Amazing Change

Trying to keep up with everything is like running a race and realizing you are already way past the finish line but still going full speed ahead.  This is how life has been.  A month without writing but experiencing joy beyond measure.  Since starting the Feingold diet life has only gotten better.  In fact, just the other day my husband said "Liza, I think I like you more now than I have ever liked you."
"I know!" I said, "I like me the most I've ever liked me too."  three months of feeling no PMS!  Who wouldn't love this?!

Was the outcome worth the effort up front?  YES!!!  I can't say enough about how grateful I am to have found something that has helped create such a powerful long term solution in my life.  Feeling emotionally strong,  and my children more emotionally settled has opened up more energy to focus on greater aspects of life.

An Observation:  One Sunday the children were playing all afternoon together.  A small miracle occurred.  No one cried or got hurt all day.  It was at the end of the day that I realized this was the very thing I had imagined while doing a manifestation meditation.  I created in my mind more peace and harmony in my home.  What I visualized was the children all playing and having fun together with harmony.  This is what occurred that day several months after my manifestation. Gratitude and joy were felt.

We took the older children to New York last month.  We stayed at my sister Rachel's house. (which was haunted with a "scary boy" as Abigail puts it :).  Rachel gave me the most amazing ideas and recipes for more safe meals to add to my meal plan options (thanks Rachel).  We were able to see the most beautiful scenery. Fall leaves back East was a dream come true for Sheldon.
We visited Palmyra, Hill Cumora, Sacred Grove,  Smith farm, and EB Grandin building (where the first Book of Mormon was printed).  We went to Niagara Falls- which was Isaac's life long dream (He's been obsessed with waterfalls since he was 3 years old and Niagara is the granddaddy of them all).

We have had a few great learning experience to truly see the effects food has on our behavior and emotions. Of course Halloween was a challenge.  The smaller kids (Eli &Emma) had no self control and scarfed down all their candy. Annie had a small candy and Isaac had a Snickers bar. They then traded the rest of their candy in for money or a treasured item.  Isaac opted for money while Annie opted for some white yarn :) (She is learning how to crochet and I am so impressed with her natural talent!)  The next day when the kids came home from school.  The first thing Isaac did was burst into tears.  He said "I have had a terrible day.  I couldn't think and I couldn't focus, now I have so much homework."  He was angry with Annie for being alive and wondered when he would feel better.  We had a great discussion about this and he commented on how he used to feel like this all the time and he is so glad he doesn't have to feel this way any more.

Annie, on the other hand, loves her reactions.  She has expressed she likes being hyper. Last week we had a teaching opportunity with Annie.  She left her lunch on the bus one day so ate school lunch.  That night she was bouncing off the walls (literally).  She had a hard time settling her body down to go to sleep.  The next day she ate a doughnut at a church activity, the day after that some cookies.  After a few days of a bad run and obnoxious, hyper, disobedient behavior we received an email from her teacher stating many concerns about Annie.  She even had to move her to her own table so she would focus and stop bugging the other kids in class.  We talked to Annie and found out that on top of all of this she had started eating school breakfast in order to stay in from morning recess (it became too cold and all of her friends eat breakfast).  A great teaching discussion took place and she is now more motivated to eat real foods. I do love the kids having their own experiences and hope they learn to appreciate their calm state of feeling more than tempting food.

In my pursuit of cleansing my home from anything that isn't Feingold safe, I was given an amazing tip on some cleaning products that eliminate all household chemicals from my home and I can still sanitize my space.  The company is called Norwex and they sell microfiber cloths embedded with a silver agent.  The microfiber picks up 99.9% of all the germs on any surface and then the silver suffocates the germs which sanitizes the cloth.  All I have to use is water to clean with now.  No more breathing or absorbing chemicals.  Because I fell in love with them I have decided to become a consultant.  So running the race of life became even more exciting.  I have been teaching classes on how these products work, the research that has been done with them, and making some fun income! :)  Thus the long pause in writing.  Some things have to give sometimes.
If you're interested in learning more about this here is my website: http://lizalawrence.norwex.biz/

A couple favorite quotes:  Truth must dazzle gradually or every man be blind- Emily Dickinson
                                        Be the change you wish to see in the world- Gandhi
LOVE IT!

Will life ever slow down?

Will life ever slow down?  This has been my latest question.
I can't complain too much because this has been some of the nicest autumn weather I can remember here in Rexburg.  We are actually getting a cantaloupe and some cauliflower in our garden because of the nice warm weather and long growing season.  Our sunflowers have amazing heads too so we will be using a lot of seeds in our homemade granola (which is the easiest recipe I have ever seen and my kids love it).  I got it out of the Feingold Handbook recipe section.  I will pass it on for others to enjoy:  5 cups oats, 1/4 cup honey, 1/4 cup oil. Cook for 30 min. on 225 degrees.  I usually leave mine in longer because I like mine more crunchy.
I have been busy canning, harvesting, dehydrating... all my produce still.  I LOVE IT.

We've been hosting parties (free fishing on our neighborhood lake/pond), hiking, picnicking, and enjoying the weather.

 Today, the kids and I went on a picnic in the tree house on the island.  Emma kept saying how "Adorable" it was.  I think she meant to say how wonderful and fun it was like the other kids but no it was "Adorable" to her.  It was so nice to spend time with the kids relaxing and enjoying the weather.

I'm crazy busy doing energy work on people which I have a love/hate relationship with (not the people the energy work).  I love helping others but I hate how I have no time for anything else.  I have needed to find a balance in this.  I prayed for a dream the other night to help guide me in how to keep life in balance.  I asked for a message sent in a dream because it seems I have not had a moment to sit down to meditate and sleep is the only time I am still enough to receive.  I was given two really cool dreams that night and have made my peace with life and I have been able to manage my time more effectively this last week.  Thanks to The Divine for guidance.       

Blogs are a funny thing.  We often only talk about or share the beautiful and successful things of life.  In some ways we make life seem perfect or paint it to look perfect.  I am about to share the ugly truth of the past two weeks now.  Because we had been sailing along so smoothly with the new food program I decided to try some of the forbidden fruit back in.  I opted for some ripe juicy peaches I got from my sister's tree in Utah.  I gave one to Isaac and Annie as an after school snack.  I kept in mind to pay attention for any reactions.  Literally, one hour after I gave them the peach, Isaac jumped up and started running from the front door to the back door 3 times.  I asked, "Isaac, what are you doing?"  He yelled back, "I've just been sitting for too long."  The rest of the night he was agitated and emotional.  I was shocked at this obvious reaction.  We will be holding off on peaches for Isaac for a while.
On a personal note for me. I have had four very obvious reactions.  I think they have all been related to food colors (yes I was naughty a couple of times and ate a non approved treat.  One of the times I felt like I would have offended someone if I didn't eat and the other time I just had no self control -Cocoa Bean cupcakes- a slight weakness of mine)  I became irritable for no reason.  Certain people just started to bug me.  Yes a few of them were my children and a few of them were not (I am naming no names).  I became more snappy and impatient.  I had been feeling so calm and patient on this diet in fact I didn't even struggle with PMS this month which is a true miracle for me (my husband appreciated this immensely too).  The reactions were so clear to me.  I love getting to know myself better.  Its always fun to learn and understand myself.
Annie has also been sick the last few weeks.  I feel terrible about this because it went unchecked for so long.  She would come home sick and then perk up in a few days then crash again in a week and perk up.  She did this three times and I finally took her in and found out she had strep and a kidney infection.  I was shocked about the strep because she never complained of a soar throat.  We got her some medicine and she is now feeling much better.

All the kids are home for spud harvest for two whole weeks and while I love having them around it also complicates the daily schedule.  I'm not sure why we still get out of school for two weeks when none of the elementary children work in the potato fields.  We did go glean potatoes one year and it was a neat experience for the kids but that was one day not 14.  I'm sure I will survive these weeks and will be better for it :)            

God's Hand in All Things

Today I held a luncheon and class with several of my friends.  We learned more about the Feingold diet.  As I was reflecting back on my journey to find the Fiengold information, I became more aware of guidance from God that I was getting all along.
First, as mentioned in my first blog, about a year ago I was told by God to change Isaac's diet.  I made a few changes here and there but nothing drastic and no big improvements with his behavior.  About six months after this, as I was doing laundry, the Spirit said to me "it is time to change things with your family."  I asked questions about what to change.  I didn't get any clear answers at this time.  A couple days later, after discussing with my husband some ideas for change, I had a vision while meditating.  In this vision I saw the children serving each other dinner.  One child was playing the waiter/waitress and handing the other family members their plates.  My interpretation of this vision at this time was connected to service.  "My children need to serve each other more" was my thought.  We did implement this new change and the children had fun with it for about a week and then it simply did not sustain itself.  As I look back on this vision, could it have been literally meant to call my attention to the food we were serving but I missed it?  I now think perhaps so.
Next prompt, Isaac brought home a paper from school with information about the Feingold diet.  I placed it in my "look at later when I have time pile" and lost track of it.  Each time I sifted through this "pile" I would discard the paper but always felt a need to retrieve it and would place it back into the  "pile" for later.  All summer the paper waited until I had enough time.  Finally I made time and as soon as I looked up the website I knew this was exactly what I had been praying for. Why did it take me so long to get it?
Why didn't God just come out and say.  "Liza, you need to implement the Fiengold Diet in your family."  Why not be more clear?  I think we can see this in how Jesus taught with parables.  "Who hath ears to hear, let him hear." Matt 13:43.  When/If God speaks to us exactly, then we are obligated to obey and held accountable if we do not obey.  If He speaks to us in clues, symbolism, uncertainties we are not held accountable if we do not understand clearly.  It is in fact very merciful of Him.  I'm grateful to have finally understood the clues I was given.  I acknowledge God's hand in my life.  (There were many other connections and clues given but fall under the "much to mystical and psychic to mention in this blog" category so if you would like more of this info just call :)).

Now to report on the much progress in our home over the last week.  Amazing!  We have not had to tell Annie to "glue her bottom to the chair" while we are eating dinner.  We have not had long nights of homework because it was done at school with the extra time from finishing their work early.  All the children played together for a couple hours on Sunday and no one cried once. (This truly is a miracle).  Annie's primary (church) teacher said she was the only child who sat quietly in class.  Which is amazing considering just a few months ago this teacher had pulled me aside to discuss what we could do to help Annie be more reverent in class.  Eli's true self isn't being overcome with fierce anger anymore.  And Emma, well she's three and not much has changed with her yet :).

The Serenity Prayer
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him Forever in the next.
Amen.
Reinhold Niebuhr

Party On

I am once again exhausted from being consumed with food planning, shopping and preparation.  Luckily this weekend, for Annie's baptism party,

I had plenty of help in the kitchen.

 My mom, mother-in-law, myself, and sister all stayed up until 11:00 PM preparing fresh and Feingold safe salads for lunch the next day.

I must say we had an overkill on the food. One family friend didn't show up-went chopping wood for the winter instead.  Which is an important commodity around here.  We are opting to buy our wood this year(which is still cheaper than heating our house with electricity) due to crazy stressed out schedules.  Husband writing a dissertation and all.  Plus changing responsibilities at work.  (I really think this is an excuse to get out of the hard labor of hauling, cutting, and chopping wood- "I have a 200 page paper to write before Christmas!"  waaa waaa).
The family party went great this weekend.  I did end up offering some hand picked huckleberries for the homemade ice cream.   All the food was amazing and safe.

Following on the heals of Annie's special day and company at the house for the weekend, was Eli's 5th birthday.  I attempted to make a homemade Spiderman Cake.  I used beet juice to die the frosting red.  It turned out to be more of a deep pinkish purple color but Eli was happy and that's all that mattered.  I'm sure the Spiderman action figure on top helped with any disappointment with the "girl" color of frosting.

He is a very compassionate person by nature.  In fact all the little girls in the neighborhood and preschool have dubbed Eli as the boy they are going to marry (and he loves every minute of it).  Earlier this week he was playing hide and seek and happened to find his bag of birthday gifts I had stashed in my closet.   He came out very excited "Mom look, it's the ax I've always wanted."  With some heavenly help to handle the situation with grace and ease, I explained that those toys were indeed for his birthday.  I told him we would need to put them back and wrap them up so he could open them in three more days on his birthday.  This was his reply:  with complete sweetness and honesty, "Oh yeah, and I will just forget what they are and then when I open them I will be surprised."   That was that.  No fight, No fuss.  What a darling!  He opened them on his birthday and was still just as excited.

We also tackled some harvesting this week.  We brought in our corn and put away 30 quart bags.  We didn't get enough peas and way too many beans.  We still need to bottle more pickles.  We have plenty of pickled beats and some beats left in the ground for fresh ones.  Our onions are almost done, squash is going crazy, potatoes left to dig, broccoli still going, and cabbage and carrots coming out our ears.   I love my garden and love harvest time.  There is something incredibly satisfying about harvesting your own grown food.  Ahhhh- could life get any better than this?!

Small Victories

It is time to celebrate some small victories in my life.  While there are many reasons to celebrate life, I would like to mention the ones related to this new diet.  For the past two days, Isaac (target son) has finished ALL his school work at school.  We haven't needed to spend an hour or more each night doing homework with my constant "focus- are you focusing?" plea to keep him on track.  (Huge sigh of relief and wipe the tear from my eye).  Annie (8yrs.) has come home with her work done too.  They have been more pleasant and cooperative with many things.  They are certainly not perfect yet, but I'm expecting in a few more days they will reach perfection. :)

Another small victory that merits mentioning: I actually survived grocery shopping with my two small children(3&4yrs.) in tow. We had a discussion in the car about not reciting their classic line of "mom, can I have this?"  My idle threat of  "If you ask for everything, then this is the last time you get to come shopping with me" worked.  Sounds harsh I know but if it works, it works; right?  A few reminders and they were great.  We even found an acceptable bag of treats like M&M's called SUN drops in the organic section of the store.  Sure they were $5 a bag but it was a big bag.

My final small victory was making homemade hamburger buns for dinner.  They were a huge hit.  Sheldon (husband) oohed and aahed  the whole time telling me the secret to a great burger was the bun.  I am planning on pulling out my bread maker today and experiment with the dough setting and baking the bread in the oven.  I'm not sure why I have such a fear of making bread.  But I must face my fears and expand my horizons.

We went huckleberry picking last night.  Huckleberries are in stage two of the diet, which means we can't eat them until after six weeks.  They are high in salicylate acid.  So we are supposed to phase them in and see if anyone has a reaction.  I'm sure my children ate a few as they picked but I was not about to tell them they couldn't eat any because this is a once a year family tradition.  We picked for two hours and came away with about 1/3 gallon of berries.  They are a precious commodity at my house.  We savor each berry-when and how we use them.  We are having a family party this Sat. with homemade ice cream. Sheldon and I have been debating whether or not the people coming are worthy of the honored berry as a topping.  Because it is mostly family I guess they make the cut.

"And Life is what you make it - Always has been- Always will be." Grandma Moses

Annie picking berries

our precious huckleberries

           

So Far So Good

I have survived the first week of major diet changes.  My house is almost 100% Feingold approved (except for grandmas food stuff we are storing).  My kids keep asking me if this food is in our diet.  I have actually stocked up on some "safe junk food" for them so they will think the change is good.  It is an attempt to win them over to my team.  Slight manipulation if you must know the truth.  I bought things like Pringles and Potato chips, Special K cereal, gourmet chocolate chips, I made cookies.  This will probably slow down as we get used to the new diet but I might as well WOW them at first with all the cool safe stuff we can eat instead of restricting everything that they are used to and having them hate me for ruining their lives.  I can already hear it "mom I wish we never would have started this new diet! Why can't we have anything yummy anymore."  The truth is I am amazed at how many safe things we can have and how normal life can still be.  Many more home cooked meals is the biggest change.  

There are a few areas in which this might get tricky.  For example we are going to an after season soccer party on Thursday.  We will be roasting hot-dogs and marshmallows which is gross in and of itself (hot-dogs yuck!).  Do we not attend?  Do we bring our own food? Do we feed our kids before hand? Or none of the above and eat the hot-dogs provided?  I have opted to talk with the person in charge and bring our own. (Yes certain hot-dogs are on the acceptable foodlist-I couldn't believe it either)

If I am in charge of the party we will have no dilemmas.  But going places will and have posed a problem.  In fact this last weekend Sheldon took Isaac to a family reunion.  I had prepped Sheldon for the appropriate food Isaac could eat but instead they had KFC and Hamburgers.  This minor infraction did create a night of regrettable words spoken between us grownups of the house (forgiveness certainly is a necessary process in marriage).  My only complaint is Sheldon has not done the research and speaks from ignorance.  He wants to fight me on some things without any base to draw from; thinking I am just an overly paranoid little woman (Grrrrrr).  Perhaps some of my frustrations were taken out on him last night because I had just learned the discouraging truth about the need to make my own bread from now on.  

I have learned from the support group at Fiengold, which consists of other Feingold parents, that I am going to have to make my own bread.  There are too many hidden preservatives and ingredients in store bread that I can't trust it.  I of course can buy the expensive sprouted breads or some frozen bread which still needs time to rise and bake.  I'm sure at times this will be what I opt for.  I did attempt to make my own bread the other day and hated every minute of it.  I don't have the  right equipment and had to kneed the dough for 20 min. by hand.  Cursing as I went, I vowed never to repeat this bread making process again if I could help it.  Well I guess I will have to change my belief that making bread is hard and start training myself to believe "bread making is a joy.  I love making homemade bread.  I know what it feels like to love making bread."  I'm sure if I meditate on this I will be able to make this a truth for me:)  One mom said after 4 years of making bread she could do it in her sleep.  I hope so because I will be so exhausted from daily bread making I will probably be half asleep as I go.  The domestic arts have never been my strength (gulp).

Fiengold Diet has Begun

My packet of information from Feingold finally arrived on Monday.  Its a good thing too because on Sunday my household was melting down.  Isaac (9) was busy crying, fighting, feeling sorry for himself, talking back...you name it he did it.  It all started at church when I wouldn't let him lay down on me.  He's nine years old.  I mean really...Well it actually all started the day before with camping.  My kids tanked up on Tang, Rootbeer, and syrup for the pancakes.  All notorious for food dyes and chemicals.  Annie (8) was wiggly and restless.  When this occurs she likes to irritate her younger siblings.  Then they scream and cry and it is one endless round of noise and chaos.  I actually was quite amazed to see such a direct correlation to these food chemicals and my children's behavior.  It has renewed my commitment and I'm anxious to start.

These last few days have been intense studying, shopping, and meal planning.  I feel like a young collage student again cramming for exams.  The only difference this time is I want to learn the material.  I am not being force by some bureaucracy telling me I need to learn the information in order to be a well rounded potential employee.  No hoops to jump through, no grades to work for, no pressure to perform.  Learning what I want when I want.  I love the freedom!  I suppose this is slightly ironic due to the fact that I teach at the collage level.  And the class I teach is "required" for many majors.  Although I am certain my students love my class.  

Yesterday was the big shopping day.  With my new "food bible" and list in hand, I embarked on this slightly overwhelming task.  2 1/2 hours and $200 later, I walked in my door exhausted, proud, and somewhat discouraged.  Discouraged only because our local grocery store is lacking in many of the acceptable products.  I'm sure I could have spent another 2 hours looking at food labels but my ambition and energy was waning.  For someone who is not a big shopper (me!) in the first place, this was a great feat of endurance.  I keep telling myself, "Don't worry, it will get easier.  You're on the steepest part of the learning curve."  Pep talks are a sure way to keep myself motivated.  I read a plaque once that said, "I'm not a nag.  I'm a motivational speaker."  I loved it.

We officially started the diet today.  Nothing has changed yet in my children's behavior :) but my hopes have not been dashed yet.  The expected signs of improvement could take up to four weeks to see.  This seems like a safe window of time, don't you think?  I'll keep you posted with any sudden developments.