Help! Not sure where to start!

[Brandy Lance]

(I'm cross posting w/ the allergy forum because I'm not sure where it fits.  :)

I'm so grateful for this site!  It seems like there are so many knowledgeable people on it.  I wanted to see if someone could help get
me started in the right direction.

I have had *known* food sensitivities for 8 yrs.  I think that I have had certain ones for at
least 20 yrs that I can recall.  I simply detested certain foods
although my parents made me eat them.  Now I realize that I have
sensitivities to them and that's probably why, as a pre-teen, I didn't
want to eat them.  Anyway, now my 2 young boys (7 yo and 4 yo) have some
sensitivities.  I think I passed the issue on through breastfeeding. 
My husband has also developed a couple of sensitivities w/in the past 5
yrs as well.

We have seen chiropractors for 8 yrs, use homeopathy and herbal supplements when warranted and eat organic food.  We have
tried a variety of things to help w/ the sensitivities but I think the
best I felt was when our first chiro had me doing a homeopathic detox,
acupuncture and 2 monthly adjustments.  The symptoms started to subside
and I could eat small quantities of my allergens.   I can't afford to do
all of that for the 4 of us at this point though and am now learning
that I should work on healing our guts first.

I just started brewing kombucha and my kids really like it.  I do have to say that I'm a
little freaked out about giving them my home brew just in case I didn't
do it right or something.  ;)  I am also hoping that a gal in the
sharing cultures forum still has some water grains to send me.  I don't
know if I should add dairy kefir to the list because my youngest is
having issues w/ dairy and his hands are again chapped and bleeding. 
People have referred me to the Weston A. Price site and the BodyEcology
site.  I'm feeling a little overwhelmed on where to start and with
knowing what "too much" is at this point. 

If anyone can give me some ideas on where I should start and how much I should do, I would
sure appreciate it.  Food is depressing me and I used to love cooking
and eating!  Now I dread it and am worried about causing more
sensitivities because of how limited our choices are.  Thanks for any
help you can give.

Read more: http://heal-thyself.ning.com/forum/topics/help-not-sure-where-to-st...

[katrina nixon]

I'm trying to get into the cultured foods thing, but my kids don't like any of it so far. The only thing i can get them to do is one bite of Bubbie's kraut at supper and a tiny bit of store bought coconut kefir. My first batch of water kefir will be ready tomorrow so maybe they'll like that. I'm also going to make cultured salsa. Any suggestions for getting them to like something cultured that they can have every day?

Thanks!!!

[Brandy Lance]

Hi Katrina,

I'm new to the cultured food scene as well and haven't done a whole lot of it myself yet.  We just started brewing kombucha in Nov and water kefir a couple of weeks ago.  My 4 yo loves both and my 7 yo likes store bought kombucha (super fizzy and he likes the flavors) and is so so w/ the WK depending on the flavor.  I am finding that if I trend to the sweeter side w/ the WK and kombucha then my 7 yo will drink it w/ less complaints.  If it's stronger than he's a no go.  So perhaps you could start there and then ever so slightly let it start to ferment longer and longer so that their palates adapt to the fermented flavors.  I don't know if that will help for sure or not but that's *my* plan!  ;)  I'm hoping it works and if so, I have high hopes that they will become ok w/ more of the fermented foods.  Oh and I am starting to incorporate more cooked cabbage into soups so that they become more familiar with it (my husband too bc he thinks he dislikes cabbage and sauerkraut) and then start adding a bit of sauerkraut with hot dogs and ketchup.  I think that slowly adding bits of these foods will help them cross the bridge.  :)

 

Good luck!

katrina nixon said:

I'm trying to get into the cultured foods thing, but my kids don't like any of it so far. The only thing i can get them to do is one bite of Bubbie's kraut at supper and a tiny bit of store bought coconut kefir. My first batch of water kefir will be ready tomorrow so maybe they'll like that. I'm also going to make cultured salsa. Any suggestions for getting them to like something cultured that they can have every day?

Thanks!!!

[katrina nixon]

Thanks brandy!

I'm trying out the water kefir today. Then onto some cultured salsa (they like regular salsa). I found the recipe here if you're interested http://www.mommypotamus.com/cultured-salsa-recipe/. I tried kombucha in December and they liked it, but it was during a time when we all had really bad colds and we seemed to be extremely irritable. I'm not sure if the kombucha was the culprit, but will try it again some other time.

God bless your endeavors!

Brandy Lance said:

Hi Katrina,

I'm new to the cultured food scene as well and haven't done a whole lot of it myself yet.  We just started brewing kombucha in Nov and water kefir a couple of weeks ago.  My 4 yo loves both and my 7 yo likes store bought kombucha (super fizzy and he likes the flavors) and is so so w/ the WK depending on the flavor.  I am finding that if I trend to the sweeter side w/ the WK and kombucha then my 7 yo will drink it w/ less complaints.  If it's stronger than he's a no go.  So perhaps you could start there and then ever so slightly let it start to ferment longer and longer so that their palates adapt to the fermented flavors.  I don't know if that will help for sure or not but that's *my* plan!  ;)  I'm hoping it works and if so, I have high hopes that they will become ok w/ more of the fermented foods.  Oh and I am starting to incorporate more cooked cabbage into soups so that they become more familiar with it (my husband too bc he thinks he dislikes cabbage and sauerkraut) and then start adding a bit of sauerkraut with hot dogs and ketchup.  I think that slowly adding bits of these foods will help them cross the bridge.  :)

 

Good luck!

katrina nixon said:

I'm trying to get into the cultured foods thing, but my kids don't like any of it so far. The only thing i can get them to do is one bite of Bubbie's kraut at supper and a tiny bit of store bought coconut kefir. My first batch of water kefir will be ready tomorrow so maybe they'll like that. I'm also going to make cultured salsa. Any suggestions for getting them to like something cultured that they can have every day?

Thanks!!!

[Brandy Lance]

Thanks for posting the recipe!  :)  I'll have to take a look at it.  I hope your kefir turned out well too.  My friend told me to add some grape juice to our second fermentation and it tastes sooo yummy!  She said to match the same amount of your water kefir to grape juice if you like it kind of sweet.  I didn't add that much and it was still yummy. 

katrina nixon said:

Thanks brandy!

I'm trying out the water kefir today. Then onto some cultured salsa (they like regular salsa). I found the recipe here if you're interested http://www.mommypotamus.com/cultured-salsa-recipe/. I tried kombucha in December and they liked it, but it was during a time when we all had really bad colds and we seemed to be extremely irritable. I'm not sure if the kombucha was the culprit, but will try it again some other time.

God bless your endeavors!

Brandy Lance said:

Hi Katrina,

I'm new to the cultured food scene as well and haven't done a whole lot of it myself yet.  We just started brewing kombucha in Nov and water kefir a couple of weeks ago.  My 4 yo loves both and my 7 yo likes store bought kombucha (super fizzy and he likes the flavors) and is so so w/ the WK depending on the flavor.  I am finding that if I trend to the sweeter side w/ the WK and kombucha then my 7 yo will drink it w/ less complaints.  If it's stronger than he's a no go.  So perhaps you could start there and then ever so slightly let it start to ferment longer and longer so that their palates adapt to the fermented flavors.  I don't know if that will help for sure or not but that's *my* plan!  ;)  I'm hoping it works and if so, I have high hopes that they will become ok w/ more of the fermented foods.  Oh and I am starting to incorporate more cooked cabbage into soups so that they become more familiar with it (my husband too bc he thinks he dislikes cabbage and sauerkraut) and then start adding a bit of sauerkraut with hot dogs and ketchup.  I think that slowly adding bits of these foods will help them cross the bridge.  :)

 

Good luck!

katrina nixon said:

I'm trying to get into the cultured foods thing, but my kids don't like any of it so far. The only thing i can get them to do is one bite of Bubbie's kraut at supper and a tiny bit of store bought coconut kefir. My first batch of water kefir will be ready tomorrow so maybe they'll like that. I'm also going to make cultured salsa. Any suggestions for getting them to like something cultured that they can have every day?

Thanks!!!

[katrina nixon]

The water kefir was a success. I put lemon in it for the older girls who thought it was lemonade and apple grape juice for the toddler who also loved it and asked for more!!

Yeah!

Brandy Lance said:

Thanks for posting the recipe!  :)  I'll have to take a look at it.  I hope your kefir turned out well too.  My friend told me to add some grape juice to our second fermentation and it tastes sooo yummy!  She said to match the same amount of your water kefir to grape juice if you like it kind of sweet.  I didn't add that much and it was still yummy. 

katrina nixon said:

Thanks brandy!

I'm trying out the water kefir today. Then onto some cultured salsa (they like regular salsa). I found the recipe here if you're interested http://www.mommypotamus.com/cultured-salsa-recipe/. I tried kombucha in December and they liked it, but it was during a time when we all had really bad colds and we seemed to be extremely irritable. I'm not sure if the kombucha was the culprit, but will try it again some other time.

God bless your endeavors!

Brandy Lance said:

Hi Katrina,

I'm new to the cultured food scene as well and haven't done a whole lot of it myself yet.  We just started brewing kombucha in Nov and water kefir a couple of weeks ago.  My 4 yo loves both and my 7 yo likes store bought kombucha (super fizzy and he likes the flavors) and is so so w/ the WK depending on the flavor.  I am finding that if I trend to the sweeter side w/ the WK and kombucha then my 7 yo will drink it w/ less complaints.  If it's stronger than he's a no go.  So perhaps you could start there and then ever so slightly let it start to ferment longer and longer so that their palates adapt to the fermented flavors.  I don't know if that will help for sure or not but that's *my* plan!  ;)  I'm hoping it works and if so, I have high hopes that they will become ok w/ more of the fermented foods.  Oh and I am starting to incorporate more cooked cabbage into soups so that they become more familiar with it (my husband too bc he thinks he dislikes cabbage and sauerkraut) and then start adding a bit of sauerkraut with hot dogs and ketchup.  I think that slowly adding bits of these foods will help them cross the bridge.  :)

 

Good luck!

katrina nixon said:

I'm trying to get into the cultured foods thing, but my kids don't like any of it so far. The only thing i can get them to do is one bite of Bubbie's kraut at supper and a tiny bit of store bought coconut kefir. My first batch of water kefir will be ready tomorrow so maybe they'll like that. I'm also going to make cultured salsa. Any suggestions for getting them to like something cultured that they can have every day?

Thanks!!!