Toxicity and Pajamas?

Part of Jordan's healing from food allergies and autism involves avoiding any and all chemicals possible so as not to add to the burden his body is already dealing with in trying to clean out his internal environment. This includes air fresheners, fragrances, dryer sheets, normal household cleaners, and on the list goes. And yes, new pajamas.  Why pajamas? Most pajamas are coated with a chemical flame retardant. So, all his life, Jordan has had hand-me-down pajamas that have been washed hundreds of times or a plain undershirt T-shirt and shorts or sweatpants. Not a big deal.

Well, at Costco, again, on display were pajamas I was ready to run right past, like normal, when Jordan spotted some bright blue ones he fell in love with, to my surprise, they were organic and were not treated with flame resistant chemicals, and not outrageously expensive. He was SO excited to get new pajamas, just for him!

 

Breaking the Cycle of Developing New Food Allergies and Healing Old Allergies

The very short answer of how the break the cycle of developing more allergies and heal old allergies...heal the digestive system: the gut, the bugs (bacteria & yeast), the immune system (75% of the immune system is in the gut/intestines).

 
The Gut. It's very possible that there is an issue with leaky gut. Where "holes" in the intestinal wall allow large food particles into the blood, where the immune system sees them as invaders (virus, bacteria, or toxin)and attacks, because big things in the blood are virus, bacteria, or toxin, nutrients from food in the blood are suppose to be small. The immune system then says hey, remember that substance for next time and we can conquer it more quickly = allergy reaction the next time the food is eaten. An explanation on healing the gut is in the next section on Bugs.

The Bugs. We all have an inner ecosystem - good and bad bugs in our digestive system. It's not that some are really bad, we need them, we just need them IN BALANCE. Too many of one type becomes a bad bug and can cause lots of problems. The most common culprit: candida, or yeast. It is their job to eat large food particles so they don't get into the bloodstream. Lots of large food particles, means more and more yeast are needed, but in the course of doing their job, they can multiply out of control and actually grow into and through our intestinal wall and get into the bloodstream themselves, and into our other organs, etc when they should only be in our gut and in the right proportion to other bugs there. If this is the cause...digestive enzymes to help digest the food are needed to correct the original reason the yeast overgrew in the first place. Yeast can also overgrow because the good bacteria are killed off for some reason. Things like birth control pills, hormone imbalances, acne medication, and ANTIBIOTICS all can cause yeast to get out of control. (Antibiotics - Think about it "anti" "biotic" or "against life". I'm not saying antibiotics are bad, I'm just saying we need to be aware that they kill both bad AND good bacteria and if we must take antibiotics, to make sure we take probiotics as well to help recolonize our gut with good bacteria after being on antibiotics. Personally, I try to find all-natural antibiotics in the form of herbs, essential oils, and things that help our bodies fight the bugs (thereby strengthening the immune system long term) rather than go in and wipe them out with drugs (which used repeatedly, in the long run weakens the immune system because it gets no exercise or experience).

It can be tough at first, but in the long run it sure pays off. My boys used to catch every little thing going around, and Jordan would be sick and completely miserable for 2-3 weeks every time he caught something. Now that I've been using natural things and have been working to build his immune system (for him that meant keeping him away from other sick kids for about a year - when you're sick, it's hard to heal other chronic issues and strengthen the body & immune system). Last week and this week we've been around hacking coughing kids many times and neither of my boys have gotten sick! It's wonderful!! FYI: it also means limiting (or eliminating) sugar. Sugar significantly depresses the immune system for 5-6 hours after it is eaten.

If there is already an issue with yeast, due to partially digested food, antibiotic, or other medication use. Then it needs to be killed and brought back under control. There are many ways to do this. One of my favorites is by using enzymes and probiotics, another is a combination of anti-fungal herbs in a product by Pure Herbs called Can Sol.  FYI: yeast feed on sugar and anything the body can readily turn to sugar: wheat, corn, pasta, potatos, dairy, maple syrup, etc. While combating yeast it may be necessary to seriously cut back (or completely eliminate) the intake of these foods for several weeks.

Once the yeast is controlled and the gut bacteria balanced, the gut will start to heal. There are things to help accelerate the healing of the gut as well. We've used L-glutamine, also knitbone or comfrey.


The Immune System. This is multifaceted and involved. To be completely honest I don't totally understand this area yet. What I do know is that immune system disregulation is epidemic today, with Th1 and Th2 responses being imbalanced. Th2 is overactive in many, many children (just think asthma & allergies). This means the immune system is always on high alert, fighting, everything. How did this flip happen? Well, it's not the only reason, but the most common answer for that is: vaccinations.

So, the immune system. That bring us back to the basis of recovery from many things (including: asthma, ADD, allergies, autism spectrum):

1)Stop putting bad things in
2)Put only the best things in as possible (food, body products, scents)
3)Get the bad stuff that is still in the body out.

For more information on this check out the pages about causes and treatment, toxicity, and nutrition.

While Working on the Gut, Bugs, and Immune System. If the child needs a greater variety of foods, the best thing I have found to help is called NAET or BioSET. However, the effectiveness of these techniques is very dependant on the skill and knowledge of the practitioner. Try to find one that others have had success through and who won't break your bank with a gazillion treatments.

After balancing the gut bacteria, immune system, and healing the gut, it may be necessary to do a treatment of NAET or BioSET for an existing allergy/sensitivity to clear it from the system and "reset" the immune system so that it no longer reacts.

UPDATE 3-10-12: On the flip side, once all those root causes are healed the allergies very well may just disappear one by one, that's what we are finding is happening for Jordan.

A Whole Lot of Normal That Hasn't Been

Over Halloween weekend, we went camping...and had a blast!  I realize that may not sound significant to most of you. But for those of you with ASD (autism spectrum disorder) in the family, that can be a pretty major thing depending on the child's particular issues.

We tried it a year and half ago, with disastrous results. It was too much change, too many sounds, too many smells, too many people too close, too much of everything except sameness and his white noise machine, and completely overwhelmed him. This time it was pure adventure and enjoyment! 

 We rode bikes...

...a long ways

We swung on a grapevine

He swung high! (He used to go crazy swinging even an inch or two was absolutely terrifying to him - sensory issues).

...not anymore!

And for dinner...GF free range turkey hot dogs, chips, carrots and smores! In a very rare event (like the first time in his life) we broke the diet rules. We used gluten-free, dairy-free, (and relatively free of toxins) "graham" crackers and chocolate bars, but couldn't find decent marshmallows here (we've found them in the past in MI), so I let him break the rules and eat normal marshmallows, blue food coloring, horrible chemicals and all. Believe me, this will only happen once or twice a year, for camping purposes only, when I don't remember to order others ahead of time...until his body has completely healed! And he did fine, no noticeable effects, but we won't make a habit of it. I know the cumulative effects, and we aren't going there!

A Favorite Snackbar

Finding packaged foods Jordan can eat and is good for him is a very difficult task. On my way through Costco a couple weeks ago, I see Mrs. Mays has a box of bars. Hmm, that holds possibilities. 

The first thing I check - the ingredient list, because it always tells the real story. My priorities -Jordan's allergens first, health a very close second. I'm pleasantly surprised.  It's mainly nuts, seeds and fruit. Although it does have evaporated cane juice, it's second to last on the list and there are no chemicals listed!  There are 3 different varieties, Acai Strawberry, Pomegranate Blueberry, Goji Cranberry so they vary slightly, but here is the list for the Pomegranate Blueberry: cashews, almonds, pistachios, blueberries, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, dates, pumpkin seeds, raisins, rice malt, natural flavors, freeze dried pomegranate powder, evaporated cane juice, sea salt.


They are gluten-free and dairy free, along with no preservatives! No only that - the boys (not to mention my husband and I) love them.

The only down-side is that they are somewhat crumbly, so I make sure they are eaten at the table or outside, not in the car.

At just under $16 for a box of 20, they are less than $1. per bar!!! By Jordan's food standards, for a packaged food, that's a deal!

A Journey Through The Digestive System

Digestive Wellness for Children – Chapter 3

DIGESTION. In very basic terms, the digestive system is a 25+ foot tube that starts at the mouth and ends at the rectum. It includes the mouth, esophagus, stomach, small intestine, pancreas, liver, gallbladder and large intestine. It is the basis for the body’s nutrient supply system – turn food into particles the cells can use for energy, maintenance, repair, growth – and a block, malfunction or failure in one part impedes the effectiveness everything downstream. We never really think much about our digestive system, unless we have a problem.

MOUTH. It is an amazing, intricate system. It actually starts with our mouth and how well we chew! Foods need to be broken into small particles, not swallowed as large chunks, so that enzymes can later finish breaking them down.

ESOPHAGUS AND STOMACH. The esophagus is a tube that takes food from the mouth down to the stomach. In the stomach hydrochloric acid (HCI), enzymes, and the contractions of the stomach work to kill bacteria that can cause food poisoning, break protein bonds and begins breaking down fats. The stomach has completed its job when food is liquefied into chyme.

SMALL INTESTINE. Averaging around 17 feet long, if stretched, the small intestine in the primary area where absorption of nutrients takes place. However, that isn’t all that takes place – a lot happens in the small intestine. Digestion of food is completed and nutrients are absorbed through the intestinal wall and into the blood stream. It also blocks the absorption of harmful things like chemicals, large food particles, etc. Also in the small intestine are billions of beneficial microbes that are critical to general health and to a strong immune system. 70% of the immune system is located in the gut.

PANCREAS, LIVER, AND GALLBLADDER. These organs all play a role in the digestive system. The pancreas although often thought of in its role of balancing blood sugars also plays key roles in digestion and absorption of nutrients through the production of enzymes.

The liver creates bile to emulsify fats, breaks down hormones, is critical in the processing of nutrients, chemicals, and drugs that are in the blood, determining which to keep, which to change, and which to eliminate. If the liver is congested, these functions can be greatly compromised.

The gallbladder stores bile for when a supply is needed. Bile emulsifies fats and breaks down fat soluble vitamins.

LARGE INTESTINE. The large intestine is primarily responsible for reabsorbing water back into the body and eliminating waste. Like the small intestine it contains beneficial microbes, necessary for health, digestion, disease protection, and the production of certain vitamins. The main issues to be aware of with the colon are frequency of movement and transit time. Ideally, you should have two to three bowel movements a day. And food should take between 12 and 24 hours from mouth to elimination. Anything less (diarrhea) or more (constipation) will have effects on health.

MY COMMENTS. The digestive system is a critical basis for health. The simplest things can make big differences – chewing food well (drink your food and chew you drinks!), taking digestive enzymes or eating raw foods, making sure the gut bacteria is balanced with beneficial bacteria, keeping the liver decongested.

For all children with multiple allergies, and for a huge percentage of autistic children, the health of the digestive system is the key to reversing the issues, particularly regaining the functioning of the small intestine and enzymes. At least 70% of the immune system is in the gut, specifically the small intestine. One of the common supplements used for autistic kids is L-glutamine, one of the reasons is because the small intestine uses L-glutamine (an amino acid) to repair itself and for energy. The small intestine is also where yeast starts to overgrow and can create leaky gut syndrome, a huge issue for many of these kids, but more about that in a couple of weeks.

Elimination is also key. These kids are sick because they are toxic. They have to eliminate toxins. The 4 avenues of elimination are: the lungs, the skin, the colon, and the urinary system. As relates to the digestive system, toxic kids need a decongested liver and bowels that move regularly. The liver needs to be able to filter the toxins out and the bowel needs to get rid of them, otherwise the toxins just keep recirculating.

Chemicals & Convenience: Consumer Be Aware! (Chapter 2)

Digestive Wellness for Children - Chapter 2

“Today, not a single child is born free of synthetic chemicals.” – Bill Moyer, PBS Documentary Trade Secrets

89% of ingredients used in personal-care products have not been evaluated for safety by the CIR, the FDA, nor any other publicly accountable institution.

FOOD. We used to eat foods that we hunted or grew, in season. Now we get foods shipped from all over the world, available all seasons, frozen, canned, irradiated, genetically modified, and microwaved. Nutrients, beneficial bacteria, and enzymes are killed or taken out to extend shelf-life. Preservatives and other additives are put in. The average American eats 14 pounds of additives per year! Before all that is done to it, it’s sprayed with pesticides!

Microwaving and Irradiation. They both change food the content and composition of food. Microwaving has shown to change the structural make up of the food in ways that conventional cooking does not change it. Irradiation uses nuclear waste materials to extend self-life and to kill all bacteria on food, however it also destroys much of the vitamin content and leaves food containing carcinogenic molecules.

Genetically Modified Foods. This involves changing the seed, altering the genetic makeup of food for purposes such as to resist herbicide so it can be sprayed and not die, among other things. Other countries have cried out and labeling is required. In the US labeling is not required. If you eat anything with corn or soy or their derivatives, unless it is organically grown, it is probably genetically modified. These crops were first developed in the mid-1990’s, the long-term consequences are unknown.

“The life in food gives us life. Once a plant is picked…a grain split…it begins to lose its enzymatic activity.” Processed foods no longer contain these enzymes. Whole foods in balance as in nature, will benefit us.

ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURES. Environmental toxins pose a serious health issue with the EPA citing 50,000 synthetic chemicals dispersed into our environment, many with interfere with the body’s functioning. Children facing the largest risks because they are exposed to more chemicals relative to their weight than adults, they absorb more and eliminate less. A study found an average of 200 industrial chemicals in the umbilical cord tissue of newborns.

Heavy Metals. “A child’s nervous system begins forming long before birth, as embryonic neurons branch out and make the connections that transport information to and from the brain and body…The neural pathways formed in your child’s first three years of life are the basis for his/her ability to learn and develop; during this time, exposure to heavy metals can have significant, detrimental consequences.” High levels of metals such as lead and mercury have been found in children with autism, ADD, and learning problems. Although still an issue, lead is becoming less of a problem, because of active campaigns to remove it from products, while mercury remains serious danger from fish, vaccinations, dental amalgams, and coal-powered fuel plants. It has serious ramifications for neurological development and readily passes through the placenta into the fetus.

PERSONAL-CARE AND HOUSEHOLD PRODUCTS. Consider what is in these products. We assume that they have been tested for safety, but only a small portion of the 75,000 chemicals registered with EPA have been tested. Again, children are more susceptible to the toxic effects of these chemicals than adults are.


MY COMMENTS. Foods, as close to how God created them as possible, are the best for us. He put things in food and created the balance our bodies need. When we mess with that, our health suffers. Whether it’s pesticides, genetic modification, irradiation, adding things, taking away things, homogenizing, microwaving – they all alter what God created. It’s the simplest healthy diet principle I’ve found – eat it how God made it, or as close to it as possible. For more information look at my Nutrition page.

Environmental Exposures. With a very sensitive child with autism, I nearly drove myself crazy trying to stay away from all environmental toxins. I quickly leaned it’s not possible. So I control and limit the exposure to what I can and what would be the most frequent exposures – water (purified, not just filtered), personal care products (the ingredients read like a recipe), fragrances and perfumed things (only essential oils in this house!), cleaners/detergents (all non-toxic, many made from what’s in my kitchen), no pharmaceuticals (only herbs and things), vaccines (nope), yard insecticides (dichotomous earth), pots/pans/baking/grilling/leftover storage (stainless steel, stone, glass or ceramic), sunscreen, bug spray, pools, the list goes on…slowly but surely we’ve converted so much of our house. There’s more we could do, there always will be. For more information look at my Toxicity page. To look up the toxicity or safety of specific  body care products go to Environmental Working Group's Cosmetic Database.

Why is this so important for autistic children? They are already toxic, with more burden than their bodies can eliminate (that’s why they have issues). It’s crucial to limit the amount toxicity being added, so that their bodies can eliminate (with extra help) what has already accumulated. If, instead, more toxicity is piled on, the body cannot heal. For more information look at my Causes and Treatment page.

It became so routine to scrutinize everything for chemical safety, I didn’t realize how aware of it I was. One day as we were leaving the zoo, I was several steps behind the boys and the nice gate lady stamped their hands. I saw it coming, I started to leap ahead to say, “NOOOO.” But it was too late. I stopped myself before my yell erupted. Although my internal anger did flash at that lady who just put toxic chemicals on my son!!! I realized in that moment how careful I had been about everything that went in, touched, or was present in my son’s environment. I was acutely aware of how every little thing affected his health. The thing is, it is true for all of us, just not to the same degree. These chemicals do affect our health, it just may take longer and manifest differently. It may not even be us that see the effects of our choices, it may be our children or grandchildren as some of these chemicals alter the health and structure of our genes.

Sorry Sweetie, You're Allergic: Explaining Allergies To Children

A very difficult part of food allergies or autism, if you are sticking to a diet, is explaining to the child that they can't eat what someone, or everyone, else is eating. As every child is different, I'm sure ways of explaining and what works will be different as well. I'll share what has worked for us.

For foods that he has an obvious reaction to such as dairy, which results in stomach pains and vomiting, it's not too difficult. "Sorry sweetie, that makes you sick; but this doesn't you may have this."

Foods that may not have such an obvious reaction can be a bit more difficult. For us, gluten is the most difficult to explain. It doesn't make him physically sick, in fact there are no signs of it bothering him, except that after weeks of eating it, he struggles with his speech and his communication abilities greatly diminish. When it is removed from his diet, 3 weeks later he is speaking great again. Because he wants to eat some of the other things that have an obvious reaction, I have explained that we are working to help his body heal, so someday he can eat those things.  When he wants to eat something with gluten (or junk food that he isn't allergic to) in it, instead of explaining that it will make him sick - because one of these days he'll try it and happily tell me that, "It doesn't make me sick!" when he doesn't see any affect from eating it - I explain that, "It isn't good for your body and won't help your body heal."  He often replies, "But, when my body is healed, I'll be able to have it?" Depending on what the item is, makes a difference in my answer. If it's healthy, I'll say, " Yes, when your body has healed, you'll be able to eat it." If it's not healthy, I'll say, "Yes, someday you may be able to eat it, but it still won't be good for you."

It has been my experience that helping him understand that certain foods make him sick or prevent his body from healing has really helped with him wanting foods he can't have and accepting an suitable alternative. I also always keep something he can eat in my purse - a Larabar or dehydrated fruit strip. Even if he can't have what everyone else is having, at least he can have something that he likes very much.

Digestive Wellness For Children - Chapter 1

Chapter 1 – Our Kids: Overfed and Undernourished

The focus of this chapter revolves around lifestyle challenges parents face, particularly in the area of what we eat. What is normal today is actually causing us to be unhealthy: fast food, processed food, and refined sweeteners.

We are eating a lot of food, but not getting the nutrients our bodies need. The average person gets 50% of daily calories from high calorie, low nutrient foods. Even when we eat “healthy” foods, they aren’t what they used to be in terms of nutrient density. For example, broccoli has only half the amount of calcium it had 50 years ago. Cauliflower has 40% the vitamin C.

The biggest issue is the food choices we make. Foods like soft drinks and refined sugar consume minerals from the body and do not add any to it. Minerals are critical for the functioning of the body from the operation of the cell and bone strength, to nerve, brain and muscle function. Eating out has surpassed home cooking as the option of choice for food. We spend $110. billion on fast foods, where we spent $6 billion in 1970.

Our bodies are made up of the things we eat. If we don’t eat the nutrients that fuel our bodies, deficiencies show up, manifesting first as things like irritability, lack of attention, mood swings. Is it surprising us that 20% of children have learning and behavior problems?


What Do We Eat per Person per Year? (Statistics from the USDA, 2001)

• 142 pounds of caloric sweeteners
• corn sweeteners (79.2 pounds/person) –increased significantly from previous usage
• beet and cane sugar (61 pounds/person) –dropped significantly from previous usage
• 24.3 gallons of coffee
• 87.9 pounds of added fats and oils – 32.5 pounds of hydrogenated vegetable shortening
• 26.7 quarts of ice cream sherbet, frozen yogurt, and ice milk
• 25.1 gallons of alcohol – 21.6 as beer
• 46.4 gallons of soft drinks
• 4.2 pounds of potato chips
• 22 pounds of candy
• 38 donuts

My Comments:
Food is the area that I think is one of the hardest for people to change. We love our food. We eat for pleasure and comfort. Certain foods are connected with special events. And, we are so pressed for time, convenience becomes critical. Whatever the reason, what we eat is a very personal issue and is difficult to change because we don’t want to change, we like our food and the convenience. To change involves sacrifice. Yet, if we don’t give some things up and start eating differently from the standard American diet (SAD) eventually we will become sick, especially our kids because they likely never had a good nutritional foundation. When we begin to think of everything we eat as moving us toward health or away from it, it can make the choices and changes easier.

This strikes at the heart of autism and allergies. Anything nutrient deficient does not move my son toward health. Anything processed - hydrogenated oils, refined sugar, corn sweeteners, antibiotic and hormone laden meat, food colors - they all work to damage his body further rather than toward restoring healthy function. We have stayed far away from these things and have worked to feed him excellent nutrition, seeing everytime he takes a bite as an opportunity to give his body vitamins, minerals, fats, etc that he needs. We are are seeing great results (with additional supplementation, of course. When the bank account of nutrients is so extremely deficient it needs some major deposits)! 

Welcome to Food Allergy 911

This blog is inspired by my son, Jordan, who was allergic to all food, except sweet potato. Doctors were not able to help him. I researched the causes of allergies in order to save his life. Later, we learned he had autism as well. The causes behind allergies and autism are related along with asthma and ADHD. The purpose of this blog is to help others who find themselves with health issues, particularly allergies and autism. Although the principles used to recover from allergies and autism are health principles that are good for everyone. Originally, we made changes in our lives for Jordan, now our whole family practices these health principles, although not as rigidly as Jordan does.

Jordan has caught up to his age appropriate level of relating to others, speech ability, his sensory issues are gone, and his gross motor skills and coordination continue to improve. No one would ever guess that he ever had autism. His allergies are still in the process of healing and continue to diminish.

If your looking to overcome autism, allergies, asthma or ADHD or simply looking to live healthier lives, you will find help here.

Preventing Autism and Allergies

This is just an introduction, and certainly won't be extensive, but here are a few steps that you can take if you are pregnant, want to become pregnant, or even already have a little one.

Eat Healthy. For at least 6 months before you get pregnant! Food is fuel and nourishment for the body. That is it's purpose. Enjoyment is not the main purpose of food. Now that doesn't mean that you have to eat food that doesn't taste good. Healthy food can actually taste very good, but it might take some adjusting to eat a bowl of berries instead of a bowl of ice cream! Healthy is also different than what the media and the American Heart Association will tell you. It is not the food pyramid. But I won't get into all of that here. Very healthy things to eat: grass fed organic meats and eggs, fruit, vegetables, organic butter or ghee, nuts, seeds, and whole grains like brown rice or quinoa.

Whole Foods. Foods as close to how God made them as possible. A good general rule is to shop the perimeter of the store. Nearly all of the food in the middle of the store is processed and has added sugars, salts, excitotoxins and chemicals.

Food Ingredients. If you can't read it, don't eat it! It should read like a recipe, not like a chemical index.

Enzymes. If your food is not raw. Then you should take enzymes to help break it down so your body can best utilize what you are eating.

Orgnaics and Non GMO. If you can, eat organic and not genetically modified. Not only do organic foods not have the pesticides on them, they have more nutrients in them than their non-organic counterparts. Be aware that being organic does not make it healthy - there are plenty of processed organic foods that are not healthy. Foods commonly genetically modified (unless it's organic) are soy, corn, and wheat.

Drink Pure Water. Avoid soda (it's full of chemicals, excitotoxins, and sugar). Avoid caffeine.

Probiotics. Taking probiotics while pregnant and nursing (and give them to the baby in their bottle, if not nursing) is a good idea. Probiotics are good bacteria that live in our gut (intestines). Today's diet in America and the tendency to readily use antibiotics, oral contraception, steroid medication, and eat a high sugar diet have wrecked havoc on most people's gut bacteria. When a baby is born, their gut is colonized with the gut bacteria of the mother. If her gut bacteria is bad, the baby won't get the good bacteria they need for establishment of a healthy immune and digestive system. The mother taking probiotics (especially around the time of the birth and nursing) and giving probiotics to the baby after birth (if not nursing) will counteract this and give the baby good gut bacteria that will help to avoid long-term health problems. Probiotic supplements can be found at nearly any health food store. The most common one is L. acidophillus. Probiotic supplements containing only acidophillus or multiple probiotic strains can be readily found. If you or your child must take antibiotics, make sure to take probiotics during the same time period and for a week or so afterward.

Clean up Your Environment. Become aware of what you use in your house and the toxins that are in them and switch to non toxic alternatives. Things like cleaners, laundry detergent and dryer sheets, soaps, perfume, air fresheners, carpet cleaners, lotions (that you slather on your body and get absorbed into your skin and into your bloodstream), body wash, shampoo, bug spray, toothpaste, etc. Some of these may be surprising. But, become aware. Perfumes and artificial fragrances can be some of the more toxic substances in your home some fragrances have as many as 600 different chemicals in them, most of them toxic, and because it's in the air you don't even have to touch it, you can breathe it in.

Be especially aware of baby products like baby wash, lotion, and cream. Babies have thin skin and readily absorb what is put on it and their little systems cannot clear it out as well. It can put a huge burden on the kidneys, liver, and other detoxifying organs. Nearly all of the ones that you will find in the store are loaded with chemicals that are linked to causing cancer, allergies and immunotoxicity problems, developmental and reproductive toxicity, and organ system toxicity among other things. Again, a good guideline is that it should read like a recipe. If you wouldn't eat it, don't put it onto your body - or your baby's. Many stores are now carrying great nontoxic alternatives and there are tons of options online! So it's easy to find them.

Also be aware of cooking processes. We've all heard of the dangers of lead and mercury. They are heavy metals and damage brains, nerves, and cells. Same with aluminum. Replace aluminum cookware with high quality stainless steel (a magnet should stick to it) or glass. Do not cook or grill with aluminum foil. And, I know this sounds radical, but avoid using the microwave. It changes the cellular make up of proteins, toxins in plastic leach into the food, and you are radiating your food! It's a nuclear device - don't use it. I've found the toaster oven makes a great substitute. It warms foods much quicker than the oven, costs less than firing up the whole oven, and foods don't come out rubbery, as with the microwave!

Pharmaceuticals and over the counter medications. They are made of chemicals and all of them have detrimental side effects in the body and there are natural alternatives for most! I know it can be a hassle and intimidating, but seek alternatives, particularly for ongoing or frequently recurring problems. Things like colds and flus and ear infections can be helped quickly (even quicker than antibiotics) without harmful side effects by using things like garlic (a very potent natural antibiotic). You may not know what to do when it hits the first time, but look into it so you are prepared the next time! Even medications considered "safe" during pregnancy like antacids, many contain aluminum. Take nothing for granted.

Vaccinations. You need to know what your baby is being vaccinated for, why they need it, when they really need it (that may be different from when your doctor tells you they need it), and how to do them with your child's greatest safety and health in mind. Get educated before your baby is born!

By all means, unless the mom has Hepetitis B or the baby needs a blood transfusion, highly consider not letting your child get the Hep B shot as an infant, especially the first days of life! Heb B is spread through an infected hypodermic needle, sex, blood transfusions, or from the mom at birth. The vast majority of babies do not need this shot as an infant, especially as a newborn. It isn't worth the risk of overloading the very weak to non-existant immune system of a newborn affecting how it operates long term (think asthma, allergies, etc) or the toxic load this dumps into a newborn. The Hep B shot currently has 11xs the known toxic dose of aluminum for a baby. And that's just the aluminum in it...get educated!

Mercury is still in the flu vaccine. Mercury is one of the most toxic substances on earth. The flu is not particularly dangerous and the gamble that the vaccine makers actually picked the right strain of flu out of a couple hundred options to put in the vaccine isn't great. Weigh the risks and benefits, but you need to know both in order to do that!

Yeast and Heavy Metals. If you frequently get yeast infections, deal with it now! And by that, I don't mean do a round of Monistat or Diflucan (although that can be nice for quick relief) thinking that takes care of it. If it is a recurring problem, it is a sign that you likely have an overgrowth of yeast throughout your body. Find a practitioner or doctor who is knowledgeable about this, deal with it, and change your diet and digestion. If you continue to struggle with yeast, you may have heavy metal toxicity, and you definately want to deal with that before pregnancy and childbirth. This is critical!

We all expect and pray to have healthy children, but the rates of children with health problems are skyrocketing. These steps can help prevent so many of those issues.

Allergies, Autism & Nutrition

Autism Facts

• 1 in 91 individuals is diagnosed with autism, making it more common than pediatric cancer, diabetes, and AIDS combined.
• 1 out of 58 are boys, making it the fastest growing developmental disorder we have ever seen.
• The economic impact of autism is more than $90 billion and is expected to more than double within the next decade.

The Nutrition Link
Not only has the prevalence of Autism skyrocketed, the rates of asthma, ADHD, and allergies are also growing. One thing that can improve all of these conditions – diet and nutrition. One thing that every child I’ve ever heard of recovering from autism had in common – diet. Some only required an allergy avoidance diet. Others, an allergy avoidance diet plus other nutrition and supplementation, plus therapies. For Jordan, allergy avoidance was the foundation of his diet. We didn’t see anything spectacular developmentally when we avoided his allergies, we had to get super healthy on top of that plus do supplements and detoxing. However, if we hadn’t done the diet (or when it was accidentally broken, everything else we had done (therapies, brain exercises, etc) and the improvements he had made  fell apart.

When I started studying nutrition 3 years ago when our journey with Jordan started, I was shocked to find that everything I had been taught through school, the media and while growing up (such as the food pyramid, milk is a good source of calcium, etc) was flat out wrong. Three things were right. Those three things are…drumroll please – fruits and vegetables are good for you (that’s two). Third, sugar is not good for you! Those are the sum total of accurate things I learned about diet and nutrition throughout all my first 30 years. As I began to learn, the amount of misinformation and conflicting information surrounding nutrition can create a lot of confusion. But after studying, learning trustworthy sources, sources that can’t be trusted, and learning some basic foundational guidelines it became much easier to confidently make truly healthy choices.

Happy 3rd Birthday, Jordan!

 

Pardon the delay, I’m quite behind. Jordan turned 3 the beginning of March. It was a very significant day for me. A day we didn’t know if he would survive long enough to see.  Right around 1 year old, when he was allergic to all food except sweet potato (and so bored with it after months of it breakfast, lunch, and dinner that he threw more of it at me than he ate) and my milk just wasn’t meeting all of his needs any more, we were told by the doctor and allergists, that they couldn’t do anything until he was three. My response, “THREE???? He can’t eat anything, he’s not going to live until three at this rate.”  He had fallen from the 90th percentile on height to the 50th percentile, and his weight had fallen to the 5th percentile – not good, but not surprising.

Now two years later, not only did he turn 3, but having fought many a battle between then and now, he is thriving! It was a day of rejoicing and Jordan was excited, eagerly participating and knowing what was happening. It was incredible! Big brother even helped make his almond flour shortcake. Enjoy the snapshots of our miracle day, an incredible gift of God!

Moving Forward Again Through Autism & Heavy Metal Chelation

Last I updated, Jordan had hit a plateau and wasn’t going backward, but wasn’t going forward either.  We discovered that gluten has snuck back into his diet in one item that I had been told by a doctor was gluten free. I started to get suspicious as we kept thinking about what was different and contacted the manufacturer to learn that it has cross-contamination from other grains. Three weeks after removing gluten, he started progressing again!!

CHELATION
We hit some roadblocks with chelation too. Jordan was having regular meltdowns whether on or off of the OSR and just couldn’t seem to tolerate either anymore. When I spoke with his doctor they mentioned that either the yeast was flaring up or it could be the toxicity burden in his body is too great.  That triggered a thought in me. I hadn’t noticed any signs of yeast flare up (although it could have certainly still been that) but the body burden made it click in my mind. I had noticed his under eye area being especially puffy and that relates to the kidneys (which are secondary to the liver in the elimination channels of the body) so I put Jordan back on his all natural herbal liver decongesting supplement…and tada more progress in his development, less puffy eyes and after a couple of weeks, he was able to start the chelating agent again and is tolerating it well, actually he’s not just tolerating it but started doing better on it than he was when he was doing off of it.

Heavy metals congest the liver, we’d been working to pull metal out of him since August and although we were using charcoal to bind them and escort them out of his body, his liver still got congested, whether by metals or just general body burden.  Great results with the liver supplement! And on OSR again!

Overall, he is doing just great. So great, I need to make sure not just to go about our lives, but to keep consistent with ALL of his supplements. It’s easy to miss or forget about some nowdays.
He quite regularly comes and gives me hugs just because he wants to. He is doing great socially. He seems pretty normal, still behind in a few areas, but all in all, he is coming along and doing great! When I think of him as more of a 2 1/2 year old instead of a 3 year old, he seems very normal indeed (other than his muscle tone and coordination still being a bit floppy).

Thanks for keeping up! We’re counting our blessings, praising and thanking God for the healing He is bringing in Jordan’s body and mind!

Living With Food Allergies & Autism: Does Anyone Understand?

…When every moment seems an eternity and with every scream of pain it feels like your heart is being ripped from your chest and it happens again, and again, and again, and again, and again for moments, minutes, hours, days, nights, and months (even years) on end…

I know there are those of you who follow this blog for our personal news of Jordan, but this post is for those moms (and dads) out there who live with Food Allergies or Autism Spectrum Disorders everyday. I’m going to be real, so those of you who don’t live with this, if you read it, please don’t be offended, but instead, try to get a glimpse inside life with a child with these issues and see how you might help those who live with it daily.

I know for me there was one friend who stopped and listened – for hours. And although it was only the one time that we got to talk, to have someone stop, listen, truly understand and enter my world as best they could, not brush it off flippantly, or uncomfortably move on to a less loaded subject meant the world to me and it was so good for me to just be able to share the load with someone and to be understood.

Tonight a friend of mine mentioned a friend of hers who is struggling with dealing with everything involved in having a child on the Autism Spectrum and feeling like no one understands. Although, my friend readily admitted she doesn’t understand, I immediately thought, “I’ve been there, and nobody does understand.” I felt so very alone for so long and things were so bad I didn’t feel like I could share with anyone 1. because they couldn’t understand anyway and what I had to say would seem rather dramatic, unbelievable, and quite possibly sound exaggerated (though actually would probably be understated) 2. it felt like I’d would just be compaining, whining and have an ”oh poor me” complex and 3. because if I did start to share, I wasn’t sure I’d ever stop, there was so much pain inside. And for me, I didn’t know it was Autism or anything related to it, so I’d say my child was allergic to food and had developmental delays and people just didn’t get the gravity of it. Once I learned that what we were dealing with was related to Autism, when I’d mention that to people, they’d say, “Oh, you think so? No, I don’t think so. He doesn’t seem that bad.” What they didn’t know what how many months I’d been working on things and how good he was finally doing (comparatively), and how I structured his day and our lives for an entire week so that we could have those few hours of decent behavior when they saw him.

The doctors had no answers and offered no help, direction, or hope and didn’t even seem to take me seriously. We live over 1100 miles away from any family or friends (we moved right after he was born). People didn’t get that him having food allergies (allergic to all food) meant that our diet was extremely complicated. I had to become doctor, nutritionist, cook (everything from scratch with ingredients I’d never heard of – 3 meals and 2 snacks/day), and researcher (to learn all this stuff and figure out how to help my child – and by help, I mean keep him from dying, since he was allergic to all food and I knew nursing him just wouldn’t cut it for the rest of his life) in addition to caregiver and normal mom stuff for him and my older son.

People didn’t get that having food allergies meant that he was vomiting; in constant pain which meant constant around the clock screaming, crying or fussing and would often bash his head into hard things like ceramic tile because of it (I’ve described this as sounding like someone dropping a bowling ball onto concrete) but he would just keep going repeatedly bashing his head and I couldn’t stop him no matter how many hundred times I’d pick him up to stop him, he’d go right back - he commonly had a bruised forehead; his bottom was often covered in a rash and he had anal fissures; he would writhe and thrash in pain so much that I couldn’t hold onto him. When he wasn’t writhing, thrashing, or bashing his head, he wanted to be held constantly. And by “wanted” I mean he demanded it – out of fear and pain. If I had to put him down, he would scream and cry endlessly until I picked him up again (even if it was hours) – I arranged my entire kitchen so I could cook and do everything one-handed. Holding him didn’t always mean that the crying would stop. Often, he would “ask” aka scream to be held, I’d pick him up and hold him, he would continue crying and whimpering while squirming so much I’d nearly drop him, so I’d set him down, he’d scream louder, I’d pick him up, he’d curl into a tight ball in my lap still whimpering, but after a few seconds would start squirming and writhing  and work his way down onto the floor, only to scream louder flop around miserably when he got there, and I’d pick him up…and repeat and repeat and repeat until I just wanted to scream for the sheer frustration of it, but then I’d think of how he was feeling and just want to cry, and sometimes I did.

He was miserable, never happy or content, and I felt his misery keenly. I knew he was in pain and couldn’t bear to make him go through it alone. I knew I couldn’t take his pain away, but I could hold him, soothe him, just be there for him providing security, love, and comfort to some degree just by my presence. Some nights (and days for that matter), I just sat there holding him and cried with him. Sometimes because I felt so bad for him and the pain he was in. Sometimes because I was so completely exhausted physically and emotionally. Sometimes because it seemed so hopeless and I didn’t know if it would ever end. Sometimes because I couldn’t stand his crying anymore, but knew he was in tremendous pain and I just couldn’t leave him to deal with it by himself or get angry at him for it, it wasn’t his fault, so I’d just cry with him. I did everything in my power to minimize his pain. I researched endlessly to learn about allergies and about their causes so I could work toward his healing, and I paid extremely close attention to my diet, since he was (and still is) nursing, (and later to his diet as well) and strictly kept out anything he was sensitive to through me. In the few hours that he would sleep at night, between wakings, I would either crash and sleep myself, or stay up – sometimes all night - and research.

In the midst of this we couldn’t leave the house – he couldn’t handle it and I had to cook 3 meals and 2 snacks per day (one-handed) anyway (and nurse him every 3-4 hours), hard to get out between those. We couldn’t socialize and make friends in the new area we’d moved to. Socialization most often revolves around food, and we couldn’t eat anything normal people eat. He was usually crying and fussing anyway, which isn’t the most fun to be around and trying to make conversation over that doesn’t work real well. Not to mention that it’s rather embarrassing and it can easily look like you have no control over your child and simply do not discipline at all. For the first 18 months, I didn’t know it was related to Autism at all, so I didn’t even have that as a way of quickly letting people know that he has some “issues”.

So, when someone says, “No one understands”. I know exactly where they are coming from. It’s the cumulative effect that really carries the heaping burden. A year and a half of severe sleep deprivation, no breaks (I couldn’t leave him for more than 2 hours at a time due to nursing) so even slipping out in the evening once my husband was home was difficult to impossible – I only did that once a month or so to get groceries and read all those ingredient lists. And the weight of the responsibility of caring for him plus trying to solve all the medical issues involved were tremendous, not to mention the occasional thoughts of what the long term future would hold for him (and us), if he didn’t get better.  Anne from Anne of Green Gables claimed to be in the “depths of despair” and I could relate. Words can’t begin to describe the depth, difficulty, and pain of it and the issues are so multi-faceted that even if it could be put into words, it would take hours just to communicate it to someone, should someone actually want to listen, should I actually be able to get away to talk. It is so extremely isolating and lonely and I felt like I was battling the world in order to save my son.

Now, I’ve rounded the bend and am on the hopeful stretch, knowing the medical issues involved, knowing the process of treatment and that there is an entire array of possibilities, knowing if one doesn’t work there are many other options, seeing improvements in Jordan, sleeping through the night – no longer chronically sleep deprived (at least, no more than any other mom), able to get out of the house and make some friends and now occationally meet up with friends I’ve made. Able to take the boys out during the day to a store or a park. It’s nice. It’s grand. The sheer joy of normality (or near normality) is pure ecstasy and I marvel at it and thank God for it on a daily basis.

REFLECTIONS
A few months ago, as I was just entering this hopeful stretch, I was pondering my time in the depths of despair and wondering about my being so low. I thought, hmm, if I’d just been able to keep an eternal perspective that “this too shall pass” that, “…we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” If I’d just been able to do that, then it would have made it so much better. But to be quite honest with myself, my next thoughts were, but this wasn’t really possible, ” renewed day by day? I’d hardly had a renewing moment since his birth. Every day I got more drained than the one before. Light and momentary… yes, I’m sure in view of eternity. But, it doesn’t seem it. It seems impossible to keep an eternal perspective when living in this. This verse seems like a lie.  When every moment seems an eternity and with every painful scream it feels like your heart is being ripped from your chest and it happens again, and again, and again, and again, and again for moments, minutes, hours, days, nights, months, and years on end. Each moment an eternity in itself.  No, no one understands who hasn’t been there. And when you are there, with all the screaming, thrashing, tantrums, frustrations, desperation, every moment of every day (and often every night), you don’t have time to stop, refocus, and gain eternal perspective. It all presses in too hard, too fast, constantly without pause.

So, forget eternal perspective as far as time, I had to take it hour by hour, often minute by minute – and each one seemed an eternity in itself. I had to focus on a God who is good and who loves me – and my child. I had to remember that even as I was cradling my baby in my arms, He had me in His arms, “He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young” – Isaiah 40:11 and Isaiah 41:13 “For I am the LORD, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.” Not that I had time to actually read these verses, but I knew them and could focus on the idea of them. And when it all got to be too much and physically my body broke down and quit on me, I prayed for “Jesus with skin on.”  Praying and trusting Him is great and necessary, don’t get me wrong, but when your body gives up and you simply cannot press on any further, you need help in the form of people and you need rest - and God provided both.

Healing Allergies & Autism - Liver Support

 

Quick update on Jordan’s progress. It’s been a month and a half since the new doctor and his new supplements protocol was supposed to start. After being greatly discouraged because NONE of the supplements from the new doctor will enter beyond Jordan’s lips (and it’s two months between appointments), I went searching – on my own again. I came across a supplement called Liver Life.

Liver Life, it is made by BioRay. It is an herbal tincture and is designed to decongest the liver, allowing acids and toxins to drain from the body (opening Phase I and Phase II detoxification pathways). That’s why this is important to do before chelation. It’s not wise to start pulling metals out of the tissues until the body can efficiently eliminate them! BioRay claims Liver Life also helps to regulate the acid/alkaline balance in the body and decrease certain types of allergy reaction.

Jordan has been on it for 2 weeks now. After the 3rd day on it we saw some great improvements. He is more alert, understands more about what is going on around him, follows conversations some, is adding words to his vocabulary more, and in the last couple of days has started adding connecting words!  This is very exciting. When Jordan started on the prescription anti-fungals (he was only on them for a month before I discontinued them) he lost all his connecting words and they haven’t come back. He had been saying things like, “I fell down” or “Here you go, Mommy” as he handed me something, but since the prescription anti-fungals and subsequent regaining of the language he lost while on them, he now says things like, “fall bump head hurts” or “sitting truck” instead of “sitting on the truck.” It’s been 3 months since he’s been totally off anti-fungals and the connector words hadn’t come back. But in the last couple days, I’ve heard “on” “in” and “the”!!! He also has a new twinkle in his eye and has lost some of that sullen puppy dog look he’s had most of his life!  Exciting times here, hopeful with the possibilities for the new supplements. BioRay claims it is all natural. It appears to be effective, and Jordan can’t even taste it in his juice! We’ll see what the new doctor has to say about the new supplement I added next week when we consult – yikes.

Is It Autism? Diagnosing Autism vs. Food Allergies

Jordan’s issues became apparent when he was 3 weeks old and started vomiting, spitting up (reflux), screaming for 5 hours a day/ night, had rashes, diarrhea, green and mucousy bowel movements and was just plain miserable. We quickly discovered he had multiple food allergies and were able to determine what they were and eliminate them from my diet (he was nursing). The screaming stopped, the vomiting stopped, the reflux ceased. 

At one year old when he needed to start eating solid foods on his own - he had exclusively nursed up to this point – it became obvious he was allergic to all food (except a plain, baked sweet potato).  He reached normal developmental milestones like crawling and walking through about 13 or 14 months of age. But, by 18 months it was obvious he had a speech and developmental – cognitive, emotional and behavioral - delays (but allergies can do that). During this time I researched everything I could find on the causes of food allergies. We greened our house and environment as much as possible, removing toxins and changing our diet to organic whole foods as much as we could. 

It was when he was around 18 months that I learned the causes of allergies, asthma, autism, and ADD/ADHD are the same! So I started reading everything I could on the causes of autism, figuring, since the causes are the same and there is tons of information on autism, I’d read about the causes of autism and be able to help my son with his food allergies, since there isn’t much information specifically on the causes of allergies. The more I read on autism the freakier it got for me. Jordan’s physical symptoms matched that of many autistic kids: multiple food allergies, diarrhea and constipation, tantrums, fear, super sensitive hearing, yeast issues, leaky gut…could Jordan have autism? 

Socially he’s always connected with me, always looked in my eyes, desired to communicate. The one or two autistic kids I’d seen in my life before this were very severe (although I didn’t know that) and that’s what I thought autism was.  I knew something was wrong with Jordan, but was it autism? I struggled with how to tell people what was going on with him, especially in a brief sentence. So I started to say he had autistic-like problems.  He shared the same physical problems and symptoms as a huge number of autistic kids, but did that make it autism?   Well, no, it doesn’t. Autism is classified as a neurological disorder, not a physical disorder, so it’s diagnosed by cognitive, social, and behavioral symptoms, not by physical symptoms or issues. And that is where the two camps of autism are at war right now. One side believes autism is a neurological disorder, nothing can be done except some therapies to try to socialize and teach them. The other side believes autism is a physically-based disease that can be improved, reversed and even cured by addressing those underlying physical problems through biomedical treatments.

You can guess which camp I’m in! Because of Jordan’s extreme sensitivity to foods and other substances, I quickly learned that toxins affect him greatly. It’s easy to see and doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure it out. Even just the other day I put sunscreen on him – I knew better. I shouldn’t have. But, I was afraid he would get sunburnt being in water out in full sun for awhile. The only sunscreen available was full of chemicals. (I failed to prepare and have a less toxic one available). That night he was crying and wouldn’t fall asleep like he normally does and fussed for hours past his bedtime. With him, it is easy to see when his toxic burden is getting to great. His eyes swell, he gets lines under them, and he gets fussy and miserable. Forget swimming in a chlorinated pool. He can only handle so many toxins at once and with the amount we are surrounded with in our everyday lives, it’s no wonder the rate of autism is increasing at epidemic rates. Autism is an environmental illness due to the toxic burden put on our bodies and our kids are paying a heavy price.

So, does Jordan have autism?  I’ve never had him formally diagnosed,  I don’t see the point. But from the diagnostic tools I’ve been able to use online, he comes out as having pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (PDD – NOS). It is a form of autism and is certainly on the autism spectrum of disorders. PDD-NOS encompasses a wide range and sometimes can be used as a “soft” diagnosis by practitioners who don’t have the heart to tell parents their child has autism. However, in Jordan’s case I would agree that it’s PDD-NOS. He doesn’t fit classic autism or Asperger’s. Some of his symptoms are severe, where other areas he seems unaffected. Some of the symptoms where he seems unaffected or nearly so are the defining characteristics of these other diagnoses. I still have a difficult time saying he has autism, or even PDD. I prefer to say he has some developmental delays, sensory issues, or food allergies depending on the situation. Even better, I say he has yeast overgrowth, leaky gut, malabsorption of nutrients, a malfunctioning and weak immune system, and heavy metal toxicity because that’s what the real issues are.

Here are a few statistics from Generation Rescue:

• Autism now impacts 1 in 150 children, up from 1 in 10,000 in the 1970s. That is an increase of 6,000%.
• 1 in 150 children have autism. 1 in 12 children have ADHD. 1 in 6 children have a learning disorder.
• Autism is an environmental illness caused by an overload of toxic metals, bacteria, viruses, and chronic inflammation.
•  Many children with autism share the same physical symptoms including gastrointestinal distress, food allergies, immune issues, vitamin and mineral deficiencies, and sleep disturbances.
•  In the 1980s, the recommended vaccine schedule was 10 shots by age 6. Today, it is 36 shots.
• The U.S. gives more vaccines at an earlier age than any country in the world.
• Children with autism test for higher amounts of toxic metals in their system than their neurotypical peers.
• Typically, doctors do not tell parents about biomedical treatment. They find out about it from other parents and the web.  
•  There are more than 400 doctors in the US dedicated to treating children with autism biomedically.
• Biomedical treatment consists of diet changes and vitamin, mineral and other supplementation.
• Vaccines are not mandatory for school. It is a parent’s choice to decide what and when to vaccinate.

Autism Recovery: Supplements, Brain Exercises, & Nutrition (What do we eat, anyway?)

"That's My Bread!"

What does our typical day look like? What do we eat? I’ve gotten these questions many times, so I thought I’d share.

Supplements and Prescriptions Jordan is taking:

L-Glutamine - an amino acid that helps heal the gut wall - 2 times/day.
Digestive Enzymes- enzymes that help him break down his food and absorb the nutrients – every time he eats
Fish Oil – essential fatty acids, Omega 3 & 6 particularly, that make up the cell wall of every cell in the body. Fights inflammation, strengthens immune system, coats nerves so that impulses can communicate correctly, necessary for brain growth – 1 tsp./day
Probiotic – the good bacteria in the body’s gut – 2/day. (Given at a different time than the anti-fungals or S. Boulardii)
Nystatin/Diflucan/or Saccharomyces Boulardii (rotating)- the good yeast in the body’s gut and fights bad fungus – 1/day. Nystatin and Diflucan are prescription anti-fungals. These prescription anti-fungals completely messed Jordan up. He was only on them for 1 month, but he totally regressed, lost all his speech and emotional stability gains that he achieved between December and April. It took us about 10 months to gain back what he lost while on the anti-fungals for one month, it was a hard road and he struggled so much to gain back what he gained so quickly the first time. I pulled him off the program the DAN dr had him on. I retained the nutritional supplements, but no prescription anti-fungals and no LDA shots. I sought out other options and went an all natural route, it’s working great!
FungDx/CanSol (rotating) - all natural/herbal anti-fungals.
Electrolyte
Hemp Milk – although a food, I list is as a supplement because I get it in him any time I can because of the Omega fat ratio. It has the good Omega 6′s, not the polluted and damaged ones we are normally overdosing on in the American diet.
Multi-vitamin
OSR – an antioxident that is also a chelator, pulling heavy metals out of the body.

Exercises

If I were to describe these, most of you would think I’ve completely fallen off the turnip truck, as my Dad says. However, there is no arguing with the results we are getting from them. The theory behind them is to stimulate the body in specific ways to develop the deficient pathways in the brain. These have been assigned to Jordan by his cranial sacral doctor/chiropractic neurologist to stimulate areas that Jordan specifically needs to improve. So at the risk of many of you thinking I’ve lost my mind, here we go.

I hang Jordan upside down by his ankles, swinging him back and forth and in circles.
We “fly”. Jorday lays on my arm belly down and we zoom around the house looking for his blanket (or other favorite toy or pictures) anything to get him to extend his head up and back.
We have crawling races around the living room. (I now have a hole in the knee of my favorite jeans :)
I lay him on an exercise ball on his back and roll him back an forth and try to get him to reach backward to grab a toy on the floor.
I lay him on his stomach on the exercise ball and try to get him to lift his head and look at things or grab for a toy.
We play astronaut. I pick him up with his back toward my chest and grasp each of his thighs firmly so he’s in a seated position. Then swing him back and forth and – eventually, hopefully, upside down back over my shoulder. Right now he is WAY too scared to go very high, or fast, but he’s improving.
Recently we have added assisting him with doing sit-ups (where I pull him up as he hangs onto my fingers) but he’s pretty much like a wet fish just flopping and not joining in at all and his head lags way behind. We try one and he starts screaming. I pin his feet down and try to keep trying to do them, but we don’t usually get very far.
We have several others sprinkled in that we do occationally but these are the core ones we try to do daily.
We work them in throughout the day, but especially at night before bed time. Our living room is now littered with exercise balls of various sizes and a mini trampoline.

Foods

 What we Don’t eat:
He is allergic to:
Dairy  – casein and whey proteins and anything that has them in it. Including goat milk. ie: cheese, yogurt, butter, ice cream, caramel, graham crackers, most commercial breads, most commercial baked goods, etc.
Gluten – (maybe) – so we eliminate it since the protein is so similar to dairy and can cause other problems in the brain, this includes wheat, barley, and others
Oats – in their own right, not because of gluten cross-contamination
Eggs, Yeast, Buckwheat, Honey, Food Colors, Pineapple, Pear,  Chocolate, Peanuts, Ginger, Gelatin
And a bunch of other things we haven’t identified yet. We’re careful of beef, he used to be very allergic to it.
We severely limit refined sugar. We do NOT eat Splenda (sucralose), or Nutrasweet (aspertame) – both very bad, sugar is actually better.
 UPDATE: As of October 2009, his allergies are beginning to resolve. I haven’t been too brave to try things, but he is no longer sensitive to beef, eggs, or oats (or at least not when he just has them once in a while).

What we DO eat
We mainly eat a whole foods diet. That means food in their whole form, as close to the way God made it as possible. Not processed, or only minimally processed.
Fruits – the ultimate fast food. It takes all of 3 seconds to peel a banana! Blueberries are his favorite!
Milks – almond milk, hemp milk, coconut milk
Organic Oils – olive, coconut, grapeseed
Sweeteners – stevia, xylitol, agave nectar, real maple syrup, (Jordan can’t do honey, but the rest of us do)
Grains – quinoa, amaranth, millet, brown rice, corn
Seeds – sunflower, pumpkin, sesame
Flaxseed -  a great replacement for eggs when cooking and SUPER healthy. I know, it’s a seed, but we eat it so often I listed it seperately.
Nuts - pecans, cashew, almonds, brazil (Jordan refuses to eat these, but the rest of us love them)
Almond or Cashew Butter - we use this all the time. Again, I know it’s a nut, but we use it so much I listed it seperate.
Ghee – milkfat without the protein, organic of course
Veggies - The rest of us eat a whole range, but Jordan eats a couple. potatos or sweet potatos cut, baked, and salted as fries. Corn (I know, actually a grain or starch), tomatos and any veggies mixed into a marinara sauce or salsa. I’m starting to slip things like kale into his morning smoothie. Once in a while he’ll slip something else in, like bok choy or carrot, but that is highly variable.
Herbs – garlic, chives, rosemary, cilantro, basil, oragano, thyme, parsley, cumin – I think that captures the most commonly used. And we use these a lot!
Meats, grass-fed - venison (ground, steaks, chopped, etc), turkey, chicken (only occationally since we can’t afford organic grass-fed) although we do use organic free range chicken broth liberally (no boullion cubes though). We do eat eggs, free range.
Menu Samples
Breakfast Options: smoothies, fruit, special corn flakes (ingredients as follows: cornmeal, grape &/or pear concentrate, sea salt) with alternative milk, or pancakes (made with allowable grains, milk, flaxseed, vanilla powder, etc. Took awhile but I now have a great recipe).
Snack (mid-morning and mid-afternoon): fruit, nut/date bar called LARAbar, fruit leather, rice/nut chips
Lunch: left overs from dinner, fruit, applesauce, pancakes, fries (the homemade baked kind)

Dinner: taco salad, venison burgers, spaghetti made with quinoa or rice pasta, grilled meat and veggies (a grilled rosemary and garlic venison steak is one of our favorites – Jordan’s too), stir-fry over brown rice (specially made sauce of course), vegtable soup, quinoa mexican “goulash” (a creation of my husbands that is a family favorite), turkey & grain meatloaf (agian, a creation of my husbands). To name a few of our current most common meals. It tends to change seasonally and as we find new favorite ingredients.

*Note: according to the boys, “Planes and Paint” are the blue corn chips and avacado & salsa we have with taco salad.  And spaghetti is “Worms and Dirt”.  Our green smoothies are “Monster Juice” and well, if it comes out more yellow, then it’s “Monster Snot”.  Have I mentioned I love having boys?!

Drinks: V8 Fusion (great for hiding medicine, but not ideal because of the sugar content), water, smoothies, “milk” shakes, and most recently peppermint tea