18 years ago… July 24, 2017

Eighteen years ago, I had this brand new, sweet and healthy, blue-eyed, chubby little girl. After her first round of vaccines she stopped growing. At four months old I was told to start solids early to try to get her to gain weight; that just weakened her immune system and she got sick. She was diagnosed with Failure to Thrive soon afterwards. At this point she was so tired of throwing up after each feeding that she would nurse as little as possible and suck her fingers instead to avoid it.

On my own accord, I had began weeks earlier trying to change our families diet for the better to fix some issues. I took away dairy, then wheat, but it wasn't until I took out gluten that I noticed that the baby stopped throwing up after nursing. It only took three days of that and it was gone. After my daughter was no longer reacting to the food I ate, I worked several months to wean her from sucking her fingers and taught her to be a good little nurser. She was able to maintain her weight and slowly gain weight, she was weight checked every month and continued all her scheduled "well" visits. At a year old, she was only sixteen pounds, but she had good muscle tone and was content. She didn't start to gain weight at a more normal rate until I stopped vaccinating her after eighteen months old. She had a growth spurt years later, when I started detoxing her body of the vaccines.

At the same time my daughter stopped throwing up, I also noticed that our new gluten free diet had cleared my two year olds infant acne that he had since he started solids. This started the long journey to where I am today and the decisions I make about food, medicine, doctors, child- rearing, education, etc.

Over the years I have gone through times that I doubted what I had learned and I tried to just forget about it all, but there was always a physical or emotional side effect from someone making me go back to it. Believe me, it is not easy to be the odd one out, never fitting in, and having very little support.

So before you try to educate me with the latest research, please consider that I have already done the research and have seen the results myself. You can find research out there to support any outcome you would like to believe, but how do you know what is real? I live with the results everyday. Please don't try to dis-prove me, all you end up doing is discounting the last eighteen years of my life, with or without realizing it. We all try to do what is the very best for our children, I am no different. Please respect that and the things I do and I will do the same for you. I am all for knowledge and research, but do your own research, or at least research where the research is coming from. You'll be surprised at some of the sources and who funds specific research. I trust what I have learned from my own experiences as a mother and as a volunteer who has helped many new mothers. I've seen the results myself, not in theory.

Starting the gluten-free, dairy-free diet… July 31, 2008

Well back in 1999, it was not as easy to start this kind of diet. The resources and products were not as available are they are today.  Hindsight is 20/20, back then we thought this was a bad thing, but not true.  We were basically forced into eating healthier because to have a gluten-free, dairy-free diet, you have to basically eat whole foods made from scratch.  Today you can go to your local grocery store and get prepared foods that are gluten-free, dairy-free, but full of bad ingredients.  You really have to read labels if you want something healthy that is already prepared for you, or you could just start from scratch with healthy ingredients.  

So we began to buy healthier things to eat and learn to make food from scratch.  We found some good resources for gluten-free recipes.  I still refer to The Gluten-free Gourmet Cooks Fast and Healthy by Bette Hagman.  Then we read about candida and it’s connection to gluten.  We started to look into and follow some of the advice of The Body Ecology Diet, by Donna Gates.  Not long after eating this way did we all start to notice changes in ourselves. We started to feel healthier and look healthier.  Once that started happening we started researching everything!  We wanted to know more.  And one thing would lead into another thing and then another…  

For example, one thing we discovered was that regular disposable diapers, besides being bad for the environment, they contained dioxins, that are linked to cancer and infertility.  AHHHH!  We switched to cloth diapers.  From that we discovered a product called Bac-Out.  It was recommended for cleaning the diapers along with their premium laundry powder. It is a natural enzyme stain remover by a company called Biokleen. Which actually now produces a whole line of natural cleaning products.  We still use the Bac-Out and laundry powder as well as all the new products that have come out in the last nine years. They have glass cleaner, paint thinner, a substitute for W-D40, carpet cleaner, toilet cleaner, all-purpose cleaner, degreaser, dishwashing soap, dishwasher soap, etc.

Another example is when we became pregnant with our third child.  Someone said, “If you don’t want to have stretch marks stop using soap.”  Which after a few days of not using soap the stretch marks faded.  Why?  Well, we found out most soap is not good for you; the ingredients take the elasticity out of your skin.  Don’t worry we use soap, and all other hygiene products; we just use the natural form that won’t effect us.  Basically we use Dr. Bronner’s Castile Soap, Giovanni Shampoo and Conditioners, Thai Crystal Deodorant, some Burt’s Bees products (but read the labels on these, they have just been bought out by Clorox), Jason’s or Young Living toothpastes and mouthwashes,  Eco-Dent floss, Fuchs toothbrushes, we can go on, but if you want some good alternatives to everyday products we have not mentioned, just let us know.

But the learning didn’t stop there.  And it still hasn’t stopped.  There is so much information to learn, so much research to be done.  We will do our best not to leave out anything we have learned.