It would be a serious understatement to say that my food journey has been interesting. Food has dramatically improved and in many ways saved my life. I know that it is hard to “get it” that food is so important. It was very hard for me, and I was eating a Nourishing Traditions diet, which I thought was the best until I learned more.
Watching people learn about food choices and health when you know about food choices and health brings up many emotions when observing others, and it has taken me a long time to get to a comfortable place when watching others make serious mistakes.
When I discovered the GAPS diet and my family experienced many amazing healings, I thought that this diet was the bomb and everyone should do it. I had such zeal around it. It took a couple of years for me to understand that GAPS is not the end all be all of eating plans, while still having the highest respect for Dr. McBride and her efforts. Countless people have been helped by Dr. McBride when they were at the end of their options, and she is a hero. Check out this recent podcast for Chris Kresser’s discussion on GAPS, its strengths and limitations. I know people who can’t remotely hear anything that is not positive about GAPS, and this lack of flexibility could make their journeys longer and more challenging.
After GAPS it was the Whole 30 for my family. It took us to even greater healings than GAPS did. But for Colson it still wasn’t quite right at about 35 days in. The kid needed more carbs (see There is a Whole 30 Revolt in My House (can low carb affect mood?)).
The Whole 30 is where my food journey has finally reached a more mature point. I was a “by the books” kind of person. No deviations allowed. Ever. Until I saw Colson’s mood deteriorate because he wasn’t eating enough carbs. Food reintroduction was a powerful lesson, as we learned that rice brings his mood back to happy, and we also learned he can’t eat corn without severe consequences. The food reintroduction process was no longer a mystery but a powerful tool to help us understand our food limitations with certainty. This understanding has led to our greatest flexibility and comfort around food.
If you want thoughts on why some foods are troublesome after an elimination diet when they weren’t before, be sure to listen to Chris Kresser's recent GAPS discussion, which was very helpful and affirming for me regarding my theories of why some foods didn’t seem to bother us before the Whole 30 and they definitely did after. Also check out the CoQ10 discussion at the end of the podcast.
I have a few more thoughts about having patience for other people’s journeys. I am gently participating in a discussion with a vegan mother whose young vegan son’s teeth are crumbling – literally in her hand as she tries to clean them. She is convinced that a vegan diet is the best for him and that she can heal him with it. The old Laura of a few years ago would have gone straight to the point and she probably would have felt angry and lousy afterwards. The wiser Laura has suggested testing for vitamin deficiencies and bone density so that the results speak for themselves. Testing she can understand and is pursuing it. If the tests show serious problems, she likely will be open to experimenting with non-vegan food.
The flexibility lesson here involves not only me being gentle and non-attached to the outcome, but the mom. The child has been vegan his whole life and his teeth are falling apart, so how can she know vegan is the best diet for him? It is a long process to understand food and health, but when your back is against the wall and clearly something is not working, it is time to try something else. Anything else. Can it get much worse than watching your child’s teeth crumble and not changing what you eat when you are aware of the health claims regarding tooth recovery and food? How about losing a leg, part of another leg, kidney function and more, as a deceased relative did? If he would have changed his diet when his toe first turned black, he would have had a decent chance of still being alive and having all of his limbs. All I could do is gently suggest, arm him with PubMed articles and watch. But I still wasn’t at a point of comfort with his journey – I was too invested.
This week was a particularly rewarding week, as I was with family members who have some minor but “incurable” health challenges according to their doctors. They were open to learning more, one even got some immediate relief while visiting, and it will take some time for them to get the big picture, but they are open. The old habits weren’t working, they were told there was nothing they could do by the medical professionals, and now they are learning how to do things differently in expectation of regaining control of their health.
People make their own choices. All I or we can do is gently suggest tools to help them excel and be accepting of their choices to use those tools or not. Not being invested in their outcomes has freed me.
I read something interesting recently. I have not researched it in detail, but it makes sense in general. "Vegan problems" accumulate through generations. For example, someone who becomes a vegan as a grown-up may be able to balance the diet in such a way that she avoids major health issues, such as calcium imbalance. However, if she has a kid while vegan, the kid is more likely to have health issues, and the third generation is even more likely to have health issues. At least that's how the theory goes. We know that height gains or losses that correlate with abundance or lack of animal products accumulate through generations; it may be a similar effect.
Posted by: Maria Droujkova | May 22, 2012 at 02:32 PM