Story Grace

As a single mother with five children, four boys and a girl who is disabled, Autumn found it demanding to live an active lifestyle. She was going through a difficult divorce, and needed a way to decompress and get her children engaged in an activity they could all participate in. However, her daughter, Story Grace, imposed significant physical limitations that required consideration. Story Grace is a nonverbal, legally deaf and blind five-year-old, who is tube-fed her meals. She functions much like a six-month old, depending on her mother to carry and care for her. Autumn needed a way to cater to the needs of her very active and boisterous boys, while simultaneously caring for the needs of her daughter.

Two breakthroughs happened: hiking and creating Whole Story Meals™.

Autumn discovered hiking as a way to find herself and build her confidence after her divorce. Realizing the immense benefits hiking had physically and mentally, she sought a way to involve her children. She knew her four boys would enjoy it, but how would she feed Story Grace while outdoors?

Commercial food – which is what Story Grace was fed initially – is primarily composed of corn syrup with zero fruits or vegetables; its composition lacking real nutritional value. Due to the lack of healthy dietary options in commercial food, children similar to Story Grace commonly perish from secondary diseases, such as diabetes. The alternative option was switching Story Grace to a “real-food blenderized diet,” but this imposed challenges since it had no lasting shelf-life, required refrigeration, and like commercial food, was too heavy to take hiking.

This got Autumn thinking about food in a different light and she began to see commercial food as a travesty and detrimental to the health of her daughter. She did not want Story Grace consuming nutritionally subpar and fabricated food but, the alternative “real-food blenderized diet” could not maintain its quality outdoors. Autumn needed a way to feed her daughter nourishing food that could keep up with their demanding and active lifestyle, maintain its shelf life, and be lightweight to carry.

In response to the needs of Story Grace, Autumn created Whole Story Meals™. It is a lightweight, shelf-stable, cold-processed powdered food that maintains 95% of its nutritional value. The powdered meal is ready to be consumed when rehydrated with any liquid. Its convenience allowed the family to hike and camp outdoors as much as they pleased. Story Grace was getting the nutrients she needed, and Autumn could physically carry both Story Grace and the food while hiking.

Creating Whole Story Meals™ was a long process. It started with making baby formula when Story Grace was five months old since commercial formulas produced undesirable health results for her. Autumn maintains a healthy lifestyle and wanted the same for her daughter past infanthood. She then founded Whole Story Meals™, creating real food that is convenient, nutrient-dense, and free from artificial ingredients.

Whole Story Meals™ believes the most fragile members of society deserve the best society offers. Because of this, Story Grace receives the nutrients she deserves, and can live an active lifestyle with her mother and older brothers. Autumn describes Story Grace as “very content,” and the positive impact Whole Story Meals™ has had on their family is compelling. If you are interested in Whole Story Meals™, you can purchase it at www.wholestorymeals.com. It is also covered by most insurance companies.