5 things you should know about gluten

As a mother of a child that has both a wheat (gluten) and dairy allergy, I’ve been forced to do extensive research on dietary alternatives. My findings have led me to understand that excessive amounts of gluten in the human body is bad for you (like anything else consumed in excess).

And while the rest of my family have no food allergies, we’ve taken this diet on together and are seeing improvements in our overall health. We are clearer headed, experience less gastrointestinal discomfort and bloating, and we are not as sluggish.

I admit that adopting a gluten-free diet is not an easy thing, especially when the rest of the household are used to their fluffy pancakes, moist chocolate cakes, scrumptious cookies, and hearty pasta, there are some amazing gluten-free versions of food that are giving some of my favorites a run for their money!

I recommend that you read the article and do some of your own research about the benefits of a gluten-free diet and challenge yourself to try it for a week. You have nothing to lose and potentially much to gain!

Are you a professional mom-dancer?

A wonderful part of being a parent is that you get to revisit your favorite things as a child.  And in our house, we revisit our childhoods A LOT.  Optimus and the boys watch original Transformers episodes, and they play with all of the old action figures too.  I get them outside to do things like hopscotch, four square and jump rope.

We also do a lot of dancing.  Now, dancing may not seem like a big deal-especially if you are a young person that still has reason to dance regularly, like to attract a mate, or shake your booty to a Shakira song after attending a Zumba class- but once you slip into parenthood, finding time to dance like adults do tends to fall by the wayside.  But fear not, for dancing is likely to become a regular part of your life!

In our house, we dance to make the kids laugh, stop crying, or our favorite, to celebrate an accomplishment, usually after Tails has success with the potty.  I am not sure how many hours I have clocked in, but I know for certain that I am a professional mom-dancer.  These dances can range from graceful and elegant like a swan to herky jerky like you’re suffering a seizure.  Skill matters not, what matters is the resultant smile that spreads across your child’s face and the great likelihood that he, she or they will join you in the fun!

So if you’re dance skills are rusty, go find a mirror to practice.  If you need a few moves that are easy to remember, try these: the sprinkler, the lawnmower, the shopping cart, and the robot.  And you’ve been gifted a set of two left feet, then do a two step and throw your arms around.

Get your dance on!

Mom’s on a mission

In a previous post, I offered some of my favorite documentaries that I had recently watched.  In that time I’ve watch numerous other documentaries almost all of which centered around health, nutrition and the benefits of living naturally.  And while Optimus and I have always been advocates of healthy eating, regular exercise, quality time outdoors, lots of reading and creative expression, etc, we had never really considered what we could do to kick things up a notch.

The documentaries were exactly what we needed to to make the change.  Now I’ve become a mom on a mission to get my family and myself where we need (and want) to be.

2013 has become our year of significant change.  Late last year we gave up red meat, though we still love our poultry and seafood.  Our plan is to wean ourselves off of the former over time.  We’ve made juicing a daily thing in our house and consequently none of the kids came down with a cold or needed any sick days over the winter.

Tails has a preexisting wheat and dairy allergy, so he’s been gluten/casein/caseinate free and dairy free for some time, but the rest of us are starting to make that change as well (our original plan has always been to adopt the diet as a family, but it’s been slow going and can be costly!).  But we’ve found that with gluten laden products in our systems we tend to be more sluggish and bloated.

We’ve prepped a space in our yard for a massive home garden, and Optimus and I are very excited to get things growing and onto our plates!  We’ve also put together plans for a chicken coop, which the kids are very excited about!  We go through eggs like Rocky training for a fight.

Overall, 2013 has been off to a great start for us!  We hope that the same is true for you!