We went North for 3 weeks. The DAY before we left on the normally 18 hour road trip, Jordan decided he wanted to potty train…and he did!!!  The “18 hour” trip took few additional hours though.

This is an area where I didn’t want to push him.  Due to his resistance to change I knew I would lose if I tried to rush him, so I thought I’d wait for him to  decide. I had thought he was ready, but thought I’d wait until AFTER the trip to add some motivation and awareness.  What I didn’t expect was for him to decide and potty train himself the day before our big trip!

The greatest part is that it’s just another milestone that marks his progess away from autism and toward being neurotypical. Everyday I absob his hugs, revel in his smiles and giggles, delight at his climbing and hanging off things like a monkey, and they all zing straight at my heart with a thankfulness that makes me teary for how incredibly blessed we are . Certainly, it was and still is a lot of work, but considering what his life would be if we hadn’t done it is nearly unthinkable.

So, we are reveling in the joy of it…when we aren’t having a clash of wills and the normal 3 year old battles.  But even that brings joy (afterward) it is so wonderful to know I’m battling his will, shaping and forming his character, and that the tantrums aren’t mostly due to autism and overwhelmed-ness anymore.

Our trip through Digestive Wellness will start Friday September 3rd! If you want to learn where a majority of illnesses begin, and what you can do about it, come visit on Fridays!

• 1 in 91 individuals is diagnosed with autism, making it more common than pediatric cancer, diabetes, and AIDS combined.
• 1 out of 58 are boys, making it the fastest growing developmental disorder we have ever seen.
• The economic impact of autism is more than $90 billion and is expected to more than double within the next decade.

The Nutrition Link

Not only has the prevalence of Autism skyrocketed, the rates of asthma, ADHD, and allergies are also growing. One thing that can improve all of these conditions – diet and nutrition. One thing that every child I’ve ever heard of recovering from autism had in common – diet. Some only required an allergy avoidance diet. Others, an allergy avoidance diet plus other nutrition and supplementation, plus therapies. For Jordan, allergy avoidance was the foundation of his diet. We didn’t see anything spectacular developmentally when we avoided his allergies, we had to get super healthy on top of that plus do supplements and detoxing. However, if we hadn’t done the diet (or when it was accidentally broken, everything else we had done (therapies, brain exercises, etc) and the improvements he had made  fell apart.

When I started studying nutrition 3 years ago when our journey with Jordan started, I was shocked to find that everything I had been taught through school, the media and while growing up (such as the food pyramid, milk is a good source of calcium, etc) was flat out wrong. Three things were right. Those three things are…drumroll please – fruits and vegetables are good for you (that’s two). Third, sugar is not good for you! Those are the sum total of accurate things I learned about diet and nutrition throughout all my first 30 years. As I began to learn, the amount of misinformation and conflicting information surrounding nutrition can create a lot of confusion. But after studying, learning trustworthy sources, sources that can’t be trusted, and learning some basic foundational guidelines it became much easier to confidently make truly healthy choices.

To say the least, diet and nutrition are the cornerstones of a healthy body – for everyone, not just children struggling with physical or neurological issues. Next to diet and nutrition (what goes in the body) in importance, is digestion (what you absorb and eliminate). I’d like to invite you to come with me on a journey, sharing some of the things I’ve learned through the research I’ve done to recover Jordan and in my studies to be come a CNHP.  I never know what to share or where to start sharing what I’ve learned, so I’m going to walk through the book, Digestive Wellness for Children by Elizabeth Lipski Ph.D., C.C.N. As I read the first couple chapters I thought, wow, so much of the basics of what I’ve learned the last 3 years are right here, packaged neatly in this book. Of course, I’m not going to plagiarized the book, but each week I’ll review a section of the book and post some highlights, with comments.

So that you know what is coming, below is the Table of Contents. We’ll start slow, in the first 2 1/2 sections and then pick up speed as we make our way through.

PART ONE – AN OVERVIEW OF CHILDREN’S HEALTH ISSUES AND DIGESTION

• Our Kids: Overfed and Undernourished
• Chemicals and Convenience: Consumer Be Aware!
• A Journey Through the Digestive System
• Enzymes: The Body’s Workhorses
• Probiotics and Prebiotics: Keys to Healthful Resilience
• Dybiosis: An Unbalanced Body Ecology
• Acid-Alkaline Balance: Optimizing Cellular Function

PART TWO – HEALING YOUR CHILD WITH FOOD

• We Are What We Eat!
• Making The Change
• How to Feed Your Kids So They’ll Be Happy and You’ll Be Happy

PART THREE – DIGESTIVE HEALTH ISSUES IN CHILDREN

• Introduction to Part 3
• Food and Environmental Sensitivities
• Leaky Gut Syndrome
• Care and Feeding of Infants and Toddlers
• Issues of the Mouth, Esophagus, and Stomach
• Issues of the Small Intestine
• Issues of the Large Intestine
• Inflamed or Irritable Bowels

PART FOUR – ADDITIONAL CONDITIONS THAT BENEFIT FROM A HEALTHY GUT

• Arthritis
• Asthma
• Attention Deficit Disorder
• Autism
• Cystic Fibrosis
• Diabetes
• Down’s Syndrome
• Influenza
• Migraine

Now two years later, not only did he turn 3, but having fought many a battle between then and now, he is thriving! It was a day of rejoicing and Jordan was excited, eagerly participating and knowing what was happening. It was incredible! Big brother even helped make his almond flour shortcake. Enjoy the snapshots of our miracle day, an incredible gift of God!Click to view slideshow.

CHELATION

We hit some roadblocks with chelation too. Jordan was having regular meltdowns whether on or off of the OSR and just couldn’t seem to tolerate either anymore. When I spoke with his doctor they mentioned that either the yeast was flaring up or it could be the toxicity burden in his body is too great.  That triggered a thought in me. I hadn’t noticed any signs of yeast flare up (although it could have certainly still been that) but the body burden made it click in my mind. I had noticed his under eye area being especially puffy and that relates to the kidneys (which are secondary to the liver in the elimination channels of the body) so I put Jordan back on his all natural herbal liver decongesting supplement…and tada more progress in his development, less puffy eyes and after a couple of weeks, he was able to start the chelating agent again and is tolerating it well, actually he’s not just tolerating it but started doing better on it than he was when he was doing off of it.

Heavy metals congest the liver, we’d been working to pull metal out of him since August and although we were using charcoal to bind them and escort them out of his body, his liver still got congested, whether by metals or just general body burden.  Great results with the liver supplement! And on OSR again!

Overall, he is doing just great. So great, I need to make sure not just to go about our lives, but to keep consistent with ALL of his supplements. It’s easy to miss or forget about some nowdays.

He quite regularly comes and gives me hugs just because he wants to. Is doing great socially. He seems pretty normal, still behind in a few areas, but all in all, he is coming along and doing great! When I think of him as more of a 2 1/2 year old instead of a 3 year old, he seems very normal indeed (other than his muscle tone and coordination still being a bit floppy).

Thanks for keeping up! We’re counting our blessings, praising and thanking God for the healing He is bringing in Jordan’s body and mind!

New Warning About Everyday Poison Linked to Alzheimer’s, ADHD, and Autism.

1. Peach (imported)2. Carrot   

3. Pear  

4. Apple  

5. Bell Pepper  

6. Celery  

7. Nectarine  

8. Strawberries  

9. Cherries  

10. Kale  

11. Lettuce  

12. Grapes  

The CLEAN 15  – (least amount of  pesticides)  

1. Onion

2. Avocado

3. Sweet Corn

4. Pineapple

5. Mango

6. Asparagus

7. Sweet Peas

8. Kiwi

9. Cabbage

10. Eggplant

11. Papaya

12. Watermelon

13. Broccoli

14. Tomato

15. Sweet Potato

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