.

Monday, April 29

Breakfast: Banana pear raspberry smoothie, bacon, and eggs
Lunch: Leftovers
Dinner: Roasted chicken with potatoes, beet salad, carrot fries (Also roast spaghetti squash and sweet potatoes since the oven will be on anyway) and Nut Free Paleo Bread with leftover Creamy Orange Cashew Sauce for dessert

Tasks: Start chicken stock, dehydrate walnuts, make crackers, look up how to make sunbutter and water kefir, fresh tea for kombucha, chop up the remainder of the butternut squash and make magnesium lotion.

Tuesday, April 30

Breakfast: Zucchini muffins and Paleo Pumpkin Muffins
Lunch: Chicken Salad with Coconut Flour Crepes
Dinner: Make up a Green Bean and Mushroom soup, using the Creamy Orange Cashew Sauce

Tasks: Thaw a pound of ground beef for meatballs, boil a dozen eggs, and freeze the leftover grated zucchini.

Wednesday, May 1

Breakfast: Eggs and Sausage
Lunch: Tuna salad
Dinner: “Spaghetti” and meatballs

Tasks: Make meatballs, make spaghetti sauce, chop and freeze leftover peppers.

Thursday, May 2 (Night of Worship! and Grandparents visit)

Breakfast: Banana muffins and Banana and Cream “Oatmeal”
Lunch: Leftovers
Dinner: Salmon Croquettes with Romanesco Sauce with Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes – only they’ll be “faux-tatoes” as we’ve got some cauliflower that we need to use up.

Tasks: Make Chai Tea Concentrate, pull hot dogs out of the freezer

Friday, May 3 (Date Night!)

Breakfast: Veggie omelets
Lunch:  Hot dogs, carrot sticks, and banana popsicles
Dinner: Meatloaf, salad, and sweet potato fries

Tasks: Lock down pancake recipe.

Saturday, May 4

Breakfast: Grain-free, dairy-free pancakes pancakes (still looking for a recipe)
Lunch: Leftovers
Dinner: Leftovers

Tasks: Get next week’s meal plan together.