Topics
- News and updates from Diane & Liz [1:50]
- What we ate today so far [8:52]
- Pregnancy and oral glucose testing [13:49]
- Gestational diabetes and fake sugars [20:20]
- Tantrums, kids, and food sensitivities [27:52]
- Self-love practices [39:25]
Subscribe to DianeSanfilippo.com
The episodes are also available in iTunes, Spotify & Stitcher.
Show sponsors:
You’re listening to the Balanced Bites podcast episode 339.
Diane Sanfilippo: Welcome to the Balanced Bites podcast. I’m Diane; a certified nutrition consultant, and the New York Times bestselling author of Practical Paleo and the 21-Day Sugar Detox Daily Guide. I live in San Francisco with my husband and fur kids.
Liz Wolfe: I’m Liz; a nutritional therapy practitioner, and author of the Wall Street Journal best-seller Eat the Yolks; The Purely Primal Skincare Guide; and the online program Baby Making and Beyond. I live on a farm in the mystical land of the Midwest, outside of Kansas City.
We’re the co-creators of the Balanced Bites Master Class, and we’ve been bringing you this award-winning podcast for more than 6 years. We’re here to share our take on modern paleo living, answer your questions, and chat with leading health and wellness experts. Enjoy this week’s episode, and submit your questions at http://blog.balancedbites.com or watch the Balanced Bites podcast Instagram account for our weekly calls for questions. You can ask us anything in the comments.
Remember our disclaimer: The materials and content within this podcast are intended as general information only, and are not to be considered a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Before we get started, let’s hear from one of our sponsors.
Diane Sanfilippo: Today’s podcast is sponsored by Perfect Keto. Dr. Anthony Gustin and his teams have created lines of supplements that are super clean and effective, no matter what your dietary needs. I’ve been blending the MCT oil powder into my matcha latte lately. Not only are MCTs, medium-chain triglycerides, a premium source of energy to help to fuel your brain, but there’s also no added flavors or sweeteners, and it makes your coffee, or matcha, wonderfully cream. Check them out at www.PerfectKeto.com and use the code Balanced for 20% off. And you can use that code over at their sister company, www.EquipFoods.com.
1. News and updates from Diane & Liz [1:50]
Liz Wolfe: Ok. Diane, what’s up with you this week?
Diane Sanfilippo: Well, by the time this episode is airing we will be back from the NTA conference. So super exciting. And the 21DSD coaching program enrollment is officially open. So if you’ve been curious about that. Remember you will have needed to complete a 21-Day Sugar Detox before you can become a coach. So if you're just hearing about this program for the first time now, at some point in the next several months, go ahead and do the 21-Day Sugar Detox. And if you would like to be a coach, that is one of the requirements, so you need to get that done.
We generally only open the program up once a year. If there ends up being some space for it in mine and my teams schedule, it’s possible we would have an opening again for it at some point this year. But I don’t know for sure if that’s going to happen. So just keep that in mind, that this program only opens once a year.
And, speaking of once a year. Balanced Bites Master Class, which we mentioned a couple of episodes ago. We have some new things coming to the Master Class for this year for our practitioners regarding some business support. So if you are one of our practitioners who is listening; you’ve gone through an NTA program. Maybe you did the Bauman program, or IIN, or any nutritional program. And you really want to bridge the gap between what you know and how you use what you know with your clients and how you can really help them, then the Balanced Bites Master Class practitioner track is perfect for you.
And if you're somebody who is listening and you love learning with us, and you just want to dive deeper on some of the nutritional information that we teach, then check out the Master Class student track. That will be perfect for you. I love seeing what our students take away from the class and how everyone applies it to their own lives. We’re, of course, teaching about things like digestion and blood sugar regulation. Different ways you can apply nutritional tweaks to your life. And the journal that we have for the class actually helps you apply it to your life as you go through and make some healthy changes.
So stay tuned for that. The program will open up again in June, and the course will run July and August. It’s like 8 to 10-ish weeks. Just kind of depends on breaks that we might take for holidays. But we look forward to seeing you guys in there. So check out www.blog.balancedbites.com for information on the Master Class if you don’t already have that information or you haven’t signed up for the wait list. And www.21DaySugarDetox.com for information about the coaching program.
And spices; people keep asking me about the Balanced Bites spices. They are coming back quite soon. As soon as I have an exact date, I will let you guys know. But as you can imagine, being on tour and after writing a new book, some things kind of had to get back-burnered. And the initial launch that I did of those spices was really a beta launch. It was a smaller batch. So they will be coming back quite soon, so stay tuned for that.
What is going on with you, Liz?
Liz Wolfe: Oh, well I guess we’re going to have to double update my bio, pretty soon. Because not only are we planning on moving, but I also have closed down the Purely Primal Skincare Guide. As of; I know, as of a couple of weeks ago, actually. It’s been; I’m so grateful for the entire community around the Purely Primal Skincare Guide, and I owe people who supported this a debt of thanks. I’m not the type to toot my own horn, but I really think I was probably one of the first people to start talking about safer skincare in the real food/paleo community that we’re in. And I feel like that has resonated with people and has had a ripple effect. And I feel good about that.
The only think about the Purely Primal Skincare Guide is that it really couldn’t keep up with how quickly I was learning things and adding things to my repertoire. I started playing with a lot of scientific actives. Really safe scientific actives. And doing, not DIY skincare because I’m not super; there are a ton of amazing crunchy brands. There are wonderful tallow balms out there. I love Buffalo Gal grass-fed. There are people making homemade soaps and things like that. I would stink at doing that.
But I do like self-formulating, or at least tweaking existing skincare formulas with really safe, scientific ingredients that add extra antiaging punch, or that can help with oil production and acne and things like that. So I have all of these things that I’ve learned, and I’ve shared with people over the years. And it’s really hard to update some of these online guides. It’s kind of like; how often do you update it? Do I update it a little once a week, and then I’m emailing people 50,000 times a year with an update? And it just became kind of cumbersome.
So, we; my team, we decided we would shut it down. And just give ourselves a little bit of breathing room to complete a larger, kind of more technologically simplified, easier to access, online program that we’re going to activate this spring at some point. So rather than just kind of let people continue to purchase something that’s we’re going to evolve past relatively soon, we thought we’d go ahead and take it off the market in preparation for the next evolution.
As I have said from the very beginning; all Purely Primal Skincare Guide customers are grandfathered in to anything new that I do. So, this new program that will be coming up. It’s going to cost more. It’s going to be more robust, so there’s a reason for that. But everybody that’s already my customer that already bought the guide, it doesn’t matter if they bought it last month or four years ago. Everybody will be notified by email, and they will be grandfathered into that program for free.
I don’t know if I would necessarily do that again. I don’t know if it’s good business, {laughs} but it is what I promised from the very beginning. So that’s how we’re going to do it. So folks will be notified of that when it’s up and running.
Diane Sanfilippo: Awesome. I love it.
2. What we ate today so far [8:52]
Liz Wolfe: Ok. We’re calling this next segment what we ate today so far. WWATSF.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} I like this one. We’ve done this one a few times.
Liz Wolfe: Yeah. I got in trouble one time {laughs}.
Diane Sanfilippo: Because you hadn’t eaten?
Liz Wolfe: Because I hadn’t eaten. I literally; I think I had just forgotten. Because sometimes when parenting is hard you forget to eat. But today I have not had that problem. So I can share what I’ve eaten today so far.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah, do it.
Liz Wolfe: I have eaten, let’s see, what did I have for breakfast.
Diane Sanfilippo: What time is it? Tell them what time it is so they can get bearings.
Liz Wolfe: It is 4:30 p.m. So I have had breakfast, lunch, and snack. And I have yet to have dinner. So for breakfast I had a big bowl of chili with some baked potato on top. And for lunch I had a big bowl of chili with baked potato on top.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughing} I love it.
Liz Wolfe: I know. It’s just easier that way. And then for snack I had a Nelly’s coconut bar, which is really kind of dessert related, but it was fast and we were about to go on a walk. So that’s what I had for a little snack. And for dinner, I will probably have a big bowl of chili with baked potato on top. {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: Colleen’s not here this month, too.
Diane Sanfilippo: The baked potato on top is interesting to me. I feel like most people would stuff the potato. But you’ve got the potato on top method. So.
Liz Wolfe: Well, it makes it harder to microwave. {laughs} So I just kind of put it all in a bowl and just eat it that way.
Diane Sanfilippo: It sounds good. That sounds really good.
Liz Wolfe: Yeah. It’s easy to eat the same things multiple times a day. And tomorrow, who knows what it will be multiple times a day. But works for me.
Diane Sanfilippo: That sounds good.
Liz Wolfe: What about you.
Diane Sanfilippo: So, I feel like the last time we did this I probably had a similar breakfast. But I had some lemony kale, that is from our friend Cassy Joy’s Fed and Fit book. So I cooked up some Pete’s Paleo bacon. You guys know they were a podcast sponsor for a long time. Pete’s Paleo bacon and seasonings. I actually used Trifecta seasoning, which is a new blend coming to the Balanced Bites line. And I also used a little bit of porcini mushroom powder, which sounds way fancier than it is. It’s just ground up dried mushrooms. And lemon juice. And I absolutely love that. And two fried eggs with a little bit of feta cheese on top. So that was breakfast.
And then, what else. Oh, I also had my matcha latte with that. So if you guys want to see what I blend into that, you can check out www.blog.balancedbites.com/matcha or just go to the blog and check out recipes and you’ll find it there. And then after my spin class, I had some GF sandwich bread. It’s the Canyon one. I had roast beef with some; this is where it gets weird. {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: This baba ganoush spread that I really like. I think it’s Hane is the brand; it’s a weird brand name. Very smoky, very garlicky, and I put some of that on the bread. A bunch of roast beef. I think I smashed a quarter of an avocado, a bunch of my marinated onions. Some spices. And I had that and some olives and I think that was it. Because breakfast was veg. So that was lunch.
And I’m drinking some watered down kombucha right now, because I just feel like it. I put in sparkling water sometimes when I feel like it’s too sweet. So yeah, that’s what I’ve had so far. And it’s only 2:30 my time. So…
Liz Wolfe: You’ve got time.
Diane Sanfilippo: I’ve got time. I don’t know what dinner will be. But we shall see.
Liz Wolfe: Can I just say; give a little… this has nothing to do with anything except for food. I know how some people feel about the microwave, like we shouldn’t use it. But that would be like a knife in my heart at this point in my life. My daughter who is almost 3; {laughs} you're not going to be surprised that she’s learned to cook; i.e., put something in the microwave and press a button. And that’s our version of; my kid is learning to cook. But it’s the cutest thing. She’ll take a sweet potato. She’ll climb up to the counter, take a sweet potato, climb down, walk it over to the microwave, literally chuck it. She’ll press the button to open the microwave.
She’ll chuck it into the microwave, literally football throw because it’s a little too tall for her. Close the microwave. She’ll press the red button, to clear any time off the microwave. And then she’ll press the 5 button. And she’ll cook herself a sweet potato. It’s the cutest thing in the entire world. And she’s so excited about it.
Lately she’s been just wanting to do it not when she’s hungry, so it’s gotten a little bit obnoxious. But it’s really adorable. So I’ve been eating a lot of sweet potatoes lately. {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: So this is why there’s sweet potato on top of every bowl of chili! {laughs} Now it makes sense, Liz.
Liz Wolfe: Yeah. Pretty much. Pretty much.
Liz Wolfe: The Balanced Bites podcast is sponsored in part by the Nutritional Therapy Association. The NTA trains and certifies nutritional therapy practitioners and consultants (including me; I’m an NTP), emphasizing bio-individuality and the range of dietary strategies that support wellness. The NTA emphasizes local, whole, properly prepared nutrient dense foods as the key to restoring balance and enhancing the body’s ability to heal. Nutritional therapy practitioners and consultants learn a wide range of tools and techniques to assess and correct nutritional imbalances. To learn lots more about the nutritional therapy program, go to http://www.NutritionalTherapy.com. There are workshop venues in the US, Canada, and Australia, so chances are you’ll be able to find a venue that works for you.
3. Pregnancy and oral glucose testing [13:49]
Liz Wolfe: Alright, so today we’re going to do a little grab bag. We’re going to do one pregnancy question. One children’s health question. And a personal care question. Back to some of our old grab-bag ways. Which I always thought were fun when we covered a couple of different topics.
Alright, first question. “Hi ladies! I’m so grateful for your podcast, and love your realism, your energy, and your commitment. I couldn’t remember if you preferred questions sent to your email or your Instagram, so I’m trying email. I’m such a fan of your podcast. I recently got diagnosed with gestational diabetes, and I’m feeling pretty heartbroken. I have about 7 weeks of my pregnancy left. I ate pretty well before my pregnancy, and I mostly really desperately miss just a little bit of fruit more often in my day. I’m pretty scared of fake sugar during pregnancy, but feeling like I’m depriving myself all the time.
I’ve searched the Balanced Bites archives for info related to this, but couldn’t find quite exactly what I wanted to ask. Do you have any practical thoughts on managing this? Any snack idea? Any helpful inspirational thoughts? I feel like I just can’t look at another spoonful of nut butter. I’m pairing a ton of protein with every meal, but feel like I’m hungry and scrounging around for more satisfying meals and snacks. Finally, I’m feeling guilty about sneaking no-sugar added popsicle sticks, wondering about sugar alcohols and the like. Should fake sugar freak me out during the last 8 weeks of pregnancy? Any help would be so appreciated.”
So I’m not going to talk about this in extreme detail, because I’m still kind of deciding what’s; gestational diabetes, this is a medical diagnosis. So I feel like Meg and I talked about gestational diabetes, I think, in a prior Balanced Bites podcast. We certainly have talked about in my Parenthood with Liz Wolfe, NTP Facebook group. Which I think this gal is a member, but I’m not entirely sure. It’s a closed group, you do have to request a membership, but we’re getting better about letting people in thanks to my admins who are awesome.
But, this is one; I feel like there’s a larger question here. When people tune in and want to hear about gestational diabetes, because generally the first thing I hear is people freaking out about drinking the orange juice. The giant glucose hit that they use to measure whether or not you have gestational diabetes, or are at risk for gestational diabetes. Usually with that we have I think a couple; maybe we’ve touched on that in the podcast a couple of times.
And also I want to recommend; gosh, now it’s escaping me. But I believe a podcast that Diana Rodgers did with a cohost about gestational diabetes that helpful. I’m sure Steph Greunke from Rock Your Hormones has tackled this topic, as well. I think she’s an amazing resource for women at that stage.
Just because I want to say this about gestational diabetes and about the testing; I know this isn’t the question that she asked, but I do want to say it. I feel like I have encountered few topics that people get more out of their mind freaked out about than drinking the orange liquid. The gestational diabetes test. While I understand not wanting to drink this disgusting, giant sugar hit to test yourself for gestational diabetes. I also feel like it’s just one tiny moment. You can prepare for it by slowly raising carbs to a level that you're comfortable with so your body can kind of handle that gigantic carbohydrate hit fairly well. But I just don’t feel like it’s this thing that people need to get so afraid and freaked out about and lose their minds over. I really, really don’t.
And part of that might be that I just have this perspective now that I’ve been a mom for 3 years and kind of went through that. Where I realize that our bodies can handle a little bit of what, orange dye? One day out of your entire pregnancy. You're going to be fine. I feel like there are alternatives that some folks will let you use. The midwife practice that I was with with the gestational diabetes testing, their alternatives. What’s funny; I was actually like, hey I’ll just get 100 grams of glucose and mix it with water, and I’ll drink that. Which is basically the exact same thing. And they were like; no, but you can eat whole wheat toast and a bunch of other things that in no way approximate the way the actual standard glucose test would hit your blood sugar and the measures that you would get from that. It made absolutely no sense.
But I do like that some places are offering alternatives. There’s jelly beans that you can do, and different alternatives. And there are also practitioners out there that actually know how to monitor blood sugar. There are practitioners out there that will let you do finger prick testing to monitor your blood sugar over time. Which undoubtedly gives you a better reading than one gigantic glucose hit.
But I also want people to kind of just stop freaking out about it, if humanly possible. It’s not the end of the world if you do it. It’s not the end of the world if they don’t have an alternative for you; like a dye-free alternative. You can order a dye-free alternative. I’ve never seen something cause more stress than this. Out of everything else that I feel like I’ve kind of helped talk people through since I started talking about fertility, pregnancy, and parenting. This is the thing that gets people more freaked out than anything else. And I just want everybody to kind of take a deep breath.
I feel like the oral glucose tolerance test is a fairly low; I don’t know what I would say. It’s a low investment test in that you're not causing any long-term. You're not doing something awful every single day to get this somewhat arbitrary measure of proper blood sugar during pregnancy. So in that way it’s kind of a low investment test. And it’s not particularly dangerous. For some people it actually does yield some really interesting, and sometimes even vital information about mom’s blood sugar situation. So it’s one of those that I think that kind of monitoring is low, whatever. What word am I looking for?
Diane Sanfilippo: I don’t know. {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: It’s not that hard to do? It’s not that hard to do. You do it in some way or another, and you might get some really important information from it. So anyway. And then you get this result.
4. Gestational diabetes and fake sugars [20:20]
Diane Sanfilippo: I think one thing that she is trying to get a little bit of support on right now, also.
Liz Wolfe: Oh, I know. I haven’t answered her question.
Diane Sanfilippo: I know. Ok.
Liz Wolfe: I’ll answer it next. I just didn’t have that much to say about it. And I have a lot of space to fill, so I thought I’d back up a little.
Diane Sanfilippo: I have some questions for her. I mean, she only has 8 weeks left, right? She says she only has 8 weeks left.
Liz Wolfe: Yeah, and I don’t even know when she submitted this question. Probably within the last two or three weeks.
Diane Sanfilippo: She’s like; I already had the baby. Forget it. {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: Yeah. She’s like, don’t even worry about it. But anyway, I’m done commentating on the oral glucose tolerance test. Maybe we can devote an episode with Meg the Midwife to that in the future. That might be cool. Because there is a lot more to consider. But I just want people to not freak out.
Anyway. As far as the support that this gal is asking for. What the heck do I eat? “Should fake sugar freak me out during the last 8 weeks of pregnancy?” I mean, there’s no need for fake sugar. There are good sources of healthy carbohydrate that are fine in this type of situation. And then there’s; what would you be substituting fake sugar for? Are you going to bake cookies with Splenda instead of real sugar? You know what I mean. Because in general, you just don’t need to be baking cookies.
I think a general, maybe smaller meals over the course of the day is a pretty good approach to this. In part because, like you're so big, your stomach probably can’t handle as much in one sitting to keep your blood sugar stable. And to keep you full. Because I feel like she said she’s looking for more satisfying meals and snacks.
So smaller, protein rich, healthy complex carbohydrates, good amount of fat, multiple times a day. More than three times a day, I think, is a really, really great idea. “Missing just a little bit of fruit.” This is when I want to be careful, because you do need to be working with your doctor on this. But for a lot of people dealing with that, just a cleaner diet. More frequent meals during the day. And also monitoring blood sugar with a finger prick is a really, really helpful strategy and can take care of a lot of these concerns that folks have. So, see, like I said. I didn’t have that much to say. {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: Well, also one of the things that I think is happening is our healthy paleo type eaters sometimes hear not to eat sugar or carbs, and they translate what the doctor said into, “Don’t eat fruit and sweet potatoes.”
Liz Wolfe: Ah, good point.
Diane Sanfilippo: But what the doctor really means is, don’t eat sugar and processed carbs. Because the average person is eating that stuff. So now Alex has taken that message and translated it to, “Well if I can’t have real food carbs, then I should eat sugar-free fake sugar stuff.” And I don’t think that’s the case. Whether somebody has gestational diabetes or not, fruit and sweet potato or potato isn’t necessarily causing the problem. Your body may or may not respond to it well. You may respond well to an orange, and not well to some rice. We don’t know until you actually test. Because we respond differently to different things.
And it is just a little while left. But chances are, half of a sweet potato with your meal is probably not going to drive your blood sugar crazy if it’s paired with protein and fat. I doubt that’s causing the problem. I can’t say for sure. But I can imagine that in this situation, eating super low carb, and then adding fake sugars is the healthier approach than finding a way to balance a half an orange, or a few segments of an orange to have that little fix of something sweet that’s natural. The way that your body handles that in terms of blood glucose response; we’re equipped to handle that. We’re not equipped to handle half a dozen wheat flour, corn syrup, hydrogenated oil cookies. That’s not what we’re wired for, or equipped to manage blood sugar wise.
Just be careful with what you’ve translated the doctor saying into what it really means. Because I’m just a little unsure of what happened there.
Liz Wolfe: That’s a really great point. Great, great point. And also, I do think it’s worth saying that the measures that lead doctors to diagnose gestational diabetes; there’s a range. You can be just over the hump there, or you could be way out of range.
Diane Sanfilippo: Right.
Liz Wolfe: And I have no idea where this person, so it’s more difficult to speak to. This could be a situation where medication is needed. But we don’t exactly know where she’s at, there.
Diane Sanfilippo: Right. The other part, too, is what you were eating before for a period of time. And we don’t know what she was eating before. But if you were eating quasi-low carb at all; which you may not have realized you were doing it. We’ve talked about that many times on the show; accidental low carb. But I don’t know that people realize that when you don’t eat carbs to a certain level for a period of time, you actually become less tolerant of that much glucose. So you may show; and I don’t know if this is what happened with her.
But this is going to happen with people who are eating low carb during their pregnancy, just because it’s how they always ate and they feel ok. You might feel fine, but your blood sugar may show otherwise. Because your blood glucose reading may be a little bit high, because your body is not used to having sugar. So it’s downregulated how quickly it clears sugar, because you haven’t given it much. So that’s another possibility. And I know that we’ve talked about that on the show, before. Absolutely. But we don’t know, again, what she was eating before to be able to make that call. I just want people to know.
It is one of the reasons why some of our paleo eaters get stressed out about taking the test. Because they’re like; well, I’ve been eating low-carb, or keto, or whatever it is. And it’s like; you know that your body will not respond well to a huge hit of sugar. And what we’ve said in the past to those women is; start eating more carbs for a couple of weeks before the test so that your body can get a little bit regulated to that again. Because otherwise, your blood sugar will not respond well, and you might come out being diagnosed with gestational diabetes, and you may not actually have it in a pathogenic way. Like in a disease state. It might just be the fact that your body is downregulating how quickly insulin is working. It’s just a possibility.
Liz Wolfe: Because we’ve said before on this podcast, your insulin function is an averaging mechanism. So your body doesn’t produce the exact amount of insulin for what you just ate, if what you just ate is 10-fold greater carbohydrate content than what you are generally eating. Which is why; I don’t remember if I said this earlier or you said it or we both said it. Which is why for paleo eaters; I think you just said it. Building up to a certain level, there is a level of preparation for an oral glucose tolerance test that you can do as a paleo eater. But at the same time, I don’t want people who are pregnant to not be eating; I don’t want people who are pregnant to dip too low carb in the first place.
Diane Sanfilippo: Right.
Liz Wolfe: So that’s something to watch out for, as well.
5. Tantrums, kids, and food sensitivities [27:53]
Liz Wolfe: Ok. Here’s our next question. This is on corn and aggression. “Hi Diane and Liz. Do you have any podcast or articles on corn and aggression? My 4-year-old and her tantrums have recently worsened. I’ve been looking into newer foods in our household because they’re easy and they all have corn. I also heard from a friend that various forms of methyl folate can affect people in various ways and that Smarty Pants, the vitamins she takes, has caused aggression in several children. Thinking about trying Plexus to improve my daughter’s gut health. Any ideas? Thank you.”
Diane Sanfilippo: I can just give you a broad sweeping comment on any type of gut disruption and aggression in general. So if corn is something that has been introduced to the house, and maybe it’s like all of a sudden you're eating three to four different things across the span of a week that had corn, and she hadn’t really been eating that much before. Even something as simple as a food intolerance or disruption to gut bacteria balance. Anything that’s disrupting her gut; and if it is coming from the corn. Which we know corn can be tough to digest for a lot of people. That can impact serotonin levels negatively.
Serotonin, about 90% of our serotonin is made in the gut. And knowing that we need plenty of serotonin to have happy, even moods. So aggression would obviously be a sign that we’re not experiencing levels of serotonin that we really need. That is one thing that could be happening. Aside from any other specific link to anything; corn, methyl folate, folate, any supplements having nothing to do with any of that. Just on a basic level. If our gut health is not in check, it’s really difficult for moods to be in check.
Liz Wolfe: That’s basically the sum total of anything I would have said, as well.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} Ok then. I don’t think trying a specific supplement line is the great answer to anything. But I think if you want to look at what’s happening with her poop, and check out the digestion section of Practical Paleo, and see if her poop is not matching what well-formed elimination would look like. And kids are usually pretty quick to have you come look or tell you what it looked like. You can definitely take the book out, show her the book, and ask her which one it looked like. You can see what’s happening in there and follow the notes and recommendations for what to do in terms of if this is happening add this or remove that and see how that helps.
Liz Wolfe: And it’s not that; if you're having these concerns; pull out corn, and see what happens after three weeks. Or pull out these vitamins if you really think that’s it.
Diane Sanfilippo: Right.
Liz Wolfe: Just because we consider it improbable doesn’t mean you can’t play with it. Diane and Liz said that’s not it, so I don’t know what it is. But I also want to say that kids and tantrums; as a mom, I feel like you know. Ok, this isn’t normal. She’s not herself. This doesn’t feel like a regular tantrum. I understand that, so you want to look at food, or environmental stuff. But I think it’s probably also important; and again, I'm the parent of one. I find it impossibly hard, and sometimes I feel like an armchair quarterback because I don’t even; or whatever you would call it where I don’t necessarily apply things to my own life that I advise other people to do. But sometimes I can see other people’s situations more clearly than I can see my own, because I’m not invested in the same way.
But tantrums are not; I feel like there’s this tendency in this community to blame every problem that’s behavioral on food. And the thing is; food is not always the answer. It’s part of the answer for many people. Stress is part of the answer for many people. Sometimes for kids there is a whole lead in to maybe feeling stressed. Feeling not hurt. Feeling unable to express him or herself. Maybe a pattern of discipline is being used that is actually being counterproductive. Those types of things.
And I am by no means commentating on this person’s parenting, at all. Other than to say, I went through a time with my daughter where things were way out of balance. And I had to look at it, not just in how to “fix” her, but how to bring balance back to our entire family. To me, I had to question what I was bringing to the equation.
Because kids; they’re cleaner slates than we are. They come to us able to behave in an authentic way. There’s no; I really don’t believe that there’s any toxic or unproductive behavior. There’s just results. So there’s this tantrum is happening because of something. So maybe you're not needing to fix the tantrum, but you're needing to dig into; maybe it’s food. Maybe it’s discipline. Maybe it’s emotional connection. Maybe it’s stress. Maybe it’s environmental. There are different things it could be. But it’s really, really easy to change your perspective on what is perceived as bad or unsettling behavior. And stop bringing your own stress to it.
So I like to think of tantrums as stress leaving the body. And maybe kind of look at it that way and see if you can kind of support her through that. And perhaps once she feels more understood or more empathized with, there will be a little bit more balance and you can start kind of peeling the orange. Or peeling away the layers of the onion from there.
I really love aware parenting, and Aletha Solter just came out with a brand new book. I can’t remember what it’s called but it’s her newest. Calm and connected or something like that. But you can go look for it on Amazon. Solter is the last name. And first name is Aletha. That might be really interesting. I think around 3 and 4 is when sometimes the stress of the previous couple of years can come to a head.
And it can feel really illogical. Because when they’re 3 and 4, I feel like you think; ok, by this point, they’re not 2 anymore. They need to have some of this stuff figured out. And they don’t, necessarily. And that can be tough. So. Unsolicited parenting advice from an unqualified.
Diane Sanfilippo: No, I think that’s really good advice, because it’s so easy. This is exactly what we do as adults. It’s so easy to say; is it something I’m eating. Rather than a way that I’m eating.
Liz Wolfe: Yes.
Diane Sanfilippo: And I think; it totally could be. She could totally just pull out all the corn, and the kid is feeling better.
Liz Wolfe: Oh, yeah.
Diane Sanfilippo: So you're not discounting that at all, and I think that’s important for everyone to hear. It could totally be that. It could totally be something in the vitamins. We don’t know. But I think it’s worth opening our eyes to the fact that it might not be that. And I think you made a good point about her environment and her getting to be this age. Also, is she in preschool? Is she having an experience? She’s having a life change? Is she interacting with new people who maybe are causing stress that you don’t see and it’s coming out later? This happens to all of us, right? I think because kids don’t have the same time span awareness or ways to communicate, there’s just so much going on that it all comes out, as you said. It’s like stress leaving the body.
But I think it’s worth just being aware of the fact that it could be something other than food. And unfortunately, the food seems a lot easier to control and manage. And I hope it’s just the corn. I hope that by saying; we don’t bring corn into the house. Because frankly, if you’ve got foods with corn ingredients, they’re probably genetically modified. And who knows what that’s doing, right? But even if they are organic, they’re probably not. I don’t know, corn seems a little sketch these days.
Liz Wolfe: {laughing} Yeah.
Diane Sanfilippo: Can I just use this really quick example, it’s totally unrelated. But realizing how far smoke traveled when we had the fires up in Napa. That’s 50 miles away, and it smelled like our house was burning down. When you realize how air carries that stuff. I was like; really? Is there anything organic anymore? I don’t know.
Liz Wolfe: You're totally right, I think.
Diane Sanfilippo: 50 miles! And it smelled like our house was burning down. Everyone in San Francisco thought that was happening. Anyway. So I just think that’s important, and I think that’s part of how we feel responsible to communicate these responses to you guys. Like, we can answer just the exact question being asked or we can introduce potential other avenues to look into. So I think that’s great advice.
Liz Wolfe: So I think we’ve fallen into this before, you and I. I’m sure. That when you're a hammer, everything looks like a nail. When you're the person that talks about food, that’s the lens you see things through. But what I started realizing I feel like over the last, I don’t know how long, is that people are so fast to be like; ok, this is going on. Try to eliminate eggs. Try to eliminate salicylates. Should I eliminate FODMAPs. Is it duh, duh, duh. And half the time it’s something totally different.
And I don’t think she’s going to mind me saying this. But a cherished friend who has helped me with a million things with my daughter. The other day we were talking over Facebook. And she was like; my skin is flaring up. I cannot figure out what’s going on. Should I remove eggs? Should I do AIP? Should I blah-blah-blah. And I’m thinking; I’m just thinking that’s not what’s going on. But then I started going; what about your hormones? Let’s talk about blah; any sources of stress. All of those things we tend to look at just because this what we do.
And then she totally figured it out herself. She goes; you know what? Our water here is terrible. It smells like chlorine. I’ve been showering in chlorine for like the last three months. And I was like; that’s totally it. Like, everything your describing about your skin can 100% be attributed to chlorine exposure. Get a vitamin C filter. You know?
Sometimes it’s a lot simpler than we think. And I hate to see people stress themselves. Because changing your diet, and taking things out; that can be so stressful. And when it’s just something that’s a little more simple. Like just needing a little empathy or things have been really busy and you need to take a day to connect. Or you need to get a shower filter. It’s just so nice when that’s all it is. You know.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yes.
Liz Wolfe: Today’s podcast is sponsored by Vital Choice wild seafood and organics. The leading source of delicious, sustainably sourced wild seafood and a certified B corporation. Spring has sprung, and it’s time to put a spring in your step with powerful, paleo-friendly fare. Like omega-3 rich wild seafood and mouthwatering grass-fed meats. For good health and taste on the go, grab some of their fabulous canned fish and healthy high protein snacks, like a tin of sardines (perfectly pocket-sized) and salmon or bison jerky. They’ve got seriously amazing paleo-friendly wild salmon, fish, and shellfish; plus salmon burgers, dogs, and bacon, grass-fed meats and organic bone broths. Check it all out at www.vitalchoice.com.
6. Self-love practices [39:25]
Liz Wolfe: We are calling this next segment self-love. What are you doing to show yourself a little bit of love, Diane?
Diane Sanfilippo: I think for me; well they’re almost daily walks with Scott and Harper, our dog. Because he goes to work really early a couple of days a week, so we don’t do them in the morning that day. But now that spring is coming, we’re going to do more sunset walks. But I think those walks are really part of my self-care/self-love.
I like to always post a picture to Instagram from the walk, because I like seeing other people’s daily rituals and people seem to like seeing my daily rituals. So I like to post that little view of the Golden Gate Bridge and all of that. But for me, that’s part of it. And I really like having that as part of the day. So that’s part of it, daily walks. What about you?
Liz Wolfe: I’ve been showering more often.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: {laughs} Which sounds like a small thing. But it’s really been nice. It has really been nice to feel not greasy more frequently.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} All the moms are like; yep, that’s a thing. {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: Yep.
Diane Sanfilippo: I love it.
Liz Wolfe: You go girl. Alright, that’s it for this week. You can find me, Liz, at http://realfoodliz.com/ and you can find Diane at http://dianesanfilippo.com. Join our email lists for free goodies and updates that you don’t find anywhere else on our website or on the podcast. While you’re on the internet, leave us an iTunes review. See you next week.