Gluten, Dairy and Sugar, OH MY!!

I'm not one to jump on the bandwagon every time a new this or that comes down the pike, but I do think there's something to this whole gluten and dairy thing. So, I might as well poke around and see what I can find out. I have several friends that have issues with gluten and I'm starting to hear more and more about dairy. Lots of things. Things I don't like. Especially since I love milk..."LOVE" love it. Just to backtrack a bit, I made my own baby food for all three of my boys. We bought a jar of baby food one time on the way to the beach, opened it, smelled it and threw it away then bought a banana and mashed it up to tide him over until we got there. As a result, my kids love fresh fruits and vegetables. I buy organic whenever I can and try to not to use many pre-packaged foods if I can help it. It's hard!! Especially during the Summer when we don't have a schedule and we're eating later which means I'm not putting as much time into preparing meals. So when I was at the grocery store today, I bought a couple of gluten free things to try out on my guinne pig....I mean, my 6 year old. Why him? Well, he has focusing issues. It could just be his fun-loving, middle child self, or maybe there's something else to it. What is gluten, anyway? I know it's in bread and stuff, right? But, is it in peanut butter? Oh, please don't let it be in the Jif!!!!! What about Rice Krispies? Mustard? Ranch dressing? Ragu spaghetti sauce??? Publix rotisserie chickens??? All things I need to find out. But, in the mean time, I bought organic chicken which is currently marinating in the fridge and ground turkey to brown and put into the gluten free pasta I bought to make spaghetti with on Monday. I also bought him a half gallon of Lactose Free Skim Milk. Then, after I got home I looked at it again. It's Lactose Free MILK. >>DUH<< The Lactose isn't what it makes it dairy...the fact that it came out of a COW makes it dairy!! Jeeeez. I paid almost $4.00 for a half gallon of something that somebody's gonna drink whether they like it or not. Anyway, the plan is to make big, jumbo changes for a solid week and see what happens. Limited bread items, even more fresh fruit and vegetables and cutting way back on the milk and revisiting the grocery store to see what my options are. We're not big cheese eaters so milk is the only real dairy product that will be an issue. I've already planned my meals (breakfast and dinner..not lunch yet) through Wednesday so once I figure out the other few days, I'll be set. I'm kind of nervous because I want to take it seriously but it'll be time consuming and I might meet resistance from the troops. I'm anxious to see what the next week brings and what works and what doesn't. The trick is to make it yummy enough that they don't even notice!! I'm looking forward to researching recipies and seeing what I can come up with. Check this link to see one I've heard about and want to spend more time on. ( http://glutenfreegirl.blogspot.com/ ) That said, now that I'm about to wrap it up, I realize that I didn't even address sugar. Let's just say, Mama's about to rock their world.

Oh yeah...I went there!!

Just popped the cork on a new password

I just spent the past 30 minutes trying figure out my password and then trying to figure out how to reset it. My ADD, however, along with my three kids buzzing around me like gnats, was enough of a distraction that I was overlooking the obvious link. Anyway, it wasn't until I tried to reset said password that I remembered what it was in the first place...I think. Anyway, now that I think of it, my password isn't the answer to my security question but I'll be danged if I'm gonna get back into the whatever you want to call it to try and figure out how to make it line up. Sooooo, I'm going to leave myself a hint here in case I forget again, which is completely possible. Let's see. How paranoid should I be? I mean, is anybody really going to pay attention to this, let alone, make an effort to look at a particular thing just to get my password? Well.....I guess I would. That's just the kind of person I am. I wouldn't actually try to USE the password, I would just try to find out what it was just to say (to myself) that I did. Like a scavenger hunt!! This goes back to the competetive issue. Sad, really. Anyway, back to the subject. password...password...OK. It's a word...no, no, too obvious. It's gotta be something that only means something to me. I'm putting waaaaay too much thought in to this. OH, OH...I know!! "JESSE". Wow...how random is that? Well, guess that takes care of that.