Category Archives: Kids Health

Are you Vegucated?

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Let me just start with this: Vegucated is NOT kid-friendly. It turns out it isn’t even husband-friendly in this house. But, if you’re veg-curious like me, you’ll love it! See what the documentary is about here.

I am mostly vegetarian. I think they call that flexatarian, right? Day in and day out is pretty much no meat — but I don’t fall on the sword for it. I’m not a card-carrying member of a veg club and I still wear leather. (Except that I don’t because honestly I can’t think of anything leather I own. Even my cowboy boots are cheap and faux.)

Now, vegan is a whole different thing. And I have done it for short months at a time. And it feels great. Because I get it — we are the only mammal who drinks milk from another animal. And I do own Kris Carr’s Crazy Sexy Diet book so I know that cow’s milk is designed to turn baby cows into 400 pound animals. So why would we want to drink that?

But, doing away with dairy AND meat, oh and hand over your eggs, BOTH at the same time, that is hard! And I know, it isn’t supposed to be easy. And I hand it to all of the vegans out there, especially with young kids, who make that choice work day in and day out. You’re super special for sure.

All of this to say, what I love about Vegucated is that once you watch it, you can’t say you didn’t know. And maybe tiny little baby steps will result. Here’s my takeaway to do list for our family:

* I’m going to watch the number of servings of dairy we’re having each day. I talked about the Milk & Cookies Disease last week so it all comes full-circle.

* With all animal products, less is more. I’m not going to make turkey my go-to sandwich for Millie’s lunch anymore. We’ll try peanut butter, hummus and veggies, and cukes with cream cheese instead.

* I want to have a garden this spring. I want to teach them to love eating healthy so when they are old enough to choose they might choose veggie, or at least less meat.

So, go check it out! (On Netflix so you can stream it tonight!) Let me know what you think.

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Printables for dressing up towers!

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Towers Together
In my few short years of experience with Allergies and GI I have been so surprised to learn there are kids out there (and not just babies!) on NO food. Kids with Crohn’s or Ulcerative Colitis whose intestines need to be healed, and the best way to do that is with Enteral Nutrition (basically formula). There are also kids with food allergies so severe they effect the gut, and leave these children no choice but to also go onto the same types of formula until the food allergies can be tested one food at a time and sorted out carefully. Many of these children take these types of feedings through tubes (there are different types of tubies, and I do not claim to understand the differences). I am not an expert on this type of treatment at all, but I revel in complete and total amazement at the bravery of these children and their superhero moms and dads!

Can you imagine your 3, 4, 5 or even 9 year old having only formula — tube fed — and that’s it? No food, none at all, for 6, 8, 12 weeks or longer? And some kids with Eosinophilic Gastrointestinal Diseases will never get to eat but just a handful of foods at all. It is totally humbling to think of these children and what they’ve done to get better — to be healthy, and to sometimes avoid other meds like prednisone. It is only SUPERSTAR families that can take on this type of treatment.

I recently “met” a friend online whose little one has BOTH of these diseases. The IBD (Inflammatory Bowel Disease) AND the EGID. On her recent 4th birthday she had a beautifully wrapped box for a birthday cake. No food — no ice cream, no pizza and especially no cake. And her extra-brave mama says she’s happy and she’s feeling just a bit better, and not asking for food — at all!

They had a great idea to decorate her tower (used for her feeding tube) with princess stickers to make it a bit more Rapunzel tower-like. I though that was darling and offered to create a tower graphic she could add to the tower to spruce it up a bit. I of course decided to share it here so any of your kids or anyone else you know can have one, too! (And by all means, feel free to use them on the fridge, on the back of the bedroom door, anywhere! They aren’t for towers only!)

Here are the free printables to download: Rapunzel’s Princess Tower and Pirate’s Lookout Tower

(A note on printing: I’ve created the PDF as 2 pages that are 8.5 x 11, since I know most people can only print an 8.5 x 11. The 2 pages need to be taped together at top/bottom to make one long vertical poster.)

If you would like one personalized (like I did for my friend’s princess), I would love to do that for you, too! I just ask that you sign up via email for my blog updates, so I have your contact information. And then leave me a note in the comments below!

Our favorite yoga Posey!

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I was woken up this morning at 6 AM by Millie and immediately thought “this feels like a yoga kind of a day!” I hopped out of bed and the girls and I turned on a kids’ (maybe more of a young adult?) yoga video on Netflix. It is called “Shanti Generation: Yoga Skills for Peacemakers” and is so great. I love the simple moves and focus on breathing and the really sweet way the ideas of happiness and peace are weaved throughout. There is great meditative breathing at the end, and it is short enough to keep everyone’s attention through to the end (almost!) I know there are some really fantastic kids’ yoga classes now locally and I always want to get the girls signed up for one. But, this is a really simple and easy way to expose them (and yourself!) to yoga without even having to leave the house.

Interestingly, through the time of Posey’s GI challenges which a scope back in April found to be “non-specific” intestinal inflammation, her go-to position has been child’s pose. There must be something about the doubling over that relieves some of the pain? It sort of breaks my heart, but then again we all find ways to cope, and I’m glad she finds this comforting. I’ve always wondered if other children with tummy issues ever use that position for relief?

Give it a try! Let me know what you think!

Namaste!