I am also talking about ingesting harmful and damaging chemicals and other foods that are detrimental to our bodies well being.

Cory had no idea that food could do all that!

Consuming the wrong foods can actually cause or exacerbate conditions such as: hyperactivity, anxiety, fear, anger, violent behaviors, head banging, meltdowns, frustrations, bowel dysfunctions, vomiting, red ears and/or cheeks, runny noses, night sweats, sleep disorders, eczema, focus issues, food limitations, sensory problems, walking on toes, poor eye contact, lack of or limited language, obsessions, depression and more.

Eating foods that do not mix properly within certain individual’s bodies can have injurious effects. There are many food alternatives that many people might not be aware of, which could actually improve or alter the conditions mentioned above, if changes are made.

Avoiding gluten (wheat, rye, barley and cross-contaminated oats), casein (protein in dairy) and often soy have proved to show remarkable improvements in as many as 70 percent of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders.

Gluten is surprisingly found in many foods. Luckily, for many on a gluten free (GF) diet as of January 2006, a law was enacted in the USA stating that the top eight allergens must be listed on food labels to alert the consumer of these ingredients, whether hidden or plainly stated on the label. All of gluten is NOT part of the main eight allergens, yet wheat is one of the eight and wheat is the main culprit for those avoiding gluten. Keep in mind, those avoiding gluten must also adhere to staying away from barley (which lurks in many things and is NOT covered by this law), rye and oats that are usually cross-contaminated with wheat and thus must be avoided, unless one purchases specially marked GF oats.

The remaining seven allergens covered by the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act (FALCPA) are often needed to be avoided by those with special needs, as their bodies cannot tolerate the proteins found in these allergens: soy, milk, crustacean shellfish, fish, eggs, peanuts, and tree nuts.

What many people do not realize is that many children with Down Syndrome can also be helped with a GFCF diet. There is a high incidence of children with Down Syndrome having Celiac Disease, an inability to properly digest gluten. Those with Celiac Disease must adhere to being gluten free 100% of the time, forever.

Children and adults with ASD, and ADD/ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) have reversed many of the above listed characteristics and traits by adhering to the Feingold Diet, which avoids additives in foods, such as: preservatives, MSG, aspartame, artificial colors/dyes and artificial flavors, anything else that is not natural and even certain natural fruits and vegetables that can cause disturbances in the body, called phenols or salicylates. The above-mentioned additives, as well as nitrites, nitrates, and high fructose corn syrup, could have detrimental effects on the body. Many children have had great success with, not only, Feingold, but also, adding a GFCF lifestyle to their daily lives.

Yeast is also a common problem for a number of people. An overgrowth of yeast is called Candida albicans. Many of the above mentioned symptoms could be attributed to yeast overgrowth from ingesting certain foods. Yeast can also cause confusion, lethargy, headaches, stomachaches, depression and more.

Avoiding gluten, casein, soy, artificial ingredients, chemicals, and yeast has also shown great success in those with mental illness, as well as gastrointestinal disorders such as: Crohn’s, Colitis, and other bowel related diseases.

***

A big nonna hug to my guest blogger Barrie Silberberg:

For much more in-depth details to everything mentioned in this article and much more, please go to Barrie Silberberg’s web site: www.puttingyourkidsfirst.com and discover more about her book: The Autism & ADHD Diet: A Step-by-Step Guide to Hope and Healing by Living Gluten Free and Casein Free (GFCF) and Other Interventions.

The Autism & ADHD Diet is available at all major bookstores, Amazon.com and many other online book retailers.

Reprinted with permission from Parenting Special Needs Magazine, Mar/Apr ‘11 Issue, Copyright [2011] by Parenting Special Needs LLC.  http://www.parentingspecialneeds.org

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Ouch! Constipation hurts. Constipation is a common and frustrating problem in children. Constipation is defined as hard and painful stools or going several days without a bowel movement. People (kids, too) should have at least one soft bowel movement a day.

A mom on mamapedia.com asks for advice about her toddler’s pooping. “My 23 month old son is withholding his poop. What the heck! He does have a history of constipation…so I’ve added lots of fiber to his diet…more fruit, veggies etc. I’m thinking that he had some painful bowel movements and is now afraid to go number two.”

Sophia doesn’t like being blocked up.

When kids experience painful bowel movements, they sometimes begin to “hold,” making the problem worse. The more your child holds it, the harder and bigger the stools become. The problem worsens, because painful movements can cause fissures or splits in the anal area.

Kids (even preschool children), who eat a fast food diet with altered fats, white flour, and processed sugar, are candidates for constipation. The best defense is a good offense. Once a child is constipated call your pediatrician. Often pediatricians recommend stool softeners, enemas, and sometimes even laxatives. Obviously, you must get things moving along.

Constipation is not a normal state for anyone, much less for a child. It indicates an imbalance in your child’s system. Poor diet and lack of fluid are the most common causes of constipation. High fiber foods and fluid makes stools soft and passable. Most of the time, constipation in children is due to a diet lacking fiber and water. Fiber is found in all fruit, vegetables, and whole grains. 

Picky eaters self-limit the types of food they eat. High fiber vegetables, like broccoli, are usually the first foods to be refused. It’s vital to teach your child how to appreciate the tastes of various foods, especially vegetables. Multi-sensory learning is vital when transforming a picky eater’s limited diet to include veggies. Click Here for more information about the Baby Bite Steps to healthy eating.

Get Things Moving With…
1) A HIGH FIBER DIET and WATER should get your kid going number two. Fiber is found in fruit (especially prunes, raisins, and organic apples with the skin), vegetables, and whole grains.

2) FLAX OIL is a sure-fire way to get things moving when your child is still blocked up, even after the inclusion of produce and whole grains. The flax seed is tiny, but mighty, and its oil is especially high in fiber. Flax seeds and its oil turns rancid quickly, so always purchase it from the refrigerator case in your whole foods store. For the best taste, mix it in a little juice or in a fruit smoothie. Because flax oil is high in fiber it will naturally keep bowels soft, as long as your child is drinking plenty of water. Follow the recommendations for how much to take. It’s best to start with a small amount and slowly increase. If you give your child too much, a side effect is loose bowels; then decrease the amount given.

3) PROBIOTICS improve gut flora. Another common factor often overlooked is the health of your child’s gut flora. Gut flora can become unbalanced by illness, stress, and drugs. Poor eating habits (junk foods), chlorinated drinking water, and especially antibiotics damage the intestinal flora. It just makes plain sense, that a drug called an “anti” biotic will kill even the helpful bacteria in the gut. When there is an unbalance in your child’s gut, it often results in constipation. Probiotics are a natural preventative and remedy for the many stomach and bowel issues kids experience. Probiotics can also be purchased at a whole foods store and some are especially made for infants and children.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. This information is intended for educational purposes only. It’s not intended for medical advice or other professional services and shouldn’t be considered a substitute for the advice of your personal physician or other medical professional. If your child has a medical or behavioral problem, or you suspect that such a possibility exists, consult your health care provider.

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Food manufactures want us to believe we’re purchasing a healthy product, even if we’re not. They do everything they can to convince us that their processed food is in some way nutritious. Today, 90 percent of the foods in our grocery stores are processed with over 3,000 chemicals.

Learning what’s in the food we purchase is vital for every family. Eliminating additives and chemicals from your diet will increase the overall health of your family. In Baby Bites: Transforming a Picky Eater into a Healthy Eater, I explain the difference between natural and organic:

“The terms natural and organic don’t mean the same thing. They’re not interchangeable. Certified USDA organically grown produce is produced without pesticides, synthetic herbicides, sewage sludge, irradiation, preservatives or additives, and doesn’t utilize seeds from Genetically Engineered Organisms (GMOs). USDA Organic means it’s grown, handled, and processed differently than conventionally processed foods. At least 95 percent of the product is organic.

On the other hand, the word “natural” on the label means absolutely nothing. Natural isn’t a term designating how the food was grown or produced or handled. The term “natural” indicates the product is edible. The food hype includes the whole food industry, which is growing by leaps and bounds. Just because the word organic is mentioned, don’t think the product is free of sugar or white flour. Reading labels is still your best bet. ”

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In a recent academic review, a University of Minnesota professor in the School of Public Health has concluded that food, as opposed to specific nutrients, may be key to having a healthy diet.

Do you think it could be that simple? Food gurus all have different points of view: Eat low-fat; no eat healthy fat; don’t eat sugar; sugar isn’t so bad in moderation; fortified is just as healthful as natural; fast-food is healthy when you purchase a salad. Marketers and regulators focus on details: total fat, carbohydrates, and proteins. We’re given volumes of information about individual nutrients and vitamin fortification added to our food products.

David Jacobs, Ph.D, the principal investigator, and Mayo Professor of Public Health at the University of Minnesota said, “We are confusing ourselves and the public by talking so much about nutrients when we should be talking about foods. Consumers get the idea that diet and health can be understood in terms of isolated nutrients. It’s not the best approach, and it might be wrong.”

Jacobs and others argue that people should shift their focus toward the benefits of entire foods and food patterns in order to better understand nutrition.

Pictured: Natalie is thinking over the question of “Food or Nutrients?”

Food synergy is the new focus or is it really new? Perhaps grandmas knew about food synergy, before it became a popular buzz word. This is the idea that health is obtained from whole foods, rather than a single food component, such as cereal fortified with vitamins and calcium added to a container of orange juice.

It seems to me that moms are concerned about balance in their children’s diets. Once we begin to understand the difference between processed and whole foods, we’re on the road to health and by default: food synergy.

Jacobs said an understanding of the interactions between food components in both single foods and whole diets opens up new areas of thinking. I take supplements and I’m certainly interested in various facts about the foods we eat. Sometimes we can make ourselves crazy with the latest information about the ORAC value of produce or the belief that all fat is bad. When most times a simple rule works: Eat a variety of whole unprocessed foods. That simple, yet life-altering step will open the door to your family’s health.

A day’s worth of vitamins can be found in a serving of processed cereal. How much better is it to eat a whole grain like old fashioned oatmeal or cream of wheat? Even a bowl of brown rice mixed with fruit is a healthier option to a box of processed cereal filled with added sugars and chemicals. Once we begin to switch from nutrient thinking to whole food thinking, it takes the guesswork out of what’s really healthy.

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Double your fun and nutrients with super foods.

YUM…According to Drs. Roizen and Oz if you drink a glass of orange juice with your oatmeal it will help elevate your breakfast to superfood status. They say there’s food synergy between the nutrients in oatmeal and OJ that work to provide double the benefits you’d expect from simply adding their nutrients together.

The phenols in oatmeal and the vitamin C in OJ both help make LDL more stable — the more stable LDL is, the less likely it’ll to stick to artery walls. But consume the phenols and vitamin C together and they’ll stabilize LDL at twice the level expected from adding their effects. They say it’s like: 2 + 2 = 8, not 4, when it comes to phenol plus vitamin C benefits.

To take advantage of more food synergies eat a varied diet rich in colorful fruits and veggies, healthy fats, a variety of whole grains, and few or no processed foods. This will give nutrients the best shot at meeting up in your body and reinforcing one another as they guard against disease. Good advice from Drs. Oz and Roisen!

Photo: Even picky eaters will be more likely to try a refused food if they have helped in some way to grow, harvest, or prepare it. Jordan’s mom, Tonya, sent in this photo of Jordan picking blueberries, a super food. Tonya had the right idea for encouraging healthy eating!

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My journey to whole foods began when Jenny, my third daughter, was diagnosed as hyperactive. Her pediatrician wanted to write a prescription at her two-year check-up to control her symptoms. I resisted and I resisted again at her 3-year and 4-year check-ups.

Jenny was constantly moving and she had a short attention span. We found ourselves adjusting our routines just to accommodate her. More worrisome, Jenny had great difficulty falling asleep. Bedtime took hours for her to settle down.

I knew in my heart that Jenny wouldn’t be able to function in a school setting and I would be out of options at her next annual check-up. I began to search for solutions at a time where there weren’t many. Although, it didn’t take too long and I found a book, Why Your Child is Hyperactive, by Dr. Feingold. He was the first to make the connection between food additives in processed foods with hyperactivity. Today, you can find many resources through the Feingold Association.

After reading Feingold’s book, I knew I had to change my purchasing habits, not only for Jenny, but for the entire family. I figured, I didn’t have anything to lose. I was a mom on a mission. I didn’t wait to gradually replace the food I’d previously purchased, but took an afternoon and cleaned out my entire kitchen. I read every label and gave away 5 bags of food.

In about a week, we began to see a new child emerge from the cloud of chemicals. Jenny, who exhausted US at her bedtime, was now falling asleep in minutes. This alone was worth any perceived difficulty or for that matter cost in changing our diets. Jenny’s attention span increased. She was more at peace. We always knew when something hidden in our food got past us, in our own accidental double-blind studies. After ingesting hidden chemicals, Jenny would once again experience sleep difficulties and, of course, hyperactivity.

I became a master sleuth, locating the additive culprit and then eliminating it. It typically took three to five days to clear her system. Unfortunately, in the last 30 years more chemicals have been added to our food supply. Today, 90 percent of the foods in our grocery stores are processed with over 3,000 chemicals. I believe this is why we are seeing an alarming increase of Autism Spectrum Disorder, which includes: Attention Deficit Disorder, ADD, ADHD, Sensory Integration Disorder, and of course Autism.

Learning what’s in the food we purchase is vital for every family; whether or not you have a sensitive child, like Jenny. Eliminating additives and chemicals from your diet will increase the overall health of your family. Although our nutrition label is more complete, today, manufactures have added to the confusion. They want us to believe that we’re purchasing a healthy product, even if we’re not. They do everything they can to convince us that their processed food is in some way nutritious.

In Baby Bites: Transforming a Picky Eater into a Healthy Eater, I explain the difference between natural and organic: “The terms natural and organic don’t mean the same thing. They’re not interchangeable. Certified USDA organically grown produce is produced without pesticides, synthetic herbicides, sewage sludge, irradiation, preservatives or additives, and doesn’t utilize seeds from Genetically Engineered Organisms (GMOs). USDA Organic means it’s grown, handled, and processed differently than conventionally processed foods. At least 95 percent of the product is organic. On the other hand, the word “natural” on the label means absolutely nothing. Natural isn’t a term designating how the food was grown or produced or handled. The term “natural” indicates the product is edible. The food hype includes the whole food industry, which is growing by leaps and bounds. Just because the word organic is mentioned, don’t think the product is free of sugar or white flour. Reading labels is still your best bet. ”

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