What Lurks Beneath and a Ritalin Update

My kids love breakfast (not really).  Typically they'd just like to just eat a Zbar and call it good.  Anything fast is good with them.

The more we learned from Selena Moffitt (our holistic nutritionist), the more we are realizing the importance of every single thing we put in our bodies, especially with Tristan's ADHD.  As a side note, if you are looking for someone who can help change your health, you should really check out Selena.  She comes to our house and works directly with us, checks up on us regularly and obviously cares about each of her clients.  She really puts her heart and soul into each person!

My kids are absolutely crazy about this Oatmeal, yes we do the same thing every morning, it just works for us.  They each get 1/2-3/4 cup of oatmeal on top, however, they have no idea what lurks beneath (insert maniacal laugh).

Coconut oil: great for brain health and weight gain (all of the kids are under the 20% for weight, which doesn't really bother me, but I think adding it in is good)

Vit D: amazing for brain health

Fish Oil: Great for kids with ADHD and over all brain/body health

Probiotics: for gut health

I also add ground flax seeds and chia seeds, but today we are out.

I love the health goodness that I can sneak in.

**An Update on our life without Ritalin**

We changed Tristan's Young Living Essential Oil Protocol.  I liked the other one but saw evidence that this new protocol would better fit us and it does.  Tristan has been off of ritalin for over a month now.  Here are a few amazing things we have noticed:

*He hugs us again (without being asked).  Until we took him off of the ritalin we had no idea how much of his emotions were being suppressed.  He hasn't hugged us on his own without being really stiff and uncomfortable in YEARS.  Now he hugs us with out asking.

*His aggression towards Piper is gone.  He plays with her now.

*He is empathetic.  For years if someone got hurt he would just kind of stare at them.

A few things we are working to change:

* He still struggles a lot with being able to focus on school work.  This is a brain training thing.  We have to continue to help him train his brain to focus.  School work is only done in short spurts for now, thankfully we are almost done.

* He is still quite impulsive, but aren't we all to some degree. :-)  This is also a training thing.  We are working on helping him look beyond the moment to see how decisions affect us beyond this moment.

So without further adieu, here is his daily protocol

**We are dairy and gluten free, this has also helped tremendously.**

After breakfast we:

Valor: applied on spine and wrists

Cedarwood, Vetiver and lavender: 1 drop under the big toe (where it bends), we apply them one at a time (giving 1 minute in between each oil)

NingXia Red: 1oz  *Note: Tristan LOVES this because it is like all natural red bull and for him the affects of things that give energy (caffein, ritalin) slow him down.  Plus it is FULL of amazing berries, vitamins and minerals!

The Lavender and valor are in black unmarked bottles because I bought special roller bottles so I could roll the oil on and not drop it on.  I had to black out the bottle because they are clear and the oils shouldn't be exposed to light (which is why all YL bottles are dark)

As for Piper, we give her oils to help with overall health and create happiness, she is a great little girl, and like all 3 year olds she is prone to fits and explosions.  We have noticed a bit of a decrease in her aggressiveness and fit throwing since giving her these oils.  Mainly she just likes that she gets oils like Tristan.

Humility: 1 drop over her heart

Cardamom & Coriander: 1 drop of each in her morning dark chocolate almond milk

I survived a week without ritalin!

Now some of you may be shaking your head that my kid was even on ritalin.  But before you judge, we went through a lot before we decided to put him on ritalin.  We tried really hard (on our own) to change his diet, to teach him breathing exercises, we blamed ourselves, we got frustrated, we cried and finally we went to our dr for help.  He agreed that T has adhd.  While some of you may feel like ADHD is a disorder made up by the medical industry, I respectfully disagree.  My son has ADHD.  I'm not going to lay out all the things that lead me to believe this, because it only makes me feel like I am pointing out things I don't like about his behavior.  But I will tell you that I full believe he has this brain disorder.

Now that I have that out of the way, about a month ago we started looking for a better way.  Everytime Tristan started to get wound up I found myself asking him "if he took his meds."  I realized that I was defining him by his disorder and letting the ritalin parent for me.  I am better than this.  John is better than this.  We are the parents and we wanted to do better for him.  So after a lot of prayer, we stopped giving him the ritalin.  He took 5 mg every 4 hours (it was super short lasting, like a spot treater.  Not the kind that has to get and stay in your blood stream to work.).

I'm going to be honest, I was drunk by noon the first day we took him off of it.  Not really, but it was not pretty.  I found myself dumbfounded by some of the decisions he was making; hitting his sister, running into walls, banging his head on the couch, jumping in his baby brother's crib, screaming at any disturbance etc.  It was a taxing day.  The second day he was off of the ritalin, he was home with my folks while I was working at an event with my boss.  I found myself crying in the bathroom after talking with my dad who informed me that Tristan was not controllable and couldn't even get a whole thought out.  I was sure I had just made a horrible mistake.

We are now on day 6 of NO ritalin.  We are working on breathing exercises, we have a code word (evil knivel, lol) if he needs reminding to slow down and breathe and mama and dad are remembering every time he makes a random, seemingly thoughtless decision that we need not get mad, we just need to remind him that is not the appropriate decision to make.  He is not a vengeful child, not one to do things to make you mad, so when he makes poor decisions we are just reminding him of the better options.  Actually, in the last 6 days I have found that he is a much more resourceful, creative kid than we have allowed him to be.  He's pretty darn great.

Working with our nutritionist, Selena Moffitt (www.SelenaMaestas.com) helps a lot, she has worked very closely with us to remove dairy and soon gluten from our diets to help with T's ADHD, though I feel it will be a good thing for all of us.  

We have also begun an ADHD protocol with Young Living Essential Oils. I mixed up the below oils and we rub it on his wrists in the morning, afternoon and night.  A bonus is that is smells amazing and covers up that "boy" smell! ha!  I have found that this protocol with Young Living is an amazing and very natural addition to the other changes we are making.  It has really made a difference.  If you want more info please email me at dirtjumpingfamily@gmail.com.


We have a ways to go before he feels in total control.  But he is 8 and we are the parents.  He deserves us to work as hard as we can on his behalf.  So we will try.  Really hard.  In the meantime I am learning the definition of grace.  I will keep you posted but as of day 6, we are all alive and I think we are seeing the brighter side of life with essential oils and without ritalin. (www.youngliving.org/amykayhardesty)

Power Packed Protein Shake for Picky Eaters

As we have begun this journey of changing our food habits and our way of thinking about food, I have been reminded that I need a level of patience that I do not currently possess.  I love food.  I love yummy food, my kids love the food I have always fed them. This change thing, will happen, but I'm going to need to give and receive a lot of grace.

As I mentioned before, Piper has a milk addiction.  Bless it all, she loves her milk.  She will ask to have her milk over food most days.  And if I'm being honest I'd tell you that most days I just don't want to fight.  My husband gently reminded me this week that I am her parent.  I fix her food.  She can and will learn to eat with the rest of us.  So tonight, after a lengthy meeting with Tristan's nutritionist, Selena, I decided that I would give them a smoothie for a snack.  a yummy berry smoothy with fish oil, vite d, probiotics, spinach, coconut oil, avocado, flax seed chia seed and peanut butter & plant based chocolate protein powder.  I didn't tell them about the ingredients in the small font.  Folks, my kids gobbled them up.  For.  Real.  If you have picky eaters that need to get some good, healthy stuff in them, try this.  Just don't let them see you make it.


Recipe

-  1-2T of ground flax seed (I ground half a bag of it and filled 3 small mason jars.  Freeze the bag and jars of flax seed as it will get rancid really quickly), I just ground mine up in my Ninja.
-  1-2tsp of chia seeds (no grinding needed)
-  1/2 tsp of fish oil
-  1/2 a dropper of vitamin d
-  2 tsp powdered pro-biotic
-  8-10 spinach leaves
-  2T peanut butter
-  1/4 of an avocado
-  1 scoop of protein powder (we are working towards being dairy and gluten free, so we used a plant based chocolate protein powder)
-  1/2 cup of frozen blueberries
-  1/2 a banana
-  1 large tablespoon of melted coconut oil
- 1-2 cups of almond milk
Blend & enjoy the fact that your kids are unknowingly eating food they wouldn't touch with a 10 foot pole otherwise.  God bless smoothies.

Organic Flax seeds

Blend these babies really well

Make sure you freeze the left over and jarred flax seeds to prevent them from becoming rancid.

 Chia seeds do not need to be refrigerated or ground up.  Just dump and go.

  

Don't let your kids see you slip these in there or the gig is up

Just a small handful goes a long way

 

Be generous with this.   Bless it all, peanut butter has got to be the perfect food.

 

Just a quarter of an avocado adds a great amount of healthy fat

 

My kids thought this stuff was pure hersheys chocolate.  

 

 

Make sure you melt the coconut oil to prevent chunks.

In addition to the coconut oil, the banana will add to the creamy texture and health of the smoothy

 Fill to the top of your fill line with almond milk (if it's too thick you can always add more)

I love how excited she is.  Sweet kids don't even know how much goodness is in that shake.  

Jokes on you suckas! 

Old Habits Die Hard

Old habits die hard. Isn't that a thing?  Bless it all, it is hard to change the way you've done things for a long time.  I've struggled with my weight and with few exceptions have always been fearful to tell people when I am trying to lose weight, mainly because I've yet to be and remain successful.

Well I'm ready to talk about it.  Lucky you.  Last week I cleaned out my panty, not just organized it but hucked everything that I could possibly use to assault my health.  Darn you powdered sugar.  My pantry was naked, but slowly I am filling it with healthy snacks made by my chubby fingers.

I'll be posting some of my recipes soon.  The kids hate me, they keep asking where their granola bars went and I keep reminding them there are ones I made in the snack box.  I like the new granola snacks, they miss the food I've always let them have.

I've made granola, black bean patties, chicken on a stick, crepes made with spelt flour, folks, I even made oat milk.  Piper is a milk-a-holic and probably needs to be in a group somewhere.  She also struggles with eczema.  Her dr said that milk can play a role is exacerbating eczema.  So we have discontinued dairy at this house.  Let me tell you...World War III.  Seriously.   I made oat milk, added some vanilla and maple syrup to it, but she hates it.  I even tried to hide in it a regular milk container. She is no fool.  ha ha ha.  I just keep reminding myself that in time they will get used to it and maybe even like these new foods.

Last night, Tristan ate 2 bean patties and when I was giving the littles a bath, he helped himself to a 1/2 a cup of almonds.  I almost got frustrated because I was going to use those in my salad, but I was reminded of what a good choice that was and it was not accompanied by any kind of complaining about their being no fritos in the snack bin.  Good boy Tristan, you're keeping mommy sane.

So,
let's go on this crazy journey together, enjoy some new food, laugh at my crazy life and encourage each other along the way.  Here we go!