[KimS]

I get a fair number of e-mails asking me to help with a rotation diet to bring to docs. for approval. I also find that a lot of people don't understand what they should eat if they're reacting to grains (or something else)... or what to do for a rotation menu. So I thought we should make a place of menu sample for people who want to try rotation diets to see if they will feel any better or wanting to try rotation for food isolation reasons.

It would be really nice if some vegans and nut-free folks would add a three day example of what they eat-to-keep-full too... hint, hint, nudge, nudge

This thread should make a nice collection of choices for people to get started with!


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Grains are, generally, a filler that is not very nutrient dense. For example, lasagna: If you make one lasagna with grain noodles and the very same recipe but with zucchini noodles, which one do you think will provide more nutrients?

Even animals are not supposed to eat all the grain we feed them. You know why we do it? Because it's more cost effective. Humans can increase their profit quota by reducing their feed quota. All the food experiments with farm animals are geared toward finding the least expensive form of food whilst keeping the animal alive and appearing healthy. Having gone from feeding our dogs, cat and chickens a lot of grain to less food but better content (more diverse), I can tell you it's nothing short of amazing what it does for their personalities and production. In the chickens, it is especially noticeable because whilst a grain fed chicken will slow down in egg production in the winter, our girls don't. They also have a brighter yolk that looks more like an orange than a yellow sun. That's because the eggs are higher in omega 3 which is lacking in the general north american diet and they're also a LOT higher in alpha and beta carotene (which causes the deeper colour).

I also had trouble giving up dairy and really cried over it but once I saw that the children were actually do better, I now have trouble allowing them to have dairy and feel guilty about it when I do... but we do like to allow them to have chocolate (like Turtle's - I know everyone's doing a huge 'faux pas' gasp! heehee) around the holidays.

So anyway, here are a few points that are running through my mind:

First of all, if you're loading up on any food (like that much grain), it can be harmful. Would you eat that many apples? That much meat?

Secondly, you won't get any clear results by loading something.

Third, my son, who wouldn't grow properly, had one year's worth of bone growth in 16 weeks on a grain free diet that was full of meat and nuts and fruit and veggies.

Fourth the goal, nutrition-wise, is to be on a good rotation diet... so if you make up a menu, you might have more success in showing your dh that he won't be hungry. However, the first 4 days without grain he may feel 'empty' as the grain/bulk leaves his system. When you add grain back in, it will help you understand the word 'bloated' better. I never realized, my whole life, that I was not 'full', I was 'bloated'.

So, here's the first three days of a rotation diet for a meat eater.

Day 1:
Breakfast: Peanut Butter/Squash Bread

Snack: Apple and Banana

Lunch: Burgers (meat, grated carrot, onion, grated zucchini, grated beet, oregano, sea salt and pepper)
Lettuce and tomato

Snack: Carrot sticks and macadamia nuts

Dinner: Burgers.

You don't need a bun to enjoy burgers. In fact, the bun just uses up space where more nutritious food should go.

Day 2:
Breakfast: Chicken pancakes (made with pureed chicken, squash and eggs) See pecanbread.com for recipe.

Snack: Raisin/pecan/honey snack bar

Lunch: Chicken soup and chicken salad (mayonnaise, celery, pepper, avocado, pine nuts). The chicken salad can be scooped up with 'celery spoons'.

Snack: Raisin/pecan/honey snack bar

Dinner: Chicken, rice and roasted veggies (eggplant, beet, mushrooms)

Day 3:

Breakfast: Stewed apples with blueberries and peanut butter (tastes like a peanut butter and blueberry jam sandwich - by the spoonful). My kids love this, it's one of their favourites.

Snack: Banana walnut snack bar.

Lunch: Tuna pancakes (rice flour, egg -can be flax egg, dill)

Snack: Banana walnut snack bar.

Dinner: Steamed halibut sprinkled with dill and goat cheese, served with boiled potatoes loaded with parsley. Cabbage can either be served cooked or as coleslaw... I generally cook some for dh and I but the children like to eat grated cabbage.

I bet this 3 day menu is far more diverse than what you've been eating. I know that since we 'limited' our diet 4 years ago, we eat far more food now than we ever did back then... because we were filling up on grain which was both cheaper and easier.

Now we are high on nuts but are a family that has trouble gaining weight (high eosinophils). Grain had us bloated and unhealthy and we don't always eat so high on nuts as they can be difficult to digest and one has to give the intestines a break every once in a while. For a family that is on the heavy side, I would include nuts but perhaps only once per day so as not to tip the scales.

We also don't do the cheese anymore since we found that we do seem to react to goat milk also now... but we did use it for a few years when we gave up cow dairy (we found it was the cause of leg pain and enuresis-night wetting).