Detoxify your house!

Did you ever see the movie the Matrix? What happens when Neo is given the choice of taking the blue pill and continuing to believe in the fake reality, or take the red pill to see how the world is truly like? Well, if you haven't seen the movie this will make no sense to you. If you have, let me tell you this post might be considered as taking the red pill. At least that's how I felt when I started investigating diets.

This information is what I came across while doing the GAPS diet with my son. I literally had no idea how toxic our environment is, and how hard it is on the body. This information is for everyone not just those with autism. And by the way, yes I am a tree-hugger. But I was the kind of tree-hugger that recycles, and believes in alternative energy. I still loved having that fresh scent from air fresheners, my lovely perfumed body lotions, expensive shampoos and soaps, and freshly scented clothes. 

So toxins can be ingested in to the body in three ways from what I know:

• Through breathing
• Through ingestion
• Through the skin

There are dangerous, cancer causing, hazardous, flammable, life threatening-when-ingested in large amounts chemicals in the products we use to (ironically) keep the outsides of our bodies and our homes nice and "clean", while what we are actually doing is loading ourselves and our environment up with chemicals. Toxins are stored in fat cells. The brain has a lot of fat cells. When toxins are locked up in fat cells they can't be used, so you do the math. I hope most Americans would know that drinking alcohol during pregnancy is bad because the alcohol enters the bloodstream and goes in to the baby. None of us would give a toddler a cup of Vodka or a cigarette, because we know they are toxic and bad for them, probably not even just a table spoon of alcohol a day and two drags of a cigarette a day, right?

 And yet, what I didn't think about, and didn't realize is the chemicals in our cleaning products are equally damaging and dangerous. And the craziest part is, for the most part they are completely unnecessary. Despite ourselves we believe the adds that tell us how clean, fresh and safe our house/body/clothes/sheets will feel, while all the while we could use vinegar, essential oil, microfibre clothes and baking soda and get the same result without bringing all these toxins into our homes and bodies, AND save loads of money on expensive cleaners. Did you know by the way that the reason shampoo and shower gels foam so nicely is because they put in a substance that is also used to de-grease engines. And we put it on our bodies day after day, thinking just a few minutes of exposure doesn't make a difference, and we are washing it off anyway. Not true on both accounts. Our skin absorbs it and it does make a big difference, especially for someone so young who has autism. Autists can't handle the toxic overload for whatever reason. So one first step in helping their bodies is to remove as many toxins as we can from their environment to help their immune system respond to the many other challenges they have. The goal in detoxifying is not so much becoming a treehugger, or making a statement, rather than realizing that we need to assist their already compromised immune system in any way we can. As I said, the effects of alcohol and nicotine have long been observed as hazardous to health, but at first no one believed it. It took decades for people to admit that it might be bad, because they had grown used to its comforts. I believe that in about 20 years people will have done enough research to realize that the toxins in the chemicals we use are truly not good for us. 

HOW TO DETOX:

1.) So the first step in detoxifying your house is to stop buying cleaners, or at least use the less aggressive environmentally friendly ones. For ways to detoxify your environment I'll post a link from another blog. No need to rewrite perfectly sound information. 

http://crazysexylife.com/2010/20-ways-to-detox-your-home/

2.) You have to detox your body as well. This blog has some good suggestions on  how to do it. http://www.abundanthealth.ws/htryboct.htm  However, I disagree with some statements. For example, drinking lots of water is not necessarily healthy. Water in California for example contains some residues of what is also used to fuel rockets. A lot of water is high in contaminants, so first make sure IF you drink a lot of water that you use spring water. But again, drinking lots and lots isn't necessarily healthy and can place a strain on your kidneys. The other thing I disagree with is that you have to avoid plant foods high in pesticides. Sure ideally we all eat organic, but lets face it, that's super expensive. However if you follow Dr.Fuhrman's diet he says that eating 95% plant food supplies your body with so many micro nutrients that the amount of chemicals from pesticide is negligible, especially considering how many chemicals you would ingest by eating regular processed foods. There is however a list of foods that are best avoided when not organic. You can google it.

3.) Along with detoxifying your body consider what you eat and how you prepare it. Stay away from all processed foods. Use stainless steel and cast iron versus Teflon and aluminum. Be aware also how you store your food (i.e. plastic containers for school lunches are not ideal). I didn't realize that, but there is just the added absorption of the plastic chemicals in to the food we then ingest. Consider also the environmental load of buying bottled water.

4.) Chelation. This is a big thing in "treating" autism. Some doctors recommend chelation to get rid of heavy metals in the blood. First of all, yes it's possible your child has heavy metals. Do a blood test to confirm that. And then consider that chelating drugs were designed for super fit trained men in the armed forces who were exposed to shrapnel and heavy metal poisoning. They were designed to save lives when the alternative was imminent death by metal poisoning. In other words, they were not designed for little bodies of children. And to my knowledge the side effects are so severe and dangerous that you might as well just leave the heavy metal in the system for all the damage the drugs will do. There is however a natural way of chelating and that is through baths, saunas, and eating a clean diet. Juicing and herbs can chelate heavy metals naturally, and in such a way that you will strengthen rather than short circuit the immune system. So on this also we are back to Dr.Fuhrman's diet (by the way he is not the only one who has sound scientific research to back up his claims. You can also check out Dr.McDougall and Dr.Campbell who wrote "The China Study".) Here a blog post on natural chelation. http://www.all4naturalhealth.com/natural-chelation.html

Diet a religious dilemma?

I think at this point I could write an opera script about diets. Or a soap opera. It probably wouldn't get very good ratings, although there would be a fair amount of drama associated. Hm, perhaps reality TV is the way to go on that.

OK, if you follow my blog at all since my passionate post about the GAPS diet and how every parent of an autistic child should immediately do it, you know that although the diet has helped us get our kids eating a greater variety of food and we have healthier options, this diet has not been working for us. Ezra's behavior is getting more and more difficult. I read through all the FAQ on the gaps diet website to find answers, I contacted the clinic of the author to schedule an appointment, and they told me that she's no longer taking patients, and to read the book and the FAQ on the website. GREAT! That was helpful...NOT.

Anyway, I still think the theory about the gut flora being out of balance is a good one, and research definitely shows that the intestinal tracts of autistic children are severely compromised. So clearly something must be done to heal and seal the gut. But I'm starting to doubt, and always have that consuming massive amounts of meat, eggs, and animal fat are really the solution. To be fair, of course Dr. Campbell-Mcbride doesn't recommend "massive" amounts, but still, that's pretty much all the kids will eat. It makes sense that the bad bacteria needs to be starved of it's nutrition source (i.e. complex carbs). But on the other hand if the body is fighting chronic inflammation, how can consuming meat and fat, which are supposedly inflammatory going to make that any better, even if they are organically raised and grass fed?

I guess my real dilemma comes from my religious conviction. I'm a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of latter day Saints. I believe God reveals truths to prophets today just like he did in times of old. In 1833 a prophet called Joseph Smith received a revelation regarding the health and well-being of members. It's a code by which I live, called the word of wisdom. It counsels people to abstain from tobacco, alcohol, coffee, tea (black tea) and drugs (by the way one of the reasons we are counseled to abstain from them is not only because they can cause addiction and are bad for the body, but because of evil conspiring men. How true is that considering drug cartels, tobacco industry etc?) It also counsels people to eat liberally of plants and grains (wheat being especially good for man), use moderation on fruits, and eat meat of animals and fowls sparingly, only in winter and times of famine. This revelation isn't entirely new. The same kind of dietary suggestions can be found throughout the Old and New Testament. Now if you know LDS people at all, you know that they stick pretty well to the "don't" part, but do whatever they like with the "do". In fact, it's fair to say that sugar is the Mormon drug of choice. There is practically no social gathering that doesn't involve food. Anyway, getting off track here. 

SOO, my issue has been, if wheat is supposed to be good for us, then why is my kid allergic to gluten? Or what about all the other allergy sufferers, celiacs, etc? Of course, this revelation was given in 1833 and back then wheat was still soaked, fermented, and ground in a way to make it easily digestible, not like the highly processed stuff they have today. Our environment has changed a lot since then and we have so many more pollutants and toxins our body has to deal with. And who knows that the amount of exercise and fresh air they got back then didn't fortify their immune system in a way to never bring up digestive issues. I do believe God wants us to use common sense, and our brains to figure out what is right for ourselves. After all, the word of wisdom is a guideline. But now I'm really at the point where I just can't get any further. 

There are so many diets out there and they all claim to help, and often they advocate the exact opposite of each other. In fact, I think the one thing they all agree on is that all the chemical additives, food dyes, pesticides, and so on should be avoided at all costs. Which one is the right one? Feingold, GFCF, TCM, HDN, anti-histamine, GAPS, SCD, Body Ecology, Paleo, South Beach, Atkins, Vegan, Vegetarian, Macrobiotics? 

I need a revelation!

GAPS...so far no luck!

We have been following the full GAPS diet for almost three months now. It seems like my life is all about food these days. I'm not even following the diet anymore myself. It is so much effort and so expensive, that I would rather have my kids eat the special food, than waste it on myself. After all I am a functioning adult, and other than obesity and mood swings, my health is fine. There is always the little mommy fear My-kids-are-going-to-starve in the back of my mind, and so when they ask me for food after finishing theirs, and my serving is all I have, I would rather give it to them, knowing that I can also survive on something else, if I need to (which is what I have been doing, and the scale is showing it). On the other hand I'm also trying to teach them that they can't just throw a tantrum and get what they want. I make it clear that what I put on the table is what they can eat, and otherwise they will be hungry. So often times, they actually end up a bit hungry, because they refuse to eat. They ask me for food non-stop. It's really aggravating. Ezra is especially obsessed with food. There seems to be no off-switch in his brain, when it comes to eating. He craves fruit like a drug addict craves heroine.

I am in the kitchen so much. I get up in the morning and spend about 1.5 hours in the kitchen. The night before I also spend about an hour after dinner making lunches and preparing breakfasts. That's not including the hour I spend in the kitchen making dinner. What on earth takes so long, you might wonder? Well, if you have to warm up the broth in the pan not the microwave, make fresh juice in the juicer, grind the nuts, and the pancake batter in the food processor, you end up having a lot of dishes to clean. Besides all the ingredients have to be homemade, so there is also a fair amount of prep work that goes into having the ingredients for the foods I make. For example nuts need to be soaked for 8-12 hours in salt water, then drained using a sieve, dried for several hours (ideally overnight) in the dehydrator, and ground into flour in the food processor. It takes organization and time to do GAPS. I'm not very organized. Still, all this work would be worth it if it could heal Ezra's stomach, his ADHD and his autism. IF...Sadly, it's not actually working. All the symptoms that should go away with GAPS are still there, and possibly worse than before. In the last two months we have seen in Ezra

• increase in skin rashes
• hyperactivity increase and decrease in focus and attention span
• aggression and decrease in use of language
• painful stomach and undigested food in poop
• increased obsession with food
  

It is sadly possible that we just aren't doing the GAPS diet right. We are on the what is called Full GAPS diet. There is an intro-phase, and technically you shouldn't move past the intro phase until your patient has been symptom free for 6 months. I suspect that if consulted a GAPS practitioner they would point out that Ezra is getting way too much fruit and honey, possibly can't tolerate a lot of eggs, nuts, coconut, and ghee, and that we need to put him on the intro, give him meat broth before every meal, soup once a day, and highly boiled vegetables and meat, until he has sufficiently detoxed, and only then move into full GAPS. I'm also fairly certain they would point out that the non-organic veggies and fruit we feed him are high in pesticides. Dr.Campbell even mentions in her book that GAPS patients can be so sensitive to those pesticides that they really don't improve until it is all out of their diet. And my friend who also has an autistic child would point out that the foods we are giving him are high in salicylates and phenols and can cause all the above reactions. But what can I do? Micah thrives on a high carbohydrate diet. His challenges are helped with more carbs. How can I give him a banana and tell Ezra he may have boiled carrots instead? And how can I watch my child weep, when all the other kids get to have things he can't? It sucks!

Nonetheless I have to admit that in some ways GAPS is simpler than gluten free, casein free, and much healthier. I wouldn't want to go back to GFCF. At least now I know that my kids are getting a wide variety of healthy foods, versus all highly processed carbs. And once you learn about what evil corporations put into food to make it cheap and maximize profit I really don't want to feed my kids that garbage. Ideally my kids could just eat anything. Still, life is more complicated this way. Making nut butter and honey sandwiches for the kids school lunch takes over an hour (with baking the special bread, or 24 hours if you count the time it takes to prepare the nut butter), whereas I can make a sandwich with normal bread and spread in 20 seconds. I don't know what to do, honestly. The science and research behind GAPS makes total sense. It would be so helpful though if we could actually have things confirmed with true practitioners and blood tests or whatever, instead of me having to figure out everything by myself.

EWE! Just EWWWW. The nastiest thing I've ever endured.

I have just experienced the absolute grossest thing in my entire life. SERIOUSLY! My stomach is still churning, and I'm feeling totally queasy. This smell is worse than my brother's size 16 athletic shoes he would wear all day with socks that probably were worn twice. In fact if an entire football team worked out and didn't shower for a week, and spent a night in the locker room with no windows open, I think you still couldn't match the stench of this. So why write about it, when all I really want to do is delete it from my memory? I guess I'm a writing paradox. What is it that makes us want to share and participate in horrible experiences. Yes, I'm talking to you writers, producers and viewers of all these gruesome murder shows like CSI, The Mentalist, Castle, Profiler, 24, or those wretched reality TV shows etc.  Yes, it's interesting and entertaining but let's not pretend it isn't a bit weird that we would want to spend our evenings watching people figure out just how exactly someone killed another human being. (And just so you know I love The Mentalist and Castle).

Anyway, remember that GAPS diet thing that I'm doing, and how I'm not allowed to give the kids anything that isn't home made? Well, soy is off the plate too. It's pretty hard to make anything Asian tasting without the use of soy, but instead you can use fish sauce. Now, I've used fish sauce before in Thai dishes, and I love the little kick in the flavor a teaspoon of that stuff will add. I didn't think it would be too bad to make it myself. The recipe was straightforward. Buy 1 pound of small, whole fish, chop them up, cover with water, add a tablespoon of salt, ferment in warm place for 5 days, and then store in the fridge for several weeks. OK, done.
So today, I thought, I'll strain it just in case there is a bit of a fish smell, which doesn't sit well with my ultra-sensitive-to-smell husband. BOY, was that inspired. In fact, I'm a little worried that I won't get the smell out in time for his return. Have you ever had the urge to throw up just from a smell? Well, let me tell you, that's one experience you needn't put on your bucket list. At first, I thought, this is rather stronger than expected, but after just five seconds I realize there was no way I was EVER going to put this on my food. The smell was so bad, that me, the ultra conscious tree-hugging recyclist, miss-I-don't-let-my-kids-waste-paper-they-can-color-on-the-backside-and-I'm-sorry-we-just-killed-a-tree-for-a-scribble actually threw out the glass jar. No, it wasn't broken. It was just so awful that I couldn't imagine ever putting anything in there again. But just rinsing it down the drain didn't seem to get rid of the smell. I wiped down the granite counter top, but still the smell remained. I threw out the trash (and I really should make those guys some cookies for picking it up tomorrow), sterilized everything, but the smell kept lingering. Even the sweet sulfurous smell of lighted matchsticks wouldn't disperse it. After five matches I pulled out the heavy guns, and lighted some incense, and essential oils. AND IT LINGERED ON. To my dismay I found that the scent cloud migrated to the living room. I would have immediately opened doors and windows, but I actually had left a door open, and 50 mosquitos had invaded my kitchen, I decided that I would take care of venting the house tomorrow. I felt so sick, that I couldn't even prepare the lunches and breakfast for the kids tomorrow.
I don't care what anyone says about my kids not getting preservatives, I will never make home made fish sauce again. EVER. For the teaspoon it takes to spike meals, they'll just have to put up with preservatives.

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.

Chick-zza! Your GAPS legal pizza for your picky eaters

This is by far my most popular dish with the kids on the GAPS diet. I could call it Chick-zza I guess. In later stages, I can probably add cheese, but now we don't get to eat that.

It has been about 17 days now since we started GAPS and it feels like I've been doing it forever. I really can't wait for the intro to be over with. I'm not even following it exactly, because I don't have avocados readily available. And the other thing that is a bit ridiculous is introducing squash pancakes, with the advice "Start with one a day, and watch for reactions". I want to know which iron-willed mother can manage to feed her kids soup, broth, and veggies for two weeks, and then give them a pancake. One pancake. I'm not that mom. I think Micah had eight pancakes the first time I made them. And was I supposed to then just freeze the whole batch? Anyway, I'm growing impatient with the intro diet. I understand it's purpose, but I really wish I had started it during vacation, because now I can't tell for sure what my kids are reacting to...the new school environment, or the food. Also, I am impatient to just move on and make different foods. I think we're eating too much meat. I can't wait to include salads. I want to have a greater variety of foods, which the intro doesn't really afford.

So my picky eaters at the end of the day are still picky. They are now eating broth without complaints, and in fact, I have difficulties keeping up with the supply, but they're still not eating vegetables unless I disguise them in some way. I'm torn between bribing them to eat, or just following the parenting rule: set the standard and don't engage in arguments. I just read on this website about picky eaters, that if you want to get your kids to eat all foods, just make what you want them to eat, and if they don't, they can choose the consequence, which is feeling hungry. You can explain to them in a loving way that they can either feel full, or they can be hungry, and then you are to not ever engage in any arguments. It's easier said then done, but I like the idea of no meal time terror.

I have to admit though that it is a tremendous amount of cooking, peeling, preparing. I wish I could just go to the store and buy everything ready made, but without all the E's and the sugar in it. I'm also struggling with living in the Netherlands right now. So many things are readily available in the States. The US is a very internet-oriented market. You can find anything online. The Netherlands is certainly better than Switzerland when it comes to online shopping, but it's still not like the US. So many things that I could get there, I can't have them here without crazy shipping costs, or they don't even export them. It's not that they don't have organic everything here, it's just that it's harder to find. Also, I'm very busy at the moment now because the publishing company that I work for publishes their annual Equestrian yearbook in October, and so I have to go in to work every day, and work evenings. At the same time, I have to cook for about 3-5 hours a day, start up the Son-Rise program for Ezra, find and interview workers, and try to spend some quality time with the kids.

To be honest I thought they would be less obsessed with food now that they're off carbs, but just the opposite is true. Instead of coming home and playing, they trail me around the kitchen asking me every two seconds what's for dinner, can I have a snack, I want this, I want that. That's why I'm happy to let them eat at school. Their teachers even report that they eat everything I pack for them. Ha! Today the mom that stays at school when they eat lunch even told me that they had to laugh at the amount of food I pack for Micah. Apparently all the other kids get two slices of bread and one slice of meat for lunch, and that's it. But Micah is eating it all. I do know that no matter how much they complain about being hungry or wanting snacks, they are getting a ton of calories, and about 150% more nutrients than before. Still, not gonna lie, I don't care for the cooking and the planning. Anyway, that said, this recipe takes about 4 minutes to prepare, and the kids love it, so I like that.

Recipe Chick-zza:

The crust is made out of ground up chicken, cauliflower, salt, and onions. Interestingly enough it doesn't taste like any of those ingredients. If you want to recreate this: just take a dinner plate. 1/2 of the plate should be chicken, 1/4 onions, and 1/4 cauliflower. You can use any vegetable you like, but cauliflower gives it the right consistency and color to fake a pizza look. For the tomato sauce I just blended up canned organic tomatoes, fresh basil, salt and two cloves of garlic. Decorate with anything you feel belongs on a pizza and is GAPS legal. Put in the oven for about 15-20 minutes. Done.

Mwahaha! Persistence paid off. Picky eater mom wins.

I didn't think this day would come, and yet here we are. Ten days have past. I remember ten days ago, cooking only the foods the picky eater crew would eat. I remember what it was like to have Ezra scream at food he didn't want, throw it across the table, throw himself on the floor and have a temper tantrum for 50 minutes. I remember him hitting and pinching me for 20 minutes, screaming at me to get what he wanted. I remember both of them refusing all food. I remember exchanging TV time and honey for bites. I remember four years passing with Micah refusing every single fruit and vegetable except for grapes, and raisins. It seems impossible that these same two children issued following statements today:

Micah: My tummy hurts a bit. I think I need some more broth. Can I have some more please?

*

Micah: Mom, can I have some spinach juice please? Just make me some spinach juice now (at bedtime).

*

Micah: I had my broth for lunch at school. It was so good.

*

Ezra: Ooh, can I have a carrot, celery juice please? Please, mom?

And what did they have four lunch? I made them both "Pizza" again. It's basically ground up chicken, cauliflower, and onion spread thin like a pizza crust on a baking sheet. I heated it up and covered it with tomato sauce. They snacked it up. And for dinner I mixed 1 kg (2 lbs) of broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, and onions with about 1.5 lbs of ground pork, added some spices, and baked it in the oven in a casserole dish (for us adults, I stuffed peppers with the filling). I presented the sausage casserole and peppers and allowed them choose. They both had several helpings of the casserole including their delicious carrot and zucchini chips.

Bottom line: it can be done. Detox is crazy difficult, but 10 days of struggles is all it took, versus a life time of carb addiction and unhealthy gut. Do they eat plain veggies...well, yes but not readily. But hey, they're eating veggies, demanding healthy juice and broth, and eventually I think they will be able to and want to try all sorts of new foods, as long as it looks good and contains a major motivating delicious word like 'sausage', 'pizza', or 'chips.

Lottery diet!

Lottery diet is what I'm now calling the GAPS diet, because if we won the lottery, we might be able to continue it.
Things have been going pretty well. It's hard to imagine that 10 days ago I had to bribe my kids with toys and TV time to get them to drink their broth. I would sit in front of the TV and let them watch one minute of their show for every sip they drank. Now they actually request the broth.
Two days ago I made a recipe from the Introdiet cookbook I downloaded from online. It was total rubbish. I mean, it tasted ok, but food has to look good, not just taste good. I really don't blame my kids for balking at the site of the zucchini chicken casserole. So yesterday I ground up cauliflower, onions, and chicken breasts, added some salt, spread the whole thing onto a baking tray and baked it. I even sliced some tomatoes onto it and declared it was pizza. In addition to that, I peeled carrots, and kept peeling them to thin strips and then fried them in coconut oil, and added my new favorite salt ever, Hymalian salt. The combination of coconut, sweet, crisp, and salty is utterly divine. Not only did my kids snack up the pizza and carrots, they demanded seconds, thirds, and wanted some for lunch again today. HA! And Ezra doesn't like chicken. Well, he actually likes chicken, he just thinks he doesn't.

So if all that is going so well, what's the problem? I seem to go to the store 3 times a day now, to keep our veggies stocked. I make juice for the kids. If they don't want to eat their veggies, I give them the option of a green juice, but that requires carrots, and apples. I've added up all the receipts from since we started the GAPS, so 10 days and it added up to 540 euros. So, you can imagine why I feel like maybe we won't be able to continue eating this way. Who has 1500 Euros for food a month? We don't have enough time to start our own vegetable garden, and it would have to be a pretty massive one to supply all the food necessary. I would just buy food in bulk, but that is not something that is done here. I tried to work out some deals with the suppliers, and they just figure 'hey, this lady wants to buy my food, why should I discount it?'. So we are trying to figure out the financial aspect.

The other thing is, I really am in the kitchen a lot. I was so happy that I would now have some time to myself now that the kids are in school, and I have been busier than ever, making them breakfasts, packing special lunches, working, shopping, planning. I don't know how I did all that when they were home. So we will have to see. Perhaps we have to aim lower and just do the best we can.

Mother's nerves fried to a crisp with picky eaters

Everything is fried in our house these days. My nerves, our food, and our electricity. So I was planning on keeping you all updated on how my picky eater battle is going (or should I call it turning picky eaters into veggie fanatics?), and then our DSL got fried because of some electrical problem, as did our nightstand lamps, alarmclocks, curling iron, and power cord. It's very annoying. So now, I have no internet access and am afraid to use the computer at home, because I don't want it to fry. Here I am at my work desk then writing this brief update.

It is getting harder on me. I'm anxious for them to eat the good nutrition so we can just move on and I can introduce dairy and nuts again. Imagine that. 9 days into the diet and I'm thinking about introducing the foods they had to avoid: eggs, nuts, and dairy. They are already getting some scrambled eggyolks for breakfast, and seem to do fine with them. That's the thought that keeps me going. They will be able to eat more food. Not less. Although in the meanwhile I still feel like I'm starving them, because Ezra refuses to eat some things. Here's a funny little conversation from yesterday after dinner.

Me: Mom, I feel like I'm starving my kids.
Granny: Well you are.
Me: Ugh, I'm no better than a Nazi.
Granny: No, no. You're doing it for a good reason.

I can't tell you how helpful it is to have Aaron's cooperation. The dinner tantrums continue. They are loud, desperate struggles to control what they eat. With Aaron and I both not backing down, they eventually do actually eat what we give them, even if it isn't as much as we would like. I was so worried that they aren't getting enough food, until I realized that Micah has gained 3 lbs since being on this diet, and his previous digestion which ranged between severely constipated and diahrrea has now become normal. It's working!!! I on the other hand have lost 9 lbs in the last 8 days. So it's working for everyone. Even with the little bit that the kids are eating, they are getting more nutrient and calorie dense food than ever before. I try to remember that when Ezra is screaming and pinching. And I put carrots, sausage patties, sauerkraut, applesauce and a thermos with beef broth in his lunchbag yesterday, and he ate it all up.

OK, I would make this longer, but I have to actually work now.

Picky eaters almost won

This morning I was ready to call it quits with the diet. It's just so hard. It's not the food. In fact, after only five days I've lost 6 lbs, and I never have any cravings. Well, not never. Day 5 was pretty rough. I desperately wanted some bread. And the food is soooo delicious. It is organic, it is rich in fat which makes me feel not only full, but satisfied, something I never felt no matter how many carbs I guzzled when I was on my typical diet of sandwiches, chips, and cookies.
No, what's hard is that I have to plan ahead. That was hard even when we ate the other way, but then at least we could just go get some fries to everyone's delight when mommy didn't plan to make dinner in time, or have some rice crackers. And the other thing that's really hard is trusting that my children will eventually eat what they have been refusing for five years now. It's so heart-wrenching to see them this hungry, and to know that the easy way out could fix that. I'm not withholding food from them per se, they are withholding it from themselves, by not eating the healthy protein, fat, and carbs I provide for them. But it still feels like I'm the mother whose not feeding her kids, and what mother would do that? I keep on telling them though when they ask for the 'bad stuff' that I love them too much to give them things that will hurt their body.
I don't want to give up and go back to feeding them things that make them hyper, give them rashes, make their stomachs hurt, and have to cook the same three things for them, because they won't eat anything but rice, pasta, and chips. On the other hand I don't want to have to do this either. I wish I just wouldn't care. Whenever I have a bit of freedom ahead on the horizon, I manage to create more work for myself.
On the other hand, how can I not? Once I realized what is causing their health and mental problems, how can I not help it? But if I'm making the right decisions, choosing the better part if you will, why doesn't it feel better? Why isn't it easier? Why am I not happier? And why do other people get to have the cake and eat it too (I specifically mean have singing jobs, and have children as well)? I realize I'm getting very philosophical here, but with all the free time I have from not scheming about the foods I can eat, I find myself confronted with the very questions I tried to drown out with those carbs.
If I had to guess I would look for the explanation in delayed gratification. Often it seems that choosing the right is really choosing what will in the end benefit you most in the long run, not what is pleasant and easy first. I chose pleasant and easy (well, not that easy) for 5 years now (and much longer than that if we're honest), and I haven't gotten very far, and frankly it wasn't all that pleasant either. Not with my personal weightloss by giving in to my sweet tooth,  and not with Ezra's recovery from autism. This morning I just couldn't take another fight about the food from the kids. I was ready to give up, but thankfully I had support from my mom, who lives with us, in case you didn't know. She just told me to hang in there. And then I got another gift from a dear friend in Washington, which she had promised to send me for over a year now. The dedication in the book even read September 2010, but what a perfect day for it to arrive. It can't have been coincidence, that a ring with the inscription "Never, never, never quit" came on the day that I was ready to quit. (Therese you're an angel sent from heaven!) So I didn't. And tonight as I'm writing this post Micah was so hungry he asked for me to bring him more broth. Both of the kids ate a few bites of vegetables for dinner. Maybe, just maybe, this might work out in the end.  

Picky eaters battles: day 3 on the GAPS diet

Favorite quotes of the day:

Ezra: No soup. I want PIE for dinner. Make me some pie! 

Micah: Mom, my tummy is saying it wants rice crackers, bread, cookies, butter and jam for dinner. 

Mom: Uhu!

Micah: But my tummy said it.

Mom: Darling, your tummy is talking rubbish. Don't listen to it.  
Oh boy! I think at the end of the day I won the most battles. My little picky eaters are no less picky, but in absence of all they love, they are learning to push through some comfort zones. The kids were really like dead flies today, all the way up until it came to actually eating something they don't want to eat. They didn't want to drink anymore chicken broth in the morning, so I promised them a Lightning McQueen toy cell phone if they would drink their soup all up. It worked.  They did use some gag reflex on the chicken broth, but we got there in the end, and they were delighted with their new toy. I usually forbid toys with batteries. They are bad for the brain. If you want me to cite an article you're out of luck, because I have no time, but if you do some research you will come to the same conclusion which you then are free to ignore or follow.

You know, once you're trained in the Son-Rise program, it feels like plain old bribery when I do something like let them watch TV or get a toy to get them to eat the foods they don't want to eat. Typically Son-Rise is on the exact opposite of ABA (applied behavior analysis). To me Son-Rise makes a lot of sense. If you can get your kids excited about doing something, so they want to do it, then you have only fun and no battles. If you use ABA to do it, then they will do it, but they won't love it. As soon as you remove the incentive they discontinue the behavior. At least...that's what I think. I hope I'm wrong. I hope that the healthy foods I'm "bribing" them to eat will seal their stomachs, so that when they have moved through detox, they can learn to appreciate other tastes again. Today required a lot of comforting, holding, and explaining why we are doing this. At some level they understand that this diet will help them eat more foods, but as kids often do they thought there was no work involved, and they would get it now. I tried to explain to them the process, until I finally realized I was getting no where, I told them this was the "you eat whatever mommy makes for you"-diet, because I will make food for you that will help you.

For dinner we had meat ball soup with veggies. I gave the kids each a bowl. None of them would touch it. Ezra started screaming and having a panic attack. He kept asking for juice and TV, and I said he could have both if he ate his whole bowl of soup. He continued to cry and scream for 45 minutes without eating anything. Finally, seeing that this wasn't going anywhere, I told him he could have TV for one minute if he took a bite. He did. Micah had been refusing the soup too. Once the TV was on all I had to do was pause the video every minute. I told them that for every bite they took, I would let it play one minute. They tried to get away with taking tiny bites. I made a game out of it saying they would have take lion bites not birdy bites, or chipmunk bites. I would do funny little animal impressions corresponding to their bites. So I guess I did get a little bit of Son-rise technique in there. In the end they both ate all of their food, and got their juice.

It is remarkable to me how different Ezra is already, and even Micah. Ezra is typically so incredibly hyperactive and loud. Today he took a nap, and he slept in. He was only loud when he had his 45 minute tantrum before he finally ate his soup. Other than that, I saw more eye contact, and more presence in his eyes.

I did end up buying a juicer today and introducing juiced vegetable and fruit a bit earlier than the introduction diet suggests. I figured...it's organic, fresh juice, and they are little kids who need some energy. Ezra gulped it down. He didn't even care that I put some celery in it. My little picky eater number 2 remained unconvinced, but did have at least one glass.

Personally I'm surprised at how well I'm doing. I didn't eat much today (lack of planning), but I am not craving the carbs as much anymore. I had more energy, and tonight I even made my very first Sauerkraut, and Kimchi. This dog is learning new tricks!

Rough dieting day

Today was overwhelming. The kids were pretty whiny in the morning, because they were so hungry. But it wasn't the usual whiny when they want something they don't need, but a true pleading: mommy I'm hungry. It's hard to watch them detox. They were lying around like dead flies today, even took a nap. Typically super hyper Ezra just shuffled around the house. They refused the soup again, so I applied some ABA and said that if they just had a little bit of soup I would let them watch one episode of Winnie the Pooh. I got a whole cup of soup into them. They both said it tasted and felt good. I think of lot of their taste issues are in their heads.
I'm missing fruit right now, and I'm a bit hungry too. I should go down and have more broth. We won't be eating any fruit for the next few weeks. I also am starting to realize what I've really gotten myself into. I wanted to throw in the towel several times today, when I realized that I would be responsible for cooking, and preparing everything. Right now for example, I should be downstairs preparing fermented vegetables and some more broth.
I should explain: the introduction to the GAPS diet is a phase during which all fiber is removed so the intestines have a chance to rest and heal (heal and seal). You're supposed to drink home made meat broth made from organic, preferably grass-fed animals for every meal. To that broth you add some fermented vegetable juice, or fermented yogurt, or whatever. Those two together help coat the intestines, and restore good bacteria to the gut. At the same time depriving our body from fiber and carbohydrates, helps eliminate the bad bacteria. However home made meat broth is essential, and although it doesn't take much work to make it, it does take time to cook (like 24-36 hours). This requires forethought. I have up until now not been very good at making and sticking with a meal plan. One of the reasons was that I simply got tired of making meals my kids wouldn't eat. 

Another hard part was that I spent 54 Euros for meat at the organic butcher. 3 organic chicken breasts cost me 19 Euros! It's insane. I got through that episode by thinking of the $10,000 we had to spend because of Aaron's kidney cancer, and about how a year in an autism school costs $75,000. Or supplements, or chelation, or all these other treatments cost so much more, than simply eating organic healthy food. And perhaps if more people did, it would get cheaper.

Then at dinner Ezra had a full on melt down and tantrum. It lasted about 30 minutes. I made sausages and "rice" which is cauliflower shredded to the consistency of rice and boiled in salt water. It's rather tasty, actually. I just put the cauliflower on his plate. He didn't want it there, so he started screaming and throwing some food. He ate his two sausages and wanted more. I made him have a bite of his cauliflower before giving him a slice of sausage. I remained calm and kind during the whole tantrum, but I still had a hard time seeing him like that. In the end what got me through this day was thinking
of how he threw a tantrum in the restaurant when we were on vacation, and how he refused to eat anything but sausages and fries at every place we went to. I thought of how short 2 years really are compared to a life time, and last but not least I thought of all the other mothers out there with picky eaters, and autistic children, who might come across my blog, and perhaps could find hope that it's possible, if I could only hang in there long enough to prove that it is. So I'll do it one more day. Off to pickled some cucumbers now.

Getting picky eaters to eat

Today has been the first day on our new grain free diet. We are doing the GAPS diet. GAPS stands for Gut and Psychology Syndrome. I have detailed in a previous post why we are doing this diet, so I'll leave you to this link if you want to find out more about it.

I know I'm not the only mother out there struggling to get my kids to eat. It is a rare child that isn't picky.

Some of the reasons that children are picky include these:

• they have sensory processing issues. That means that the food either doesn't feel good or does feel really good in their mouth. For example, I really can't stand creamy things. I don't care for the way it feels on my tongue. On the other hand I love everything crunchy. 
• We as mothers have taught them through our actions that if they fuss long enough we will give them what they want, just to get them to be quiet. 
• They have an unhealthy gut with too many bad bacteria which thrive on sugary foods. The bad bacteria makes us crave processed carbs. 
• They are getting high on food. Food is like a drug. In fact in the book "The Sugar Addict's Total Recovery Program" Dr. Katheleen Desmaisons recounts some studies done under a functional MRI to show that some people's brains (about 50%) react to sugar the same way as if they had just had heroine. They get a pay off. Now put that reaction in a three year old with an unlimited capacity, motivation, and stubbornness to demand what he wants, and you know why you're still feeding him those crackers and cookies. 
• They have underlying medical conditions. Ezra never did like peanut butter, refused it all the time. Turns out he is very allergic to it.
• They watch what their parents eat and eat the same.

I'm sure there are loads more reasons. In fact if you know some please feel free to comment. I can see on my stats page that lots of people read this blog, but very few comment.

The challenge in helping your picky eater overcome his habits is that you can't always be sure why he isn't eating. I can say from my personal experience that I let my mommy fear "but he'll be hungry and starve" always get in the way. And behind the fear is of course a realization that I simply don't want to deal with tantrums, or that I don't want to be a mean mom who lets her child go hungry. Also, it is just easier to give the food they want rather than spending money and time preparing something delicious and healthy only to have them fuss or throw food.  

So how come I'm brave enough to try it now? Having two very picky eaters at home, one autistic, and one highly sensitive to texture I have put off this diet for 3 years now, because I just couldn't imagine doing it and getting them to eat. Finally, I have read enough to convince me that there just isn't any other way if I want them to have a healthy, happy life. In addition to that I talked to several friends whose autistic sibling has gotten older and their food preferences have narrowed even more. They are all carb addicts, if not treated. My kids complain about itchy ears (from eczema), and stomach pains every day. They get colds, they have food intolerances and allergies that only get worse, and are severely limited in their diet. Some people might think...but isn't it limiting to eat a grain free diet? No bread, no pasta, no chips, no fries, no cakes, no muffins? Well, that's the only thing they really ate before, so really their diet is limited now. I think this will broaden their horizons. Micah refuses all fruits and vegetables for example. I should also mention that the GAPS diet does have recipes for cakes, cookies, muffins, pancakes etc, but using nut flour instead of normal flour. And once they're through the introduction phase, I don't see the GAPS being much more complicated than anything else. A salad with some protein takes less time to assemble than cooking rice and pasta. Even broccoli is boiled quicker than rice. The only thing that really is less convenient is that you can't just go buy food at the store. Just about everything has to be prepared at home. My mother keeps saying that this is the way they used to live, and cook back on the farm in South Africa. In a sense I think one of the major stumbling blocks to a healthy diet in children is the desire of the mother to lead her own life, have a career, and a family on the side. Being a homemaker is looked down on. How many times have we heard or said: I'm JUST a mom? But that is a discussion for another blog.

Anyway, enough rambling. The first day went OK. In preparation to starting the diet I got rid of all the food we can't eat. Yes, I'm doing it with them. I didn't throw it all away. I do believe in food storage, so I stored it away in case of emergency. I stocked my kitchen with the necessary foods and equipment, bought a GAPS introductory meal plan online, and took a cooking class for GAPS (also online). I have also been talking for a month now with the kids about the special diet we would be doing together. I explained to them why we are doing it and what it will help us do (like eat cheese, and yogurt, not have stomach aches or itchy ears).
Today I got up and had some beef broth. Yes, not that yum for breakfast, but it felt good. For lunch I had some delicious chicken and broccoli. I eat whenever I'm hungry, or drink some soup. The kids ate nothing all morning refusing soup. Micah ate a handful of chicken at lunch. Whenever they asked for food I would offer them what we had. If they declined I didn't press the issue. In a way I'm doing this just how I potty trained Ezra. I just got rid of the diapers, and apologized that we didn't buy them anymore every time he asked for one. Eventually Ezra went potty. Took him 3 days, but he did it, and we never looked back. I'm hoping it will go this smooth with this.
So in short they didn't eat hardly anything all day. At dinner I made hamburger patties with grated carrots and onions, fried in some beef tallow. DELICIOUS, by the way. I served them with raw carrots. The kids refused again, and I left it at that. At about 7 PM Ezra was starving and so he sat down and ate all his carrots, the beef patty, as well as Micah's. I gave them Red Bush tea to drink.
Now they're in bed, slightly hungry. I'm feeling hungry too, but that's just because I didn't eat enough vegetables.
I definitely need to get a juicer tomorrow, so I can start making some juices for them. I invite you to check back to see our progress in getting my carb addicts to eat other foods. I expect there will be some ups and downs.

How Diet causes autism, and why the Gluten Casein Free Diet is not the answer

OK, I admit, the title is purposefully sensationalistic. I don't actually know what causes autism, but after reading Gut and Psychology Syndrome from Doctor Natasha Campbell-McBride I'm 150% convinced that diet is one of the main factors in what causes autism.

I'm not a Doctor, or medical expert, just a mom who does a lot of research. However, Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride is not only a mother of a successfully recovered autistic child, she is also a trained medical doctor (Neurologist, and brain surgeon), as well as having specialized in nutrition after finding out her son was autistic. So if you don't believe me for my lack of training and titles, then read her book. No need for me to re-invent the wheel. It's pretty easy to understand, and it will give you all the details and explanations of what I am about to summarize below, with research and scientific studies quoted to back her up.

I found myself chanting mentally on every page "Why didn't anybody tell me about this? Why didn't I know?" (and if I'm honest with myself, I did have a friend who told me about this, and at the time I thought it was too extreme, and that I didn't have the guts to do it, because I myself was addicted to carbs). In my previous post about what to do when you suspect your child is autistic, I said that if I could go back and know then what I know now, I would have started a GAPS or a SCD diet immediately. I constantly think of all the things I could have done differently but after reading this book, I would prioritize this as the MOST IMPORTANT INTERVENTION ALONGSIDE ONE ON ONE EDUCATION.
So here is why I tell you: don't shy away from the work. You will soooo regret not doing this. I'm convinced that this diet is 50% of the solution (with the other 50% being training the brain through one on one intensive education and something like Brain Balance or Neurofeedback).

After reading below explanation, jump to the bottom of the page, where I give you an update on how it worked for us after doing it for 6 months, and what I have learned from it. It isn't what I thought it would be. 

OK here is the explanation of why I recommend you do this diet summed up as simply as I can:

Our gut is the first line of defense to foreign objects, bacteria, toxins, etc. and a very important part of our immune system. Normally the gut is populated with good and bad bacteria. They are in balance and take care of anything that doesn't belong in our body. In children and adults with Autism, ADHD, ADD, Dispraxia, etc their digestive tracts are out of balance (omitting explanation why, for brevity but it's in the book), and therefore their immune system is compromised. When there are too many bad bacteria and not enough good the body can't handle the toxic load. Foods and toxins get into their blood stream and into the brain that shouldn't and cause heaps of damage (This condition is called Leaky Gut). And on the other hand important nutrients that the body and brain need for normal development do not make it to the brain because food isn't digested right, thus the brain doesn't develop the way it should, making it all worse and compromising the immune system even more. 

The idea of the diet is to replenish the good bacteria with pro-biotic foods like fermented vegetables (and perhaps some supplements), and at the same time starving the bad bacteria of it's main source of nutrition: starches. The foods allowed on the diet are very nourishing and simple to digest, thus giving the stomach a chance to repair itself and supplying the body with nutrition. Essentially this diet is a complete sugar free, grain free diet (although fruits, and honey are allowed, just fyi). You do that for about 2 years or until your child has been symptom free for at least 6 months. Now before you throw your hands up in the air and say: no way, that's too hard, let me tell you what it looks like after you've waited a few years and tried other stuff first (like the GFCF diet, Feingold, etc).

1. Autism doesn't go away or get better by doing nothing and waiting it out. In fact it gets worse and the gap to catch up to peers widens (which -you've guessed it- means more work for you, mama, or daddy)
2. Trying easier things first only works for a little bit, because the root of the problem is still there. Only GAPS, or the SCD diet address and cure the actual problem in the gut.
3. No matter how finicky of an eater your toddler is now, when he's older he'll be stronger, more verbal, and more finicky, and the tantrums and control battles are more aggressive and louder. 
4. Two years of work are nothing compared to the work you'll have to put in if you don't do it. You're child will develop more food allergies, more intolerances, and refuse anything besides starch. Every meal is a battle.

Now what about the Gluten and Casein Free diet? I did that for 3 years now. At first we saw a huge improvement, and so will you, but it won't last long. Here is what Dr. Campbell-McBride says about that:
"If you transfer this child to the GFCF diet, processed carbohydrates containing gluten are replaced with gluten free processed carbohydrates, made with rice, sugar potato starch, tapioca flour, soy, buckwheat flour etc. This sort of food will feed the abnormal flora in the child's gut just as much as the previous diet did, perpetuating the vicious cycle of a damaged leaky gut and toxicity escaping from this leaky gut into the blood and brain. Of course the fact that out of dozens of various toxins, flowing from the gut into the body, two toxins have been removed -gluteomorphin and casomorphins - does some good."

It does help a tiny bit, and I can testify to that, but it hasn't solved his picky eating and carb addiction, and his gut flora is still a mess. In addition to those problems the gluten free products are very high on the glycemic index, even higher than the gluten containing ones (because gluten is a protein which slows down digestions, i.e. requires less insulin). High glycemic foods cause inflammation in the body. Children with autism already have chronic inflammation in their bodies and brains, so when you give them GFCF diets it doesn't abate the inflammation, it makes it worse, and the bad bacteria are still fed.

Here are some resources to help you get started with a GAPS or SCD diet (by the way SCD stands for Specific Carbohydrate Diet. It has been around since the 1920's with 90 years of scientific evidence to back up it's effectiveness. However it wasn't specifically created for autism. The GAPS diet is based on the SCD diet, but was specifically altered for patients suffering from autism, ADD, ADHD, etc.)

Book Gut and Psychology Syndrome
Cooking class to reverse food allergies
Meal Plans
FAQ from the Gaps Site
Dr. Campbell-McBride on youtube.
SCD Recipes and help


Update April 28, 2012: We did GAPS with Ezra for six months. It did not yield the results we hoped for. He got better at first, but then started eating mainly meats and fruits. I have learned in the meanwhile that meats are actually very hard on the digestive system, as are fats. We have done further research and are currently favoring Dr.Fuhrmans' recommendation of eating 95% plant foods. His recommendations are not specifically for autism, but they make enough sense and present solid scientific research for general health, that it made sense to follow it for the whole family. Plus the Chinese Medicine Practitioner that I consulted said that the best thing for a kid like Ezra is very little meat (or none), and lots of steamed vegetables, things that are warming to his middle and require very little digestive juices. We now also know that he has a candida overgrowth, so really he should be taken off most fruits. That's where we saw the major difference on the GAPS diet during the introduction phase where no fruits were allowed. He really calmed down, spoke clearly. It's just so hard to pull off that kind of diet when you send your kids to school. So to sum up I've taken a lot of information from the GAPS diet, but I think Dr. Campbell-McBride is wrong about the meat consumption. With any dietary intervention the key is to get kids to eat lots of green vegetables (and yes, you can imagine that that is easier said than done). If you do a GAPS diet and they end up eating only what Ezra ate, it will be better than eating just carbs, but it's only the first step in the right direction.