Nausicaa and the Toxic Jungle

Dear Princess Nausicaa -

I wanted you to know that you helped me rid my house of cereal and processed junk today for my 3 year old son. My son Holden is Autistic, we think. And we're starting a very strict new way of eating, called the GAPS diet (Gut and Psychology System Diet). We are starting the diet tomorrow and had to rid our house of all the rest of the food we were hanging onto until the VERY LAST MINUTE. Namely, cereal and chocolate milk.

I couldn't have done it without you. As I was making my first batch of wholesome and organic chicken vegetable soup, I started talking to my son about how we're going to have to throw the cereal in the garbage. He started a major scream-fest, which is normal for him. But then your plight popped into my head. Holden LOVES your stories from the Valley of the Wind. He's constantly chattering about the Giant Warrior (pronounced by him "giant warriah!" and the "om shells" and the "toxic jungle."

So I started an elaboration and told him that cereal is part of the toxic jungle! It's actually making us sick and we need to throw it away and give it back to the Giant Warrior. Holden looked at me, quite interested in this idea and started talking about the toxic jungle too and how we need to keep the Giant Warrior buried beneath the earth.

Suddenly, he calls out to me "I'm stuck, I'm stuck, put the cereal in the garbage." He wanted to get down and throw the cereal away - all on his own! So we went outside talking about getting rid of the toxic cereal and he dumped his favorite cereal right in the garbage! Then I gave him the next box, and the next and he did the same. Then we came inside and I explained to him that chocolate milk was part of the Toxic Jungle too! We raced back outside and he threw the toxic chocolate milk into the garbage to pacify the Giant Warrior.

I think he'll be a little sad tomorrow when he can't have these favorites anymore, but I want to tell you how grateful I am for your help. I couldn't have done it without you. I also love your strong, confident spirit, your strong moral code and your fearless leadership. Holden and I are faithful servants to you, Princess.

Love and admiration,

Amber

I Can't Believe I Just Ate That Much Sour Cream

So I made my own sour cream yesterday. It's part of the GAPS diet that we are starting on Friday. Did you hear that? Friday. Are you ready for this? We're so ready for this. We cleaned out our pantry this weekend. Here's what that looked like.



Anyway, so back to the sour cream. You have to make sour cream from scratch because dairy items at the store haven't been fermented long enough to aid the digestion process. It's so easy to make and totally tastes amazing. You basically bring a liter of cream to a boil, then cool it down and add the yogurt culture. Then let it ferment for 24+ hours.

In what I've read Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride talks about sour cream like it's ice cream - she says you can add it with fruit for a delicious dessert. Every time I read that I just thought "gross!" Who wants to eat sour cream for dessert?

But then I made it and it's AMAZING. Well anything made from cream is amazing, so I guess even sour cream is delicious. Here's where I made a mistake - it tasted like such creamy wonderfulness that I put it in a cup, mixed it with some chocolate rice milk and had a little indulgence last night.

I put it in a cup and drank it.

I drank sour cream.

I drank a glassful of probiotic sour cream.

Needless to say, I spent A LOT of time in the bathroom today. Wes said to me "sour cream is a condiment, Amber, not a drink!" Today I went and re-read those sections of the book and you're supposed to introduce fermented dairy 1-2 teaspoons a day at first until your body gets used to it, eventually getting up to 1 cup a day.

Yea, I just sort of dive right into things.

Mother's Day Giveway: AKA "Who has the grossest mom car?"

I'll be honest. One of my favorite things about Facebook is the giveaways. In case you haven't noticed, companies are willing to give away A LOT in order to get fans to "like" their page - and they require VERY LITTLE in return. How hard it is to "like" a page? Or post a picture?

Here's one that I know about (cause I work for Saxton Horne): Larry H. Miller dealerships in Utah are giving away EACH a full car detail, valued at $200. It's called the: Mother’s Day CAR DETAIL Contest. AKA-- “Who Has the Grossest Mom-Car?”

Here’s how it works:
Step 1 - Submit a pic of your dirty car to any Larry H. Miller dealership
Step 2 - Tag yourself in the photo
Step 3 - Comment on your picture: “Help me win a Mother’s Day car detail from Larry H. Miller by liking this photo! Thanks guys!”
Whoever gets the most “likes” on their photo WINS!

My Explorer is pretty bad. Holden constantly kicks the back of the passenger seat causing skid marks all over it. And although we TRY not to eat in the car, it still gets corroded with dirt. And there is a strange sticky substance all over the back seat. I don't even want to know that that's about. And car seats RUIN leather. I know I'm not the only one in desperate need of a car detail.

SO go to one of these links (only one per person).


RCD - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Larry-H-Miller-Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge-Ram-Riverdale/196956963657196
MBL - http://www.facebook.com/LHMMercedesBenzLindon
LLX - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Larry-H-Miller-Lexus-Lindon/181212408588977
PCD - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Larry-H-Miller-Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge-Ram-Provo/122863427790511
PFL - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Larry-H-Miller-Ford-Lincoln-Provo/167531929963163
PCH - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Larry-H-Miller-Chevrolet-Provo/107854715966097?sk=wall
UCO - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Larry-H-Miller-Used-Car-Supermarket-Orem/132058436862731
BNT - http://www.facebook.com/larryhmillerbountiful
LEX - http://www.facebook.com/LHMLexusMurray
MUR - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Larry-H-Miller-Toyota-Scion-Murray/148856378480732
CHV - http://www.facebook.com/LarryHMillerChevrolet
HON - http://www.facebook.com/LHMHondaMurray
SFO - http://www.facebook.com/LarryHMillerFordSaltLakeCity
SFL - http://www.facebook.com/LarryHMillerFordLincolnSandy
LCJ - http://www.facebook.com/larryhmillerchryslerjeep
JSH - http://www.facebook.com/Stockton12Honda

Olivanders at 5 Months

Oliver Fitzgerald Warren is an UNBELIEVABLE baby. Like so good that I feel guilty bragging about how good he is. I feel like I need to convince you that I would still totally adore him if he fussed all the time and was high-maintenance. Because I totally would - but he is just the sweetest baby ever. He sleeps well, smiles all the time, loves to laugh - he even seems to enjoy it when Holds smothers him with kisses and laughs really loud in his ear.

He's incredible. If you haven't met him, you need to. Seeing him smile is like getting a 10,000 iu dose of Vitamin D. He's pure joy.

Gut and Psychology Syndrome

Do you have an open mind? I'm just saying - if you are reading this, I would suggest an open mind. The reality is that Wes and I are willing to try ANYTHING to help Holden succeed in life and be as productive, healthy and happy as possible.

As I've been researching Autism, one of the most influential theories I've read is the Gut and Psychology Syndrome. It's a theory by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, a Russian/English Neurologist/Nutritionist who believes that the reason so many kids have autism, food allergies, ADHD, etc is because of improper gut flora. You should read her paper on it to get a quick feel for the theory and what she's found in working with hundreds of Autistic kids.

She just published a book, called Gut And Psychology Syndrome. Natural Treatment Of Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, Depression And Schizophrenia and check out this and it focuses just on Autism. I've even read on her website gaps.me that it's a great treatment for celiac and food allergies.

If you want to hear a quick introduction to her GAPS theory and hear her speak, check out this YouTube video.

The GAPS diet she recommends sounds pretty extreme at first, but that's just the introduction diet. The Full GAPS diet is basically eating healthy foods and avoiding additives that we all know we should avoid anyway, but we don't.

Her intro diet is casein and gluten free, but she slowly allows the introduction of other foods like raw milk and raw cheeses that have natural forms of casein.

Side note - it FREAKS me out that casein, a natural milk protein, has been taken out of where it is naturally found (breast milk, animal milk, etc) and been put into EVERYTHING. It's the same thing with gluten. Foods that have NO RIGHT to have gluten in it, have gluten in it. Did you know they put casein in hot dogs to plump them up? Deli meat? There isn't ONE food at McDonald's that doesn't have casein in it. It's seriously so unnatural and freaky what food scientists have done to our food.

So the GAPS diet is a purist diet - it seals the gut to prevent leaky gut syndrome and promotes good bacteria. There are stories out there of people healing their food allergies with this diet, healing autism, ADHD, and all sort of other issues.

We ordered the book and are just waiting for it to come. Y'all might think I'm crazy and this is just pie-in-the-sky. But the reality is - I will do ANYTHING for my son. Even put my entire family on a crazy, restrictive diet. Actually, Wes is just as excited as I am. I'm probably more addicted to sugar than he is, so the die-off period of the bad toxins will probably be worse for me than him.

I think I'm going to keep a videography on it and capture how it goes....

Autism: The Theories Behind the Cause

Every moment that I'm not at work or feeding/playing with my children, I find myself reading about Autism. Wes and I both are obsessed. I realized yesterday, as we were at the Gateway Mall hanging out with the kids, that our every conversation is about autism: what we've read lately, who we've talked to lately about it, which new theories we've researched. I think it will be this way for a long, long time.

We watched a documentary called "Decoding Autism" on Friday night. They went through a variety of theories and tests on it.

I didn't realize that when you have one kid on the spectrum your chances of having another are increased. Great. They talked a lot about whether it's environmental or genetics. Autism affects 1 in 70 boys. Did you know that? That seems high. Why is it so high?

It's a pretty controversial topic, where no one seems to listen to each other. Many doctors think it's genetic*, (*Note that this gene finding only accounts for 15% of autistic children). Parents blame vaccines. Others say it's pollution, toxins in our environment, and others say food allergies.

There are thousands of parents out there who firmly believe that their child was perfectly find and developing language normally but then got the MMR vaccine and regressed right after that. Doctors avidly dispute this, of course, and say it's just a correlation because the age when kids receive the MMR is the same age where autism can finally be noticed. I just find it interesting that everyone is talking and no one is agreeing.

I'll get into all the possible treatments another day, but some parents swear by restricting certain types of foods and that it has cured their children. Doctors say there is no evidence that this is the case. And they are right - because who would pay for a study about how taking out all additive foods can help with autism? KRAFT? I think not.

No, what they ARE spending money on are studies where the medical community benefits for being brilliant.

For example, they are studying brain patterns in little kids with older autistic siblings for early detection. They study electrical stimulation in these toddlers to see if they can identify Autism earlier.

The Institute of Health is funding a project on older kids 8-18 on the spectrum using Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS).

All this research and the fact that everything is still so debatable would be fascinating to me if it weren't MY kid that had it.

Autism Awareness Month

April is Autism Awareness Month. Interesting, since this April is the month we were informed that Holden has Autism Spectrum Disorder. Step one of dealing with a new diagnosis is to let your friends and family know. But it's hard to talk about. We're still trying to process it - what it means, what do to, where to turn, how to deal with it. And I don't really know what to say to anybody else.

Turns out, so far, it's often the case that I tell someone and they're incredulous and they fight the diagnosis TO ME! I feel like I have to stand there and CONVINCE them that my son is retarded. And I don't want to do that.

The reality is that we're so used to him that we've normalized his behavior for years, too. So he prefers to play alone . . . a lot of kids do. So he can't communicate . . . he's only 3. So he doesn't like hugs . . . we have personal space issues too. So he echoes what you say . . . maybe that's normal. So he memorizes shows and uses them in conversations . . . So he throws tantrums all the time . . . So he lines up his toys in a perfect line . . .

You get the gist.

I'm passed the guilt (I think). I'm passed the blame. I am not bursting into tears every 2 hours anymore. I think that means we're in the acceptance phase, which doesn't mean it's easy or anything. I'm just dealing with it by reading everything I can get my hands on. So stay tuned, this blog may turn into my new coping mechanism.