It is that time of year, VACATIONS! Whether you hit the skies, the roads or do a stay-cation in your own town, there are some things I have learned through the years that may be helpful to others. I haven't been able to look at vacations the way most do. I look at it with trepidation, stress and maybe even a little fear. Vacations just aren't the same when Autism is involved. Here's a typical rundown of some of the stuff we have to do:
Pack comfort items, especially weighted blanket. The last thing you want is a meltdown because the one toy you forgot is the one your child absolutely has to have and is screaming for hours over. Rent trailer from U-Haul to carry all said "loveys".
Food - need I say more? Not only do you have to meal plan for the entire time you are gone but you also have to make and pack food for the WHOLE trip. You cannot count on local stores having GFCFSF, preservative, MSG, grass fed, free range, etc. foods. And just because the local town HAS a (Insert favorite store name here), there is no guarantee that they carry the said item that is your child's favorite, right texture, and chances are it is going to be more expensive in a vacation town. Again, you see how the U-haul can be invaluable!
Activities can be tricky. You don't want to do too much so that your child is overwhelmed and therefore melts down. What if the sounds are too loud? What if it is too crowded? What if someone poured on a bottle of perfume/cologne and is sitting next to you? What if they get away from you and dart off? I could go on and on.
Supplements, what if you forget something? They all need to be prepped and packed, can't leave anything out or lord knows WHAT will happen. Gaba and Theanine forgotten? Oh how the anxiety soars, add a new place and that is just a recipe for disaster. Get that checklist out, open all capsules (for the kiddos not swallowing pills) and of course don't forget the stuff in the fridge or like us, the LDN which is kept upstairs for night time application. Also throw in some epsom salt cream or salts for detox baths after playing in chlorinated pools. Don't forget the enzymes, especially if you are planning on eating out, maybe extra chewable Trienza's in your purse "just in case". I keep Trienza, A & I and vitamin C with me at all times.
Where to stay? Hotels suck, let's just get that out there. Inevitably we are next to the twenty-something partiers who stay up til dawn singing the latest Lady Gaga songs at the top of their lungs, or we end up below the group who decides to have an all night dance party and it sounds as if the roof is going to cave in. Where is the white noise? Where is the consideration? Not to mention you are all sleeping in the same room, hotels with more than one room are hard to find these days (or expensive). I had written a biz plan years ago to pitch to hotels for Autism friendly rooms (except for the fact that I am raising children, one whom has Autism and never got around to pitching it!). Wish I did back then, seems that idea is starting to catch on now. Staying in hotels just sucks for us. Period. We are lucky enough to be from San Diego so we have relatives to stay with and that is where we "vacation" (yeah, I know, we vacation back "home", ironic but it works). But staying with relatives can be tricky too. Will there be a meltdown at 6:00 am because the "right" cartoon is not on the local stations at the same time. Maybe breakfast is a tad different, maybe they are not sitting in their regular seat, you get the picture. You walk on eggs shells not to disturb the whole house when many time, Autism is loud and can be very stressful. Often you are sharing rooms which can be tricky for our phantom sleepers with Autism. We tip toe around our child with Autism, sleep can be precious and sharing a room, not so conducive.
You can see how many aspects of travel can be very stressful. Heck, I still have not braved a flight with my children. Now I must say, this has gotten SO much easier. Car rides alone were torture for a while. As we have done more biomed, as my son has "healed", as his symptoms fade, we can loosen up. Those old worries still crop up. I had to run errands this week with my son. We made 7 stops in one day, in and out of the car, unfamiliar places, therapy appts., etc. He was a trooper! Not one meltdown, rolled with the punches! It is times like that were I have to note how far he has come. 1 outing would have been too much, sensory system overwhelmed and screaming for hours on end and a fitful night sleep would be had for all. Not anymore. Progress....
There is still plenty of prep work involved, special diets prepared to have on hand but even that gets easier. Since retiring, my mother in law has been out more frequently. As a stellar cook, mom and wife, she appreciates what I do daily. She watches, asks lots of questions, not from the place of "Why in the world would you do that?" but from the place of "Wow! I see the changes in M and I want to see WHAT you are doing so I can do that too for him". We get texts (YES she is texted now!!) of "I picked up rice noodles and buffalo meat for spaghetti". There have been so many years that just to be sure, I brought EVERYTHING with me and cooked from scratch in someone else's kitchen (not ideal, let me tell you). I am so thankful that things are changing and that we have family that cares so much about what we are doing and are rallying around us to make our trip enjoyable. I feel like this is the first trip where I can maybe, just maybe take a little breathe and enjoy, not just plan and stress.
So why did we go each year if it was so stressful you may ask? Well for one, we see Dr. Kurt Woeller once a year in person so we always time our trips to coincide. It is a must to get out there. And, it is too tempting to hole up, not go anywhere. My kids deserve to see their grandparents, cousins, our life long friends and their children! And to watch them run and play heals my heart just a little. To see my kids hug their grandparents, and lately ask for them over and over with "I miss them" frequently said, I know it is important. We have to push (gently) past our comfort zone, theirs and ours, sometimes. I am all for attachment parenting, DIR therapy etc. but we cannot do nothing because it is hard. We just have to be smart about it.
So prepare, plan, organize and then breathe. Our kids also deserve for their parents to just enjoy them, watch them run in the waves, touch a starfish for the first time and maybe to get time just to sit on the beach and dig their toes in the sand. Life is what it is, stressful, frustrating, and yet also beautiful, wonderous, and joyous if we make the time to see that. It is something I (clearly) have not done enough of. But, my commitment THIS vacation is to stress less, enjoy more, be prepared and then RELAX. It took us years to get to this point. It was simply NOT an option prior. But you know what, I have worked my BUTT off to get here, and so has HE. So, back to prepping foods, packing and preparing, but my mind is thinking of that beach and maybe, just maybe taking a deep breath of that salty sea air I miss so much. My wish for all of you? Happy, safe vacations, memories made, meltdowns avoided. Most of all? ENJOY the ride!
Friday, June 18, 2010
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
An open letter from Jon Gilbert
All I can do is cry as I read this, nod my head and remember when.....remember when this was US. This was my son to a "T", right down to the light switches which was a fascination of his. We got to the point where I avoided going places for this very reason. This was us.....but it is NOT anymore. Autism can be treated. Read this, relate to it then read my part again that says it USED to be us. Get empowered, every small step you take can help your child. I thank God for biomed everyday. And I do say, it will not give EVERY child the same results but if there is even a chance, isn't it worth a shot? There are tons of parents out there to help mentor, myself included. NEVER GIVE UP HOPE ON WHAT YOU OR YOUR CHILD CAN ACCOMPLISH, no matter what path you choose! There is hope out there, my son is proof.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
An Open Letter
By Jon Gilbert
The other day that mom with the little boy who was making so much commotion in the fast food restaurant noticed you staring at her. He was a handful, wasn't he? His screaming was incessant
and the way he was challenging his mother: unacceptable. It's understandable that you would never allow your own child to holler at you like that, or bounce between the booths. You found yourself wondering what would possess her to bring an unruly child like that out into public in the first place. As your respectful children stood beside you in silence, you wondered when he would just be quiet. And you wondered what kind of mother she must be.
If you only knew what that mom wonders.
She wonders what she can do to get him to stop screaming. Sometimes it lasts all day, and lately, it's been almost every day. Then, while you put your kids back in the car, she wonders if he'll keep his seat belt on for the entire ride. You will get them home and they'll head right upstairs to play together nicely. She wonders if he'll decide it's time to begin switching the lights on and off repeatedly, or throw to everything that's on the desk onto to the floor.
When your kids fall down, you can ask them where it hurts and they can tell you. It hurts the other mom that all she can do is hold her little boy and wonder when he'll stop crying. Later, while you wonder what story you will read to your child tonight, the mom you know nothing about will once again cry herself to sleep in her husband's arms.
You wonder later why God would give any child to "that kind" of parent, yet she's thankful that God chose her. You judge the stranger based on that one incident, while she wonders why you didn't just ask if you could help. She probably wouldn't have taken it, but she would have appreciated the gesture.
Your four-year-old has mastered the art of conversation. She find's it triumphant that her son mumbles, "go school" and "want eat." You already wonder what your child's high school prom will be like. Meanwhile the other mom wonders when her four-year-old will potty train.
You wonder who your little one will marry some day, while the mom with the rambunctious son worries that he may not graduate from high school. You plan to send your child to the best university, and the lady that you
never met wonders if she'll have to care for hers as an adult.
While she's not jealous that your kids obey, talk and dream, she does wonder what it would be like to be able to call her son "normal." He is who he is. There's no altering that, and his mother wouldn't change him for the world. But feeling your eyes burn through her melts her soul. She does the best he can, and wonders why you judge them both.
She doesn't ask for your sympathy, just your understanding. Her family puts a lot of time and effort into helping him become the best somebody he can be. You don't see it, but that's all right, because his mom sees it every day. She sees the victories as well as the defeats.
You cast your judgment based on the one day you saw the unruly child in public. No one faults you for that, because the other mom used to do the same thing, back before her son's diagnosis. All the mom asks of you today is compassion and consideration.
Tonight, when you tuck your kids into bed, be thankful for the children you have and for who they are. Understand that, while you are getting butterfly kisses from your little angel, there are parents wondering when theirs will be able to say the words, "I love you."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
An Open Letter
By Jon Gilbert
The other day that mom with the little boy who was making so much commotion in the fast food restaurant noticed you staring at her. He was a handful, wasn't he? His screaming was incessant
and the way he was challenging his mother: unacceptable. It's understandable that you would never allow your own child to holler at you like that, or bounce between the booths. You found yourself wondering what would possess her to bring an unruly child like that out into public in the first place. As your respectful children stood beside you in silence, you wondered when he would just be quiet. And you wondered what kind of mother she must be.
If you only knew what that mom wonders.
She wonders what she can do to get him to stop screaming. Sometimes it lasts all day, and lately, it's been almost every day. Then, while you put your kids back in the car, she wonders if he'll keep his seat belt on for the entire ride. You will get them home and they'll head right upstairs to play together nicely. She wonders if he'll decide it's time to begin switching the lights on and off repeatedly, or throw to everything that's on the desk onto to the floor.
When your kids fall down, you can ask them where it hurts and they can tell you. It hurts the other mom that all she can do is hold her little boy and wonder when he'll stop crying. Later, while you wonder what story you will read to your child tonight, the mom you know nothing about will once again cry herself to sleep in her husband's arms.
You wonder later why God would give any child to "that kind" of parent, yet she's thankful that God chose her. You judge the stranger based on that one incident, while she wonders why you didn't just ask if you could help. She probably wouldn't have taken it, but she would have appreciated the gesture.
Your four-year-old has mastered the art of conversation. She find's it triumphant that her son mumbles, "go school" and "want eat." You already wonder what your child's high school prom will be like. Meanwhile the other mom wonders when her four-year-old will potty train.
You wonder who your little one will marry some day, while the mom with the rambunctious son worries that he may not graduate from high school. You plan to send your child to the best university, and the lady that you
never met wonders if she'll have to care for hers as an adult.
While she's not jealous that your kids obey, talk and dream, she does wonder what it would be like to be able to call her son "normal." He is who he is. There's no altering that, and his mother wouldn't change him for the world. But feeling your eyes burn through her melts her soul. She does the best he can, and wonders why you judge them both.
She doesn't ask for your sympathy, just your understanding. Her family puts a lot of time and effort into helping him become the best somebody he can be. You don't see it, but that's all right, because his mom sees it every day. She sees the victories as well as the defeats.
You cast your judgment based on the one day you saw the unruly child in public. No one faults you for that, because the other mom used to do the same thing, back before her son's diagnosis. All the mom asks of you today is compassion and consideration.
Tonight, when you tuck your kids into bed, be thankful for the children you have and for who they are. Understand that, while you are getting butterfly kisses from your little angel, there are parents wondering when theirs will be able to say the words, "I love you."
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Tanning, Autism, and Respen-A
All Hail The Farmer's Tan!?!
I have questioned this for years, why doesn't my son with Autism tan? He stays white, like Casper the Ghost, seriously, even through 5 hot Arizona summers. He gets the same amount of sun exposure (which is pretty hefty since he is an outdoor kind of kid) as his sisters do and they end up looking like Coppertone babies, they tan even under sunscreen. We let the kids get some exposure to the sun without sunscreen, for proper vitamin D absorption. And if we are going to be doing something like swimming for hours in mid day for example, then everyone gets sunscreen plus swim shirts to cover their torso. We use sunscreen without all the toxic chemicals, I am more worried about the chemicals than sun exposure, especially given our high whole foods diet. So then why does our whole family tan with the exception of my son?
After doing (brief) research I found data on an enzyme process (which is not surprising, I swear ALL processes are enzyme based) that aids in melanin production. OK so we know a lot of my son's enzymatic processes are not working the right way. So, you can imagine my surprise when just a few weeks ago my son got a little pink on his shoulders. The neighborhood kids were all congregating at our house so I decided to pull out the slip and slide. It was placed in the shade of a tree but the kids were running all over, in an out of mid day sunlight. They played for 2 hours, a pittance of our normal sun exposure. We came inside and I noticed a slight pinkening of his skin on the tops of his shoulders, given the relatively light exposure, I didn't make him wear the swim shirt he usually wears for mid day swimming, that and the fact that he never tans! So why would he start tanning all of a sudden? We started Respen-A at the end of last year. Respen-A is supposed to aid in enzyme processes within the body. You can understand my excitement of potentially seeing visible results of this therapy. We've had tremendous success with Respen-A in terms of social/emotional/relationship areas so this was even more exciting to see some tangible results of cellular changes as well possibly.
Then just the other day, Facebook was crawling with people reposting THIS article from Age of Autism discussing this very issue with regards to tanning and Autism. I had never heard of the heavy metals connection before but it is also an interesting theory. Maybe this is also indicative of metal excretion? My son did not show high for mercury but he did for aluminum. Whatever the case, I see widespread healing as indicated by bowel changes, behavioral changes and yes now even tanning.
As I look deeper at my son's progress, I can see changes in his cognition, how he relates to us, how he relates to others. Just yesterday he did a joint OT session with another little boy, a little boy eerily similar to him at age 3 1/2. The child was engaging in echolalia, repeating my son in the same intonation and everything. My son, exasperated, said "Stop copying me, that is SO annoying, we are not the same". His therapist and another staff member found that pretty hilarious. Oh how far we've come. We see "typical" behaviors, "typical" phrases come out of his 6 year old mouth and I have to appreciate that 3 years ago he was virtually non-verbal. He is rounding the corner to 7 so definitely 4 years ago he was non-verbal. Now all we have to work on in speech is the "S" sound. And I link the 2, body and gut healing and progress through therapies. I do not think I could separate them. Without biomed, we would not have made this progress but many times, biomed is leaves you wanting a crystal ball 1) to see what NEEDS to be fixed and 2) seeing what is getting better. The reality is, not many of us can afford to rerun tests (or want to put our kiddos through tons of testing, especially more invasive tests) constantly and so we have to watch for clues that what we are doing is working until we do rerun a test. Some of them are subtle and some things are "wow" factors. So when I see a change like tanning, I am thoroughly excited! So here's to a summer of fun, relaxation, and hey maybe even a farmer's tan or two if we are lucky!
I have questioned this for years, why doesn't my son with Autism tan? He stays white, like Casper the Ghost, seriously, even through 5 hot Arizona summers. He gets the same amount of sun exposure (which is pretty hefty since he is an outdoor kind of kid) as his sisters do and they end up looking like Coppertone babies, they tan even under sunscreen. We let the kids get some exposure to the sun without sunscreen, for proper vitamin D absorption. And if we are going to be doing something like swimming for hours in mid day for example, then everyone gets sunscreen plus swim shirts to cover their torso. We use sunscreen without all the toxic chemicals, I am more worried about the chemicals than sun exposure, especially given our high whole foods diet. So then why does our whole family tan with the exception of my son?
After doing (brief) research I found data on an enzyme process (which is not surprising, I swear ALL processes are enzyme based) that aids in melanin production. OK so we know a lot of my son's enzymatic processes are not working the right way. So, you can imagine my surprise when just a few weeks ago my son got a little pink on his shoulders. The neighborhood kids were all congregating at our house so I decided to pull out the slip and slide. It was placed in the shade of a tree but the kids were running all over, in an out of mid day sunlight. They played for 2 hours, a pittance of our normal sun exposure. We came inside and I noticed a slight pinkening of his skin on the tops of his shoulders, given the relatively light exposure, I didn't make him wear the swim shirt he usually wears for mid day swimming, that and the fact that he never tans! So why would he start tanning all of a sudden? We started Respen-A at the end of last year. Respen-A is supposed to aid in enzyme processes within the body. You can understand my excitement of potentially seeing visible results of this therapy. We've had tremendous success with Respen-A in terms of social/emotional/relationship areas so this was even more exciting to see some tangible results of cellular changes as well possibly.
Then just the other day, Facebook was crawling with people reposting THIS article from Age of Autism discussing this very issue with regards to tanning and Autism. I had never heard of the heavy metals connection before but it is also an interesting theory. Maybe this is also indicative of metal excretion? My son did not show high for mercury but he did for aluminum. Whatever the case, I see widespread healing as indicated by bowel changes, behavioral changes and yes now even tanning.
As I look deeper at my son's progress, I can see changes in his cognition, how he relates to us, how he relates to others. Just yesterday he did a joint OT session with another little boy, a little boy eerily similar to him at age 3 1/2. The child was engaging in echolalia, repeating my son in the same intonation and everything. My son, exasperated, said "Stop copying me, that is SO annoying, we are not the same". His therapist and another staff member found that pretty hilarious. Oh how far we've come. We see "typical" behaviors, "typical" phrases come out of his 6 year old mouth and I have to appreciate that 3 years ago he was virtually non-verbal. He is rounding the corner to 7 so definitely 4 years ago he was non-verbal. Now all we have to work on in speech is the "S" sound. And I link the 2, body and gut healing and progress through therapies. I do not think I could separate them. Without biomed, we would not have made this progress but many times, biomed is leaves you wanting a crystal ball 1) to see what NEEDS to be fixed and 2) seeing what is getting better. The reality is, not many of us can afford to rerun tests (or want to put our kiddos through tons of testing, especially more invasive tests) constantly and so we have to watch for clues that what we are doing is working until we do rerun a test. Some of them are subtle and some things are "wow" factors. So when I see a change like tanning, I am thoroughly excited! So here's to a summer of fun, relaxation, and hey maybe even a farmer's tan or two if we are lucky!
Thursday, June 10, 2010
How safe is the sun, and your sunscreen?
As we are thrown into the throes of our summer heat here in AZ, the topic of the sun comes up a lot. I feel, personally, there is a lot of confusion out there. Is the sun, in extremes, harmful? Yes. But with the advent of sunscreen, are we now mostly people with a shortage of the critical vitamin D that our bodies are SUPPOSED to get from the sun? YES! Every one of us should be getting 20 minutes of sun exposure in mid day sun (more if you are darker skinned) WITHOUT SUNSCREEN! Hey, lets remember, we have always had the sun. And while I will admit migratory patterns of humans have probably not always been that smart and there are probably some people who should not be living in California, Florida and Arizona. But that aside, our bodies know what to do with sunlight. The chemicals that are slathered on to "protect us" from the sun is another story. Am I advocating laying in the hot Arizona sun for 5 hours straight with no sunscreen? No, that would be stupid and irresponsible. But what I am saying is that we all NEED some sun, and we also need good protection for longer sun exposure, without the even more harmful chemicals. Chemicals being lathered on the skin is no good. I stand behind MY opinion that cancer has a lot to do with environmental toxins and body PH and less to do with whether you sit in the sun a little each day. Eating a diet high in processed foods, meats, dairy, soda, etc. will create an acidic environment=cancer grows. When you keep your system more alkaline, cancer cannot grow. So, when we are eating primarily raw, unadulterated foods, sitting in the sun isn't such a bad proposition. But, hey remember not too much, find a good quality sunscreen if you are going to be out for example swimming for a few hours, use common sense and ENJOY THE SUMMER! Here is a great article on safer sunscreens. Click HERE to read it.
Avoiding gluten, corn, soy and dairy
This is an excellently written piece with wonderful history and explaination as to why we should ALL be avoiding the Big $ as he calls them, Wheat, Dairy, Corn and Soy. I blog about it all the time. Hear it from someone else too. (From www.dogtorj.com)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Brief History of “the Big 4″ I have been gluten-free for over ten years now. But it did not take long for me to realize that there were other foods that needed to be eliminated from our diets…and those of my veterinary patients. Within a few months of starting down this road, I had discovered that dairy was not “nature’s perfect food”, soy was not a “health food” and that corn was the fourth food that induced villous atrophy of the small intestine, just as gluten does. Turns out, my four-legged patients needed this info as badly as I did.
Yes, I began placing all of my dog and cat patients on the same diet that I had adopted for myself, starting with the elimination of wheat and later adding restrictions from soy, corn and all dairy products. Miracles started happening in my veterinary patients! And why wouldn’t they? Dogs and cats are carnivores and not only would they never elect to eat gluten grains, dairy, soy and corn, they would never even be exposed to them, as they are all man-cultivated items.
So, when did we mess things up so badly? Look back…way back.
Dogtor J
A Brief History of the “Big 4”
by Dogtor J
©2010 DogtorJ.com
People ask me all of the time how wheat and dairy could be so bad for us when we’ve been consuming these things for thousands of years. I understand their confusion. After all, doctors have supported the FDA food pyramid for generations, making specific recommendations of multiple servings of each in order to meet our minimum dairy requirements of nutrients. Our parent’s parents forced milk down the throats of their children so they did the same for their offspring. “Builds strong bones and teeth” was their mantra, adopted from the (very successful) rhetoric of the dairy industry. Who can argue with the FDA, doctors, parents and the rest of society?
Those of faith point out that our Old Testament ancestors ate wheat and drank milk, so “How bad can it be?” At first, I thought maybe that these age-old food choices might just be the things meant to limit man’s life here on earth but I soon learned that we are dying prematurely at our own hand.
“There are tares in the wheat!”
We made some very serious mistakes in our nutritional history, starting with the blending of wheat by our Germanic ancestors. In the 4th century AD, they took original wheat (Einkorn wheat – Triticum monococcum) and blended with it two other grasses in the Triticum family, thus creating “common wheat”, from which our present day wheat is derived. We know now that this act not only dramatically increased the gluten content but also introduced the harmful ingredient into gluten to which so many are now reacting. Preliminary studies now being done on Einkorn wheat are showing that known celiacs are likely to be able to handle the gluten in Einkorn wheat. How cool is that? So, the fact that some of today’s wheat is 55% gluten versus the 5-7% of Einkorn is not the only factor. It is what’s in that gluten that makes the biggest difference in whether we become intolerant of that grain. Our ancestors put tares (weeds) in our wheat!
Dairy is not “Nature’s Perfect Food”
The next big mistake occurred when our English ancestors jumped ship from goat’s milk (the universal foster milk) to cow’s milk as their source of dairy products. The difference in the casein fraction is subtle but immunologically immense. Plus, we know now that these Anglo-Saxons chose the wrong cows back in the 1500’s when they picked what are now termed “A1 cattle” (the western European varieties – the Jersey, Guernsey, and Holstein) vs the “A2″ variety (the Zebu or Brahma). A Google search tells you all that you need to know about the ramifications of their choice – BCM7 (beta casomorphin 7), the origin of type 1 diabetes and “the milk devil”.
Recently, researchers have isolated the protein that triggers type-1 diabetes. They have known for years that our children who get cow’s milk in the first five days of life have a 40-50 times higher rate of type-1 diabetes than the general population. But they also noted that Africa’s Masai, who drink the milk of the Brahma, never experience type-1 diabetes. So these scientists took a group of diabetes-prone, non-diabetic rats and divided them into two groups – those to receive A1 milk from the western European cattle and those to get A2 from the Zebu/Brahma. Nearly half of those receiving A1 milk developed diabetes and none of those getting A2 developed the condition. The researchers went on to isolate the single protein that was causing the problem and, in that protein, they found one alteration in the amino acid sequence that made the difference. That’s the razor’s edge on which we live, just like the exact nature of the earth’s orbit required to sustain life.
The Asian Mistake
The “third plague”, as I like to call it, is soy….the Asian mistake. This health-robbing legume was buried underground in one remote area of world and used for years as a non-edible plant used in crop rotation to add nitrogen back to the soil. It took the Asians years to decide to eat it but first they had to develop the means to make it safe for consumption. They learned that fermentation made soy more tolerable just like our ancestors discovered with dairy products (e.g. yogurt, kefir). Interestingly, rice and rice-based wines turned out to be antidotes for some of the harmful properties of their newest culinary creation, in the same way that Italians learned to consume wine, high fat meats, olive oil and vinegar to protect themselves against their passion for pasta. But we should know that any food that requires as much processing as soy – just to make it safe to eat – will cause problems in individuals even when properly prepared.
And yet, the soy industry tried to tell us that soy was a health food and that Asians were healthier because of the soy they consumed. Thankfully, we quickly found out the truth. The only reason that Asians (in Asia) are healthier than Americans in some aspects is because their traditional diet has NO gluten, NO dairy, and NO corn. Soy was their mistake and its gut and tissue-damaging lectins, its overwhelming levels of isoflavones, and its wide array of anti-nutrients tell the tale. No one talks about the fact that Asians actually only live one year longer than the Swiss (and I don’t see them pounding down the soy) and lead the pack in the incidence of stomach cancer.
Like dairy, soy has altered the outward appearance and the internal mechanics of our children. The most notable fact is that the first menstrual cycle of our little girls is occurring much earlier than normal. It was generally accepted in the past that the first menses occurred at 15 years of age. We know from studying this event in the Japanese children before and after WW2, that increased dairy consumption (Americanization has its toll) brought this age down to 12. But soy has dropped this age down into the single digits. It is now reported that nearly 20% of our little girls have their first menstrual cycle by age 8. Wow! If that is not bad enough, I was giving this “lecture” to a woman on the local school board the other day in my office and she told me that there were three nine year-olds in our school system that were pregnant . Unbelievable. Isoflavones are a very real threat to our children’s development, including our males. I’ll leave that part to your imagination and Google.
Corn – The Toxic Grain
That leaves corn – the “gift of the American Indian”, as many of us view it. “Corn must be healthy if the Indians ate it”, a number of people have said to me. Ahhh…but the history of corn is one of the most interesting. It took thousands of years for the Hispanic ancestors to create the ear we see now. It started out as a useless grain in a single valley down in meso-America. And everywhere corn was introduced, pellagra (niacin deficiency) broke out. Wikipedia incorrectly blames this on the fact that niacin is deeply locked in the kernel of the corn. That would be the answer IF corn was their only source of niacin, which it was not. No…corn caused the niacin deficiency because it induced villous atrophy in those sensitized individuals who consumed it, just as it does in countless people and animals today (with rising corn allergies being the outward sign). That’s why pellagra broke out. They could not absorb the niacin from any dietary source once the lining of the gut was damaged. Yes…corn is nasty stuff, supported by the fact that corn gluten meal kills other plants (a “natural herbicide”) and corn meal can be used to kill insects. That’s why it puts fat on anything that consumes it: Fat is the body’s recycle bin and we form new fat cells in order to shuttle bad things out of the general circulation and into the “trash file”.
Our Body Knows What It is Doing
The only other things that damage our villi in the way that these foods do are viruses and fluoride, both of which give us important insight into why gluten, et al do this to our intestinal lining. Why does a toxic does of fluoride cause extreme damage to those finger-like projections called villi? To keep us from absorbing it. The same thing holds true for gluten, dairy, soy and corn. This drastic change is meant to be a temporary means of protecting us. But what part of the cell makes the decision to shrink our villi? Our residential microorganisms do this. Yes, viruses and pleomorphic bacteria are responsible for this amazing adaptive process. I guess we should stop dissing them so badly, eh? Much of what we call “disease” is simply an outward sign of this adaptive process. These resident microbes are on our side!
Making the Turn in Our Health
So…how many of you are on GFCFSFCF* diets? (*That’s gluten, casein, soy, and corn-free)? Have you removed one or the other of the trouble foods but plateaued in your recovery? Are you having a hard time believing that nearly 80% of the standard American diet (SAD) diet – made up of the “big 4” foods - is bad for you? Or are you starting to understand why I lovingly call this quartet “the four horsemen of the apocalypse”?
The bad news is that the damaged food chain does not end here. Have you heard that we can be “secondarily glutenized” by eating the flesh of animals that are fed these food items? This is a very real issue and I am now getting testimonials from people who have seen major advances in choosing grass fed beef and free range, range-fed chicken and their eggs over the grain-fed varieties. This can be especially important in the treatment of immune-mediated diseases as well as neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric disorders.
Is this really “bad news”? Not if you are one of the many who are suffering under the care of the current medical administration that appears to be out of touch with these crucial food issues. If you are looking for real answers to your chronic medical problems, you will find more than you have ever imagined in the pages of this site and those authored by the wise souls who preceded me. Even Hippocrates knew the truth about food and medicine. When did we lose touch with our past?
Dogtor J
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Brief History of “the Big 4″ I have been gluten-free for over ten years now. But it did not take long for me to realize that there were other foods that needed to be eliminated from our diets…and those of my veterinary patients. Within a few months of starting down this road, I had discovered that dairy was not “nature’s perfect food”, soy was not a “health food” and that corn was the fourth food that induced villous atrophy of the small intestine, just as gluten does. Turns out, my four-legged patients needed this info as badly as I did.
Yes, I began placing all of my dog and cat patients on the same diet that I had adopted for myself, starting with the elimination of wheat and later adding restrictions from soy, corn and all dairy products. Miracles started happening in my veterinary patients! And why wouldn’t they? Dogs and cats are carnivores and not only would they never elect to eat gluten grains, dairy, soy and corn, they would never even be exposed to them, as they are all man-cultivated items.
So, when did we mess things up so badly? Look back…way back.
Dogtor J
A Brief History of the “Big 4”
by Dogtor J
©2010 DogtorJ.com
People ask me all of the time how wheat and dairy could be so bad for us when we’ve been consuming these things for thousands of years. I understand their confusion. After all, doctors have supported the FDA food pyramid for generations, making specific recommendations of multiple servings of each in order to meet our minimum dairy requirements of nutrients. Our parent’s parents forced milk down the throats of their children so they did the same for their offspring. “Builds strong bones and teeth” was their mantra, adopted from the (very successful) rhetoric of the dairy industry. Who can argue with the FDA, doctors, parents and the rest of society?
Those of faith point out that our Old Testament ancestors ate wheat and drank milk, so “How bad can it be?” At first, I thought maybe that these age-old food choices might just be the things meant to limit man’s life here on earth but I soon learned that we are dying prematurely at our own hand.
“There are tares in the wheat!”
We made some very serious mistakes in our nutritional history, starting with the blending of wheat by our Germanic ancestors. In the 4th century AD, they took original wheat (Einkorn wheat – Triticum monococcum) and blended with it two other grasses in the Triticum family, thus creating “common wheat”, from which our present day wheat is derived. We know now that this act not only dramatically increased the gluten content but also introduced the harmful ingredient into gluten to which so many are now reacting. Preliminary studies now being done on Einkorn wheat are showing that known celiacs are likely to be able to handle the gluten in Einkorn wheat. How cool is that? So, the fact that some of today’s wheat is 55% gluten versus the 5-7% of Einkorn is not the only factor. It is what’s in that gluten that makes the biggest difference in whether we become intolerant of that grain. Our ancestors put tares (weeds) in our wheat!
Dairy is not “Nature’s Perfect Food”
The next big mistake occurred when our English ancestors jumped ship from goat’s milk (the universal foster milk) to cow’s milk as their source of dairy products. The difference in the casein fraction is subtle but immunologically immense. Plus, we know now that these Anglo-Saxons chose the wrong cows back in the 1500’s when they picked what are now termed “A1 cattle” (the western European varieties – the Jersey, Guernsey, and Holstein) vs the “A2″ variety (the Zebu or Brahma). A Google search tells you all that you need to know about the ramifications of their choice – BCM7 (beta casomorphin 7), the origin of type 1 diabetes and “the milk devil”.
Recently, researchers have isolated the protein that triggers type-1 diabetes. They have known for years that our children who get cow’s milk in the first five days of life have a 40-50 times higher rate of type-1 diabetes than the general population. But they also noted that Africa’s Masai, who drink the milk of the Brahma, never experience type-1 diabetes. So these scientists took a group of diabetes-prone, non-diabetic rats and divided them into two groups – those to receive A1 milk from the western European cattle and those to get A2 from the Zebu/Brahma. Nearly half of those receiving A1 milk developed diabetes and none of those getting A2 developed the condition. The researchers went on to isolate the single protein that was causing the problem and, in that protein, they found one alteration in the amino acid sequence that made the difference. That’s the razor’s edge on which we live, just like the exact nature of the earth’s orbit required to sustain life.
The Asian Mistake
The “third plague”, as I like to call it, is soy….the Asian mistake. This health-robbing legume was buried underground in one remote area of world and used for years as a non-edible plant used in crop rotation to add nitrogen back to the soil. It took the Asians years to decide to eat it but first they had to develop the means to make it safe for consumption. They learned that fermentation made soy more tolerable just like our ancestors discovered with dairy products (e.g. yogurt, kefir). Interestingly, rice and rice-based wines turned out to be antidotes for some of the harmful properties of their newest culinary creation, in the same way that Italians learned to consume wine, high fat meats, olive oil and vinegar to protect themselves against their passion for pasta. But we should know that any food that requires as much processing as soy – just to make it safe to eat – will cause problems in individuals even when properly prepared.
And yet, the soy industry tried to tell us that soy was a health food and that Asians were healthier because of the soy they consumed. Thankfully, we quickly found out the truth. The only reason that Asians (in Asia) are healthier than Americans in some aspects is because their traditional diet has NO gluten, NO dairy, and NO corn. Soy was their mistake and its gut and tissue-damaging lectins, its overwhelming levels of isoflavones, and its wide array of anti-nutrients tell the tale. No one talks about the fact that Asians actually only live one year longer than the Swiss (and I don’t see them pounding down the soy) and lead the pack in the incidence of stomach cancer.
Like dairy, soy has altered the outward appearance and the internal mechanics of our children. The most notable fact is that the first menstrual cycle of our little girls is occurring much earlier than normal. It was generally accepted in the past that the first menses occurred at 15 years of age. We know from studying this event in the Japanese children before and after WW2, that increased dairy consumption (Americanization has its toll) brought this age down to 12. But soy has dropped this age down into the single digits. It is now reported that nearly 20% of our little girls have their first menstrual cycle by age 8. Wow! If that is not bad enough, I was giving this “lecture” to a woman on the local school board the other day in my office and she told me that there were three nine year-olds in our school system that were pregnant . Unbelievable. Isoflavones are a very real threat to our children’s development, including our males. I’ll leave that part to your imagination and Google.
Corn – The Toxic Grain
That leaves corn – the “gift of the American Indian”, as many of us view it. “Corn must be healthy if the Indians ate it”, a number of people have said to me. Ahhh…but the history of corn is one of the most interesting. It took thousands of years for the Hispanic ancestors to create the ear we see now. It started out as a useless grain in a single valley down in meso-America. And everywhere corn was introduced, pellagra (niacin deficiency) broke out. Wikipedia incorrectly blames this on the fact that niacin is deeply locked in the kernel of the corn. That would be the answer IF corn was their only source of niacin, which it was not. No…corn caused the niacin deficiency because it induced villous atrophy in those sensitized individuals who consumed it, just as it does in countless people and animals today (with rising corn allergies being the outward sign). That’s why pellagra broke out. They could not absorb the niacin from any dietary source once the lining of the gut was damaged. Yes…corn is nasty stuff, supported by the fact that corn gluten meal kills other plants (a “natural herbicide”) and corn meal can be used to kill insects. That’s why it puts fat on anything that consumes it: Fat is the body’s recycle bin and we form new fat cells in order to shuttle bad things out of the general circulation and into the “trash file”.
Our Body Knows What It is Doing
The only other things that damage our villi in the way that these foods do are viruses and fluoride, both of which give us important insight into why gluten, et al do this to our intestinal lining. Why does a toxic does of fluoride cause extreme damage to those finger-like projections called villi? To keep us from absorbing it. The same thing holds true for gluten, dairy, soy and corn. This drastic change is meant to be a temporary means of protecting us. But what part of the cell makes the decision to shrink our villi? Our residential microorganisms do this. Yes, viruses and pleomorphic bacteria are responsible for this amazing adaptive process. I guess we should stop dissing them so badly, eh? Much of what we call “disease” is simply an outward sign of this adaptive process. These resident microbes are on our side!
Making the Turn in Our Health
So…how many of you are on GFCFSFCF* diets? (*That’s gluten, casein, soy, and corn-free)? Have you removed one or the other of the trouble foods but plateaued in your recovery? Are you having a hard time believing that nearly 80% of the standard American diet (SAD) diet – made up of the “big 4” foods - is bad for you? Or are you starting to understand why I lovingly call this quartet “the four horsemen of the apocalypse”?
The bad news is that the damaged food chain does not end here. Have you heard that we can be “secondarily glutenized” by eating the flesh of animals that are fed these food items? This is a very real issue and I am now getting testimonials from people who have seen major advances in choosing grass fed beef and free range, range-fed chicken and their eggs over the grain-fed varieties. This can be especially important in the treatment of immune-mediated diseases as well as neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric disorders.
Is this really “bad news”? Not if you are one of the many who are suffering under the care of the current medical administration that appears to be out of touch with these crucial food issues. If you are looking for real answers to your chronic medical problems, you will find more than you have ever imagined in the pages of this site and those authored by the wise souls who preceded me. Even Hippocrates knew the truth about food and medicine. When did we lose touch with our past?
Dogtor J
Liver support and detox
Our liver is very important for our overall health and functioning. Our liver can become quite bogged down with toxins and needs support to help function optimally. There are a couple of herbs that can be very helpful for that. Here is Dr. Kurt Woeller discussing Milk Thistle and Artichoke Extract as liver support and detox.
Milk Thistle from Autism Supplements Center on Vimeo.
More data on the harmful effects of BPA
As I have blogged time and time again, the toxins in our environment, especially our food supply can be reduced to the betterment of our health. BPA is a topic I have discussed before, and even promoted Eden Foods who do NOT use BPA lined cans. Here is an article on MSN talking about what BPA does to our DNA. When we also look at the rise in autoimmune disorders, inflammation, etc., we have to wonder what chronic exposure to these chemicals do to add to these. And when we talk about BPA making us more sensitive to estrogen and we see the rise in soy use (and especially GMO soy which just adds to inflammation) we have to wonder whether we are escalating the diseases and disorders. How do these all fit together? Maybe we will never know. All I know now is that I wish I had understood this while pregnant with my son and daughter. What could our lives be like? No one will know that and really there is no point in asking why other than to caution others out there about these chemicals. Not only should we stop putting them into our bodies, our childrens' bodies and especially into our developing fetuses! We know that our body will not protect these precious babies from these chemicals. Our babies are being born polluted. We need to wake up, learn this stuff and STOP BUYING THEM!! Support Eden Foods and other like minded companies, committed to healthy food choices. We vote with every dollar we spend. Lets stop the rising tide of Autism and other auto-immune disorders. And one way to do that is to reduce the toxic load going in each day through our foods. So read this article, educate yourself and make informed decisions.
Click HERE for the article.
Click HERE for the article.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
The Ride of Silence tonight
Here is my awesome hubby on this morning's news talking about the Ride of Silence that he has helped organize for the 2nd year here in Arizona. It is a slow, silent ride to show solidarity among riders who share the road with vehicles. Too many cyclists are struck and either injured or killed while legally sharing our roads. As drivers, we need to be more aware of cyclists and make sure we are allowing them room designated by law in those bike lanes.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
7 foods farmers won't eat!
As a follow up to the article I just posted, here is more info on some things to avoid. Remember, Eden Foods carries a line of BPA free cans and that includes tomatoes! I prefer to make my own spaghetti sauce and just about died when I found out about BPA. So there is an alternative if you can find Eden Foods tomatoes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
www.planetgreen.com
7 Foods So Unsafe Even Farmers Won't Eat Them
Grocery stores may sell them, but experts won't touch them; what you should know about your food.
By Laurel House | Mon Jan 25, 2010 17:55
Dick Luria/Getty Images
READ MORE ABOUT:
Green Home | Pollution | Vegan | Vegetarian | Water
Smoking was proven to be cancer-causing, tanning beds were shown to be on par with arsenic, but what about canned tomatoes, corn-fed beef, conventionally grown potatoes? What would it take to convince you to clean out your pantry and change your eating habits? Scientists, doctors, even simple farmers were asked what foods they refuse to eat. The responses had nothing to do with things like donuts due to fat content, or white bread because of the concentration of empty carbs. We're talking seemingly healthy things like tomatoes, beef, popcorn, potatoes, salmon, milk, and apples. For them, it's all about how they are produced and packaged.
7 experts in fields pertaining to both food and the environment answered one simple question: "What foods do you avoid?." Their answers, published in an article entitled "7 Foods the Experts Won't Eat" on Yahoo! Shine, will make you re-think food. When it comes to food and its affect on your health and the health of this planet, this is what they answered:
1. Canned Tomatoes
The Expert: Fredrick vom Saal, PhD, an endocrinologist at the University of Missouri who studies bisphenol-A.
The Reason: Tin cans are lined with a resin that contains the synthetic estrogen bisphenol-A, which has been linked to a slew of health problems including heart disease, diabetes, reproductive problems, and obesity. But that's not the biggest problem. The acid in tomatoes breaks down that bisphenol-A, leaching it into the food, and not just in insignificant amounts. According to the article, Saal comments that "you can get 50 mcg of BCA per liter out of a tomato can, and that's a level that is going to impact people, particularly the young." That's why he's not touching the stuff.
The Solution: If you lo0ve the taste of "canned" tomatoes but prefer to skip the bisphenol-A, select glass bottles instead.
2. Corn-Fed Beef
The Expert: Joel Salatin, co-owner of Polyface Farms and author of half a dozen books on sustainable farming.
The Reason: Cattle are naturally grass eaters... not grain eaters. In order to fatten the animals (and profit margins), farmers feed them corn and soybeans. And while the farmers are beefing up their earnings, they are minimizing the nutritional benefits. The article mentions the findings from a recent USDA-conducted study comparing corn-fed beef and grass-fed beef showing that grass-fed beef is "higher in beta-carotene, vitamin E, omega-3s, conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), calcium, magnesium, and potassium; lower in inflammatory omega-6s; and lower in saturated fats that have been linked to heart disease."
The Solution: Pretty straight forward: Opt for grass-fed beef instead.
WATCH VIDEO: Why Grass-Fed Beef? Emeril Answers
3.Microwave Popcorn
The Expert: Olga Naidenko, PhD, a senior scientist for the Environmental Working Group.
The Reason: It's not the popcorn itself, but the chemically-saturated lining of the bag including a compound called perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) that, according to a recent study from UCLA, may be linked to infertility. Microwaving vaporizes the chemicals as they move from coating the bag to lining the popcorn. But it's not like this fact is un-acknowledged. In fact the article points out that DuPont, as well as other manufacturers, have "promised to phase out PFOA by 2015 under a voluntary EPA plan, but millions of bags of popcorn will be sold between now and then."
The Solution: Pop your own popcorn the way they did it in the olden days--in a pot.
4. Conventionally Grown (Not Organic) Potatoes
The Expert: Jeffrey Moyer, chair of the National Organic Standards Board.
The Reason: Herbicides and pesticides may not be sprayed directly on root vegetables (since they're underground), but they absorb the chemicals through the soil and water. Because potatoes are considered the nation's most popular vegetable, producing a healthy crop is essential to keep up with demand. In order to maintain their health, the article exposes the scary fact that "they're treated with fungicides during the growing season, then sprayed with herbicides to kill off the fibrous vines before harvesting. After they're dug up, the potatoes are treated yet again to prevent them from sprouting." But here's the scary thing, Moyer says that he's talked to potato growers "who say point-blank they would never eat the potatoes they sell. They have separate plots where they grow potatoes for themselves without all the chemicals."
The Solution: Another no-brainer— Only buy organic potatoes.
5. Farmed Salmon
The Expert: David Carpenter, MD, director of the Institute for Health and the Environment at the University at Albany and publisher of a major study in the journal Science on contamination in fish.
The Reason: When salmon is crammed into pens, fed soy, poultry litter, and hydrolyzed chicken feathers (obviously an unnatural environment for the up-stream swimmers), they're levels of healthy vitamin D lowers as the contaminants increases. Those contaminants include carcinogens, PCBs, brominated flame retardants, and pesticides (like DDT). The article points out that DDT has been linked to both diabetes and obesity, quoting Carpenter in saying that "You can only safely eat one of these salmon dinners every 5 months without increasing your risk of cancer... It's that bad."
The Solution: Avoid farmed salmon and instead select wild-caught Alaskan salmon. But make sure the packaging reads "wild." If it just says "fresh Atlantic," according to the article, "it's farmed."
6. Milk Produced with Artificial Hormones
The Expert: Rick North, project director of the Campaign for Safe Food at the Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility and former CEO of the Oregon division of the American Cancer Society.
The Reason: Unlike in the olden days when fresh milk was some of the purest nutrients you could get, dairy cows today are fed growth hormones like rBGH and rBST to increase milk production. Problem is, while they may be making more milk, they are also increasing their chances of udder infections (which can lead to pus in the milk). More than that, the article points out that high levels of IGF-1 from the rBGH may play a role in the development of breast, prostate, and colon cancers... which is why North says that "it's banned in most industrialized countries."
The Solution: Read the labels and be sure that your milk doesn't contain rBGH or rBST and that it is labeled organic or "produced without artificial hormones."
7. Conventional Apples
The Expert: Mark Kastel, former executive for agribusiness and co-director of the Cornucopia Institute, a farm-policy research group that supports organic foods
The Reason: Apples are the recipient of the most pesticides of all Fall fruits. Chemical producers swear that the residue is not harmful for human consumption, but the Yahoo! Article goes on to quote Kastel in saying that "Farm workers have higher rates of many cancers."
The Solution: Buy organic apples where available or at least thoroughly wash and peel apples before eating them.
Related Content on Eco-Friendly Food:
Trust Stella McCartney: Meat-Free Mondays are Hip, not Hippie!
The EPA, Keeping Chemicals Secret Since 1976
The Eco-Friendly Fisherman
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
www.planetgreen.com
7 Foods So Unsafe Even Farmers Won't Eat Them
Grocery stores may sell them, but experts won't touch them; what you should know about your food.
By Laurel House | Mon Jan 25, 2010 17:55
Dick Luria/Getty Images
READ MORE ABOUT:
Green Home | Pollution | Vegan | Vegetarian | Water
Smoking was proven to be cancer-causing, tanning beds were shown to be on par with arsenic, but what about canned tomatoes, corn-fed beef, conventionally grown potatoes? What would it take to convince you to clean out your pantry and change your eating habits? Scientists, doctors, even simple farmers were asked what foods they refuse to eat. The responses had nothing to do with things like donuts due to fat content, or white bread because of the concentration of empty carbs. We're talking seemingly healthy things like tomatoes, beef, popcorn, potatoes, salmon, milk, and apples. For them, it's all about how they are produced and packaged.
7 experts in fields pertaining to both food and the environment answered one simple question: "What foods do you avoid?." Their answers, published in an article entitled "7 Foods the Experts Won't Eat" on Yahoo! Shine, will make you re-think food. When it comes to food and its affect on your health and the health of this planet, this is what they answered:
1. Canned Tomatoes
The Expert: Fredrick vom Saal, PhD, an endocrinologist at the University of Missouri who studies bisphenol-A.
The Reason: Tin cans are lined with a resin that contains the synthetic estrogen bisphenol-A, which has been linked to a slew of health problems including heart disease, diabetes, reproductive problems, and obesity. But that's not the biggest problem. The acid in tomatoes breaks down that bisphenol-A, leaching it into the food, and not just in insignificant amounts. According to the article, Saal comments that "you can get 50 mcg of BCA per liter out of a tomato can, and that's a level that is going to impact people, particularly the young." That's why he's not touching the stuff.
The Solution: If you lo0ve the taste of "canned" tomatoes but prefer to skip the bisphenol-A, select glass bottles instead.
2. Corn-Fed Beef
The Expert: Joel Salatin, co-owner of Polyface Farms and author of half a dozen books on sustainable farming.
The Reason: Cattle are naturally grass eaters... not grain eaters. In order to fatten the animals (and profit margins), farmers feed them corn and soybeans. And while the farmers are beefing up their earnings, they are minimizing the nutritional benefits. The article mentions the findings from a recent USDA-conducted study comparing corn-fed beef and grass-fed beef showing that grass-fed beef is "higher in beta-carotene, vitamin E, omega-3s, conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), calcium, magnesium, and potassium; lower in inflammatory omega-6s; and lower in saturated fats that have been linked to heart disease."
The Solution: Pretty straight forward: Opt for grass-fed beef instead.
WATCH VIDEO: Why Grass-Fed Beef? Emeril Answers
3.Microwave Popcorn
The Expert: Olga Naidenko, PhD, a senior scientist for the Environmental Working Group.
The Reason: It's not the popcorn itself, but the chemically-saturated lining of the bag including a compound called perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) that, according to a recent study from UCLA, may be linked to infertility. Microwaving vaporizes the chemicals as they move from coating the bag to lining the popcorn. But it's not like this fact is un-acknowledged. In fact the article points out that DuPont, as well as other manufacturers, have "promised to phase out PFOA by 2015 under a voluntary EPA plan, but millions of bags of popcorn will be sold between now and then."
The Solution: Pop your own popcorn the way they did it in the olden days--in a pot.
4. Conventionally Grown (Not Organic) Potatoes
The Expert: Jeffrey Moyer, chair of the National Organic Standards Board.
The Reason: Herbicides and pesticides may not be sprayed directly on root vegetables (since they're underground), but they absorb the chemicals through the soil and water. Because potatoes are considered the nation's most popular vegetable, producing a healthy crop is essential to keep up with demand. In order to maintain their health, the article exposes the scary fact that "they're treated with fungicides during the growing season, then sprayed with herbicides to kill off the fibrous vines before harvesting. After they're dug up, the potatoes are treated yet again to prevent them from sprouting." But here's the scary thing, Moyer says that he's talked to potato growers "who say point-blank they would never eat the potatoes they sell. They have separate plots where they grow potatoes for themselves without all the chemicals."
The Solution: Another no-brainer— Only buy organic potatoes.
5. Farmed Salmon
The Expert: David Carpenter, MD, director of the Institute for Health and the Environment at the University at Albany and publisher of a major study in the journal Science on contamination in fish.
The Reason: When salmon is crammed into pens, fed soy, poultry litter, and hydrolyzed chicken feathers (obviously an unnatural environment for the up-stream swimmers), they're levels of healthy vitamin D lowers as the contaminants increases. Those contaminants include carcinogens, PCBs, brominated flame retardants, and pesticides (like DDT). The article points out that DDT has been linked to both diabetes and obesity, quoting Carpenter in saying that "You can only safely eat one of these salmon dinners every 5 months without increasing your risk of cancer... It's that bad."
The Solution: Avoid farmed salmon and instead select wild-caught Alaskan salmon. But make sure the packaging reads "wild." If it just says "fresh Atlantic," according to the article, "it's farmed."
6. Milk Produced with Artificial Hormones
The Expert: Rick North, project director of the Campaign for Safe Food at the Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility and former CEO of the Oregon division of the American Cancer Society.
The Reason: Unlike in the olden days when fresh milk was some of the purest nutrients you could get, dairy cows today are fed growth hormones like rBGH and rBST to increase milk production. Problem is, while they may be making more milk, they are also increasing their chances of udder infections (which can lead to pus in the milk). More than that, the article points out that high levels of IGF-1 from the rBGH may play a role in the development of breast, prostate, and colon cancers... which is why North says that "it's banned in most industrialized countries."
The Solution: Read the labels and be sure that your milk doesn't contain rBGH or rBST and that it is labeled organic or "produced without artificial hormones."
7. Conventional Apples
The Expert: Mark Kastel, former executive for agribusiness and co-director of the Cornucopia Institute, a farm-policy research group that supports organic foods
The Reason: Apples are the recipient of the most pesticides of all Fall fruits. Chemical producers swear that the residue is not harmful for human consumption, but the Yahoo! Article goes on to quote Kastel in saying that "Farm workers have higher rates of many cancers."
The Solution: Buy organic apples where available or at least thoroughly wash and peel apples before eating them.
Related Content on Eco-Friendly Food:
Trust Stella McCartney: Meat-Free Mondays are Hip, not Hippie!
The EPA, Keeping Chemicals Secret Since 1976
The Eco-Friendly Fisherman
Chemicals in our world
It seems like a chemical kind of week. Everywhere I turn there seem to be articles out there talking about really nasty chemicals that are polluting our world and our bodies. After my first DAN! conference, my head was spinning after the "Defending your child from a toxic world" talk that Dr. Stuart Freedenfeld gave. Bleak was how I felt but then I got mobilized. From dumping the teflon pans to re-packaging my meat from those disgusting foam filled trays to looking at water filters for my home, my conscious mind was now on ways to protect my family.
The DAN! conference also showed me (in a very elaborate, organic chemistry sort of way) the detox pathways that we are born with and just how broken they have become in our kiddos with Autism (and probably a great many others without it). I also heard the stats of what hazardous toxins are found each day in the cord blood of newborn babies. It seems un-avoidable. We all are exposed to toxins. When I walk through the lush grass of our HOA I know I am picking up fertilizers and pesticides, another reason why I don't let my kids lay on the common area grass or wear shoes inside. I know the schools use pesticides and herbicides, as do all the malls, stores, etc. We cannot live in a bubble, but what I always encourage is for people to make the biggest impact where they get the most exposure.
For most of us that is in our food supply and what we use to clean our homes. We can make a BIG impact just eating organic with the "dirty dozen", for example strawberries have some of the highest residue amounts so always go organic on the strawberries. Things with thick peels are ok not to get organic. Peel your veggies and fruit unless it is organic. Small steps do add up to big changes in our exposure. Dump the bleach. One byproduct of bleach is dioxin, one of the most hazardous chemicals out there. You can have a clean house without bleach, I promise.
I used to think it was just the hippie freakos who were afraid of stuff like BPA. Now maybe I am one of those hippie freakos. If so, I embrace it because I do know (and have the lab tests to prove it!) that we are healthier than before. I applaud Feinstein's efforts to ban BPA, it should NOT be lining our canned goods, baby bottles and other plastics. If you are eating anything out of a can then you are ingesting BPA, unless you are eating out of a can from Eden Foods. They are committed to providing non-GMO products and spend a great deal of money to provide a BPA-free can. I support them as much as possible. I am sorry, I just don't have time in the day to make my own refried beans right now (especially since I am the main one that eats them). So, a little convenience is always appreciated and Eden Foods' refried beans are yummy and BPA free! There's my plug for them.
So read below a great article from Care2's website on possible changes this government is making. I sure would love to see some actual regulations on what chemicals are allowed into our foods, used on the crops and injected into the animals we eat. We need to continue to put pressure on regulation of these chemicals and how they can be used. And we all need to be educated in what really goes on. We do need to take charge of our health and the health of our families and that means learning about the bad stuff so we can make changes as much as possible. And of course all of these chemicals are impacting our rates of cancer, DUH! But, one word about that, an alkaline environment is not cancer friendly. Learning about the PH of the body and eating and drinking things that promote alkalinity as opposed to acidity will greatly benefit you when it comes to disease, especially cancer! More on alkalinity at a later date.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
www.care@.com
For everyone who thought BPA-paranoid moms were just control freaks, and the people scrubbing their bathrooms with homemade cleaning solutions were just silly tree huggers, brace yourselves. Because the President's Cancer Panel just joined forces with those hippies.
The Panel, established in 1971 and consisting of three medical experts who report directly to the president, released a report today warning that lax chemical regulations could be negatively affecting our health -- especially when it comes to cancer.
Chemicals have crept into almost every aspect of our lives -- from water and food, to even the air we breathe. Chemicals like BPA, which California Senator Dianne Feinstein is pushing to ban, and those found in household products like cleaning supplies and cosmetics have been getting some attention recently through legislation like Feinstein's, and movements like the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. Hexane, a carcinogenic neurotoxin, was recently discovered in veggie burgers. The report recognizes there is a regulatory (and cultural) presumption that chemicals are safe, and this helps keep possibly dangerous products in the mainstream. Most people will swipe on that paraben-laden eyeshadow without ever batting an...eye.
The Panel blames this assumption that chemicals are safe, as well as weak laws, derelict enforcement, and disunited authority, for the lack of chemical regulation. According to the report, only a few hundred of the more than 80,000 chemicals used in America have been tested for safety, and a number of suspected or even known carcinogens remain unregulated.
The report is especially important because of an increase in cancers, particularly among children, which experts suspect could be due to environmental factors. Stomach cancer in young white adults is also on the rise. Pregnant mothers should be exceptionally cautious about chemicals: 300 contaminants have been found in the cord blood of newborn babies, suggesting that children are being born 'pre-polluted.'
To help reduce your chemical exposure, the Panel gives suggestions such as filtering your drinking water, checking radon levels in your home, choosing pesticide-, chemical fertilzer-, and growth-hormone-free foods, and using databases to research the safety of common household products and cosmetics.
You can also sign this petition to Strengthen America's Toxic Chemical Standards.
And read up on what our friends over at Healthy & Green Living have to say about the report, too!
Read more: cancer, safety, chemicals, cosmetics, BPA, health policy, presidents cancer panel
The DAN! conference also showed me (in a very elaborate, organic chemistry sort of way) the detox pathways that we are born with and just how broken they have become in our kiddos with Autism (and probably a great many others without it). I also heard the stats of what hazardous toxins are found each day in the cord blood of newborn babies. It seems un-avoidable. We all are exposed to toxins. When I walk through the lush grass of our HOA I know I am picking up fertilizers and pesticides, another reason why I don't let my kids lay on the common area grass or wear shoes inside. I know the schools use pesticides and herbicides, as do all the malls, stores, etc. We cannot live in a bubble, but what I always encourage is for people to make the biggest impact where they get the most exposure.
For most of us that is in our food supply and what we use to clean our homes. We can make a BIG impact just eating organic with the "dirty dozen", for example strawberries have some of the highest residue amounts so always go organic on the strawberries. Things with thick peels are ok not to get organic. Peel your veggies and fruit unless it is organic. Small steps do add up to big changes in our exposure. Dump the bleach. One byproduct of bleach is dioxin, one of the most hazardous chemicals out there. You can have a clean house without bleach, I promise.
I used to think it was just the hippie freakos who were afraid of stuff like BPA. Now maybe I am one of those hippie freakos. If so, I embrace it because I do know (and have the lab tests to prove it!) that we are healthier than before. I applaud Feinstein's efforts to ban BPA, it should NOT be lining our canned goods, baby bottles and other plastics. If you are eating anything out of a can then you are ingesting BPA, unless you are eating out of a can from Eden Foods. They are committed to providing non-GMO products and spend a great deal of money to provide a BPA-free can. I support them as much as possible. I am sorry, I just don't have time in the day to make my own refried beans right now (especially since I am the main one that eats them). So, a little convenience is always appreciated and Eden Foods' refried beans are yummy and BPA free! There's my plug for them.
So read below a great article from Care2's website on possible changes this government is making. I sure would love to see some actual regulations on what chemicals are allowed into our foods, used on the crops and injected into the animals we eat. We need to continue to put pressure on regulation of these chemicals and how they can be used. And we all need to be educated in what really goes on. We do need to take charge of our health and the health of our families and that means learning about the bad stuff so we can make changes as much as possible. And of course all of these chemicals are impacting our rates of cancer, DUH! But, one word about that, an alkaline environment is not cancer friendly. Learning about the PH of the body and eating and drinking things that promote alkalinity as opposed to acidity will greatly benefit you when it comes to disease, especially cancer! More on alkalinity at a later date.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
www.care@.com
For everyone who thought BPA-paranoid moms were just control freaks, and the people scrubbing their bathrooms with homemade cleaning solutions were just silly tree huggers, brace yourselves. Because the President's Cancer Panel just joined forces with those hippies.
The Panel, established in 1971 and consisting of three medical experts who report directly to the president, released a report today warning that lax chemical regulations could be negatively affecting our health -- especially when it comes to cancer.
Chemicals have crept into almost every aspect of our lives -- from water and food, to even the air we breathe. Chemicals like BPA, which California Senator Dianne Feinstein is pushing to ban, and those found in household products like cleaning supplies and cosmetics have been getting some attention recently through legislation like Feinstein's, and movements like the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. Hexane, a carcinogenic neurotoxin, was recently discovered in veggie burgers. The report recognizes there is a regulatory (and cultural) presumption that chemicals are safe, and this helps keep possibly dangerous products in the mainstream. Most people will swipe on that paraben-laden eyeshadow without ever batting an...eye.
The Panel blames this assumption that chemicals are safe, as well as weak laws, derelict enforcement, and disunited authority, for the lack of chemical regulation. According to the report, only a few hundred of the more than 80,000 chemicals used in America have been tested for safety, and a number of suspected or even known carcinogens remain unregulated.
The report is especially important because of an increase in cancers, particularly among children, which experts suspect could be due to environmental factors. Stomach cancer in young white adults is also on the rise. Pregnant mothers should be exceptionally cautious about chemicals: 300 contaminants have been found in the cord blood of newborn babies, suggesting that children are being born 'pre-polluted.'
To help reduce your chemical exposure, the Panel gives suggestions such as filtering your drinking water, checking radon levels in your home, choosing pesticide-, chemical fertilzer-, and growth-hormone-free foods, and using databases to research the safety of common household products and cosmetics.
You can also sign this petition to Strengthen America's Toxic Chemical Standards.
And read up on what our friends over at Healthy & Green Living have to say about the report, too!
Read more: cancer, safety, chemicals, cosmetics, BPA, health policy, presidents cancer panel
Monday, May 17, 2010
Pesticides and ADHD and cross post about Azure Standard
I have blogged before about pesticides and the "dirty dozen" list of products that you should always buy organic. As I read yet another story about the link between these neurotoxins we use to kill the crickets and roaches around our house and neuro-developmental disorders, I was also checking on my co-op order from Azure Standard. I always, always, ALWAYS get organic strawberries. I buy them frozen, in bulk from Azure Standard. They are frequently used for smoothies and popsicles in this house. So, I reviewed my order to see what actually shipped and will be arriving tomorrow and was shocked to see I ordered NON organic strawberries. It always happens that way. I read about something bad and find out that it was exactly what I just ordered a boat load of. We often take a break from the co-op during the summer months because so many people go out of town. You guessed it, I ordered a 3 month supply of non organic strawberries. Eeeek! OK so I grab the phone and call them to ask about the growing practices. I give them the item number and ask "I'd like to know about the pesticide use of the grower of this product". I get a kind of stunned answer "It is none or we would not be carrying it". SAY WHAT? So I reiterate "so even though these are not organic strawberries, you require little or no pesticide use or you don't carry their product". "Yes, we require that of our growers". WOW!! As if this company did not already have enough gold stars from me, add another one. If you don't know about Azure Standard, you should. Their customer service is bar none and they truly CARE about the products they stock. They are not just another wholesale distributor getting their cut. They investigate the products they carry. Now, I still advocate reading labels and all, what may be important to one person may not be important to another. But, I am so shocked to hear about standards like Azure Standard has. So, please support them, check out if there is a drop point near you! Once a month they truck down your shipment, good prices, wide variety of products, and great customer service. So there is my cross-post about pesticides and Azure Standard. So check out their website HERE.
Click HERE to read the full story on the link between pesticide use and ADHD. It will give you yet another reason to start your own garden or look for more organic produce while shopping. We get so focused on keeping those nasty bugs out, that we have lost sight of what we are using to get rid of those critters. Our little ones are often running around barefoot, putting toys in their mouths that have been laying on the ground and we have to be conscious of what we spray around that our kids are crawling and walking through. And, this is a good reason to leave shoes at the door. Not only are these hazardous chemicals tracked in on our shoes but if we don't remove our shoes, they are tracked onto the carpets that our kids roll around on. I hate bugs just as much as the next person, weeds too, but speaking from experience, I hate trying to heal my child's neurological problems more. And given that our kiddos with Autism already have impaired detox mechanisms, getting this crap out of their systems is even harder. So, hopefully this story will make you look for alternative ways to kill bugs and weeds. Vinegar is a great alternative for weeds, I have blogged on that before as well. It also makes a great cleaner/disinfectant in lieu of the toxic chemical cleaners. And beware the "all natural" label, it means very little these days.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
More information on the dangers of soy
Once you mention that you or your family member does not eat or drink any dairy, the next thing that people say is "oh, so you use soy milk instead.". Or, I hear other people who say that they cannot drink dairy but instead use soy (which then makes me want to ask them if they still suffer from some of the same problems since many people find soy problematic because of their similar protein structures). We have avoided soy for a long time, I knew first hand what a thyroid dysrupter it could be when my friend (and own personal food guru) suffered thyroid issues as a result of soy intake. It can be especially problematic for children, and when you add the fact that most soy is genetically modified (GMO), it adds to the overall ICK factor I have with soy. If you don't know by now, genetically modified ingredients add to inflammation in the body. Inflammation is prevalent in many, many disorders we see today. Auto-immunity and inflammation are what I believe to be the heart of MOST disorders, including Autism as we have seen for my son. So, reducing inflammation and auto-immunity is key for us, and what I promote to friends and family suffering from things like diabetes, arthritis, etc. So when my Facebook friend Anne shared this link, I had to blog about it. Here is another article discussing yet another reason to avoid soy. Processing soy using a Hexane bath would not be my first inclination. We try and keep toxins out of our bodies, especially for my kiddo on the spectrum who has problems detoxing the way we are meant to. The link is below and you can scroll to the bottom and either read the full report or the summary, your choice. But, it highlights other soy products out (including the ever popular veggie burgers) that are processed with this chemical. And this reinforces my encouragement to all of you, to be sure about what you are eating, MAKE YOUR OWN FOOD! There are some fabulous veggie burger recipes on the web. They are chock full of protein, taste great and are SOY FREE! And if you can, start your own garden, no matter how small. Not only will you gain satisfaction out of it, you will know exactly where your food comes from and what (or what NOT) was used on the plants. And the Town of Gilbert will give you a free compost bin. So, now you can reduce your trash waste, give back to the environment and make your own nutrients to help nourish that garden. But in the meantime, you may want to check those labels again and just educate yourself on soy and how it may be processed!
Click HERE
Click HERE
Friday, May 14, 2010
Homemade popsicles
Do you want to give your kids some cool treats this summer but none of the guilt? So many premade (and I daresay even the ones marked "all natural") popsicles and treats have lots of sugar or corn syrup, colors and preservatives that many of us want to keep out of our kids' diets. There is an easier way! Fruit smoothies are a great way to get veggies and fruits into your kids without them knowing! These are kid tested (and mom approved).
In a blender combine:
8 ounces of water
1 cup blueberries
1 cup strawberries
1 handful spinach (optional but your kids will not know it is in there!)
3 scoops of KAL brand stevia (use the tiny scooper they provide in the container - add more or less depending on how sweet you want it)
Blend then pour into popsicle molds and freeze.
Your kids will be getting whole fruit, and if you add spinach, veggies too and the best part? They will LOVE it. My kids beg for these, yes even my 12 year old step-daughter who has had commercial popsicles before. She wanted to take the recipe back home with her after the first summer I made these. I get flak from people who say "sure, you get your kids to eat healthy because that's all they know, it is harder when they have eaten the other stuff with corn syrup, etc.". Yes it CAN be more challenging but eating healthy does NOT have to taste bad. Many of the raw food desserts and snacks I make are devoured by my step-daughter who is not used to raw foods at all. It can be done, with a little imagination anyone can eat healthier and like it. And this recipe can be modified to fit your tastes by switching the fruits. Spinach is so mild tasting raw that it makes a good addition. A few summers ago I used the green super foods powder, almond or coconut milk and a frozen banana and strawberries and called it "shrek ice cream" because it was green from the green super foods powder. The texture of the frozen banana is similar to ice cream and the kids LOVED it. And, I could feed my kids "ice cream" in the morning with NO guilt. What kind of cool mom was I??? :) So as the heat approaches, you can find cool ways to feed your kids healthy!! So go ahead, let your kids eat ice cream or popsicles for breakfast, because with these recipes, you know they are getting whole food nutrition at the same time, and YOU get major brownie points!
In a blender combine:
8 ounces of water
1 cup blueberries
1 cup strawberries
1 handful spinach (optional but your kids will not know it is in there!)
3 scoops of KAL brand stevia (use the tiny scooper they provide in the container - add more or less depending on how sweet you want it)
Blend then pour into popsicle molds and freeze.
Your kids will be getting whole fruit, and if you add spinach, veggies too and the best part? They will LOVE it. My kids beg for these, yes even my 12 year old step-daughter who has had commercial popsicles before. She wanted to take the recipe back home with her after the first summer I made these. I get flak from people who say "sure, you get your kids to eat healthy because that's all they know, it is harder when they have eaten the other stuff with corn syrup, etc.". Yes it CAN be more challenging but eating healthy does NOT have to taste bad. Many of the raw food desserts and snacks I make are devoured by my step-daughter who is not used to raw foods at all. It can be done, with a little imagination anyone can eat healthier and like it. And this recipe can be modified to fit your tastes by switching the fruits. Spinach is so mild tasting raw that it makes a good addition. A few summers ago I used the green super foods powder, almond or coconut milk and a frozen banana and strawberries and called it "shrek ice cream" because it was green from the green super foods powder. The texture of the frozen banana is similar to ice cream and the kids LOVED it. And, I could feed my kids "ice cream" in the morning with NO guilt. What kind of cool mom was I??? :) So as the heat approaches, you can find cool ways to feed your kids healthy!! So go ahead, let your kids eat ice cream or popsicles for breakfast, because with these recipes, you know they are getting whole food nutrition at the same time, and YOU get major brownie points!
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Tylenol and Autism, is there a connection?
Sorry blog followers, it has been a busy month so far and I have not had much time for blogging. But, I got to see my rockstar, kick butt friend (and former therapist) Dawn Winkelmann last night when she spoke at the ABC meeting. She touched on a topic about guilt. She says when she speaks she usually sees at least one parent crying at the discovery of an issue that may be a biggie for their child, and could be impeding their ability to speak and/or eat. She says that you can't have guilt over what you didn't know. Guilt, guilt, guilt.....it is what I struggle with as well. I daresay most Autism moms and dads face this too. From the dawn of this disorder it seems we are intent on placing blame, many times on us moms. First it was the refridgerator mom theory, we are cold, unloving people and therefore our children do not know how to relate to others. Then it was old eggs, yeah that's it. Or living in toxic environments, old homes, new homes, etc. It becomes hard to keep up. So I just read a new article discussing the possible link between Tylenol use and Autism. My son was fussy, and I mean colicky fussy, we never knew what was pain and what wasn't and no parent wants to see their child in pain, even though I also did not like giving pain medications, we were told Tylenol was safe. We were also told by our doctor to give Tylenol before immunizations, so we did. I look back now and see how many little bottles of infant Tylenol we went through because I thought it was "safe". I didn't know then what I do now. I didn't know how Tylenol is certainly not good for ANYONE with sulfation issues (all you arthritis sufferes out there, drop that Tylenol bottle!). So I gave my son Tylenol, and lots of it (now we only give ibuprofen and very sparingly!). So although I want to share this article, because I do think it is important to raise awareness and maybe share with our fellow mommies so they can skip the Tylenol, especially if they choose to immunize their children, I want everyone to leave the guilt at the door. It is a good reminder anyways, we do the best we can with the information we have today. If we learn something new, we apply it asap, but no guilt about the past, it is done, all we can do is keep moving forward. And if you see me out and about, remind me of this too, I am just as "guilty" as most.....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From Foodconsumer.org
Some observational evidence has suggested that use of Tylenol in pregnant women and young children may increase risk of pediatric autism.
One study of 83 children with autism and 80 children without the condition released in Jan 2009 in Autism showed that use of acetaminophen or Tylenol after measles-mumps-rubella vaccination was associated with much greater risk of autism.
Stephen Schultz and colleagues from the University of California San Diego found among children aged younger than 5 years, those who used Tylenol after MMR vaccination were 6 times as likely to develop autism as those who did not.
Among children with regression in development, those who used Tylenol were 4 times as likely to suffer autism as those without.
Among children who had post-vaccination sequelae, those who received Tylenol were 8 times as likely to have autism as those who did not.
On the other hand, the researchers found Ibuprofen use after MMR was not associated with autism.
They concluded that the preliminary study suggested that Tylenol after MMR was associated with autism.
Torres A. R from Utah State University in Logan Utah published an article in Sept 2003 in BMC Prediatrics saying that the etiology of autism involves infections of the pregnant mother or of a young child.
Infections often lead to fever for which Tylenol is often used.
Torres explained that use of Tylenol inhibits processes that evolved over millions of years to protect against microbial attack and interferes with normal immunological development in the brain leading to neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism.
David Liu
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From Foodconsumer.org
Some observational evidence has suggested that use of Tylenol in pregnant women and young children may increase risk of pediatric autism.
One study of 83 children with autism and 80 children without the condition released in Jan 2009 in Autism showed that use of acetaminophen or Tylenol after measles-mumps-rubella vaccination was associated with much greater risk of autism.
Stephen Schultz and colleagues from the University of California San Diego found among children aged younger than 5 years, those who used Tylenol after MMR vaccination were 6 times as likely to develop autism as those who did not.
Among children with regression in development, those who used Tylenol were 4 times as likely to suffer autism as those without.
Among children who had post-vaccination sequelae, those who received Tylenol were 8 times as likely to have autism as those who did not.
On the other hand, the researchers found Ibuprofen use after MMR was not associated with autism.
They concluded that the preliminary study suggested that Tylenol after MMR was associated with autism.
Torres A. R from Utah State University in Logan Utah published an article in Sept 2003 in BMC Prediatrics saying that the etiology of autism involves infections of the pregnant mother or of a young child.
Infections often lead to fever for which Tylenol is often used.
Torres explained that use of Tylenol inhibits processes that evolved over millions of years to protect against microbial attack and interferes with normal immunological development in the brain leading to neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism.
David Liu
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Barro's gluten free pizza!
So I have to tell you about our new ritual. We see our chiropractor in Queen Creek once a week and we drive by Barro's pizza on Power and Queen Creek on the way home. I have had the privilege to meet a member of the Barro's family and let me tell you, she is fabulous! And I know how committed they are to offering a gluten and dairy free pizza option. So, in many of their locations now, you can get a gluten and dairy free pizza. My son is gun shy after years of cheese substitutes so he just eats the regular gluten free crust with sauce. That version is GFCF. Their location at Power and Queen Creek also has a little kids area, about half the restaurant with a pretend kitchen, play food, tables and chairs for kids and a big flat screen with cartoons on. Too cool! There are booths and tables for parents and it makes a dinner out very, very enjoyable, especially since we ALL get to eat the same food! So if you are local, I would highly recommend Barro's pizza, they use the Gluten Free Creations crusts!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)