Sunday 6 January 2013

Children's Journey

My Children's Journey so far from Failsafe to healing...


My little ones have been on a low chemical diet since birth... proteins caused bleeding bowels and food chemicals caused lots of pain which in a baby means loads of crying. I maintained a very limited diet as I was breast feeding and they reacted to what I was eating through the milk. Their safe foods were lamb and rice. We eventually were able to add in chicken, potato, celery, iceberg lettuce and choko.

Their diet stayed this way until late last year when I had been having success with healing, thought I would make a start with them. I waited until they had been on their Biomedical journey for a few months. Zinc levels were very low and initially their Doctor has been working on bringing that to within normal ranges.

 

Coconut Oil

I started adding 20g of coconut oil to their cookies, to replace some of the Nuttelex. They initially had one cookie each a day. Once that was tolerated I increased that to two cookies a day. I now add coconut flour and have increased the coconut oil to 40g. They eat as many as they like.

Once the cookies were going well, I started replacing some Nuttelex with coconut oil in their cupcakes. They initially had one coconut cupcake every few days. Now they eat a couple a day.

Meat - ghee and coconut oil

Previously I cooked in sunflower oil and always baked their meat balls and any chicken in the oven very lightly so there was no browning at all. Now I fry their meat balls and chicken sticks in Ghee on the stove. I also bake with coconut oil.

Broth

They are having very small amounts of chicken broth, only cooked for 2 hours. I add 4 tablespoons to their shepherd's pie twice a week.

Fermented Veg

Every few days they have half a ml of fermented veg juice. It is a strong probiotic so I am going very slowly with this.

Kefir

Instead of increasing their food chemicals even more by using coconut kefir, I made some rice milk kefir. I then subsituted 50% of the rice milk in my icecream recipe, for rice kefir. They have 1-2 scoops of this daily. It has a nice tangy taste.

Vegetables

I have been slowly increasing their salicylates. Initially started with some cucumber and carrot in small amounts every few days. They now have some every day. They are also having small amounts of kale and sweet potato. Will be trialling avocado this week.

Fruit

This is has been tricky. Small servings create a big reaction. With the aim of increasing tolerance, I am perserving with tiny servings once a week. For example, a sliver of banana or a half a strawberry.


The children have been so excited to try new foods and it has been a delight to watch their faces light up at all the new experiences.

 
With the aim to increase the healing foods and decrease the servings of grains, I am slowly building their chemical tolerance so that will soon be achievable. This progress has all been made in just a month of food changes.
 
 
 


Wednesday 2 January 2013

Goat's Yoghurt

Making homemade yoghurt (24 hour ferment)


goat yoghurt tools

 

 

 

 

 

 

 







Ingredients


1L goats milk
1/2C goats yoghurt (left over from last batch or from the shops)
1/32t starter culture
1/32t probiotic
5 drops calcium chloride

Method


Heat the milk on the stove until it is 90 degrees celcius (use a thermometer)
Once it reaches temp, turn off the stove and leave to cool until 40 degrees

(this will take a while, leave the thermometer in there and stir occasionally to check temp)

heat milk and cool


Once the temp has lowered, pour a small amount into a jug and whisk in all the other ingredients until really well combined. Now add the rest of the milk and stir well.

Pour into the yoghurt machine's inner bowl and seal, insert into the machine and set to heat for 24 hours. Leave and do not disturb.

Once the time is up, I drain some of the whey from mine, so the end result is a lovely thick yoghurt and I also have the whey to use for fermented vegetables and grains.

Line a strainer with cheesescloth, and pour your yoghurt in... tie the cheese cloth together with an elastic band and leave to strain... The time you leave it is personal, depending on how you like your yoghurt. I leave mine for about 45 mins to an hour (remember it will firm further in the fridge)

strain yoghurt

whey strained


Now spoon the yoghurt into smaller containers for the fridge. I fill 4 small ones when strained for this length of time, and have a small jar of whey as well.

yoghurt containers


Put yoghurt in the fridge where it will continue to firm. Once cool, enjoy!


Some ideas....

SWEET YOGHURT

Add some homemade jam (fruit and honey) and stir through for a commercial style treat (strawberry is delish!)

Add some honey and chopped nuts...

SAVOURY YOGHURT

A spoonful of yoghurt in soup is really yummy...

For some extra flavour, add a squeeze of lemon, some chopped garlic and fresh dill, salt and pepper to taste... great in soup, on salads, meats... everywhere really!




Remember to keep a jar of yoghurt for next time...  This makes a very small quantity so is suitable when you are first introducing goat's dairy and working at building tolerance, and so only consuming small amounts daily.




I bought my starter culture and probiotics from www.greenlivingaustralia.com.au

They are not really necessary once you have established your yoghurt, there should be enough good guys to get a batch going then...

(I also bought tiny spoons from them to help with the measuring)


 
NOTE: When you leave the yoghurt to ferment for 24 hours, it is meant to reduce the lactose and the casein, so it is more easily digested and tolerated