Update After One Year On GAPS Intro

I've been meaning to update about our GAPS progress. We began our journey on January 10, 2011. After one year we are currently on Stage 4 of the Intro diet.

For the most part, the improvements that we've seen have come about slowly. In order to really evaluate the changes I had to get out a chart that I made at the beginning of our journey to track Sam's autistic behaviors. (That chart will be my next post.)

When we began the GAPS Intro diet I made note of all of Sam's autistic behaviors that I wanted to improve upon. For Sam, those behaviors included: humming, clapping, TV/movie talk, hitting head, meltdowns, argumentative, chewing, and poor sleeping.

Here's how our lives have changed in one year:

Humming: Prior to the diet Sam would hum nonstop. He would hum while eating, in bed before going to sleep, as he was riding in the van, while watching tv..all the time. After one year on GAPS Intro Sam does still hum, but it is only occasionally. Now he might hum whenever there's a lot of noise or unusual activity around him.

Clapping: You can tell in the videos from February 2010 that Sam would clap his hands at a furious pace. I'm happy to say that I cannot remember the last time that I have witnessed Sam clapping his hands involuntarily. I don't know exactly when he regained control of his body but it has been sometime in the past year.

TV/movie talk: This is something else that he used to struggle with on a daily basis. We couldn't ask him a question without getting an answer that was simply repeated from some TV show or movie. We no longer get those kinds of answers from him. Now, when we ask a question, we get an answer that comes from Sam's own mind. You can see his improvement in that area in the video from February 2011. I will say that Sam does still struggle with "book talk." He still does get extremely immersed in certain topics that he's reading about and, if you give him free reign, he will dominate the conversation with whatever topic he is currently interested in studying. Right now he is really interested in the Presidents and the weather so he could talk to you about those things all day long if you would let him.

Hitting head: Again, this happened numerous times every single day whenever Sam got angry or overwhelmed. I cannot remember the last time that I've seen Sam hit himself in the head.

Meltdowns: Prior to the diet Sam didn't necessarily have one of these every day, but they were still often enough to be a problem. Sam's meltdowns involved him hopping from one foot to the other while he banged his ears with his hands. He would scream "NO!" or just wail while he had his meltdown. I cannot remember the last time that I've seen him have a meltdown. Now, instead of losing physical control, he will use words to express anger if he doesn't get his way. Now he would be more likely to say, "God will be angry with you!" if he's upset with you about something.

Argumentative: When I say "argumentative" I mean that Sam used to argue with you about everything under the sun. You'd say, "The sky is blue" and he's scream back at you, "NO IT'S NOT!" I'd say, "We're having eggs for breakfast." and he's scream back at me, "NO WE'RE NOT!" I'd love to say that my child never argues with me, but the reality is that now Sam saves his arguments for rare occasions. It's so nice to not be in a constant battle with my child now.

Chewing: Sam used to destroy things by chewing on them. He'd chew on forks, spoons, straws, toys, clothing, cups, etc. I cannot remember the last time I've seen him do this. It has also stopped within this past year.

Poor sleeping: I think this is the area that I've most taken for granted. I look back at my chart from the beginning of our GAPS journey and I remember how bad it really used to be. Sam used to wake up at 5am every single day. He would also get up numerous times during the night. Now, he is asleep by 9pm and usually sleeps solid through the night until around 6:30am. If he does get up in the night it is just to go potty (which he does quietly without waking up anyone else) and then he puts himself back to bed.

After one year on GAPS Intro, the areas that I would like to continue improving upon are:

Help Sam to understand when someone isn't really interested in knowing everything about the Presidents or the weather or whatever his current interest is. I'd like for him to be able to sense when he needs to change the topic.

I'd like Sam to be able to expand his interests more. I'd like him to show more interest in doing "outside" tasks instead of staying inside and reading so much. I think more of a balance between the two would be healthy for him.

We'd like to see Sam improve upon his motor skills. There are still some areas where he is physically behind where most 6 year old boys are.

After one year, the results of the GAPS Diet have been more than I even hoped for. For anyone considering this diet...it is SO worth the sacrifice! I'm anxious to see what my child is like after another year of healing.

A Lost Tooth & Another Sam Update (10 months on GAPS Intro)

Not too long ago I received a comment on another post:

Erin said...
I was wondering if you could do an update on Sam's autism. I'm assuming he's still improving. I've shown the videos to some people, and for some reason people don't want to believe it. One lady said, "Any kid will differ from day to day..."


Erin, thank you for your question. Yes..Sam continues to improve! The healing is extremely slow, but that's not surprising. Dr. McBride's book is very up-front about the fact that this is a lengthy healing process. I guess, to some extent, the comment that you overheard is true. Yes, any kid will differ from day to day and that holds true for Sam. There are still some days that he hums and claps more than others. There are still some days that he recites passages from books. HOWEVER, Sam's worst day now is so much better than his best day before the diet.

A couple weeks ago we invited our property's previous owners out to visit. Mr. G commented, "You know, you all are doing a great job with Sam. When we first met him two years ago it was obvious that something wasn't right. Now I don't know if most people would even realize that there's something different about him." Those kinds of comments just make my day!

Last night Sam lost his 3rd tooth. Here's a video of him explaining what happened. He doesn't make eye contact all the time, but he is very capable of answering my questions. He's keeping up with our conversation. He's able to tell what his FEELINGS were. That right there is huge! He used to have such a difficult time identifying people's feelings, even his own.


There are still certain times when Sam struggles to control himself. If we are away from home I can tell that he still gets a little overstimulated. Even if it's a place that he's accustomed to I will notice a slight difference in behavior compared to when we're home. Of course, if we're somewhere out of the ordinary, the difference in his behavior is even more noticeable. I've also noticed that he gets overstimulated anytime he watches electronic media. We have no TV service in our home and we've even stopped watching movies. However, we do still allow the children to watch some YouTube videos from time to time. I've noticed that Sam has more difficulty controlling himself after watching those videos.

However, having said all the above, I want to stress again that when you compare his behavior now to his behavior pre-GAPS (or even early post-GAPS) there is obvious improvement. His worst behavior now after watching a YouTube video is dramatically better than his best behavior a year ago.

I get really frustrated when people make comments like the one you overheard. In my experience, those comments are usually made by people that are looking for an excuse not to make dietary changes. They are from people that are so devoted to their processed food and fast food drive-thru convenience that they'll look for any reason to quickly dismiss the diet. I know that parent's don't actually say this, but this is what I hear when they quickly dismiss a dietary change:

"I choose Twinkies over my child's health."
"I choose birthday parties over my child's health."
"I choose convenient fast food over my child's health."
"I'm too busy to devote the time it takes to recover my child."

I cannot wrap my mind around this way of thinking. Prior to starting the GAPS diet, Sam's behavior was so out of control that I was willing to try almost anything. I was worn down and exhausted (both physically and emotionally) from constantly arguing and disciplining my son. I didn't care if a dietary change only gave us one HOUR of peace a day. Even if it gave us the most minimal improvement, then it was worth it. I actually have a lot more respect for someone that dismisses the diet by saying, "I'm glad it's working for them and I'll keep it in mind for us later, but I think we're going to try something different right now."

I don't know if what I'm about to say is right or wrong, but it's how I feel:

I don't have the time or the patience to go out and "convert" everyone. I am more than willing and happy to spend time helping someone recover their child from autism...IF they are truly interested in doing what it takes to recover their child. For all the others, I simply try to shake the dust from my feet and walk away. So Erin, based on my own experience my advice would be to: Move on and make yourself accessible to those that are interested in listening and then acting.

If there's anyone out there that I can help by sharing our family's experiences, then PLEASE don't hesitate to contact me at janicegaps@yahoo.com

Affording the GAPS Diet Grocery Bill

Today I received this comment on my post about Sam's Autism Improvement on Video:

Anonymous said...
Hi Janice.

I have just seen this link posted on a Facebook page. I'm really curious about how this works.

My son is 6 and he has Aspergers. I have tried homeopathy but it didn't work.

He has a good diet but due to his condition I am unable to work, and we live on just my partners wage, therefore don't have money to buy organic etc foods...

I'd love some advice on how to get started xx

I figured I would just put my answer in its own blog post since it's likely to get a little lengthy!

First of all, like yours, our family is a one-income family. So, I hope that our family's experience will be useful to you.

I know this is obvious, but I'm going to point it out anyway. The first thing our family did to free up funds for increased food costs was to look at other areas of our budget. We had to figure out what areas could be decreased so that our grocery budget could increase. For instance, we do not pay for any TV service whatsoever. Doing without a cable/satellite bill and other things like trash service have freed up money that can now go towards good quality foods. So, first of all I'd look to find other areas of your budget that can be reassigned.

After analyzing and making changes to the budget, we had to go through and define our priorities. While I would love to eat only all organic fruits and vegetables and only pastured meat and only grass-fed dairy and only local raw honey and..you get the idea. Realistically I purchase my fruits and vegetables SOME organic and SOME conventional. For our meat I purchase SOME pastured and SOME conventional. I have to make some concessions because we just can't afford to do everything perfect. So, I would suggest that your family decide what is your highest priority and make decisions accordingly.

Here's were I currently acquire our foods:

Meats
I purchase chicken in bulk once a year from a farm that raises pastured poultry. I buy one year's worth all at once because there's a huge cost savings by buying in bulk.

I purchase conventionally-raised local pork from a local butcher. I buy 1/2 a pig at a time, again for the cost savings. (Would love to have pastured pork, but it's very hard to find and also very expensive. Priorities..)

I purchase hormone/antibiotic free beef that is grass/hay fed (no grain) from a friend. I purchase 1/2 a cow at a time, again for the cost savings.

We raise our own rabbits and butcher them ourselves for meat.

My husband will be deer hunting this year and will (Lord willing) get one or two deer.

Fats
Whenever we purchase our beef and pork, I always ask to be given the fat from the animal. Then I render the fat myself in order to get a lot of good lard and tallow. The processors that I use don't charge any extra for providing the fat.

I purchase my pure olive oil and extra virgin olive oil from Sam's Club. It's not organic, but it's what we can afford. (Obviously, this is lower on my list of priorities.)

I bought my coconut oil in bulk from Nutiva. I think I purchased something like 10 or 12 gallons last time in order to get the best discounts and free shipping.

Finally, whenever I cook any meats, I always save the fats. We make burger patties and I save the fat to add to mashed cauliflower. We cook bacon and I save the fat to season green beans. We bake a pork loin roast and I save the fat to scramble eggs in the next morning. I roast a chicken and I save the fat to add into soups. Nothing gets wasted.

Fruits and Vegetables
Oh, there's so many sources for these foods. Of course we grow some of our own in our garden and orchard. However, we don't yet come anywhere near providing all of our own fruits and vegetables. I still purchase a lot.

I purchase non-organic avocados ($0.69 each), lemons ($0.25 each), and cauliflower ($1.99 each) from Aldi. They have great, low prices on their conventionally grown produce.

I purchase organic carrots from Kroger. I can get 5 pounds for $4.99 usually, but this week they were on sale for $3.99! I haven't found anyone else that beats their prices on organic carrots.

I purchase non-organic brussel sprouts ($4.97 for 2 pounds) and mushrooms ($3.98 for 24 ounces) from Sam's Club. I also get organic baby carrots ($3.98 for 3 pounds) and organic spinach ($3.97 for 1 pound) from Sam's Club.

Each month I place an order with Azure Standard. Having them deliver locally has been a huge blessing for our family. Every month I purchase all of my organic frozen green beans, broccoli, and peas in bulk. I also get organic onions and organic miniature pickling cucumbers for all the fermented pickles we consume. This next month they have a great deal on butternut squash. It's not perfect quality so it's sold at a discounted rate. I don't care if my squash looks pretty or not, so I'm stocking up by buying 40 pounds. Keeping an eye out on those good deals and stocking up then really does save our family quite a bit of money.

I also utilize our local Farmer's Market. This summer I was able to purchase a lot of organic green peppers. It's so difficult to find organic green peppers in stores, so I snatched up whatever I could find at the Farmer's Market. Then I dehydrated the green peppers. I now have enough organic green peppers to last our family until next year's growing season.

I know there are other foods that I haven't listed, but you get the idea. Basically, I make a point to keep track of food prices so I can recognize a good deal. Whenever I run across a good deal, I stock up. Yes, it costs more one time, but then you don't have to buy any more for quite a while. Also, our family has found that buying good quality food motivates us to learn to provide it for ourselves. I see how much money I spend each month on produce and it spurs me on to produce a larger, more successful garden.

It also takes time to research and find new sources for good quality foods. You may have to settle for conventionally-raised beef until you can find a source for good quality beef. Networking with other like-minded families can be beneficial. I've come across many resources this way that I wouldn't have discovered myself. It's great when friends contact me to let me know that they've found a good sale. Oftentimes, a group of friends can make a bulk purchase together in order to receive a discount and then divide everything up amongst themselves.

Ultimately, I think the best thing is just to keep putting one foot in front of the other. Small, continuous improvements will eventually get you somewhere. At least you're moving in the right direction.

Anyway...Anonymous, I hope that helps get you started. If I can help in any way, please don't hesitate to contact me.

(This post is proud to be part of Real Food Wednesday.)
http://kellythekitchenkop.com/2011/11/real-food-wednesday-11092011.html

20 Incredible Colleges for Special Needs Students

College is still a long way off for our children, but I've been asked to place a link here about "20 Incredible Colleges for Special Needs Students." I hope this is helpful for some that read my blog.

http://www.bestcollegesonline.com/blog/2011/09/21/20-incredible-colleges-for-special-needs-students/

Amazed at the Blog Visits

I continue to be amazed at the number of people that are visiting my blog in order to see the videos of Sam's autism improvement. Just yesterday I had visitors come here from:

British Columbia, Canada
Newfoundland, Canada
Alabama, U.S.
Illinois, U.S.
Makkah, Saudi Arabia
Georgia, U.S.
Ar Riyad, Saudi Arabia
Virginia, U.S.
Ash Sharqiyah, Saudi Arabia
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Buskerud, Norway
Gullbringusysla, Iceland
Texas, U.S.
San Juan, Puerto Rico
Wisconsin, U.S.
New Hampshire, U.S.
Budapest, Hungary

All of the above visitors looked at the posts of Sam's autism videos. In addition to that, in the past week I've had visitors from Brazil, Denmark, India, Australia, Netherlands, Poland, Philippines, Hong Kong, London, California, Washington, Michigan, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Ohio come here looking for GAPS recipes and autism resources.

It's neat to see the international autism sites that have posted Sam's videos. The only words I can read on the sites are "autism" and "SAHMville," but then I see Sam's smiling face on there as well. He doesn't realize how big of an impact he's having on people around the world.

A Resource For Autism Information

This morning I checked my email and had a request to make this online resource available to those that check my blog. I'm not a user of Twitter so I don't know how exactly this works, but I was impressed with the amount of links available and the descriptions of the links. I do hope that a visitor to my blog might find some help through this link:

http://www.onlinecolleges.net/2011/08/24/60-essential-twitter-feeds-for-following-autism-education/

Blogger Problems and a Response to Pam

I have problems with Blogger. I can no longer edit previous posts. I can't even publish a post without first saving it as a draft and then publishing it from the "Saved Drafts" page. Also, I cannot respond in comments to anyone that has posted a comment to me. So...with all that said, I received an amazing comment from Pam in my previous post. Since I can't comment on my own posts for some reason I decided to make my comment to Pam its own separate post. Here's the comment from Pam:

Hi Janice,

What a fantastic coincidence. I'm visiting your blog to thank you for sharing your story and videos of your son Sam. I had learned about GAPS a few months before seeing your videos on Cheeseslave, but it wasn't until watching those videos and reading about your family's experience that I finally ordered the book.

Now we are on it as a family, and our 4 year old son, who has an autism diagnosis and seems(seemed) to share so many similarities with Sam, is emerging from the fog. He is 19 days on the diet. A month ago he wasn't conversational. Today he asked "why" questions, asked me how I was doing, shared and played with friends, told us all the things he wanted to do today, played with his younger sister, and kept us up to date on his feelings. And that was just today! We can get out of the car in a parking lot and not worry about him running off; he waits to hold our hands instead. The other day I noticed he was upset and when I told him he looked upset, he told me he was and what had upset him. He didn't tantrum. Instead, he showed self-control and expressed himself verbally. We still have a good ways to go, but my goodness, we are getting somewhere!

Even though we don't know you, we talk about you and Sam and how you have inspired us. Our family thanks you and Sam so much. Thank you for sharing your story and thank you for having the courage to never stop looking for answers.

God bless,
Pam

Pam...I am so happy that you are finally getting to know your son! Isn't this an amazing time!?! Seeing that much change in NINETEEN days! I'm so excited for your family.

Before starting GAPS I remember several times when I asked God why MY child had to be created with autistic traits. I remember having a breakdown at my friend's home because I was so overwhelmed dealing with Sam's meltdowns and antisocial behavior. I remember sobbing, "I don't even know my own son!" I couldn't understand why Shawn and I were chosen to parent this child...we were so underqualified. I never thought I would ever look back and actually be THANKFUL that Sam was created with all his difficulties. However, whenever I get comments or emails like yours, it makes me very proud. Instead of Sam's difficulties being a trial for our family, I now see them as a path to help many other families.

Thank you for your comment and thank you for sharing your son's healing with me. I would really like to keep in touch with you. Please keep me updated as your son continues to heal. I'm so excited for your family!

Take care,
Janice

Oh...on a sidenote...if anyone can tell me how to fix my Blogger issues, please let me know. I'm getting really frustrated with it!

My Interview On Blog Talk Radio

Today I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Starlene Stewart. Starlene has an online radio program about the GAPS diet. Several weeks ago she asked me to be a guest on her show and today was the big interview day. I was so nervous at first, but Starlene is very easy to talk to, so my anxiety disappeared pretty quickly.

Here's the link to the interview. It's right at an hour long.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/gapsjourney/2011/05/14/janice--son-with-autism-healing-with-gaps-diet-1

Starlene is also doing GAPS. Her blog documenting her journey can be found at:
http://gapsdietjourney.com/

More Sam Videos - 14 weeks into GAPS

I spent some time videoing Sam today while the other children were napping. I just like to do this every so often to document his progress.

In the first video Sam is playing with a gift he received for his birthday. The significance here is that Sam is playing PRETEND. Playing pretend is something that Sam didn't do before. He's making the characters speak and acting out something that he's created himself. Right before I started the video Sam was singing a song that he made up himself. The song was about indians riding in canoes. Just a few months ago Sam would've still played with the toy, but he would've simply recited the dialogue from Disney's Pocahontas movie or sung a song from the movie.


In this next video Sam reads a Bible story. Sam has been able to read for a long time, but just recently he's started taking an interest in learning about the Bible. I'll admit that, as a Christian, it's been hard hearing other moms discuss the thought-provoking questions that their 3, 4, and 5 year olds have asked concerning Jesus and God. Sam never asked "curious" type questions, so I could never participate in these conversations. Now, at 6 years old, Sam is finally asking questions like, "Why did they make Jesus die?" and "Did God make Indians?"


The final video is simply of Sam and I talking. It's obvious that he's so much more capable of participating in a two-way conversation than he was a year ago. He still thinks the videos of himself from a year ago are funny. When you ask him about those old videos he'll tell you that they're videos of him not controlling himself. In this video, the part where he talks about the red light on the camera is a reference to a video from a year ago when that's about all he repeated the entire time I asked him questions..."See the red light on the camera."


Finally, I also wanted to share that this weekend we had friends visit that we hadn't seen since late December/early January, before we started the GAPS diet. I was so excited when, within 5 minutes of being here, Tammy commented, "Sam is sure talking a lot more than I remember last time." It pleases me so much to hear when others notice a difference in Sam. The sacrifice our family is making is working!

In Case You Missed It..My Interview with Cheeseslave

Even though this happened a month ago, I never did get around to linking it up from my blog. So, in case some haven't already seen it, I wanted to post about my interview with Cheeseslave.

After seeing Sam's videos on my blog, Ann Marie from the Cheeseslave blog asked to interview me. I agreed and here is the resulting post from her blog:

http://www.cheeseslave.com/2011/02/16/autism-recovery-with-the-gaps-diet-one-mothers-story/

The response from that post was phenomenal. My little blog had visitors from all over the world. I went from averaging 20 visitors a day to over 1300 a day. Since then I've discovered Sam's story being linked up on numerous other websites, including some in other languages!

The most amazing part of the entire ordeal was reading the comments from those that found hope in seeing Sam's videos. I think it's very easy to brush off someone's claims that a dietary change can effect neurological function, but actually SEEING change on video really makes a statement that's harder to refute.

Finding the GAPS diet has been such a blessing to our family. Being able to share our experience with others only blessed our family further. Thank you to Cheeseslave for getting our story out to a wider audience and thank you to the many other bloggers/facebookers (is that a word?) that have shared Sam's story online.

An Autism Improvement on Video

Hello strangers! Yes, our family is still in existence! Blogging has taken a back seat for a while. For the last month, our family has been strictly following the GAPS diet in an attempt to heal Sam of autism. It's very time-intensive, but very worth it in my opinion. Today I was looking back through old pictures and found some videos that I had taken a year ago. In those videos Sam had a lot of difficulty controlling his body. He couldn't focus well enough to answer simple questions. Then I took a video from today. I think the change in one year is pretty substantial.

Here are several of the videos from February 2010. In the first video, I was trying to get the kids to send a Valentine's message to Grandma Colette, but Sam was too excited to participate. When he watched the video today he just kept giggling at himself. I asked him why he was laughing and he said, "Because I'm clapping funny!" I then asked him why he was clapping funny in the video and he replied, "Because I was excited!"





And, finally, here's the one from today. There's been so much improvement in his ability to have a conversation and his ability to control his body better. He's certainly not healed of autism, but I'm so proud of how far we've come. Notice at the end of the video that he finally sends a message to Grandma Colette that I was trying to accomplish in the video from a year ago.


During the time of the videos from last year (February 2010), our diet was about 70-80% Weston Price. I was really just starting to feel comfortable soaking grains. We ate a lot of potatoes and corn and rice and oats. I baked a lot using soaked wheat for bread, pizza crusts, tortillas, muffins, pancakes, etc. The kids loved to snack on fruit and homemade yogurt with honey and berries. In April 2010 we went gluten-free. I did notice an improvement in Sam's social behavior at that time. He seemed to show more interest in playing with other children. However, he still didn't seem to understand exactly how other children played together. Unfortunately, that change didn't seem to last because I noticed a regression despite maintaining a gluten-free diet.

In October 2010 we went straight into the Full GAPS diet and stayed on it for 8 weeks. During that time I noticed a few small changes, but nothing that jumped out at me. At that time I couldn't justify limiting our diet for the miniscule changes that I saw, so in December 2010 I took us back to a gluten-free Weston Price diet. We were on that diet for almost a month and it was the most miserable month that I've had in a LONG time. Sam's behavior was awful. He lost control of his body. The humming and hand flapping and clapping escalated. He even started biting the other children, which had never happened before. Apparently Full GAPS had been helping, but I didn't realize it until we had abandoned it.

So, in desperation, our family started doing the GAPS Introduction diet on January 10, 2011. We've now been on the Intro diet for 4 weeks. You can see the improvement in the last video. Sam still has moments of humming and clapping when he gets really excited. He will occasionally have a meltdown over something insignificant but those instance have dramatically decreased. Before starting Intro, Sam would wake up at 5am every morning and lay in his bed for hours humming and clapping. I would have to get up several times and tell him to quiet down so he didn't wake the other children. Starting on Day 2 of GAPS Intro, Sam's room has been blessedly quiet in the mornings. He sleeps more soundly, often until 7am. His body is now capable of being still.

So, needless to say, I am IMMENSELY pleased with the outcome of doing the GAPS Intro diet. If, after only 4 weeks, we've seen this much change..what can we expect after four months on the diet? I am just amazed that all of this is possible simply by eating foods that God created.

This post has been linked to Real Food Wednesday with Kelly the Kitchen Kop!
http://kellythekitchenkop.com/2011/02/real-food-wednesday-2911.html

A Blessing From A Friend

Tuesday morning I was able to visit with a friend that I hadn't seen in several months. We've spoken on the phone several times, but this was the first time I'd seen her in quite a while. This friend is also someone that we worshipped with prior to our move in December. She was actually Sam and Sarah's Sunday School teacher the majority of the time.

I was with all three of our children and she was with one of hers. She had been supervising the children and then walked over to talk to me. Early in the conversation she said, "Janice, Sam has really changed!" I smiled and told her that it has been amazing to see how much more social he is now. He actually talks TO us instead of AT us. I can ask him questions and he will answer the questions instead of simply repeating some line from a tv show or movie. My friend's eyes got teary and she said, "Janice I can remember back when I had him in Sunday School. A good day was when Sam would simply pace round and round the table humming and patting his chest. Look at him now! He's over there playing with the other children! I've only seen him flap his hands once the entire time. What are you doing differently?"

When we moved we were already avoiding all artificial additives in our food and she knew this. I explained that we had only omitted gluten a couple months ago and so many good changes have shown up since then. Then, she asked if we were still planning on trying the GAPS diet. I told her that we were committing to a 30-day trial in October. She replied, "Well, if just going gluten-free made this much of a difference, I can only imagine what the GAPS diet will do! I don't think you'll be able to distinguish him from any of the other children once you've switched over to that!"

This conversation was such a blessing to me. Shawn and I see positive changes in Sam's behavior, but to have someone else notice it is such a huge deal to us. I can remember a day, back in February or March I believe, when Sarah and Drew were napping and it was just Sam and I in the living room. Sam was lying in the floor staring out the living room window. I sat next to him and asked, "Sam, how old are you?" I received no answer. I asked again, but again, no answer. The third time I asked him how old he was and held his chin so he would look at me. He replied, "Sam." I said, "No Sam, how old are you?" He replied, "Sam." I said, "Sam, look at momma...how...old...are...you?" He said, "Sam."

There was NO getting through to him back then. He knew I was speaking to him, but I don't think he understood what I was saying. Now I can ask him how old he is and he will look at me, hold his hand up and say "Five years old."

So, Jill, I want to thank you so, so much for being a wonderful blessing to me Tuesday. I really do appreciate your kind words, they meant a lot to Shawn and I.

Another Sam Update

I know that lately all I seem to write about is Sam and his behavior, but that's about all I've been focused on lately. We're seeing a lot of improvements, so I'm excited to share our experiences as we get to know our son better. Most probably won't understand this, but it's really difficult to "know" who Sam is because more often than not, he is not "here." His mind is off in some other place and communicating with him is extremely difficult. Lately, though, he's been "here" so much more, so we're really enjoying spending time with our son and discovering our sweet boy.

Today, Sam had a not-so-good day. There was more humming and pacing than we've seen in the past 12 days. He's been solely focused on the TV, where lately, he's been better about participating in other activities. Today it felt like he regressed a little bit. For instance, tonight when Shawn got ready to put Sam to bed, Sam had a meltdown over shutting the TV off. He insisted that we MUST wait until the entire movie was over with before shutting it off. (He'd already watched the same movie earlier today.) Anyhow, Shawn got Sam into his room and put him in bed. Sam argued that he wasn't tired yet. Shawn gave him a magazine and told him that he could read until he got sleepy. Sam said thank you and then, as clear as can be Sam said, "Daddy, if I don't feel sick tomorrow, can we talk again?" It's times like this that make me determined to figure out what's causing these autistic behaviors. These moments of clarity give me hope that, one day, we'll no longer use the terms "good days" and "bad days" when referring to Sam's behavior.

Ohhhh! So Exciting!

So, this morning Sam spilled his cup of water all over the floor. Obviously, that's not why I'm so excited. I'm excited at the way he responded to having made the mess.

I made pancakes for breakfast this morning. Sam had finished eating a while ago and his empty plate and water cup were sitting on the counter. Apparently he decided he wanted more pancake, and in the process of putting more on his plate, he knocked his water cup to the floor. Water went everywhere.

Just a week or two ago, his typical response would've been to holler, hop from one foot to the other, and bang his hands over his ears. He would've then gotten angry and said, "I'm gonna HIT the cup!"

Today, however, he said, "Oh Momma, I made a mess! I didn't mean to do it." I said, "I know Sam. Was it an accident?" He said, "Yes Momma, it was an accident. I wanted more pancake. Will you forgive me?"

Read that twice...I was here to see and hear it and I still don't believe it. I have to read it twice because it just doesn't seem possible.

Yes, Sam will still have meltdowns on occasion and still doesn't like large groups of people, but it's these small improvements that just blow me away. For most people, this incident would've been NOTHING, but to me it is an awesome, amazing, monumentous improvement.

So, I'm so very grateful that Sam spilled water all over the floor today.

Autism Improvement!!

(I've decided that, from time to time, I'd like to make note of any improvements or regressions I find in Sam's autistic behaviors. Maybe others would find this interesting or useful, but I'm really just doing it for myself. I don't keep a handwritten journal or anything like that, so this is the best way for me to keep track of his behaviors. This way, I can look back and do a better job of correlating his improvements/regressions with other things in his environment.)

Eight days ago we went gluten-free. We did this mostly for Sam. I've read in several different places that a gluten-free/casein-free diet works wonders in many autistic children. I didn't feel confident enough to try omitting both from our diet, so we started off with just getting rid of gluten. The change in our child has been extraordinary! He speaks TO us! It was normal for Sam to speak at us, but very rarely directly to us. When we ask him a question he will respond with an appropriate answer. Before, he would just repeat something from a movie or tv show. On day three of the gluten-free diet, I was able to watch Sam and Sarah play ball together for the first time. Prior to the diet change, Sam would roam around the property by himself. Getting him to stay and play with Sarah was nearly impossible. I was also able to witness Sam playing with other children. He actually said things like, "Come on, follow me!" and was running around with the other children. Awesome feelings...Seeing your 5 year old interact and fit in with his peers for the first time..Definitely lots more hope here now than there was a week ago.

There have still been a few meltdowns, although they are far less frequent. Also, he does still seem to get overwhelmed when there are a lot of people around. The erratic behavior comes back when there's a lot of noise and chaos.

Andrew is still having a lot of belly upset. Every single bowel movement he has is an awful mess. I don't really see where eliminating gluten has helped him. So, I'm making up a meal plan today that is going to be gluten-free and casein-free. I figure that this may help Sam even more than simply being gluten-free, but it may also help Andrew's belly. Perhaps it's the casein that's bothering him so much. If not casein, then maybe egg. I'm so tired of trying to figure this out, but I'm also awfully tired of dunking 2-3 messy cloth diapers a day.

So, for the changes here, our diet has basically been a Weston Price diet that eliminated gluten. Lots of farm fresh eggs, raw milk, grass-fed beef, organic fruits and vegetables, store-bought bacon, cod liver oil, raw honey, pastured butter and cheese, maple syrup, gluten-free oats, brown rice, homemade yogurt, etc.

Edit...I just went back and read my previous post on Sam's autism. I noted then that his humming and clapping worsened during quiet time. It's 3:15PM right now, so the kids are having quiet time. I can hear that Sam is awake in his room, but there's no humming or clapping noises whatsoever. My child is quiet...I can hear pages of books turning, but that's it. He is just so much more calm and peaceful. Our days have been very nice lately.

My Thoughts...Take Them For What They're Worth

Once again, Rhyah has been an inspiration for a post. She posted a question on Facebook about cavities and the wheels in my simple mind started turning. As I fed the kids lunch I thought on it and decided to just write out my thoughts in a blog post. I hope this comes across ok because right now I'm just trying to put my jumble of thoughts into some sort of logical order.

First, a disclaimer...I have absolutely no training in dentistry or any type of medical field whatsoever. That's why, in the title, I advise readers to take my thoughts for what they're worth. I am just a mother that has done a lot of reading. Based upon the books that I have read, these are the opinions that I believe are accurate.

I believe that today's children suffer from a lot of maladies that children of previous generations did not. When I look back at my own childhood, I cannot name a peer that suffered from autism, ADHD, cancer, or even food allergies. However, when I look around my children's peers it's easy to lose count of the number of children suffering from these afflictions. Some might write that off as me simply being blessed with healthy peers. While that could be the case, I think there's more to it.

I believe that each generation is becoming more and more sick. I believe that those illnesses are exhibited in different forms. For some it might be simply an excessive amount of tooth decay or ADHD and in others it could be seen as cancer or autism. I believe that there is a direct relationship between proper nourishment and the severity of the malady.

I believe that there's a "snowball effect" when it comes to nutrition and health. With each generation the quality of our food becomes poorer and our health suffers. That poor health is passed on to the next generation and then worsened further when that generation continues to make even poorer food choices. So, with each generation, overall health is decreasing at an amazing rate.

I don't know enough about my own family's history to get this next statement accurate. I don't know if it was my grandmother or great grandmother or great-great grandmother that started choosing unhealthy foods. I do know that, at some point in my family's history, God-given whole foods started to be served less frequently and new, man-made processed foods started becoming more the norm. At some point my ancestors were eating food that God put onto this earth: fruits, vegetables, meats, grains, milk straight from the family cow...foods in their natural state without anything added or taken away. Then slowly we evolved into the Standard American Diet of macaroni and cheese, boxed cereals, fast food, and soda.

My children suffer from mild autism and eczema. So through the generations, my family's health has reached a point where my children are afflicted with these maladies. If I were to continue in the same direction, who knows what my daughter's children will suffer from. Will her children, my grandchildren, develop cancer or severe autism? What is the next, more severe, step if this cycle continues? I know how stressed I am in dealing with a child that is mildly autistic. I would do anything to spare my daughter that stress and I cannot even bear to think about her children suffering from a malady even more severe. So, the next question is..What can I do now?

While I can't go back in time and change my eating habits or the eating habits of previous generations, I can make a change now. My children already have the genetics that myself and previous generations have supplied them with. I cannot change that. However, I can try to feed them God-given foods instead of man-made processed foods. I can limit their exposure to environmental toxins. I believe that doing this will help my children now and later in life. I believe that providing my children with healthy foods and teaching them how to eat God's provisions will also benefit my grandchildren and great-granchildren. Instead of adding to the problem and causing further harm to future generations, I am choosing to make a change now and try to reverse the damage that's been done.

Some may read this and say, "So, you're blaming your Mom and Grandma for your sons' autism and eczema?" Yes, I believe their damaged genetics and poor food choices contributed to my sons' autism and eczema. My Father and Grandfather and Great-Grandparents also contributed. Likewise, I believe my own damaged genetics and poor food choices added to the problem. But...do I fault my Mom and Grandma or myself for making those poor choices? No, I do not. Neither Mom, Grandma, nor myself knew what long-term damage we were doing when we sat down with our meals of processed foods. We may have worried that the food would make us fat, but that was the extent of our food worries. Actually, if our son hadn't started exhibiting autistic behaviors, my research on how diet affects behavior may have never started. We would probably still be eating the Standard American Diet.

So, I am asking you to look at your own family. Whether your loved ones suffer from tooth decay, chronic ear infections, ADHD, food sensitivities, eczema, allergies, diabetes, autism, cancer...make a change now so that you can at least TRY to prevent the problem from escalating. The results may not become evident immediately, but I do sincerely believe that a positive change now will benefit future generations. If you are fortunate enough to not see any negative effects to your health while you continue to eat a diet high in processed foods, then I believe that you are just living on borrowed time.

Ok, you may commence with calling me crazy, uninformed, and overly dramatic. That's ok if you think that. Maybe I am wrong. Actually, I hope I am. It would be really nice to believe that my past actions have had no effect on my children's health. Shawn and I are at peace with how our family's diet is improving. We believe in it so much that we sold our home and bought a 30-acre property where we could grow our own fruits and vegetables, raise chickens and cattle, and hunt deer and turkey. Shawn reminds me on occasion, when I feel like others are judging us, that we don't have to justify our actions to anyone. So, even if you don't agree with me, don't worry, you don't have to justify your actions to anyone either. I just feel really strongly about this and wanted to share.

If you're interested in further reading, a great place to go from here would be http://kellythekitchenkop.com/2010/04/real-food-wednesday-4710.html

Autism Improvement??

(I've decided that, from time to time, I'd like to make note of any improvements or regressions I find in Sam's autistic behaviors. Maybe others would find this interesting or useful, but I'm really just doing it for myself. I don't keep a handwritten journal or anything like that, so this is the best way for me to keep track of his behaviors. This way, I can look back and do a better job of correlating his improvements/regressions with other things in his environment.)

Just recently, Sam has been more conversational than usual. He seems to be more "here" than he typically is.

Two days ago (Tuesday, March 23rd) Andrew crawled underneath the computer desk and was playing with the wires underneath. As I was fishing him out of there I bumped his head on the desk and he started crying. As I was holding him and rubbing his head Sam said, "Momma you hurt baby Drew's head." I said, "I know Sam, it was an accident." He replied, "I don't think it was an accident Momma. I think you did it on purpose."

Many may not see that as anything extraordinary, but for Sam it was so much more conversation than normal.

Then today, early this morning while I was still in bed, Sam came running into my room and asked, "Momma, where do sunflower seeds come from?" This is also abnormal as Sam does not typically ask 'curious' questions. Then later this morning he also asked where eggs came from.

There is still humming and clapping (most common during quiet-time) and there have still been several meltdowns when I tell him that his computer time or tv time is over. However, the chest patting does seem less.

His diet has recently consisted of: homemade yogurt from raw milk, organic strawberries, organic bananas, organic pears, organic apples, eggs cooked in bacon fat, bread with soaked grains, store-bought butter, brown rice pasta, homemade spaghetti sauce (using canned tomato products), soaked oats, grass-fed steak, non-organic potatoes and corn, store-bought roasted sunflower seeds. He's taking his cod liver oil and raw honey daily. He has not been drinking any raw milk as a beverage and hasn't had any store-bought cheese since Saturday, March 20th.

We have been home for several days and I have implemented a new daily schedule for our family. Perhaps the more strict routine is causing an improvement? Perhaps adding in the probiotics (yogurt) is helping?

The Gradual Change

Rhyah's comment in my last post got me to thinking..."How did we get to the point that we're at now?" I know that our changes in eating habits didn't happen overnight and Shawn certainly wasn't turning down Doritos at the beginning of this food conversion. So, I've been trying to think back...

I would have to say that our food conversion officially started on Christmas 2007. From my parents, I received the NutriMill grain mill, hard white wheat, hard red wheat, soft white wheat, Sucanat (to replace brown sugar), Sucanat with Honey (to replace white sugar), and some raw honey. Prior to receiving the grain mill, I would bake cakes, brownies, and waffles from scratch on occasion, but I was using bleached flour and white refined sugar. If I made pancakes it would've been from a box of mix bought from Aldi. I started playing around with my recipes and converting them over. After much trial and error, I eventually found a bread recipe using freshly ground hard white wheat that we all really enjoyed.

Shortly after that, I stopped purchasing artificially flavored pancake syrup and we started only using real maple syrup. Also, around this time (early 2008) I stopped purchasing margarine and switched over to plain ol' butter. At this point we were still eating boxed scalloped potatoes, boxed breakfast cereals, Hamburger Helper, canned beans, canned cream of mushroom/chicken soups, canned chili, Velveeta... There was still a lot of processed foods in our diet, most were bought from Aldi because I was trying to keep our food budget down. Later that year, I stopped purchasing microwave popcorn. Instead, we purchased a big bag of popcorn from Sam's Club and borrowed an old popcorn popper from my mom. The baby steps happened little by little.

We kept this pattern of eating for quite a while. I continued to bake a lot and alter my recipes to use freshly ground flour, Sucanat, and Sucanat with honey. I would make small changes..like making my own spaghetti sauce instead of buying it ready-made in a jar or finding a local source of raw honey instead of purchasing it online from another state.

When Andrew developed eczema around three months of age (around February 2009) I started researching how my diet could be effecting him. I was exclusively nursing at the time. Up until this point, I had never really thought about how the food we ate effected more than just our waistlines. I soaked up every bit of knowledge I could find on food allergies and food sensitivities. I started omitting certain foods from my diet in order to try to give my baby some relief from the itchy rash. First I gave up wheat, then I gave up wheat and dairy. I was willing to do anything to keep my baby from scratching himself until he bled.

So, while I was doing this trial and error change in my diet, the rest of the family kept on eating as normal. One day a friend of mine (Hi Amanda!) witnessed one of Sam's awful meltdowns. She knew that we had issues with Sam exhibiting autistic-like behaviors, one of which was the "meltdown over nothing" behavior that came on a daily basis. She recommended that we look into the Feingold Diet. I did, and when I read about the symptoms that could be helped, I cried. This diet gave me hope that I could help Sam through changing our eating habits.

So, in July 2009 the whole family switched over to the Feingold Diet. The Feingold Diet eliminated all artificial colors, flavors, sweeteners, and preservatives from our diet. In the beginning stages, it also eliminated salicylates. The changes we saw were amazing! We saw an immediate improvement in Sam. He no longer would wake up screaming from his naps and he was finally able to be fully potty-trained. The autistic-behaviors did not go away entirely, but they did noticably improve. Drew's eczema, however, went away totally and completely! We were only on the diet for a week before his skin was beautiful and clear. This was my turning point. It was easy for me to see how the food we eat can drastically effect so many aspects of our lives.

I became a woman on a mission. In the week before beginning the Feingold Diet, I was serving the kids Froot Loops and Sunny D Smoothies for breakfast. I'm not exaggerating at all here. I remember serving it to them and being proud that I had gotten the Froot Loops for free with coupons and I actually made money, using coupons, by buying the Sunny D Smoothies. This is when our family's eating went through drastic changes. I had made a lot of food from scratch before, but I did even MORE now. I started trying out recipes for homemade granola instead of purchasing boxed cereals. I started making our own lemonade instead of using the CountryTime drink mix. I stopped using the cream of whatever soups and started making my own. I stopped purchasing cans of chicken broth and made my own. I tried and succeeded in making homemade marshmallows so the kids would fit in at Vacation Bible School. I found organic lollipops online to have on hand for spur-of-the-moment treats. We ate out so much less since there were very few restaurants that offered food without artificial colors, flavors, sweeteners, or preservatives. Home-cooked meals that were made from scratch became our new normal.

After being on the Feingold Diet for a month or two, I also decided to remove MSG, corn syrup, and sodium benzoates from our diet. In my mind, it just started to make more sense to eat foods that had been messed with as little as possible. I could see that, when our family ate foods that were closest to God's design, we felt better and were healthier.

Around September 2009 I found a farm two hours away that offered raw milk. We started making the trip there and began purchasing raw milk, farm fresh eggs, and free-range antibiotic/hormone free chickens.

In October we purchased our first grass-fed beef.

In November I started purchasing things with the organic label...organic fruits and vegetables, organic coconut flakes and I made my first purchase of unrefined coconut oil. Up until this point I still considered and regularly used canola oil as a healthy oil. I also purchased some cod liver oil at this time.

In January 2010 I started trying to switch over my recipes from using white/brown refined sugar and instead using only raw honey or real maple syrup as my sweeteners. This is still an ongoing process. I also began researching and experimenting with culturing dairy.

In February 2010 I joined the Weston A. Price Foundation. I succeeded in making my own butter, buttermilk, cream cheese, and whey from the raw milk that we purchase from the farm.

Now we're at March 2010 and my goal for this month is to work at soaking grains before preparing them. I've already made soaked bread, muffins, and oats. Tonight I'll be trying to make soaked tortillas for the first time.

When I look and compare our family's current way of eating to the way we ate prior to December 2007, there's a drastic change. If I had made that change overnight, Shawn would probably be in a fetal position in the corner. However, by making this change gradually (it's been over two years!) it's easier to accept. The biggest issue for us is becoming accustomed to a new normal. I remember when I first started making bread from scratch..Shawn missed WonderBread terribly. Now, when I mention trying out a new bread recipe so I can make bread from soaked grains the first thing Shawn said was, "So, are we not going to be able to have your bread anymore? It's really good bread."

I try to imagine what our new normal will be a year from now.

This post is part of Real Food Wednesday over at http://www.cheeseslave.com/2010/03/03/real-food-wednesday-march-3-2010/

Living Without Television

One of the luxuries that we gave up when moving out to our homestead was television. Actually, it wasn't something that we had intended to give up. We had discussed doing without TV, but ended up putting in the order to move our service out to our new property anyway. Then we learned that we wouldn't be able to get local channels at our new home. They simply weren't available out here. Shawn wasn't very happy about that and decided that he wasn't going to spend money on a bunch of satellite channels that we didn't watch when the channels we did watch weren't even available. So, we cancelled satellite TV.

We haven't had any television in our home since December 16th. Honestly, I am enjoying it. I was worried about it at first because Sam is very, VERY into TV. Part of his autistic behavior involves him obsessing over certain shows and memorizing them. He could recite the Dora Christmas Carol Adventure to you from start to finish and even include sound effects! So, it's not surprising to know that the most noticable improvement has been in Sam. I've noticed that he's using his imagination a lot more than before. He'll go to the magnetic letters on the fridge and spell out "shows" that we're going to watch. It's funny because he's limited to only the words he knows how to spell. This is one of the TV show lineups that will end up on the fridge:

3 HORSE
4 BATMAN
5 SAM

Then he'll yell at me, "Momma, Momma..at 3:00 we'll watch Horse, at 4:00 we'll watch the Batman computer, and at 5:00 we'll watch the Sam show!!" He gets so excited that you'd think they were real shows he was planning to watch.

So, instead of our normal routine of:
6:00 Local news
6:30 Wheel of Fortune
7:00 NCIS or Biggest Loser, or whatever
8:00 put kids to bed and then Shawn and I would settle in front of the TV with a snack until 10:00 when we got ready for bed

Instead of doing this, we're spending the evenings actually interacting with the kids. Sarah and I wash the dishes by hand while Shawn plays with the boys. There's no longer the constant "noise" in the background. Once the kids are in bed, Shawn and I spend our time catching up on emails, researching future projects, or working on something around the house. It's really very nice and I'm glad we got rid of TV. I think it's really a good thing for our family and our budget.

Decorating Cakes

As promised, here's the post about my first experience using natural food coloring.

I've always made the kids' birthday cakes. We don't do big birthday parties or buy elaborate gifts, so this is the little "thing" I do to make each child's birthday special. I used to use the Wilton food colors, which include artificial dyes. Last week we had the first birthday celebration since our food conversion and I was able to make birthday cakes for the first time using decorating colors made from vegetable colorants.

I purchased India Tree Natural Decorating Colors online. It included three small bottles of color: red, yellow, and blue. The back of the package gave hints on how to combine the colors to achieve other colors.

I think that if I had never used Wilton colors, I would have been extremely pleased with the natural colors. However, since I already had previous experience with the rich, vibrant Wilton colors, the softer, more pastel colors from the natural dye were less exciting.

This was Sarah's cake. She specifically asked for a butterfly cake, which worked out nicely since my mother-in-law had already purchased a butterfly cake pan to be part of my Christmas gift! Fortunately, pastel colors work out great for a 3 year old girl's birthday cake.

For Andrew's cake, I went for the simple and easy to transport approach. We celebrated the birthdays at the same time, so I had to make and decorate two birthday cakes in one day. It was my first experience doing that, so this simple cake is what he ended up with. We also had the party at my parent's home instead of our home, so having cakes that could travel easily was important to me this time around.

That number one is supposed to be blue. I kept adding more and more and more of the natural blue food coloring, but this bluish-purple color is the best I could come up with. With the Wilton colors, I could've created 1,000 different shades of blue, but I guess there's got to be some trade-offs when you go from artificial to natural.



Anyhow, I guess the most important thing is that they did taste good and the kids seemed pleased with them.

Here's a picture of Sam's birthday cake that I made before we removed artificial dyes. See how much more bright and vivid the Wilton colors are?!?

When I start getting all nostalic about Wilton colors, I have to remind myself: The dyes cause your 4 year old to act autistic and your baby to scratch his neck until he bleeds. It's not worth it, it's not worth it, it's not worth it.