What do my kids eat? Day 2 of 7

Breakfast:

Today's morning juice was carrot and apple.  For a special treat, we had bacon with our eggs.  Yes, bacon is on the avoid list in the GAPS diet book, but I was able to find some uncured bacon without sugar at Costco that is safe (Coleman Natural Uncured Hickory Smoked Bacon).  Hurray!  It's one of our favorites!

Morning Snack:

The kids call this loved snacked "Ants on a Log."  It's just a 1/2 banana with Organic Sunbutter and raisins.  You could use any nut or seed butter.  Quick, easy and delicious!

Lunch:

I made Italian Meatball Soup for lunch.  It is a beef stock based soup with a jar of strained tomatoes, a chopped onion, and carrot slices served with homemade Italian Meatballs with some hidden chia seeds.  I use Bionaturae Strained Tomatoes.  BPA in the lining can be problematic in canned goods particularly with tomato products due to their acidic nature, so I like that this product is sold in a glass jar.  Italian Meatballs recipe coming soon!  How do you get little kids to eat broth?  Let them drink it with a straw! Less mess and more fun for the kids!

Afternoon Snack:

The kids finished up the Energy Balls that we made yesterday and had a handful of blueberries for snack.

Dinner:

Dinner was not exactly a culinary masterpiece, but the kids like it.  We had baked spaghetti squash with Creamy Cauliflower Alfredo sauce and some leftover chicken.  I substituted chicken stock for the water in the recipe to increase the healing power of the meal.  According to Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, bone broth is important for "healing and sealing" your gut, so it is an important component of the GAPS diet .  Therefore, I add broth into recipes whenever possible.

Bedtime Snack:

I told the kids that we didn't have much color for dinner, so they needed to choose a colorful snack.  They decided to have a Berry Coconut Smoothie.  Check out the simple recipe from this previous post.

Berry Coconut Smoothie Recipe

Return to Day 1 

Continue to Day 3

What do my kids eat? Day 1 of 7

As I mentioned in a previous post, I am currently studying to be a health coach at the Institute of Integrative Nutrition. One of our assignments this week is to keep a food journal since this is a tool that we will use with clients.  Since I am already tracking our meals this week, I thought that it would be great to share my journal to give you an idea of what a family with young kids eats on the GAPS diet.  Check out my previous post if you want to learn more about the diet and why my family is following it:

Starting Our GAPS Journey

Since my primary focus is on my young kids, I'll share pictures of their meals and snacks.  My husband, teenager, and I eat similar meals though typically with larger portion sizes.  Here's the first day of my food journal:

Breakfast:

Most mornings we start the day with freshly made juice.  Today our juice was a combination of carrots with greens and apples.  The kids also had a couple of homemade breakfast sausages.  I make a double batch of these and freeze them, so that I have an easy breakfast option on hand for busy mornings.  Most purchased breakfast sausages has added sugar and nitrates, so they are not GAPS friendly.

Morning Snack:

Our simple snack this morning was apples slices with SunButter Organic Sunflower Seed Spread for dipping along with a glass of coconut milk with just a little bit of honey to sweeten it.  Many of the prepared butters have added sugar, so be sure to read the labels carefully.  Regular Sunbutter has added sugar, but the Organic version is simply roasted organic sunflower seeds.  Sunbutter is also a great option if you happen to have a nut allergy in the family since it is processed in a peanut free facility.  My kids eat quite a bit of Sunbutter, so we have an automatic shipment from Amazon to save money.  We save over $3 a jar that way.

Lunch:

The kids had cut-up hamburger bites and a mini-salad with lettuce, carrots, cucumber and Salad Girl Blueberry Basil dressing for lunch. The kids needed a little extra motivation to finish their salads, so they also had a homemade chocolate robot candy for a treat once their salad was gone. The kids love the Robot Pattern Candy Mold that I purchased from Amazon.

Afternoon Snack:

Chocolate Banana Smoothie: For 4 servings, simply blend 4 cups of unsweetened coconut milk, 2 bananas, 1 avocado, 4T cocoa powder, and 2T honey.  The kids love the smooth, creamy texture that the avocado adds, and I love that they are getting healthy fats, fiber, and an abundance of nutrients from them.  Check out the many benefits of eating avocados:

What are the health benefits of avocados?

Dinner:

I made chicken soup for dinner. I started a whole chicken in the crock pot in the morning to have ready for dinner. I used the chicken stock and meat from the leg quarters and wings for the soup saving the white meat for lunch tomorrow. To make the soup this evening, I just added some finely chopped onion, carrots, and celery to the stock and cut-up chicken pieces.

Bedtime Snack:

I made 3-Ingredient Energy Balls for a snack tonight. I blended up 1 cup of whole almonds, 1 cup of dried apples, 1 cup of dates, and 1T cinnamon in my Ninja Master Prep Blender (QB900B) and then formed the mixture into balls. The kids call these apple pie bars. I use Blue Diamond Whole Natural Almonds to keep them safe for my son with a peanut allergy. We had some leftover to save for a snack tomorrow.

Continue to Day 2