Meat- it's whats for dinner.

9 out of 10 experts agree- the tenth one is caught in traffic and is unable to respond to the survey at this time. It seems for anything you do or try to do in life , there are experts and not all experts share the same opinion for a variety of reasons, so you have to go with your gut feeling in the end. Such is the case with our current dietary journey- or "What's for dinner mom 2.0"

We have done a yeast free diet for 2 weeks in an attempt to detox this from both mine and my son's system. It's not the first time - we did this when he was 3 1/2 and I broke a vicious cycle of ear infections and got him to make his first breakthrough.At that time I was told the most benefit would be seen after 2 weeks, but nothing about a follow up lifestyle move, and so after 2 weeks we went sort of back to normal.This time I know a lot more about the follow up aspects of such a detox move like digestive enzymes, probiotics , vitamins and a certain way of eating. I have seen some definite improvements in my son's communication skills ( behavior is rarely a problem now that he is older), but not a major step. I don't know if there will be major breakthroughs made from the dietary front with him now- I think further speech therapy sort of work will do greater good at this point. From a weight loss standpoint it made no change for either of us, so I decided that it would be best to move into phase 2 of this. Begin to add yeast breads , but only high fiber whole grain ones and combine them with protien. In short, WELCOME BACK ARNOLDS THINS and such ( cue dancing in the streets). So my son's world turned to joy when he was told at lunch he could get the bakery pizza slice instead of the sushi or the soup and salad. Hubby also breathed a sigh of relif , and so did I. We both watched very closely for any signs of remergence of the Autistic behaviors, and happily none surfaced.

When we got back home I started cutting up veggies, fruit salads and lunch meat ends for use during the week. (This store sells the heels of deli lunch meat at reduced prices, and we buy them for different uses). Son sat next to me, wanting to help with the prep, and chatting to me about this , that and the other thing. Turns out he was waiting with baited breath for me to start cutting up the meat ends so he could swipe a few samples. While I was planning our menu he kept going on about country ribs and "big meat" ( roasts to the reast of the world), and while shopping he was really insistant that we get meat on the bone. Being memorial day weekend they had good prices on ribs. When I pointed out a slab of pork ribs , he almost got weak in the knees. As I was cubing up the meat ends he kept grabbing peice after peice, and it dawned on me. This kid is jonesing for meat and is probably due for another growth spurt ! Boys , and teen boys in particular, have times of a greater level of protien than women do, and it is wise to follow their body leads for growth.Last time he did this I thought it was a miracle because he would only eat plain pasta ot penut butter and jelly sandwiches. He stared craving meat and he would go through pounds of it, and then grew something like 4 inches in height.With him weight loss is really tricky. We have autism to contend with , a major weight loss PLUS the fact that he is still growing through it all. Figuring what is nutritionally best for all these demands can leave you scratching your head sometimes.

So today , to satiate his inner meat beast, we are going to hit Golden Corral Buffet. He can get his meat fix and we won't go bankrupt. And good news is , meat is gluten and yeast free !