Diet for Autism, Ulcerative Colitis and much more!

I feel like I need to spread the word about this book, Feast Without Yeast by Bruce Semon, M.D., Ph.D. and Lori Kornblum, since it has been such a life altering book for me. I have an auto-immune disease I was diagnosed with at age 23, Ulcerative Colitis. I struggled for years with this ferocious disease and tried every prescription medicine my doctor could give me, until finally I stumbled on this book (to get more details on my battle with Ulcerative Colitis see the Naturopathic Doctor’s Corner page of the website.)

This book was written by a medical doctor who’s son has autism. After years of experimenting with his diet and trying to find out what improved his condition he developed this book based on his findings. He claims it is helpful for many medical conditions, and is overall just a very healthy diet.

This diet has given me a healthy, symptom free life back. The great thing is that there are over 225 recipes in his book! This is not another one of those extremely hard to follow diets that you can’t follow because you are left with no real guide. This book has different levels (depending on if you want a no gluten, no dairy, no meat diet), grocery lists for each level, and great recipes! It even satisfies my sweet tooth, with no sugar; he uses honey to bake cakes and all kinds of sweet treats.

Here is a link to Amazon if you want to look into it (I am in no way getting paid to promote this book).

Toddler Milk Allergies - Milk Alternatives

My son, like many, may be allergic to milk. He has very dry, scaly skin (no creams or prescriptions have helped), and a constant runny nose. After a little research I found that all these symptoms may be due to milk allergies. My husband was also allergic to milk when he was young and outgrew it. So I went searching for an alternative and found many opinions on rice, soy, hemp, oat milk, etc. I have decided to limit my son's exposure to soy due to the debate over phytoestrogens, but am not concerned with low-moderate consumption based on the various research. So whatever alternative you may decide to use, none of them really have as much fat as whole milk. Also, there is no reason that you need to choose any milk alternative as long as you find an alternative source of calcium, fatty acids, B12, and fat. Many cereals and juices are fortified with these nutrients. Fats can be replaced by oils (walnut butter, macadamian nut butter, ect.) or avacado. I have experimented with ways to supplement my son's diet while avoiding milk. Here are a couple NO BAKE ideas:

Breakfast or snack:
Oatmeal with 1 tsp. Macadamion nut butter, 1 tsp peanut butter, 1/2 banana, sprinkle of wheat germ and cinnamon.
Mix together! Nutritionally complete breakfast!

or

mix whole wheat flour, macadamian nut butter or walnut butter, peanut butter and wheat germ (optional cinnamon or honey)
This creates a dough kids can play with and eat with their fingers. Great for toddlers!

Let us know your thoughts on milk alternatives or supplementing kids diets for those with milk allergies.

I often talk to people that are not concerned about the toxins in our environment because they think that as long as the government is allowing it to be used it must not be a real threat. Well as we have have seen over and over in the U.S., manufacturers are allowed to use toxic chemicals for years even decades or more before the CDC or some other agency finally realizes there is harm being done by a substance, and then actually takes steps to make sure it gets removed. Here is one such case reported by The Environmental Working Group just a few days ago. If you are not familiar with the Environmental Working Group it is a great source of information about reducing your exposure to toxins.

Toxic flame retardant
to be phased out

In a deal with federal regulators, U.S. manufacturers will end all use of the chemical known as deca by 2013. It is commonly used in TV sets and other electronic equipment, among other products.

Los Angeles Times, Bettina Boxall
Published December 22, 2009

The U.S. manufacturers of a toxic flame retardant commonly used in television sets have agreed to phase out production under a deal with federal regulators.

The retardant, known as deca, is one of a class of chemical compounds that have been found in California residents at the highest levels in the country, a consequence of widespread exposure linked to the state's strict flammability standards for furniture.

Deca is a polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE), a group of flame-retardant chemicals used in the manufacture of electronic equipment, furniture cushions, upholstery textiles, carpet backings, mattresses, cars, buses, aircraft and construction materials..........................see full article link below:

Toxic Flame Retardant to be Phased Out

Oprah's Radio Show- Dr Oz on Toxins in Our Environment

As a working mom I have not been a close follower of Oprah, but I know many people are. A frequent visitor on the Oprah show for years has been Dr. Oz, who now has his own shown. I decided to attach the following link from Oprah's radio show where Dr. Oz and a writer from Newsweek have a brief discussion about toxins in our environment. Note how they mention our approach to toxins is the opposite of that of Europe, who when they feel a substances to be of potential harm, they remove it from their products, but in the U.S. we take the opposite approach and have to show that without a doubt a substance is having harmful effects (obviously that can only mean that people will suffer from those substances before we remove them, as it can take many years or even decades to do the testing necessary to realize those harmful effects). I know many people who ignore the discussions about the toxins in our environment. However, I know many people tend to pay more attention when discussions like this are reported by mainstream media. So here is just a small discussion...and Dr. Oz has a pretty interesting and helpful show if you care to tune into it; I was surprised when my husband said he watched it and liked it one afternoon he had off from work.

Oprah Radio: Toxins in our Environment with Dr. Oz