I was in DC last year with my parents, sis and her two kids, and our two girls. We walked for hours and all the kids were tired and grumpy. I wanted to drag them to the hotel, but sis insisted that we take them to the Subway for dinner. As we sat and the kids started coming alive again with the food, sis said the fascinating words “Food fixes everything”. I believe they come from the movie Croods. So true!
So an ode to food in this blog. For the past three years we have been following a specific diet that was triggered by Leena’s dental issues. We use no sugar, no white flour (with exceptions of some breads or the rare times when we eat out) and saturated fats. Additionally we use home made broths and fermented food. The hope was to remineralize Leena’s teeth. We have been successful only in slowing her decay but not in actually remineralizing her teeth. However, we do feel that our current diet is the way to go for achieving good health in the long term.
My food research started with discovering writings of Weston Price, a dentist who researched indigenous diets in the 1930s. Some key elements in the diet were bone broths, fermented and local foods. Once I was done reading, I just had to look around me to find all the ingredients I needed to create these dinners. We are lucky to have farmer’s markets that sell everything one needs to make great broths, local honey, spring butter, sauerkraut, you name it! As I looked at the Indian cuisine, I also realized that my childhood favorites, idlis and dosas, were both fermented and could be used in place of breads or rice. So I didn’t have to venture very far.
We also use two supplements, one is a fermented cod liver oil and the second, organically bound minerals. These are great for our vitamin and mineral intake. Although now I am learning about herbs that can also supplement the above. More on that in another post.
Here’s a pictorial introduction to our dinners!
The broths are a great addition for minerals etc. But they also serve another purpose. You can put anything that kids refuse to eat into it and feed it to them. Sly, isn’t it? We throw in mineral supplements and some other high vitamin ingredients in them and it all slips right down their fussy throats!!
The big issue with a no sugar diet is that you have to make everything at home. No cookies, cakes or ice creams. We bought a Cuisinart ice cream maker that works very well. I add raw cream and as little maple syrup as I can get away with and the girls love it.
So, how do you implement these diets on a road trip? The answer is by being as prepared as possible. We have a fridge and a freezer in our camper “Elfie”. I can also cook in it. The last time we went, we took along the following (this list is for my reference!): Milk, home made yogurt, dinner for one or two nights which was rice and egg curry, cilantro chutney, boiled potatoes, boiled eggs, banana bread, rice pudding, lots of cookies and all the fruits, cucumbers and carrots, and lemons from the house. We also carried raw honey, butter, cheese and bread. This stretched pretty far! We ate breakfasts at Waffle house and always used our honey to top the waffles. Lunch would be bread with butter, cheese or cilantro chutney and fruits. Dinner would be Pasta which I cooked along with fruits, or wraps or something similar. Endless combinations were possible from this pantry.
Finally some pictures of our life since we returned from our last trip. Yard’s been our focus with spring in full swing. We have lots of exciting plans that will require some new posts.
elfhut 
It is true that varieties in food makes life worth living. Though new food protocol puts restrictions on processed foods but with little imagination it is possible to overcome the disadvantage. The rich variety of them prepared by you is an example how this disadvantage can be overcomed. I have enjoyed going through your blog and may like to read it again for making it possible to implement in hostile Indian conditions. Congrats for beautiful presentation.
Thanks dad! India is the land of food variety!