Hi folks!

I know it’s been a while since I posted, but I have to admit that my son’s allergy situation has been so much more involving than I ever expected it could be, and I wanted to give an update for those of you who’ve been asking (and thanks so much for your concern — it means so much).

We’re still knee-deep in the nitty-gritty of figuring out what’s OK for Alex to eat and what’s not. When we’re right, it’s a triumph. When we’re wrong, he’s itchy and absolutely miserable when he’s tired, meaning he has trouble calming down to sleep and then is wakeful all night. Meaning I also get very, very little rest myself for the 48 hours or so it takes for his body to stop reacting.

And since he seems to be most allergic to — of all things — citric acid, which is in just about every “natural” and “green” product on the planet, all of the green baby wipes (except for 1 brand, which gave my little guy diaper rash — ack!), most soaps and shampoos (green and otherwise), as well as many, many, many healthful foods (like most berries, celery … the list is actually really long), we’ve had to get really creative just to be able to do normal things like… um … bathe. :) Food is challenging enough, but I’ve also been learning lots about making soaps and things from scratch or by using safe household ingredients.

Glycerin also seems to be a trigger, and it is in everything that citric acid is in and then some in the soap and cleaning department. I’m hoping I’m wrong about glycerin, but right now it’s not a priority, and it’s impossible to find cleansers without 50 ingredients anyhow, so who knows what’s making the kiddo itch on that front? We’ll eventually learn what works and what doesn’t. (And with luck, my son will outgrow some of this sensitivity anyhow — though that won’t happen quickly, of course.)

We’ve finally discovered really basic soap made from olive oil (yep, just olive oil that’s been made into soap). We’ve had to switch from the phosphate-free laundry and dishwashing detergents to the less environmentally friendly kind. And in fact, I believe that it was switching all detergents to the greener ones a few months back that ended up being what caused my son’s immune system to get to its breaking point with citric acid; prior to that he was not allergic to any of the foods he now cannot eat at all. Truly, there were no signs. To this day, other than this allergic response (which he inherited from both parents, unfortunately), he’s still never actually been sick except for one solitary very, very mild cold.

I don’t blame the cleaners for this problem, by the way, and I don’t think they would ever be harmful for the vast majority of people. I just wish there had been some way to know they were harming my son before they wreaked the havoc they did on his health. Clearly citrus was a weakness for Alex to some extent all along, and once it was in everything, it was just too much.

So that’s where I’ve been, and that’s why I’m mostly just working the hours each day when I can and otherwise spend my time sorting out this challenge in which right now, nothing is simple. Coming up with new ways to prepare the same 10-12 foods is challenging, but slowly we add 1 more thing, and then another, and slowly we’re finding a few staple recipes that work. But for example, we can’t take the multivitamins that we used to — the only ones I recommend because they’re the only ones on the market without vitamin A and iron (see my Recommended Resources for details) — because everything contains either citric acid or some other form of citrus that causes my son to react.

To say I’ve spent time researching this is a huge understatement. And yet I’m pressing on.

But that’s why this blog has been a little neglected.

And while what I’ve just written seems tough, we’re all hanging in there. This isn’t an ideal time for my family, but we’re happy and staying as balanced as we can.

And today’s my birthday, so I’m celebrating by taking a much needed breather from work and other obligations to relax as much as possible, eat healthy food, work out and do other things that are good for me.

It’s so funny — when I was leading an unhealthy lifestyle, the last thing I’d ever want to do on my birthday was anything fitness-related, and there’d be a junk food fest pretty much from morning till night to “indulge.” I was always glad to have a day of down time, but I always felt worse after that day of “rest” than I did before it started because of the foods I ate on special days.

But now my priorities have shifted drastically. If something isn’t good for me, if I don’t benefit from the food or activity or person in some way (not just food can be toxic, after all! And I don’t mean *benefit* in any sort of materialistic way here in the slightest, but rather I mean in the sense of being beneficial to my soul), I don’t want it to be a part of my life, and particularly not on special days like birthdays.

And on that note, I’m going to do something I haven’t done for myself in some time as a birthday gift to my body — I’m off to make some green juice :) — and then I’m going to get in my usual Thursday half-hour of HIIT (high intensity interval training — maybe the best way to burn fat and help your body feel great at the same time) before the day gets away from me. After these workouts I feel so revved up and empowered, and I miss them when I don’t get to do them at least a couple days a week.

Hope you’re taking good care of yourself! Our office is closed today and tomorrow, but if you need assistance, shoot us an email and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible. (We’ll start reviewing the coaching applications we’ve received in the past couple days on Monday, and of course my Inner Circle Coaching Club is always open.)