Sometimes, after the “Weird!” comes the “Wow!”

So there we were, my husband, children and I, in the canoe, rowing slightly to the left of the big storm that had arrived in one of our children’s life.

We were hoping to avoid the worst of the bad weather.

Join people in over fifty countries who read this to gain valuable life wisdom! (Or maybe they’re just laughing at me? . . . Whatever!)

I was the one paddling this boat.

“We’re going to try this crazy, insane diet,” I announced one day, snatching the Froot Loops from my husband. (Actually, my husband was very supportive. And we’ve never sunk as low as a “Froot Loop” eater, but don’t ruin the emotional effect of this writing.)

And so, “Good morning!” I announced that day to my two beautiful children.

“Are you ready for breakfast? No Froot Loops today!” I announced cheerfully!

“Zucchini and lard soup, anyone?”

Whaaaaaaa…. You know that noise in the movies that we hear when the actors freeze in place, everything stops in their lives, and we think, “WHAT the…?”

Well, insert that sound here.

And let’s back up a bit.

After deciding to jump with both feet into the deep water of trying this bizarre diet, I watched endless talks by Dr. Natasha Campbell McBride, the author of the book we were trying out, and by others who had tried her diet.

My intellect still didn’t agree with the actions I was about to take. Still, we had decided to TRY at least the recommendations of this book in hopes of a few of the helpful outcomes promised for children with learning disabilities, Autism, Dyspraxia, A.D.D., Dyslexia, A.D.H.D., and Depression.

But my intellect screamed in protest – LARD? Who eats LARD anymore!

For example, I was a vegetarian for many years. I had looked down on people who ate fatty foods like butter and other horrors. I ate “But-TR” and other foods with MUCH less fat, THANK YOU VERY MUCH! I looked down my nose at those deceived people who would dump any old fat onto their food. “Too bad they’re not more like ME!” I thought (in the humblest way I could, which meant not saying my thoughts out loud). They could tell by my “Look”1 that I was MUCH higher up the echelon of a healthy eater than they were.

Until I wasn’t.

A decade later, we learned that “But-TR” and other non-dairy “cheeze” that we consumed regularly was 95% trans fat. And trans fat was tidily banned in all industrialized countries. So I MIGHT have been a BIT wrong about that, but why bring that up? Can’t you see I’m trying to assert myself as an EXPERT?

So I was willing to admit that I COULD be wrong.

Anyway, the truth about our first breakfast was actually this:

1. I announced to our children, after some discussion over the previous weeks, that we were going to TRY a new family diet to see if it helps one child’s tummy feel better. If it didn’t work after a while, we’d toss it and go back to the way we ate before. (The kids kept their Froot Loops on a special shelf “just in case,” patiently waiting for mom to regain her mind again.)
2. “We’re going to do this diet as a family,” I announced. (Why don’t we eat marshmallows and s’mores for dinner again, while ONE person in the family has rice cakes? was the only other alternative I could discern. This seemed like a cruel punishment for one person in the family who was trying the new diet.) No. And besides, the rest of us CAN go without certain foods for a short period of time!
3. “I’m actually a little bit sad about this,” I announced to the two girls, both of them shorter than my waist. “Oh, Mommy!” they offered, rushing to hug and comfort me. “I’m not used to eating this kind of food, so I’m a little bit sad,” I continued. They both put on their big-girl outfits and tried to comfort me. Did I mention that homeschooled kids are GOOD kids?
4. “MMMmmm… “ It’s not THAT bad,” one child offered, trying to cover up her face, screwing into the “I just ate an entire raw lemon” look. SHE was comforting me. “OK, maybe I’ll try a bite,” I thought, trying to be a grown-up too.

We may make it through this, with all of us encouraging each other, was my next thought.

And we did.

And the results blew my mind.

But that discussion is for another time.

Thanks for liking me! I like you too! – Proven HERE, HERE, and HERE! Let’s journey together!

Photo Credit – Child NOT Eating Froot Loops! by Ian Taylor on Unsplash, Exploding Brain by notorious v1ruS on Unsplash

1 For example, see HERE for an example of my POWER LOOK.