Wednesday, July 31, 2013

New Morning! New Hope

My new thing is that I have the children on a two meal a day plan. 

It has been a fight to get them to breakfast. They wake up crabby, ornery and fighting nearly every morning. They Are incredibly oppositional about getting a move on... 

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. We eat a healthy breakfast that sometimes includes beans or tofu and vegetables from the garden as well as the more traditional breakfast foods such as homemade granola, hot cereal, etc... On different days, of course. :-) but more often then not they are in such a state they miss this meal altogether.

Supper is the meal they love. They tend to want to eat a lot, too... I'm thinking it is not digesting before they sleep. I'm thinking they aren't resting well, and they don't feel great when they wake up, either, and so supper has been cut from the daily fare. It's me and the twins and it works fine this time of year. I just make lunch a little later and make sure they get what they need. No snacking either. So far they have not missed breakfast on the new plan. Steve and Vanessa are not home from work at supper time anyway. Brianna can get what she needs. The biggest hurdle will be social events... We tend to socialize with food in the evening on the weekends.

This morning the twins were pleasant and cooperative. I think the mistake I made the previous day was that I felt really bad about the cold turkey switch and I let them have a tall glass of milk and sent them to bed too early. And also I don't think they got enough exercise, because if I don't make a point of making sure that they do they don't run and play naturally. They sit and do nothing.

This may not solve all the crabby issues... But it might make it a tad easier to try to be friendly if they feel good. 

It seems hard. But actually, I grew up this way. I did not eat supper growing up. We had two  sturdy meals a day when I was a kid. There are a couple of downsides to this plan that I want to avoid, but getting enough nutrition is not actually one of them.

Cindy and Natalie just got back from Dr Nedley's program and they shared that melatonin is formed in the gut Only on an empty stomach in the evening. It is made in other parts if the body, but in the gut only if you skip supper. So sleep issues may actually be solved for some.... My 2AM issues maybe? We'll see.

We are still doing NR... Even though I cancelled our next appointment. Two reasons... Our life has been crazy... The house a mess and full of company, doing a lot of camping, and then the GI bug that laid them flat for a week has kept us from being super focused. The other reason is that Buddy is having surgery on that date and I want to be available for the Duckling and the sibs, or whatever they need.

The downstairs carpet is in. The stairs and livingroom are waiting, but we have no idea when they will do it.

2 comments:

Annie said...

Interesting about suppers. You have me thinking, now!

Anonymous said...

I'm interested in knowing how the twins function with two meals a day. My adopted kids need healthy fats & protein, protein and more protein.....otherwise they are totally miserable. One son sleeps better with peanut butter and honey on spelt bread just before bed. God certainly made each of us differently!
Blessings!
Barb