Tiny Slips Can Give a Girl a Headache!

So, throughout this Paleo conversion - I have discovered many things.  My husband is a bulldozer/tank/military vehicle.  Nothing disrupts his system.  He definitely feels better eating clean, but he doesn't get the gut-busting reaction that the rest of us get.  My son can't tolerate soy.  It shows up all over his face almost immediately.

My daughter has a wicked reaction to gluten.  Not in her tummy - in her sinuses.  We thought she had allergies...you know, the airborne kind.  Everyone in Texas seems to be allergic to something flying through the air.  But she tested fine.  Not that testing "fine" made her feel better when she had a sinus headache in the middle of a math test!

Turns out, when she eats gluten, her sinuses fill up with gunk and she gets a classic sinus/allergy migraine.  I'm learning so much through this new lifestyle....

Anyway, over the holiday break, she had a few slip-ups.  Beyond the 'no-holds-barred' Thanksgiving feast (I told the kids what they needed to know, but gave them free reign to eat whatever they wanted).  She ate her weight in mac and cheese and then Daisy's weight in whipped cream out of the can...ugh!  And yum!...how is that possible!

So, since then, it's been a pretzel here and a cracker there and a few 'not-from-mom's-kitchen' chicken nuggets.  And it caught up to her.  She has had a nagging headache for 3 days.  And yesterday - it put a vice grip around her face in a full-blown migraine.  It was awful.  I felt so bad for her and even though I knew exactly what caused it - I didn't want to scold her when she was feeling so crappy.  BUT, I also wanted to make sure she understood the price she was paying for eating junk.

She is back on the clean-eating wagon and felt much better even this morning.  I have found the cleaner I eat, the quicker a bad choice gets out of my system.  I knew she felt bad and understood the consequences when she didn't even ask what we were having for dinner - she just ate what I made and didn't try and sneak even a morsel of gluten or sugar into her lunch bag today.

Bless her heart...but what a wonderful lesson to learn at 13.  I can't imagine the vitality and good health she will be able to maintain by omitting all the preservatives and artificial sweeteners and fake food stuffs from her diet.  I don't think I would've listened...but I wish my mom had found this when I was younger...maybe she would have been able to fight a better fight against Alzheimer's. 

Oh well, hindsight and all....we're on track now, and after this week's headaches - I think we'll be staying on track for a long time to come!