My daughter, 3 years old, started pre-school at the beginning of this year. This was also the kick off of making kid lunches for the next decade and a half. As a Naturopath, I have to say, I am not an extremist. I really do try to keep it realistic- I have a 3 year old and a 1 year old, I am far from perfect. However, I will admit I am most neurotic about what my kids eat. I think about the stuff that I ate as a kid, and even what I ate while I was in undergrad, and it gives me palpitations. I run a pretty tight ship but also have a 3 year old who, when asked what she would like for dinner, requests Brussels Sprouts. No joke. This is not to say she hasn't eaten McDonald's before (she has) but on the whole we keep it pretty clean. So, when it came time for lunches, I obviously wanted to continue this trend. I know many parents struggle with what to send for lunches, so I have been documenting a selection of my daughter's lunches since January. 

A few notes:

• All of these lunches are prepared the morning of within about 10 minutes.
  
• I say 'lunches', but my daughter only goes to school for a half day (8:45-11:45) so it's really supposed to be her snack. However, I tend to pack a lot of food- some days it's all gone, some days it's barely touched. If she hasn't finished it, she will usually finish it when she gets home and some more food as well.
• Her Montessori school is home based, so there is no restriction on nuts. However, it is a vegetarian home so animal proteins (even eggs other than in baked goods) are restricted, so you will see a lot of nuts in her lunches. This is because I want her to get protein sources. When she does transition to the public setting, the nuts will be substituted for animal proteins- grilled chicken pieces, eggs, meatballs, etc.
• Like I've said before, I am a creature of habit. I do not pack completely different lunches every day. I do not have time for that. So, she tends to have variations of similar lunches and she will usually have the same lunch selection for a few days at a time before it is switched up based on groceries in the house. 
• I generally fill her lunch with fruits and veggies, add some nuts, limit grains and add in a 'treat'. A treat could be anything from raisins, to the "Granola Bars" or, on a more rare occasion, a baked good like a bit of cake.
• We avoid dairy for the most part. However, my daughter loves yogurt, probably because she never gets it, but the odd time I let her have it as a treat. 

(Left to Right/Top to Bottom)
1. Watermelon, Apples, Raisins, Cucumber, Rice Cake with Hummus (Sunflower Kitchens).
2. Apples, Cucumber, Raisins, Hazelnut crackers with almond butter and raspberry jam, oatmeal with unsweetened applesauce and cinnamon (unfinished from breakfast).
3. Carrots, Cucumber, Raisins, Almonds, 1/2 GF/DF Morning Glory muffin, Greek Yogurt.
4. Peppers, Rice Cake with Hummus, Blackberries, Grapes, Almonds, Chocolate Chips and Raisins.
5. Blackberries, Strawberries, Blueberries, Grapes, Almonds, Cucumber, Rice Cake with Hummus.
6. Strawberries, Cucumber, Cauliflower, Ranch Dip, Dark Chocolate Almond Butter "Granola Bar" (Against All Grain), Brownie.
7. Watermelon, Strawberries, Blueberries, Cucumber, Apples with Almond Butter, Raisins and Cinnamon.
8. Cauliflower, Cucumber, Hummus, Apples, Raisins, "Granola Bar", GF Cake.
9. Peppers, Strawberries, Cucumber, "Granola Bar".

(Left to Right/Top to Bottom)
1. Strawberries, Apples, Grapes, Almonds, Dried Fruit, Peppers, Cucumbers, Carrots.
2. Carrots, Cucumber, Almonds, Grapes, Strawberries, Oatmeal.
3. Blackberries, Strawberries, Peppers, Carrots, Cucumber, Raisins, "Granola Bar".
4. Apples, Strawberries, Blackberries, Grapes, Cucumber, Almonds and Dried Fruit.
5. Strawberries, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Peppers, Veggie Dip, "Granola Bar".
6. Almond Butter and Raspberry Jam Rice Cake Sandwich, Bananas, Strawberries, Cucumber, Almonds and Blackberries.
7. Hazelnut Crackers with Almond Butter and Raspberry Jam, Apples, Cucumber, Raisins.
8. Bananas, Strawberries, Grapes, Almonds, Cucumber, Avocado, Rice Cake.
9. Strawberries, Blackberries, Mango, Grapes, Apples, Cucumber, Almonds and Dried Fruit.

This was Monday's lunch- Carrots, Strawberries, Apples, Grapes, Mango, Blackberries, Gluten Free Pancake 'Sandwich' with Almond butter and Raspberry Jam. Her class spent the day at the Community Garden getting the soil ready for planting, so I wanted to pack extra fruit to help keep her hydrated! She ate everything, except for the pancake sandwich. She started the morning with Oatmeal (with unsweetened apple sauce, cinnamon, coconut almond milk, raisins and a few chocolate chips- her favourite), this for school lunch and then she came home and had eggs and more veggies and dip to finish her lunch! That would be a pretty typical day for her meal/food wise. And then of course dinner is whatever we are having!

The recipe for the Dark Chocolate Almond Butter "Granola Bars" can be found here at the Against All Grain Blog. Though the original recipe calls for peanut butter, I substitute almond butter and use semi sweet chocolate chips. These bars are amazing and work great because you can make a tray of them and just keep them in the freezer, cutting off pieces as needed. My daughter loves these! I also like to keep things like no bake cookie balls and other no bakes bars in the freezer for more treat options! I will usually add a scoop of Vegan protein (Sunwarrior Warrior Blend is my preference) to increase the protein in her lunch and make even her treats a bit healthier. Overall, I find my daughter loves her lunches and I do tend to ask her every morning what she would like or give her options of what she could have so she feels like she has a say in what she is eating. It is not uncommon for her to get home with a lunch box that looks like this...

...and I'm not complaining!!

Disclaimer: Naturopathic Doctors strive to provide individualized health care. The information contained in these topics is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, it is provided for educational purposes only. This information shouldn’t take the place of seeing an ND for individualized health recommendations.

30 Days. 30 days of no sugar, grains, legumes, dairy, alcohol, processed foods or additives.
I completed my Whole 30 just over two weeks ago now. Throughout the 30 days, I got asked a lot of questions, I think the most popular being, "What do you eat!?" which I covered in my halfway mark post. This post is going to be my wrap up- what I learned, how I felt, how I feel now that I'm done, etc and the answers to the questions that have come up over the last 30 days.

How did you feel?
Honestly, I can't say I felt a whole lot different while I was on it. The original challenge says you will likely feel pretty junky the first week or so, however, I never really experienced this. I didn't notice much of a difference when I started, but this is likely because our diet is pretty clean to begin with- we don't really consume much gluten or bread, I have very minimal amount of dairy and I avoid all processed foods for the most part.

Was it hard?
Yes and no. It was hardest starting out because there was a lot more planning that had to go into it and a lot of 'staples' needed to be figured out- like mayo, ketchup, marinades, etc. There was a lot of label reading and a lot of realization just how many products contain sugar. (The answer= A LOT).  This was probably the most challenging part because we use marinades and spices for a lot of our cooking- even our favourite Jerk marinade which we have almost weekly contained sugar, so a lot of recipes/meals needed to be adjusted. However, once the ball started rolling on these it became a lot easier and a lot of the recipes we found we loved and will go into our regular rotation.

What did you miss the most?
Chocolate. Hands down, for me, chocolate. I craved it at the beginning, in the middle, at the end. I could do without the rest but the chocolate I missed. I also think this may be because I might be Magnesium deficient since I did notice more leg/calf cramping over the 30 days. I think this is probably because I am nursing and could benefit from a nutrient boost in general. Magnesium deficiency can present with chocolate cravings. However, I really love chocolate so it may just be that too...

Did you have 'tiger blood' in Week 3?
If you read the full Whole 30, they claim you will have a huge boost of energy by week 3- you will feel as though you have tiger blood. I also did not notice this just like I didn't notice the run down feeling at the beginning. I think this is again because I didn't feel badly before starting this and my energy has always been pretty good. Well it's as good as can be expected for having a 3 year old and 1 year old who still doesn't consistently sleep through the night. And my diet wasn't horrible to start with.

What I did notice
Though it was not my goal or the reason for doing this, I did lose weight and my pre-pregnancy clothes fit well again which is a great bonus. I also found that my skin was fantastic. Disclaimer: I do have pretty good skin to begin with but do tend to have the odd blemish here and there, however, while doing the Whole 30 I had no issues at all and I found my complexion improved as well. I also learned I can not tolerate a lot of eggs, at least not the amount I was eating on this diet. I ended up with a slight rash on my abdomen, I cut back on the eggs and it improved. 

Now that I'm finished
Since finishing, my diet has definitely gone a bit crazy- my last day was a Wednesday (though I broke and ate chocolate after dinner on Day 30), Thursday was our anniversary and my daughter's preschool Mother's Day celebration, Friday we took the in-laws to the ROM for the day, Saturday was my son's first birthday party and Sunday finished off with Mother's day. It was a sugar/gluten/dairy filled weekend!

Thursday kicked off with a Mother's Day celebration with my daughter's preschool at Rumbletum Cafe in Conestogo. We had the most incredible Lemon Blueberry Scones. Seriously, I am still thinking about them. However, within about 20 min, I felt terrible- nauseous, fatigued, bloating- just overall not great. Totally worth the amazing scones which I will have again, but still terrible. The rest of the weekend went similarly, however, nothing shocking. This is where I noticed the difference the most, when I added things back into my diet. Because I have done gluten/dairy free and hypoallergenic diets before, I did know what to expect. For myself, I know that I can tolerate dairy quite well- it's only if I gorge on it that it really affects me. My diet is very low in diary in general so I don't worry about this too much. When it comes to gluten, I can tolerate small amounts, but the less the better. Generally, I find if I have maybe one serving of gluten in a day, I'm fine, but if I was to have it more than that in a day, not so good and likely if I was doing this daily it would be worse. I also find my gluten sensitivity is worse if it's combined with sugar- think amazing scone. I find just the shear amount of sugar/starch is too much and I feel awful. Even now, about 2 weeks after finishing, my diet isn't back to where I want it to be as we've had my husband's parents staying with us from Ireland so our routine has been a bit thrown off and I can definitely feel it. We are slowly getting back on track and I do want to adopt a majority paleo/no sugar diet for our 'normal'.

Will I do this again?
Absolutely! I think it was a great experience and really not as hard as you might think. Again, once you have a bit of a game plan and get into it, it's actually pretty easy. I found this was a good time of year to do it (Spring) since a lot of fruits/veggies are coming in to season and bbq season is kicking off as well. I could live on grilled chicken and vegetables. I think this will become my 'detox' of choice as I still find sugar (chocolate) my greatest challenge. I am already planning my next round for September (Fall). However, I don't think I will do the full 30 days again, as I found it a bit long. Because I am going to make this a routine detox, I will probably do 14-21 days (2-3 weeks) instead to make it a bit more feasible, though I would recommend doing it for the full 30 days at least once. I will also add some liver support supplements as well once I am no longer nursing to really up the benefits. Overall, it was a great experience!


Disclaimer: Naturopathic Doctors strive to provide individualized health care. The information contained in these topics is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, it is provided for educational purposes only. This information shouldn’t take the place of seeing an ND for individualized health recommendations.