And so it begins! Almost a month ago we brought Joel to the naturopath to try to find out what we can do in that realm before we bring him to a pediatrician next month. We prefer to take a multifaceted and holistic approach and figured this was a good place to start. He has also recently gotten involved in a local Sun Hang Do martial arts club, which he is loving.
Joel is our strong willed little guy. He is stubborn and smart and bossy and intuitive and persuasive and passionate and opinionated. He can be agitated and impulsive and frustrated and has a difficult time with self regulation and managing his emotions. We have been concerned about him because this year he had been getting in trouble at school and every morning has become a battle with him dreading it and trying to avoid going. He is unhappy and we just want our Joely back.
And so I found myself today in the naturopath's office, anxiously awaiting results from Joel's recent food panel blood test to see what, if anything, he has reactions to (and thus what, if anything, we need to cut out of or cut down on in our diet) ...
Pretty much everything, as it turns out! Ayayay!
The thing Joel most severely reacted to? Eggs! You know, the ingredient that is in pretty much anything delicious or edible ...
Here are all the things in the 'avoid' category (meaning we'll cut them out entirely):
- cheddar cheese*
- cottage cheese*
- cow's milk*
- whey*
- beef
- egg white
- egg yolk
- lamb
- gliadin
- wheat
- peanuts
*this means we'll be cutting out cow dairy entirely
Joel also had some moderate reactions to other things, meaning we can rotate them in his diet one or two times per week:
- casein
- mozzarella cheese
- Swiss cheese
- gluten
- grapefruit
- lemon
- orange
- garlic
Joely also had a moderate reaction to candida, which essentially means he has an excess of candida in his gut. This makes sense because we have been noticing how he reacts to sugar, and although he didn't have a reaction to sugar in the food panel test, sugar reacts adversely with candida with very negative effects.
So! He is taking a probiotic. He is taking vitamin D, Magnesium, Omega 3 oils and calm-gen. And we are going to be cutting a lot of things out of his diet in an attempt to help Joel feel healthy and happy and himself.
Welcome to our journey!
