Author: Family Friendly Daddy Blog

2 Comments Posted on food reviews, Health, parenting, vegan

The Benefits Of Quitting Dairy

February 1, 2014 at 2:36 pm , by 

3 years, 2 months.

Dear Jack,

Now that I haven’t consumed any dairy products in the past eleven months, it’s simply common knowledge in my mind that the consumption of dairy products led to my former sinus congestion, abundant mucus production, and allergies.

I imagine that other vegans and “non-dairy consumers” already know this as common knowledge too, but unless you’re actually living it, how else would you know?

Granted, I’m no doctor.(That’s a major understatement, by the way!)

However, I did suffer through 22 years straight of, everyday, feeling like I had to blow my nose, but nothing would come out.

I endured 22 years of a couple times each year, getting a sinus infection. Plus, I was extremely allergic to cats.

Then, after only one weekend of cutting out dairy, my sinus problems and allergies cleared up.  Not one time since then has it felt like I needed to blow my nose but nothing would come out.

Also, I no longer itch or sneeze while in the presence of cats- no matter how much I pet them.

I remember how for a week following that fateful weekend where I experimented with giving up dairy, this weird yellow plasma started draining from my nose.

Whatever it was, it was what was keeping my sinus pressure and infections going. It was fed by the intake of dairy products.

And get this- my mucus has only been clear in color since I gave up dairy nearly a year ago; it’s never white or yellow like it used to be- just clear…

Interesting, right?

Not only am I not a doctor, but I’m also not a scientist or animal biologist; yet still, I want to point out a theory I have about dairy products, and I want full credit for it if it ends up being legit…

Milk is a secretion produced by the exocrine system, which also produces mucus. I’ve noticed that sneezing creates mucus, which helps flush outforeign objects from the human body.

So what happens if you consume the secretions (like milk) of the exocrine system of another species?

In my case, the human body tried to reject it- by producing more of its own mucus (frommy exocrine system) to flush out the foreign secretions from the exocrine system of another species.

For me specifically, not only did my body produce a lot more mucus to flush out the milk and cheese and butter I was consuming, but it also went into defense mode by attempting to sort of “lock out” further consumption of dairy products, by producing constant sinus pressure as a warning system to my brain.

It’s like my body knew what my brain didn’t.

Finally, after 22 years of suffering, I watched the right documentaries on Netflix (Forks Over Knives, Hungry For Change, Vegucated, The Beautiful Truth, Dying To Have Known, Supersize Me, and Food, Inc.) and realized that my body is hostile to the secretions of the exocrine system of other species of animals.

And the thing is, I don’t even miss dairy at all. Now that I really know what it is, I’m actually disgusted by it.

As for the nutrients that animals’ milk provides, for the past eleven months, I’ve easily gotten them from plants-  “the Big 6” (vegetables, fruits, grains, beans, nuts, and seeds), to be exact.

Plus, we use Earth Balance butter (made from olives) instead of dairy butter. And when Mommy makes cookies, she uses almond milk and/or applesauce instead of eggs.

Fortunately, you’re not a huge fan of milk anyway. You like “chocolate covered milk,” which is dark chocolate almond milk. (No, you don’t even mind if you have to drink it out of your cousin Calla’s pink princess cup.)

I hope you don’t end up with the same sinus and allergy problems I’ve suffered with for most of my life; up until last year, of course.

However, I believe that avoiding dairy is the key. As you grow older and experience a higher consumption of dairy products, if you choose to, your body will serve as a science project.

Either I will be very right, or very wrong, about my theory of the consumption of dairy products (secretions from the exocrine system of another species).

I just don’t want you to have to suffer like I did. We didn’t have the Internet orNetflix to tell us any different, back when I was growing up.

I was brainwashed to believe that milk actually does a body good. Turns out, it actually did my body worse.

With all that said, decide for yourself.

 

Love,

Daddy

Leave a comment Posted on parenting, Storytelling

I Want You To Go Back To Being A Daddy

January 28, 2014 at 9:08 pm , by 

3 years, 2 months.

Dear Jack,

During the holidays last month, there was a day where I had to work, but you and Mommy were home.

I didn’t realize it until here recently, but I found these pictures that Mommy took of you wearing my hat and slippers. You had proclaimed to Mommy:

“I’m being Daddy!”

Deep thought: In your eyes, what does it mean to “be Daddy”?

It happened again yesterday afternoon, as we had just finished watching Brother Bear 2 on Netflix. In the movie, the main character, a girl named Nita, chooses to turn into a bear.

As you played trains on the carpet with Mommy, I asked you if you wanted me to turn into a bear. Out of curiosity, you said yes.

In the likeness of Brother Bear 2, I stood up, sort of twirling in slow motion through the air, and when I crouched back down, I pretended to be a roaring bear.

Almost immediately, you stopped me:

“Go back to being a daddy!”

So with another slow motion twirl in the air, I turned back into “a daddy.”

But what does in mean, in your eyes, to be a Daddy? And more importantly, to be your Daddy?

For me, it was one of those moments in time where I got accidental confirmation that I must be doing something right, as your parent.

Whatever it means to you that I’m your Daddy, it’s a thing you want and need.

This reminds me of a quote from one of my favorite movies, Garden State:

“It’s like you feel homesick for a place that doesn’t even exist. Maybe it’s like this rite of passage, you know. You won’t ever have this feeling again until you create a new idea of home for yourself, you know, for your kids, for the family you start, it’s like a cycle or something. I don’t know, but I miss the idea of it, you know. Maybe that’s all family really is. A group of people that miss the same imaginary place.”

Last night as I wrapped you up in your snowman blanket, singing you “Yellow Submarine,” I heard the mix of nostalgic sadness and happiness in the song.

I imagined what that must be like on your end. I remember. I do…

There’s this deep sentimental connection between a parent and a child about your age; a certain connection I still remember having with my parents in the early 1980s.

You’re in it, right now. You’re in it.

I’m not saying that feeling goes away, but I recognize it as particularly special during those preschool years, when lullabies and stuffed animals are part of everyday life.

It feels like… home. It’s both happy and sad.

The reason it’s sad is because it’s so happy and, deep down, you know it won’t last forever.

You know that the two of you will both grow up and eventually become both be adults.

But as for right now, you get to be the cute little boy, ironically wearing Daddy’s hat and slippers.

 

Love, Daddy

Leave a comment Posted on parenting, Storytelling

They Grow Up So… Slowly?

January 28, 2014 at 8:44 pm , by 

Leave a comment Posted on funny, parenting

My 3 Year-Old Son’s R-Rated Version Of A Lego Set

January 26, 2014 at 10:37 pm , by 

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I Think, Therefore I Am… Made Of Noodles

January 25, 2014 at 7:27 pm , by 

3 years, 2 months.

Dear Jack,

I love your artwork.

Just look at this magnificent piece you created recently, which you simply entitled Bones; where you were instructed to place spiral noodles where your bones are and yarn for where your hair is.

Here’s my favorite part: You recognized that there was no reason to use any yarn for hair as all your classmates did.

You understood that because I “buzz” you every month or so with a #2 guard on the clippers, you don’t have enough hair to show it in the picture you made of yourself.

Meanwhile, all your other friends in the class, who happen to have a lot more hair than you, did use the yarn;  some to excess.

I cracked up when I saw your friend Porter’s self-portrait. According to the yarn he used, he has hair down to his fingers; when really, his hair isn’t even down to his eyebrows.

And your friend, Madison, who I recently had to instruct you to stop calling an eyeball…

In her rendition of herself, she has the Pippi Longstocking thing going on.

Your recent piece of art shows me your sense of self-awareness. It took Bones to show me that you are able to recognize yourself from a 3rd person perspective.

I like how when you see yourself in front of a mirror and I ask you that is, you always smile and curiously say, “Jack.”

It’s almost as if you see yourself from that 3rd person perspective but are still somewhat confused in the connection of version of yourself to the 1st person perspective.

Hey, I know the feeling.

Something I am definitely aware of is that I have trouble connecting who I think I am to who I really am. I want them to be the same, and in theory they are, but I’m never fully convinced.

“I think therefore I am” is not as easy as it sounds.

But when you involve noodles and yarn, it somehow is easier to understand.

 

Love,

Daddy