employed...

Sorry, my blog friends. It has been too long! I (Amy) must apologize-- my employer has me working overtime these days. Wanna meet her?


(Not too bad of a gig, eh?) :)

Yeah, while I appreciated the change in scenery and a chance to enjoy wonderful time with our family last week, I can't call it a true "vacation." Anyone who's traveled with small kids before knows what I mean by that, and then add in the complexity of our food situation on top of THAT... as wonderful as it was & I'm thankful for the help our family gave!, there really is no mental REST for me these days.

Let me see if I can explain this in a way that would make sense---

Imagine if you found out your gut, due to holes in your intestines, started showing intolerances to a looooong list of foods: no gluten (bread, pizza, or anything with wheat flour in it) no dairy (milk, cheese, ice cream, sour cream, etc.), no soy (basically almost anything packaged), no eggs, no citrus fruits, no garlic, no tomatoes, no apples, no yeast, avoiding sugar like the plague ... you get the picture? Not fun!

Okay, so you gotta let the gut heal. Things aren't being digested. (Bowel movements are consistently bad.) Nutrients & minerals in the food aren't being absorbed like they ought. (Hair falls out, for example.) Things are leaking out of the intestine into the body causing reactions. (Eczema rashes appear and move around.) Your immune system is haywire & in overdrive from all of this, and so you're susceptible to ALL kinds of viruses and illnesses. (an infected salivary gland, for example)

(interesting fact: I read that if we didn't have to EAT, it would take the gut between 4-5 days to heal. But because every food that goes through the intestines can potentially continue to irritate, it takes a much longer time.)

Think about how long it might take you to figure out what you CAN eat.
And then figure out what would be BEST & most helpful to your gut to eat.
Think about the constant hunt to find foods that you CAN eat. (visiting numerous health food stores, researching online for hours on end, & reading every.last.label.at.the.grocery.store)
Think about how long it would take you to plan out the meals for the day.
Think about how long it would take you to prepare and cook the meals. (remember, very little is "convenience" food)
Oh, and remember you don't have a Whole Foods Market or Trader Joe's within an hour of you. :)

And then...

Imagine I told you that once you figured out WHAT you could eat, I told you that if you eat too much of THAT food, you'll develop NEW intolerances to THAT food?!? (too much of a particular food gives a greater chance for it to seep out of the intestine into the body, and then the body attacks IT as a foreigner) Do you see how helpless this feels???

So the best way to prevent new intolerances is to rotate your foods every 4 days. (more on this coming in a future post as I try to get my head wrapped around how THAT's gonna happen...)

I know being a mom is a full-time job anyways. But seriously, THIS is a full-time job in itself. I'm so thankful that I'm able to be at home to devote the time and energy to helping my sweet girl. (who is still totally oblivious to all of this and as happy as she can be! She is growing by the minute & soooooooooooo smart!)

It's a full-time job that I really wasn't equipped for, (nutrition?? what's that??) and I wasn't exactly ready to handle the heartbreak of watching your child regress. There are (lots of) days when I grieve the fact that I was GIVEN this job by the Lord, but there are just as many days where I'm determined and hopeful. In hind sight, I see His fatherly hand guiding us. Slowly and gently, but guiding nonetheless. If I didn't know that all of this rests in His hand and is under His control, I don't know how I would get out of bed in the morning. (at times, it has already been hard enough doing that...)

Nevertheless, there is just no rest for my mind right now. I wish there was. Thankfully I have an AMAZING husband who is not just supportive and helpful, but my teammate in this. He is so great at jumping in and taking a good chunk of the work. I read the stories of so many couples where one spouse is on a different page, and praise God that is not us right now.


My husband has become our resident "juicer." :) (see earlier posts & you'll know what I mean.) Before we temporarily gave up apples & tomatoes, here's an example of what went into a juice we made...


And I'm finding foods that I had never even HEARD of before... millet, quinoa (pronounced "KEEN-wah") amaranth, & buckwheat to name a few. Today I made a batch of millet pancakes (with egg replacer & almond milk) in order to freeze individual servings for future breakfasts.

And even though this job is all-consuming and never stopping...


...the rewards are priceless.