What on earth is causing it? Update on the picky eater project

Hello all,

I've been cooking up a storm in our kitchen, and haven't had time to update you much on our progress with the GAPS diet.

Many things have changed. I no longer have to avoid eggs for example, and I'm building up the kids' tolerance to dairy. They can have some nuts, although they still seem to be sensitive to them. The biggest change is visible in their menu, and their food choices. Whereas they got very little in nutrition from the carb dense diet they chose for themselves, they now get a huge variety of foods packed with nutrients.

Before: Menu

Breakfast: Rice crackers with apricot jam and raspberry jam, cereal, or home made pancakes/muffins
Snack: Rice crackers, or banana
Lunch: Either pasta, fries, chips, potatoes, or rice with hot dogs or some type of unhealthy meat.
Dinner: Like lunch.


Today: Menu

Breakfast: Celery root hash browns and organic bacon
Snack: Orange, apple sauce
Lunch Ezra: Salad with steak, olives, cucumbers, carrots, and applesauce for dessert
Lunch Micah: Chicken on lettuce with cucumber and carrot sticks (which he didn't eat), dates and pumpkin seeds
Snack: Apple sauce, and Ezra ate 4 carrots this afternoon
Dinner: "Zucchini lasagne". The sauce consisted of ground beef, red peppers, tomatoes, and onions.

The kids snacked it all up and demanded seconds and thirds!

I really didn't think I would see the day where Ezra begged me to make him a salad for dinner, and then polished off the entire bowl. So one of my major goals has already been accomplished with the GAPS diet, which is to get my picky eaters to be less picky. I don't know that it was so much the GAPS diet as it was just sticking to my guns, and deciding that they are simply going to eat what I give them, and there will be nothing else. Knowing though that the food I put in front of them is not only tasty but good for them helped my fear that they weren't getting enough food. Now Micah will eat almost every fruit, and he tolerates vegetables when they're "disguised" in foods.

However, I've also run in to some difficulties. Micah still has a rash on his arms, and I don't know what's causing it. Ezra is back to being very hyper, lots of ism-ing, screaming, and being aggressive. My problem is that I don't know what is causing it. Is it the fact that he is now going to school full time? Or that the detox is working and all these toxins are being released (they warned us that could happen)? Or is it something he's eating that is making it worse? If so, which food is it? Or is it the fact that we stopped buying everything organic because we couldn't afford it? Is it the chemicals in the food?
It seems like for every solution I find, only more questions pop up. Still, I'm glad that we are eating healthier, and making better choices. Now, if only I could get the hang of preparing menus ahead of time, and sticking to a menu plan. I'm just not very organized that way. Right now, I should be standing downstairs in the kitchen making school lunches, and preparing breakfast. The one thing that hasn't changed for the better is that the kids seem to be even more obsessed with food. But at least now they're asking for stuff that's good for them.