Day 27: Before and After

The physical side effects of Fresh Mouth are most stunning in Patrick. For a few months he had a darkness under his eyes, and his complexion seemed sallow. Now, he's a gleaming, ruddy-cheeked, even happier version of himself. I don't know if it was an official case of allergies or a simple metabolic disagreement with perservatives and artificial ingredients (even hormones in milk and meat), but Patrick glows. I really think diet is at the root of many ills and "diagnoses" of kids these days. I mean, look at the color on that kid!?

We're on Day 27 and nearing the end of our 30 day "potion." So, what next? We continue. This was a challenge designed to spark a lifestyle change and reawaken old habits from before the beast of convenience conned us into chicken nuggets and frozen fries. We have no intention of going back.

The act of chronicling this experience has been overwhelmingly enlightening. I know many nutritionists suggest keeping a food diary, but I never did until now. And even under the "rules" of Fresh Mouth, it's amazing how much "white" I sneak into our diet - breads, cookies, cobblers.

I think Phase 2 will build on our progress. Even more fruits and vegetables as diet staples. And less sugar. See the recipe below sent in from "kudzu" for cauliflower. Our garden is in the works, and our seeds arrived this week. So, we'll have in-house access to Hungarian peppers, squash, tomatoes and more. When I asked the kids what they thought about continuing Fresh Mouth, they both agreed that they feel better, a lot better, and that we shouldn't stop. No food fight on that one.

And speaking of Food Fight ... check out the most hysterical stop-animation short called "Food Fight" that my sister directed me to. Very Short List describes it as:

“'An army marches on its stomach.' You’ll find comic proof of that military maxim (attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte) served up in Food Fight — a brilliant five-minute morsel of stop-motion animation that bills itself as “an abridged history of American-centric war, from World War II to present day, told through the foods of the countries in conflict.” Yummy! Like some bastard child of the History Channel and the Food Network raised by Comedy Central, this rogue short presents American armed forces as an ass-kicking battalion of burgers taking on the global threat of salted pretzels, beef stroganoff, and super-slimy kimchi." Watch.

Menu
Breakfast: Toast, grapefruit, yogurt and OJ with fish oil.

Lunch: Salads made of lettuce, carrots, onion, pepper, cucumber, grated cheddar and toasted walnuts, toasted pita triangles and chicken. We also had raisins, pretzels and milk. Aidan had his usual.

Dinner: Grilled chicken marinated in lemon and garlic, steamed broccoli with lemon and black pepper, brown rice ( a new fan fav), yogurt, apple slices, milk and red wine. We had popcorn with melted butter for our Friday night movie, "The Curse of the Were Rabbit," which tells the story of a town's disappearing produce.



Nugget o' the Day: "Oh, yeah, Patrick, you shouldn't eat corn syrup and definitely not chocolate corn syrup, which I think is a real thing. Yeah. You shouldn't eat those. They make you unhealthy." - Aidan to Patrick. It's a snippet of after-school conversation on the way home in the car. Fresh Mouth is working. Scary thing is I see a whole market opportunity for chocolate-flavored corn syrup.

Kudzu's Recipe for Cauliflower
1. Clean and quarter a head of cauli.
2. Slice into quarter inch slices. Much of it will crumble and fall apart, and it doesn't matter a bit.
3. One small onion, julienned.
4. Two cloves chopped garlic (optional)
5. Cover the bottom of a heavy skillet with EV olive oil and heat to medium heat. Drop in the cauliflower and onions. It should be sizzling, but not popping like crazy. Turn the heat down if it is.
6. Stir occassionally and cook slowly until the whole affair is lightly browned and the onions carmelized. Throw in the garlic and cook for another minute or two, stirring frequently.
7. Sprinkle well with ground sea salt. I like it with a bit of fresh grated hard cheese like parmesan or romano.