When I first started my diet the rules were strict but simple, I could basically eat anything with the exception of milk, flour, processed foods, and sugar. So, for the most part that left me cooking all my meals and avoiding anything that came out of a bag or box (excluding rice). A few months after I started the diet my husband and I discovered that our son was allergic to sugar. Just in case you were wondering, at that time we had not changed the kid’s diet yet. My son was very hyper all the time and we were frustrated.  I read a great book about kids with ADD and ADHD and WOW, was it an eye opener! The author of the book explained how diet can play a large role on kid’s behavior. I decided to cutout the refined sugars and processed foods from my kid’s diet to see if it would help with my son’s hyperactivity.  After all, if it worked it was a win-win situation, not only is this an opportunity to reduce my son’s hyperactivity but it is also a chance to teach my kids how to eat and live a healthy lifestyle.

I started carefully reading labels on all the foods that I bought my kids. I was SHOCKED at how much crap is in the food we eat!  My first journey was to find bread with no processed sugar in it and of course no artificial sweeteners in it either. I asked my mother if she knew of anything and she directed me to the health section of our local supermarket to find Ezekiel 4:9 bread. I bought a loaf of the Ezekiel bread and really liked the way it tasted (kids really liked it too). However, the downside is that Ezekiel bread is a lot more expensive than the “regular” bread that I was previously buying. So I became determined to find an inexpensive and healthy substitute for the Ezekiel bread. To make a long story short I went on a wild goose chase and read the ingredients for just about every brand of bread there is in 5 different supermarkets.  To my disgust all of them had at least 2-4 sources of processed sugars and many of them also contained preservatives.  I decided to spend the extra money for quality and have not looked back sense.When you look at the ingredients of the Ezekiel bread you will notice that it contains a fair amount of protein, fiber and non-altered natural ingredients. The bread is also sweetened with natural products such as organic honey and organic molasses (depending on which type of bread you buy).  I personally think that the bread taste great and I highly recommend you give it a try. My family’s personal favorite is the Cinnamon Raison with a little almond butter on it. YUM YUM!

P.S.  The change in my son’s diet worked.  We allow our kids to eat anything they want on Saturdays (I’ll explain why at another time) and can tell a big difference in our son’s behavior from the days that he eats a clean and healthy diet.