Our Family's Relationship with Food

Before I answer the question of What is Primal Motherhood About, I’m going to give a little background to how we got to where we are today with our food choices.

In September of 2016, my husband had a health scare. We were at a San Diego Chargers game (When they were the San Diego Chargers) tailgating and Brian got a piece of steak lodge in his throat. Brian was able to breath but was very uncomfortable. After an ambulance ride and about 8 hours in the Emergency Room they had to scope Brian to push the meat down into his stomach. After they completed the scope, the GI (Gastroenterologist) doctor came into the room and requested that we follow up with an outside GI doctor due to finding some built up scar tissue that may be cancerous. (I started to slightly freak out).

We went to see an outside GI doctor, he was able to put our fears to rest and said that it’s not cancerous, but recommended we change our diet. He stated that certain foods are causing the inflammation in Brian’s esophagus and Brian is having a hard time digesting the foods. So, he recommended that we eliminate all gluten and dairy.

When we got the news, I was completely overwhelmed and had no idea where to turn to learn about this new lifestyle that we were forced into. Well, with LOTS and LOTS of research and LOTS and LOTS of trail and error, we finally had it down. We were feeling great.

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Now, fast forward a couple years, we had Daxton. After we had Dax, I had a really hard time breastfeeding him, so we had to switch to formula. When we made the switch, we found this to be incredibly challenging. It seemed like nothing was working, Dax was so fussy after feeding, we were trying everything to calm him down and we just weren’t able too. We went to a couple Pediatricians and they just continued to tell me “It’s colic, he’ll grow out of it.” It was so frustrating. Then, Daxton’s stomach started to break out in a bad rash, we took him to the Pediatrician (a new one), and she tested him for a Milk Protein Allergy. Well, the test came back positive, we were able to switch his formula and within 72 hours, he wasn’t so fussy, he was starting to be a happy baby. Luckily, when Daxton turned 1, he had further testing done and he was able to outgrow the allergy to milk. We do give him Milk daily, but we do limit his dairy intake because he does seem to still be sensitive to dairy.

Once we moved to Florida, we were working to reestablish all the doctors. Brian was able to find a GI doctor and they requested that he goes for further testing. After the further testing was done they stated that they didn’t think that gluten and dairy were a problem and that he could incorporate that into his diet. After we got this news, Brian was all excited to get a pizza and able to have the freedom to eat whatever he wants. Well, we decided to get that pizza and after eating it we immediately regretted that decision.

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After 3 years of following a strict diet, it just became a “normal” lifestyle for us, we didn’t realize all the great benefits of living this lifestyle. We are not saying that we won’t turn down a piece of pizza every now and then. We are saying that we chose to live a healthy balanced lifestyle when it comes to our family’s relationship) with food. (yes, we all have a relationship with food). I’m excited to share good information that I learned along our journey and share resources that I found, that may possibly be helpful to you, even if you don’t choose to be gluten and dairy free.