Making a big adjustment with food can be hard but if it brings needed solutions, it is always worth it.
Most Powerful Form of Medicine
Sometimes our bodies need a reset. When dealing with disorder, inflammation and disease in our body, looking at our food first can help because it is a space we can control.
No one is forcing me to eat that french fry or drink that soda. The things we put into our mouths each day have an impact on our overall well-being and even our quality of life.
One of my favorite quotes about food is from Ann Wigmore – a health food enthusiast and educator. She said, “The food you eat can be either the safest and most powerful form of medicine or the slowest form of poison.” Wow!
Be Proactive
When my kids were young and started complaining about stomachaches, I started to pay attention to what they were eating and which things were triggers. I cut back on certain foods and that would help for a while but then something else would flair up their stomach again.
I finally decided we needed to be more proactive so we went extreme for a few weeks to really get to the bottom of what was going on. We avoided all grains, which meant we had nothing with wheat in it or any other gluten grains (einkorn, rye, kamut, spelt, emmer, etc.), no oats, no corn, and no rice. Dairy was also completely avoided and no refined sugar. We did that for 3 weeks and then started to introduce foods back in. The food I always introduce first is rice. Rice is very digestive friendly.
My kids are big eaters and the trickiest part was the hunger. They were so hungry all the time. We ate gobs of legumes, fruits, meat and veggies but within 30 minutes they were coming back for more.
Learning Some Things and Tweaking It
As we have done this reset multiple times, I have learned some meals that are more filling. Quinoa, buckwheat, millet, almond flour and coconut flour became commonplace in our kitchen.
This version of the reset worked well for us but there may be cases that require stricter guidelines. In some cases eggs need to be avoided or nuts and seeds. Some people have to go off legumes or nightshades, meat or even greens. All of these tweaks are possible, and often so beneficial when you are able to get to the root of a problem.
We like to take slippery elm, chlorophyll and a good digestive enzyme while doing this reset too. They can help with digestive issues and leaky gut. I’m not a doctor so I can’t diagnose or direct but I can tell you what our experience was.
Start Off With Juice
I like to start off a reset with a couple days of raw fresh juice. My favorite combo is equal parts carrot, celery and apple. So yummy!( I use this juicer.) The juice helps to get the digestive tract on track and also helps get our minds into a healthier place with food.
With children, straight juice for days is not a wise choice but we do incorporate juice into the first few days with all of my kids. The juice gives a high dose of digestive friendly enzymes – something all of us need.
Make a Plan – I Can Help
A plan with this kind of change is absolutely essential. I use my paper meal planner and write down every meal, every snack and every treat I think we will need. I then go back and double-check the whole menu because inevitably I will have written down a meal that actually uses something we are avoiding.
Here are thirty meals that we often eat on this diet plus a few bonus snack and dessert ideas. Keep in mind lunch can be eaten for dinner and dinner for lunch and breakfast can be eaten for lunch too. Good luck to you! I hope you can find your right fuel!
Breakfasts
- Pan Roasted Potatoes – Extra virgin olive oil, chopped onion, leftover cooked potatoes, salt and pepper
- Smoothie Bowls
- Grain Free Pancakes – top with applesauce, peanut butter or fruit
- Egg scramble – whatever veggies I need to use up in my fridge chopped and sauteed, salsa, eggs, salt and pepper
- Potato Disc Breakfast Stack – Thinly sliced potatoes – pan fried, fried egg, tomato slices, avocado slices, salt and pepper
- Cream of Wheat made with buckwheat and quinoa (we love it with this berry syrup)
- Grain Free Chocolate PB Banana Muffins with fruit or a smoothie
- Omelets
- Blended Chia seed pudding topped with bananas, berries, nuts and seeds
- Smoothies with loads of greens, seeds, and cashews to make them more filling ( I prefer smoothies most mornings because I can easily get my fiber intake in first thing!)
Lunch
- Cookie Dough Dip (we skip the chocolate chips while on this reset) and sliced apples
- Hummus (this recipe is great or a favorite store bought variety – just check the ingredient list) and Veggies and Siete Chips
- Bean Dip and Siete Chips
- Cowboy Caviar and Siete Chips
- Teton waters ranch polish sausages with mustard or Primal Kitchen Ketchup and veggies or fruit
- Kale and Quinoa Salad
- Mediterranean Quinoa Salad
- Potato fries (slice potatoes into wedges, Extra virgin olive oil, spices, Roast at 400 until soft and crisp) and sweet potato fries
- Asian Cabbage salad – Follow the direction in the notes for Grain Free
- Crunchy Cashew Thai Salad
Dinner
- Taco Salad with Siete chips on the side
- Mexican potato – Baked potato with shredded chicken or white beans with green salsa and garlic salt, salsa and this delicious avocado lime sauce
- Asian lettuce wrap – serve it with cauliflower rice instead of regular rice
- Lentil soup
- Chicken and veggie balsamic sheet pan or this salmon sheet pan
- Teriyaki bowls – no rice or use cauliflower rice or quinoa, in the sauce swap 1/3 pure maple syrup or honey for the 1/2 c brown sugar
- Burrito Bowl
- Egg roll in a bowl – In place of the soy sauce, use tamari sauce or coco aminos.
- Cabbage Roll Skillet
- Coconut Curry Chicken – serve it with cauliflower rice or quinoa
BONUS!! Snacks and Desserts
- All Fruit and Vegetables – full of fiber and important enzymes!
- Apples or Bananas and Natural Peanut Butter to dip it in
- Raw Nuts (we love almonds)
- Dried fruit (check to make sure it doesn’t have any added sugars)
- Frozen smoothies into popsicle molds
- Edamame with salt
- Carrot Pickles – fermented foods are so helpful!
- Peanut butter balls – great to keep in the freezer
- Date balls – 20 pitted dates, 3/4 cup soaked cashews, 2 tablespoons cacao powder, ¼ teaspoon vanilla, pinch of salt. Use a food processor to process everything smooth. Roll in small balls and keep in the freezer in a freezer bag or tupperware.
- Orange Slushy
- Chickpea Cookie Bars