Last week L's school made up some reason for parents to come to school to eat lunch with the kids. I still have no idea the reason. It does not matter. Thankfully I work really close to L's school, so I can come eat with her on my lunch hour. I fill like doing fist pumps when I can successfully manage both work and kids.
When families come to school they mostly bring fast food to eat with their kids. Although, I was happy to see some fruit bowls as well. I brought a gluten cheese free pizza from Dominos. I totally get that there is really nothing acceptable about this. I cannot even eat a slice of this stuff without getting sick from the cross contamination. But. . . it is not nearly as sick as a traditional piece of pizza leaves me. L's favorite food is pizza. Concessions are sometimes made - when I can pick up a paleo pizza I will be all over that!
However, the point of this post is that I learned that all the progress I thought I had made with L eating her lunch with actual fruits and vegetables was all lies. As her friend kindly explained she throws away all her fruit and vegetables and then begs food off of her friends. The chocolate animal crackers are her favorite. I then explained to her friend how L is allergic to them, to which her friend got mad at L for eating something she is allergic to.
In a way it makes perfect sense. L get's bright red rings around her eyes whenever she eats gluten. I was trying to figure out why I cannot get them to go away completely. The best I can do is get them to look better. While it is great that I am getting her to eat bits of new food, it is not enough for her body to survive.
I looked at her friends lunch to try to get an idea of what I could pack her. I realized that the can her friend had was not a can of coke, but a can of V8 fusion. When I made a comment to L that I would buy her all she wanted if she would just drink something like that, well she took me up on the offer.
We stopped at the store that night and bought her cans of V8 fusion. She has started packing them in her lunch, and eating them with her meals.
In one way I am torn. The containers are not BPA free. The ingredients are not organic. There is no protein or fiber in the juice at all. It is by no means a substitute for eating whole foods.
Yet, that is the problem. L is not eating enough whole foods to sustain her. While eating more nutrient dense foods as a family has helped her, she is not eating enough to sustain her body. Since she has started consuming the V8 drinks the circles under her eyes are the lightest I have ever seen them. Sometimes they seem gone completely. Is this because she is not eating off her friends lunches? Is it because of the added nutrients (even if they are not ideal) she is getting from the V8 drinks? I think it is both.
When we switched to Paleo, L's food consumption completely reset itself. Which in her case means that she stopped eating everything. If anyone questions if L is autistic they just need to look at how she eats. She has a small preferred selection of food, which rotates. The hard part is getting enough of what she will eat into her so she does not starve, making sure it is food that I can at least compromise on, and helping her to eat more food, and more whole foods.
One way I have done this is in packing her lunch. Currently she gets a can of V8 fusion juice, a peanut butter sandwich with organic strawberry jelly on gluten free bread or Applegate Pepperoni, she also gets something she loves and something we are working on. Currently the something that she loves is applesauce. It can also be sweet potato chips (from Honest Chips) or organic apple slices from Costco. She will also currently eat the Peanut Butter Cookie Lara Bars.
What we are currently working on is carrots. We have been getting these every week, she will sort of eat them. Since our fruits and veggies change with the season, so will this. However, we work on the most appealing food of the season. For every piece of food (or for dinner we use bites) she earns a star. She then turns in her stars for My Little Pony items.
Is this ideal? Nope. Do I think she is doing better then she was? Yes. I do think I am going to try and sneak some protein powder in her V8 as well.
When I start to question where we are I remember last summer when her three foods were root beer, ice cream, and Cheetos. For her birthday in February L's aunt took her to McDonalds where she order a very large order of chicken nuggets. Just three days ago L was declaring how gross McDonalds is, and how she cannot imagine that she ever liked eating them. She may not be feasting on kale and asparagus - but even L has had good progress.
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