Okiemommy's Journal **What I realized today about our journey**

[Okiemommy]

Great post!!!!



My friend's son is severely autistic (and 14). They were just over here yesterday, and he imitated my roosters the whole time. Sadly, his mom does not think anything can be done to alleviate the situation, and sadly, I don't see her often enough to plant little seeds in her head.

Thank you!!
I can understand how this would be frustrating. I imagine that part of it has to do with the age of her son. When he was born there was still very little help for children with Autism. The general consensus for many years and really still, is that there isn't anything you can do to heal, or alleviate the symptoms of Autism. And still, some children don't respond to treatments, but there is so much information out there now, and sooo much that can be done for many of these children to improve their quality of life. Even if all that ever helps my children is the diet change, it's a dramatic improvement. There is a window that people talk about between birth and 5 yrs old, that is the most effective time to help children with autism, but I'm ever the optimist to the point of delusion sometimes so I can't help but think he would benefit from something. Though too, we have to realize that maybe the kind of treatment that would help him, not being in that age window right now, would literally break them financially. Autism treatment is horrendously expensive, especially the more severely affected the child is. As a mom of children with Autism, one of the best things you can do is offer your time and mean it. (and be persistent about it because we are used to being told that someone wants to help us, but it never materializes)I don't know how that would apply to them as he is older, but they might be able to suggest something, and you can tell them if that is something you are able to give. Do you guys live in different states?

I have this deep need to educate people....sometimes to the point I think that I offend. If I could figure out a way to do it that would be more palatable to people that aren't as direct as me, that would be awesome LOL Hopefully I wasn't too over the top in my response!

eta: oops I put thank you and the smiley inside the quote instead of where it should have gone.

 

[valmom]

What a great post. You sound so zen about it with all you have going on!

My SIL has an adopted son who is autistic. He is a wonderful artist, and has help in a mainstream school, but he is a full time job for his mother and his grandmother. He is a charming boy- just different.

 

[Javamama]

And there are times where I get so frustrated because there are things that I want to do so badly that I know would be much better for my family, but I can't yet.

I'm in this boat too. But we do what we can do , and it's a whole lot better than nothing

I loved your post. I would love to know more about how your dietary changes have affected the kids. I'm trying to gently convince my sisters to take a look at some changes. My 4 year old niece was just diagnosed with a thyroid condition and they are constantly at the pediatrician's for illnesses.
I know since making changes - and I'm not perfect, I get tired and fall back frequently - my kids have not missed any ( I think) school this year. My son might have missed one day, my daughter is aiming for perfect attendance. This is an incredible feat!

 

[Dace]

I also love what you wrote!

I think you are headed in the right direction....remember, slow and steady wins the race

 

[lorihadams]

Well said!

 

[Okiemommy]

This latest jump start on our journey started with my husband and I renting the movie Food Inc several weeks ago. It is a documentary that is about how the food in America is produced, and the ingredients that go into it. We already knew that we wanted to eat cleaner, and knew we would have to, especially with children on the spectrum. In an non-sensational, non-emotionally manipulating way, this movie essentially explains where the majority of the food in America comes from, and how it is produced. It woke us up once and for all as to what kinds of foods we feed our family. We will never go back.

And there are times where I get so frustrated because there are things that I want to do so badly that I know would be much better for my family, but I can't yet.

I'm in this boat too. But we do what we can do , and it's a whole lot better than nothing

I loved your post. I would love to know more about how your dietary changes have affected the kids. I'm trying to gently convince my sisters to take a look at some changes. My 4 year old niece was just diagnosed with a thyroid condition and they are constantly at the pediatrician's for illnesses.
I know since making changes - and I'm not perfect, I get tired and fall back frequently - my kids have not missed any ( I think) school this year. My son might have missed one day, my daughter is aiming for perfect attendance. This is an incredible feat!

You're right. It is a whole lot better than nothing.


Well, I don't know a whole lot about ins and outs of the dietary changes yet, as we are still pretty new to all of this, but I can tell you this:

My friend has also been diagnosed with a thyroid condition, and either a related or unrelated problem with her female plumbing. She discovered that when she ate soy, it was causing her body all kinds of terrible problems...including a production of cysts under her skin and even an endemetriosis like reaction, decreased libido, complete exhaustion etc. She cut soy completely out of her diet and all of those symptoms have entirely disappeared.

Now you may say, they don't eat soy, so they are good. But soy is found in nearly all processed foods. Look on the back and it is an ingredient in nearly everything. (for the record, her dr told her that Soy Lecithin is okay because it is has been refined to the point of containing minute amounts of actual soy.) So they have started making almost everything from scratch, and eating snacks from the health food store that don't contain soy.

As far as the changes in us:
First we stopped eating HFCS. Dramatic changes in behavior, moods, over all happieness.

Then we stopped eating Food dye and refined sugars....coming off of those was akin to a crack addict coming off of their addiction. After the withdrawls went away, we saw more improvements in behavior, and mood.

Then we started eating almost 90 percent organic. Even not going fully organic yet has had remarkable results. My most severely affected child started saying complete sentences. Moods continued to improve.


We cut down on processed breads and buy only whole grain nutritional breads( we had already been doing this, but hubby still had to have his yucky white bread until he saw the movie ^_^) Still more improvements to mood and also noticing the kids are looking like the feel better.


The next thing we are doing is transitioning into gluten-free casein-free. We have replaced some of our starches with gluten free alternatives and again we have started to notice still more improvement.


Now....you might ask, how do I know this is really what is going on, and not something else? Well this weekend there was a little holiday called Easter. We knew it was coming, but hadn't planned for what we would do in order to prepare for it. We JUST started this very recently so this is something that sort of blind sighted us. So we fell back on the old "favorites" and let me tell you..... O.O they have gone NUTS!!!! In ways that would scare even the most seasoned law enforcement officer So now, lesson learned...we have started over in a manner of speaking.

And now mama is looking for candy that is gluten free, casein free, HFCS free, organic, free of refined sugars, and food dyes......on second thought, I think I would be better off moving to Scotland and dedicating my life's work to proving the existence of the Lock Ness Monster

 

[miss_thenorth]

And now mama is looking for candy that is gluten free, casein free, HFCS free, organic, free of refined sugars, and food dyes......on second thought, I think I would be better off moving to Scotland and dedicating my life's work to proving the existence of the Lock Ness Monster

Actually, you can make your own candy--it is not that difficult. the kids and I like to do in in the winter (although we didn't this winter) It started ehen we lived up north, near Quebec, and it was a french community that held celbrations for St. Catherine. It is called Tire du St Catherine, and it is basically pull taffy, but you can make it in so many ways, and flavour it so it tastes like humbugs or the like. there are other recipes too.

I want to respond to you r other post, but I will ahve to when I have more time.

 

[Wifezilla]

You need some of Abi's recipes!

She is autistic. Both of us went low carb around the same time for vastly different reasons. Both of us have had great results.

My youngest is autistic, but it is VERY severe. If I knew what I know now, I am sure things would be different. The main thing I have learned recently is the whole vitamin D autism connection.

www.vitaminDcouncil.org

 

[Okiemommy]

You need some of Abi's recipes!

She is autistic. Both of us went low carb around the same time for vastly different reasons. Both of us have had great results.

My youngest is autistic, but it is VERY severe. If I knew what I know now, I am sure things would be different. The main thing I have learned recently is the whole vitamin D autism connection.

www.vitaminDcouncil.org

How do I get these recipes of which you speak?