Welcome to Run Cook Laugh…
Hey, I’m Gabrielle. So excited you are here! When I punch the clock at home, which is actually never with the amount of people in my house, I am either training for my next race or most likely making a gluten and dairy-free meal for my family. I would love to do both simultaneously just to save time😉. Putting all the chaos aside, I am mostly a happy person. I find it within myself, search for it in other people and try to be positive even when it is hard. It keeps me going throughout the day and has me looking forward to the next laugh. So when I am presented with challenges, I overcome them with a smile and never, ever hold on to things that bring me down. Why did I start this blog you ask? For 10 years after I got married I have been pregnant and breastfeeding. My family consists of 4 rambunctious boys… well 5 if you include my husband, 5 rescue cats, a ferret, and a spotted python. So, basically I am never alone! Since my first son was born over 10 years ago, my priority was to live a clean life and make sure my family was consuming healthy, organic, tasty meals on a daily basis. I look forward to sharing my experience with you and I hope you find this blog informative and maybe a little humorous😃.
What seems to be a picture perfect life definitely came with it’s struggles. I have always felt that maternal instinct towards children. Even when I was a child, I loved taking care of them. So when it was time to have my own, I gave 100% to my son. Being a first time mom, I relied on doctors, family, friends, internet, books to guide me through this process. What I have learned along the way is a mother’s instinct is usually right. On Dec 9, 2005, I gave birth to a beautiful and healthy 9.15 lbs. boy. Yes, he was a big baby thanks to Daddy’s 10.5 lbs. size at birth. 😡 When I brought him home, every time I nursed him, he would vomit. Everyone said it was spit up, but the poor thing would be covered in vomit 99% of the day. I asked the pediatrician several times, “Should I stop drinking milk?” She would tell me, “No, it has nothing to do with what you are eating.” My large baby began to shrink and I began obsessing over his weight instead of enjoying those precious moments. 10 months later and after several painful tests, I decided to take matters into my own hands. Since I was still breastfeeding, I decided to eliminate dairy from my diet. I also took yogurt out of his diet and for 3 weeks he did not vomit! Why didn’t I do this 10 months ago??!! I continued this until I stopped breastfeeding at 20 months because I was pregnant with my second child. I reintroduced yogurt because of the fear society instills in us today that we are not getting enough calcium if we do not consume dairy. But the truth of the matter is milk is for a calf and we are the only species that drinks another animals milk! Everything seemed fine, so I thought. When my second son was born, the same thing happened and I eliminated dairy from my diet and he thrived. So the lesson learned is to follow your intuition and do not rely on media to dictate what you believe is true. This is when I realized that what we consume makes us.
The struggle did not stop there. When Kid 1 was about 5 years old he was tested at his pre-school and they said his abstract thinking was off. Huh? That was my reaction. That is when my mission began to figure out what was going on in my little boy’s brain and how I can help him? After seeing several different doctors and performing numerous amounts of tests they basically told us he has ADHD. I was determined to find a way to make his life less difficult than it had to be. Our body is connected, especially the gut and the brain. In 2010, when I began this journey, there was not as much information on this topic. Fortunately today, people are becoming more aware of how food affects our overall well-being. I enrolled my son in a program at Brain Balance which helps children with all sorts of learning and behavioral issues. I was diligent in following the program and strict about the elimination diet, which for Kid 1 meant no dairy, soy, gluten, peanuts and eggs! In 6 months, my son was not stuttering anymore. He is now 12 years old, and although we stopped the exercises, we continued the elimination diet including taking dyes out as well. The stuttering comes and goes and his attention issues may always be there, but I believe that his case would have been worse if I did not do all the research and incorporate it into his life. The key was to remove the inflammation in his gut caused by certain foods which in turn eliminated the inflammation in his brain. Exercise is also key in strengthening the body, not just physically, but also mentally. I make sure to keep my boys active in sports like basketball, soccer, track and baseball. It helps that I love sports and I look forward to their games!
So when I am not being a chef, housekeeper, personal shopper, playdate coordinator, vet, Uber, referee, teacher and psychiatrist, I love pushing myself by running, learning something new that could better my health and making delicious colorful meals for my family. Let’s go on this journey together and discover new possibilities in living a clean and healthy life.
I would like to thank photographer, Ken Martin NYC , for the amazing work he did on the header and author photograph.