Life Changes

How do you read the title of this post? Do you read "Life" as a noun and that it changes? Or do you read it as "Life-long" changes?

Well, either way you are correct. Life does change, but for this post, I will mention changes that we will be making that should be for life.

Jim and I have had concerns about Joshua's hyper behavior. We know that he's a boy, we know that he's a toddler and we know that it's common. However, we feel that we know our son better than anybody and that his constant need to move coupled with his very short temper and extreme aggression are cause for concern.

Our family doctor, during our very first visit asked, "Is he always this hyper?" and it's the first time anyone outside of Jim and I have recognized exactly what we have been concerned about. And his recommendation (mind you, this is a MD) was not, "Get that kid on meds", it was, "you need to eliminate dairy and sugar from his diet". Poor Joshua though, his two favorite foods are cheese and anything with sugar! But, he's such a smart little guy and really does understand so much for such a young child. We have been telling him that sugar and cheese are hurting his belly and that sugar is what causes him to act out and now he will tell us that he cannot have certain foods. (For example he told his Uncle Phil tonight that he can't have cake and ice cream because it has sugar in it and sugar is bad and hurts his belly).

A dear friend of ours (and a sister in the church) has been working with different diet changes with her own family and has been such a big help to me. She has been recommending a diet called the GAPS diet (Gut And Psychology Syndrome). A diet designed by a medical doctor with a degree in neurology as well as nutrition. We ordered a few books pertaining to this diet and will begin our journey as soon as the books arrive (via mail 4-6 days).

This is a very radical diet- and while the diet itself will take approximately 2 years (the time it will take to heal the gut) it really is a life-long change. I am saying very little about the diet itself as I have a LOT to learn about it.

I hope to keep a log of the changes we make as well as results we encounter.

We of course have a lot of foods in the house that we are going to try and use up (so we don't waste money)- we had a pkg of instant oatmeal (which is full of sugar) that we made for Joshua Sat. am and within an hour he was bouncing off the walls. On Sunday he had ZERO sugar and he was calm in church, he actually played quietly after church and Jim and I were able to sit on the couch and talk (without being interrupted) but then we gave Joshua a snack with cheddar cheese and within an hour he was almost uncontrollable (of course it could have been because he was excited to be with his cousins too) but I am convinced it was the cheese. At one point this evening he walked up and punched his Uncle Kyle for no reason (other than he was all hyped up and thought it was funny)???

I think the hardest part is going to be for me. I LOVE to eat out with my family. I am going to have to figure out a way to still eat with my family all while not eating the wrong foods. We're going to go through these changes a long with Joshua- I think we could all use a little help!