Cooking dinner in my house is about as stressful as putting together two pieces of flat-pack Ikea furniture with my husband, hungover, on a deadline, with the kids milling about.

And the sad part is… I used to love to cook.

We have four people and four different diets going at my house. I am Paleo, my husband is dairy-free, my 13 year old daughter eats healthy stuff at home and buys junk food with her allowance whenever she gets a chance, and my son is everything-free.

You would be right to think the following:

Is this woman out of her mind?

Everything-free? Is that even a diet?

Why don’t you just do the same thing for everyone?

No wonder you don’t want to walk into the kitchen. I’d be running out of the house.

Honestly I’ve read so much about food over the last few years, I’ve lost my appetite. Food used to be about families coming together at the table, nourishing themselves, and then getting on with their lives.

Now you need to hit three different grocery stores to feed a family like mine. A hugely disproportionate amount of income gets spent avoiding things in food like GMO’s in everything, rGBH in milk, artificial colors and preservatives in snacks, and pesticides all over our fruits and vegetables.

Now it’s sexy to talk about what is ‘NOT’ in something. Look at the labels screaming “gluten free,” “no soy,” and “rGBH free!”

When my son started preschool, his teacher said, “Stop telling me what he can’t have and tell me something he can eat.” That was six years ago and we’re still trying to figure that out.

Over the years we have had to eliminate gluten, dairy, soy, corn, potato, and all preservatives, particularly MSG. We have had to pay attention to oxalates, phenols, and salicylates (green grapes, I shudder at the tantrum memories seared across my brain), and of course not letting the sugar intake creep up.

At times, he has been grain-free and we realized he needed more carbohydrates. At other times, his diet contained too much meat and his ammonia levels skyrocketed. His diet widens as his gut heals, but man, what a tedious learning curve this has been.

If you’d told me in my twenties that, as a mom, I would be considering Camel’s milk, purchasing a food dehydrator, splitting an Amish Cow with another family, or reading about the benefits of fermentation, I would have said: “You’ve got the wrong girl.”

Life throws things at you that you don’t see coming, and back in those days, we didn’t have a clue how much our son’s autism was related to his gut or how foundational food would be to his healing.

But food sensitivities don’t just belong to the autism community, do they? Many other childhood behavioral issues may be related to a sluggish digestive system or a poor diet. Many of the chronic and autoimmune illnesses becoming so rampant in our culture today are greatly helped with nutritional intervention.

Fearless Parent is teaming up with The Thinking Mom’s Revolution to co-host an event in Cranford, NJ on Saturday, May 3 that is all about food!

This event is chock full of information and guidance on what to feed your families, what to avoid, how to get the good food into your picky kids, and all on a budget.

There will be a fabulous Health Coach Round Robin co-led by two nutritionists with over 50 years of experience helping children and families: Geri Brewster, RD,MPH, CDN and Laura Lagano, MS,RD,CDN. Take notes because they will all be sharing their best ideas.

The Round Robin is followed by five phenomenal speakers: Kelly Brogan, MD, Holistic Psychiatrist and Medical Director of Fearless Parent; Sayer Ji, founder of GreenMedinfo; Jennifer Fugo,creator of The Gluten Free School  and author of the The Savvy Gluten Free Shopper: How To Eat Healthy Without Breaking The Bank; Camille Miller, the Executive Director of the Northeast Organic Farming Association, NJ Chapter, and Louise Kuo Habakus who many of you know from her health advocacy work. She is at the helm of Fearless Parent and co-host of Fearless Parent Radio.

“Stirring the Pot” is packed with exhibitors, samples, raffles, and our sponsors are sending you home with gift bags loaded with even more good stuff.

I really hope you’ll join us for this very exciting event. I will be there, bringing up the caboose on the Health Coach Panel, as a parent who has learned a few tricks and shortcuts over the years in making food changes with my kids.

I’m also hoping I might find my kitchen mojo again and fall back in love with cooking.

So come hang with a bunch of the TMR’s, the Fearless Parent team, and our powerful speakers. Let’s learn from each other about what the heck to make for dinner!

You can register for the event right here.

Alison MacNeil hopes to see you in Cranford, NJ on May 3.

Photo credit: Adobe Stock #52225231