Gregory got a solar balloon for his birthday. It was supposed to demonstrate how air heats up and causes the balloon to rise.
Instead our experiment demonstrated that living in a windy hellhole will cause your balloon to rise, crash into the car, and rip open, ruining your birthday gift. Gosh, he was so upset.
I was so upset when I saw this article yesterday about McDonald's saying they were "giving up" putting pink slime in their hamburger meat.
If you haven't already seen that article, you must read it. It is just beyond gross. The pink slime is full of beef that would normally be inedible and is treated with ammonium hydroxide and then ground up into a pink slime.
A long, long time ago, I knew a lady who had a toddler with severe behavioral issues. His issues were so bad, he was diagnosed as being bipolar at the age of five and put on slew of heavy duty adult pharmaceuticals to control him. It was only after listening to her ordeal for over a year that it came to light that she fed the child McDonald's three times a day, breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I will never forget the moment when the realization hit me that she was actually poisoning her own child.
She was willing to pay for the most expensive treatments available, take him to the best doctors, get him the best drugs money could buy, but she wasn't willing to nourish him with the benefit of healthy, wholesome food. I lost touch with her. I wonder what happened to him? Isn't it strange that people will do anything but change their diet?
I run into that all the time. People seem very reluctant to make small modifications to their diet.
Like if a child has asthma, sometimes they benefit immensely from taking cow's milk out of their diet. Not always, but sometimes and it's such a simple thing to do.
I'll throw out there, "Have you ever tried eliminating milk to see if it makes a difference?"
"Oh, NO. No, I wouldn't eliminate milk." is a common reaction.
Why not? Wouldn't it be easier to eliminate milk than give your child breathing treatments???????
I don't get it. If what you've been doing hasn't been working for you, doesn't common sense dictate you try something different?????
Which brings me around to the fact that after I went on the intensive 3 week juicing fast this winter, I can now eat gluten again after a 2 year hiatus. I have no way to explain that medically. My only guess for the sudden tolerance is that perhaps the juice fast healed my gut and perhaps I had leaky gut syndrome causing my gluten intolerance.
I'm still limiting gluten because I've become accustomed to living without it, but when I do eat it, I am no longer having an immune reaction. I used to get severe fatigue and fibromyalgia-type aches. It will be interesting to me to see if my gut will again become permeable over time, or if adding juice daily will keep it healthy enough.
Whatever happens, I'm willing to change what I'm doing to remain healthy. Are you?
44 comments:
Do you think milk really bothers people with asthma I had never heard that before
I was one of those dumb and blind thinking that if they sold it in a grocery store it isn't going to kill you maybe not healthy but kill you really. Now after having children and wanting to give them the best possible food I've learned I've read I've studied and well I read your blog. You have taught, well pointed me in the direction of many food changes one being food dye holy hell does that stuff make kids go apeshit crazy. Did you hear about the girl who has lived on chicken nuggets almost her whole life, really I almost threw up hearing it on the radio. Of course she is severely malnourished and doesn't know how she will make it with out her precious nuggets.
I wish you had been my 'friend' years ago when I was raising my children. Of course you would have been a baby yourself then.
I did make several small adjustments to my eating style last year and -70 pounds later- I'm sure glad that I did! I have one child left at home who is a teenager and it's hard to get him to eat decently but at least he's seeing a good example. And sometimes he and my husband do eat their veggies.
Teresa- Absolutely! Even my Asian pediatrician in the 1970s begged my mother take me off milk and she refused to do it.
Conventional medicine has long known that dairy products thicken mucous and make asthma symptoms worse. Alternative medicine believe undiagnosed milk allergies can cause inflammation and immune responses, some of which manifest in asthma.
I wish my mother was alive so I can ask why she fought my doctor's advice all of my childhood? I was so sickly. It seems so bizarre to me now that she wouldn't do that.
Reno- WOW! That is so awesome!
Stopping cows milk cured my daughter of recurring ear infections. The doctor told me it was a conincidence and not scientific, I beg to differ. Also, eliminating food dyes stopped her recurring bladder infections.
Things that make you go hmmmm
I have elimnated straight cows milk from my diet because of psorasis. For some reason it doesn't cause as many flare ups when not straight milk, like cheese, greek yogurt, or chocolate (which is good, because I would have a real hard time giving up chocolate). Over the last month, I have cut out almost all processed food, with the exception being bread, yogurt, tortillas, and sour cream. But anything that is premade like that has to have less than 6 ingredients. And I have noticed in just one month the difference I have felt. The one day we went to a party and I ate crap and I was misserable afterwards. Now I just need to figure out how I don't need to work so I can cook all our food from scratch and become one of those crazy mom's that you have blogged about before!
I always thought the pink slime was in the chicken nuggets. . .
I fight this battle everyday with my kids. I provide healthy food, but it's hard when your kids are 19 (and can drive and has a job) and 13 and very social and eats away from home a lot.
They know what they should eat, but the junk is just so tempting. I am hoping as they get older they will go back to their good habits.
Traci- At least you gave them a good start!
Michele- see, the thing is that I understand that mother. i love love reading your blog. and i would do anything for my children. i eat a whole foods plant based diet (eating chickpeas and kale as we speak. kale!)
i breastfed my kids until they were over two. i quit my job as a corporate attorney and gave up HUNDREDS of thousands of dollars a year in income. i rented out my house and moved to a different city to get my kids into the best public schools. i paid a feeding specialist thousands of dollars (out of my own pocket) to help my daughter eat. and yet- i still take her to mcdonald's regularly. i take her there so often that they know me so well that the owner asked ME who i thought should be put on management track. ;-)
My daughter (age 5) has autism. high functioning autism. and mcdonald's is one of the few places she will eat. i could write a book on the lengths i have gone to to change her diet. seriously. i paid that eating specialist over $1000 before my daughter tasted a strawberry. which she then gagged on and threw up onto the table.
first- tell me, is a mcdonald's plain cheeseburger all that different from a store bought ammonia soaked burger? I read Eating Animals (jonathan safran foer) and I don't think so. I don't even think organic beef is all that different.
See, we try. A LOT. I could fill books with the things we have tried and failed to do. We keep trying.
The good news is that we she has never liked eat red dye 40 and doesn't eat foods with HFCS...so that's a start.
But my daughter will not even eat the "healthy cereal" DRY that you disparage as unhealthy. No, not even that. We have tried GFCF diets. We have tried to just make her eat healthy food (if you don't eat it, go hungry). Well, guess what. Those instances led to crazy meltdowns, a hunger strike lasting for days and leading to dehydration, and STILL did not work.
We have tried incentive charts. Food rewards. Taking away privileges. Going hungry if you don't eat it. Food chaining. Trying to make healthy food resemble her "safe" foods (kinda like the sneaky chef).
NOTHING has worked.
Also, as a parent of a child with Autism, we get run down. We get TIRED of day in and day out trying new things and NOTHING working. Years of physical and occupational therapy. Meeting with experts. Getting excited about trying this or that. And so sometimes, we just believe the tagline (for a moment) and take the easy way out..."you deserve a break today."
So...here's what I'm proposing. I will send my daughter to you for a week. Camp Michele. If you can get her to eat what your kids eat, then I will pay you GOOD money. seriously. good money.
-erika
Erika- I hope my friend Laraine chimes in. She's dealing with the same things you are mentioning and her child is 8 and she's finally had some breakthroughs. I'll go hunt her down and see what she recommends.
I'll even find Laraine for FREE. LOL! (I believe you too, Erika!!!!)
Oh, and as far as ground beef, I recommend getting your ground beef at a store that still employs a butcher. Butchers still grind the meat, on the premises, so the chances of having additives, like pink slime or having the meat gassed, is lowered.
michele- you are sweet! i would love to hear what laraine has to say. :-)
My second son had FOUR sets of ear tubes by the time he was 5 years old. It was not until he was in Kindergarten that the doctor threw up his hands and said "have you ever taken him off milk?" I was SO pissed that this had not been suggested before! Of course he loved his milk and would drink tons of it a day (pre triplets we could afford all the milk he wanted, and we were told it was the "perfect food"!) We took him off all dairy and he never had another problem with his ears. EVER. He outgrew the problem by age 8 or 9 and now has dairy again. I am still pissed off that I wasn't told. Like surgery is the FIRST line of defense and if all else fails, try giving up milk? I should have sued the doctor's ass!
I totally thought about you the other day when I saw a toaster strudel commercial! Have you seen this one? The mom is talking about how great toaster strudels are for feeding her kids breakfast (gross!) but at the end she says...and even better, I get two box tops to help out my kids' school!
When you figure out how to overcome resistance to change, let me know :) I know I'm guilty of knowing better...
My gawd, did they HAVE to call it pink slime? Couldn't some PR guy come up with a better name for it than that? Oh, yuck, oh, YUCK! But we usually get the spicy chicken sandwiches and I don't want to know what's in those.
yes- getting meat from a butcher is preferable, for sure. it's still pretty nasty, though, what happens at the slaughter house. that book, eating animals, really opened my eyes to factory farming in a big way. my husband's solution is to eat heritage breeds of meat - but at $20/lb. for beef (including shipping), that is not really realistic!!! i read an article recently where martha stewart was saying that her solution to eating meat was for everyone to eat local, heritage animals (like she presumably does) but at the prices it's just not realistic on a regular basis for most families. we got a gift certificate from some friends of ours to this place: http://www.heritagefoodsusa.com/index.html Yea, it's awesome. But we ended up getting 5 lbs. of ground beef for $100! Yikes!
so, i guess it was the cheap side of myself that made me go vegan. ha!
I'm vegan. I honestly believe all kids should be off dairy before three years old. I'm one of those people that thinks milk is for babies not adults. :-)
I also don't think everyone needs to be vegan, but my children and wife are vegetarian...and healthy...and good looking...and my wife is awesome...and hot.
www.AnUrbanStory.com
Wow! My 18 year old still suffers from ear infections and he was a milk addict! Now that he is older he doesn't drink as much but I think I will suggest he take dairy out of his diet to see if this helps. Wish me luck because as Traci says it is really hard to control the diet of a teenager who is not eating at home all the time.
I'm an avid follower of your blog - first blog I go to read every day is yours! I'm from England (UK). Decided to post my first comment after the dairy-free comments - I'm suffering my 2nd ear infection (one in each ear) of the week (after would could have been flu/tonsillitis) and I'm getting desperate. I generally get earache a few times a year. I love oat milk and don't think I'd miss dairy that much (except maybe cheese).
Oh and I don't eat McDonalds. Ever. Thank goodness (guessing the pink slime is a worldwide McDonalds treat?)
I read that article and it was disgusting. I won't eat another fast food hamberger EVER again. And if the true were to be told I bet the chicken isn't much better.
I get my beef from the man that raises the cows. My brother and I buy a half a beef each year. Not only is it the best beef you will ever eat it averages out to $2 a pound cut and wrapped. And we get to tell them what cuts we want. I grew up on beef that we raised ourselves and it tastes soooo much better than anything you can buy at the market.
There are so many ways to go here...so here are my two cents:
As for what we feed our kids and how to make changes is don't offer them McDonalds. Im the one who buys the food and takes them to eat. Now don't get me wrong, I have taken them to MCD in the past but after the "pink slime" , my husband refuses to take the kids anymore. As for offering the kids healthy choices at home...my motto is eat what I make. If you don't like it, then you can not eat or eat fruit. My kids eat what I make and they eat lots of fruit and veggies. My husband sometimes make them eat their veggies first before we give them the main meal. We have also been juicing everyday...and I feel like it is keeping the bugs away.
Now if you have a child who has a food aversion/autism/behaviorial problem...I feel for you because I understand that it is so hard...and you are doing so much..I get it to let them eat what they want. My applause goes out to those families who are dealing with this.
Second issue: MILK...now I love milk...but two of my kids don't, but we don have things that have cheese in them and ice cream. My husband hates milk. I do think that is does cause problems for your gut and will make skin conditions worse as well. But on the other hand..my dad...who was a life long smoker(quit 8 yrs ago, because he had too)drinks loads of milk....and for some reason he is alive when he probably shouldn't be...granted he has severe COPD from the smoking...so HHMMMMMMM
What did you base your juicing diet on? A book? A website?
Thinking about trying it and wondering what you found that worked.
I do not get this either. I work with kids with autism and severe behavioral issues and am furious over their lunches. One child eats bacon and a bag of potato chips ever single day for lunch. Only one student eats vegetables. They eat pizza as their primary food. It is awful.
But didn't this pink slime info come out along with the disclosure that McD's is NOT using it anymore? There has to be a whole lot more to the story.
MIchele you juiced for 3 weeks? How much and what ?
Did you only have juice or just sub it for a meal. Please fill me in on it and is it ok for kids to replace or compliment a meal?
As with beef. I see the butcher at Costco and Albertsons - do they really grind it there? Or does it just come in as crumby beef. Isn't Whole foods or Fresh or traders better?
HELP!!!!!
Hi Michele,
I am a long-time lurker, first time commenter, though I have thoroughly enjoyed reading your blog! Usually I agree with you on most subjects, but your post on breakfast cereal really left me bothered. Unfortunately, I have not had free time until now to post about it.
Most sugary cereals are not healthy and should not be eaten regardless, but not ALL cereals are bad for you due to the extrusion process. More than just extrusion denatures proteins. Stomach acid, enzymes and even normal body temperature act to denature proteins. Some of this denaturation is beneficial, even improving digestibility. Firm believers in natural foods and homeopathic approaches will conveniently leave details like this out to emphasize the danger of processed foods, but oftentimes the foods are not as bad as they are made out to be.
What really bothered me was the lack of credibility in the articles to which you linked. There was no indication of time period, sample size, statistical significance, (can you tell I am a graduate student?) or anything resembling an acceptable, significant experiment. This could have been performed in the 60's when food processing was horrendous, not to mention lack of consistency and knowledge of how to properly process food. Fortunately there have been advances since then. There have, however, been plenty of experiments showing benefits to consuming fortified breakfast cereals on plasma cholesterol levels and immunologic parameters. You can find any of these by doing a simple PubMed or BIOSIS search.
This is not to say that cereals are terrific. I simply suggest that you take articles you listed at face value, and reserve judgement or refrain from making bold claims until you find experiments or journal articles with true data and statistical significance.
On an altogether different subject, your thoughts regarding milk and asthma interactions were dead on. This is a relatively old idea in the field, but has only recently resurfaced due to the more usually-seen lack of allergy in children raised on farms. But the proposed mechanism is that an inflammatory response is induced on all mucosal surfaces if one is allergic to milk, including respiratory surfaces, causing the wheezing associated with asthma. (In case you were interested).
Anyway, your blog makes me happy. I have read it for years with my cup of coffee to start the morning. Thanks!
Best,
Ann
Eeew. That McDonald's thing is disgusting, and makes me so glad that I cut out going to fast food places years and years ago because I thought the food was gross. Apparently I was right.
As for "people will do anything but change their diet"...in cases of simple mods like giving up a particular food or no longer eating junk, I heartily agree with that statement. That said, however, if the modifications would require someone to cook from scratch all their own meals, then all fairness to people, it's sometimes very, very hard; in some cases for some work schedules basically **impossible**, for someone to eat cooked-from-scratch meals due to no time or energy to make them. I personally frequently work 12 to 16 hour days, at many times of the year 6 or 7 days a week (this is fairly common around DC here; and why there are lots of meal-preparation services around that will actually let you buy pre-prepared meals on a weekly basis that some chef makes and sells to people to re-heat in their own homes--but they're way, way too expensive so I don't utilize them). There's no way I could cook, for the most part. I do do my best to eat healthily within what I can do--fruits, carrot sticks; decent meals prepared at *good* restaurants with meat and veggies and the like; healthy or organic frozen/pre-prepared entrees, etc. But for someone who's single without anyone to help out who's working far *more* than full time; cooking from scratch sadly isn't really possible.
I watched the documentary Fat, Sick, And Nearly dead, then I bought a juicer and started juicing. I juiced mostly carrots, apples, pears, and greens, like spinach, kale, cabbage, dandelion greens, Swiss chard. I juiced exclusively for five days and then added a vegetarian meal at night. I juiced A LOT. I was drinking about 32 ounces of juice at at time. The first week I went through 25 pounds of carrots and 15 pounds of sweet potatoes and 10 pounds of apples.
Ann- thanks for your very informative comment!!!!
I've been reading your blog for a long time and I had never heard of red dye issues, etc., until I read it here. It was like falling down the rabbit hole, but in a good way. :D I really believe that keeping kids healthy starts with the fuel they put in their wee tanks; how could it not start there? It makes me crazy to see what my sis and BIL feed my nephew and then talk about how hyperactive he is. "It's just a family trait! I was that way!" Maybe, but you also ate the cocoa cereal and "red drink" pseudo-juice you feed him. But yes, I don't understand doing everything but change your diet to solve a problem. BTW, between you and my chiropractor (who juices daily and has the skin of, like, a fetus--she looks SO YOUNG) I'd love to do a juicing fast when I am done nursing.
I have been on a feeding team and I know about the frustrations with feeding issues. The biggest success I have seen with kids who are on the spectrum and have severe feeding issues are inpatient programs. I have seen dramatic differences once the feeding issues are improved.
That said, not everyone has access to those programs.
When I posted about my students with autism bringing in awful lunches, those are students that do eat more foods. The student that eats only bacon and potato chips for lunch, that is a habit or ritual for him. He refused our snack for 2 months ( he was used to eating doritos) and we persisted. He now eats a healthy snack, we simply offered him something everyday and he finally decided to give it a try.
But not all kids respond to this, feeding issues are one of the most frustrating behavioral issues out there. In my opinion. There is also not enough research as to the best way to treat them.
Erica - Laraine here... Sorry I didn't have much internet time yesterday.
My son is on the autism spectrum. When he was younger he would only eat cereal (certain kinds only), bread, cheese (had to be yellow kraft singles), macaroni and cheese (again only kraft) and snacks like cheese its and ritz crackers. Feeding this child was maddening. I tried the route of putting food on his plate and hoping he would eventually taste it - no luck. I tried letting him help prepare food - no luck. I tried all the suggested 'psychologically accepted' methods of getting him to expand his diet including the 'when he is hungry enough he'll eat'. He went 3 days without eating.
Whet eventually worked was good old forcing him to eat it. In our case the "I'm going to gag and throw up" routine was totally for effect. We started our battle with meats and veggies. I tied his eating to privlegeds and to desert. If he ate what I asked then he got some of what he really liked. We endured gagging, crying, massive tantrums, etc for quite some time. It was a good 6-8 months before eating meat and veggies was no longer a huge battle. I still have to 'require' him to eat veggies, but its not a battle - just a sour face and unhappy boy. There are some veggies he doesn't mind at all so he is acquiring a taste for them. Meat is no longer a problem at all - he likes it. I'm still struggling with fresh fruit but he will eat it. I still get tantrums from fruit ocasionally. However, I've been making him eat fresh fruit for about 6 months and he's found some he kind of likes.
Its an ongoing battle and I've found that if I incorporate the fruits and veggies every day its not so bad. If I'm out of town for a week I get grief from him when I start cooking veggies for meals again (DH does pizza, spaghetti and other stuff that makes him a favorite in the meal department!).
Don't give in to the gagging routine. They can overcome it. If your daughter gags on the food make her take another piece and keep going until she swallows it - then tons of praise. This is not for the faint of heart - I went to bed in tears many nights because I felt so awful. But...he eats whatever I put on his plate now. Not always with a smile, but he eats it. I also had trouble with soups for a long time - now he eats anything I make including lentil soup and pea soup!
It was a PITA but so worth it. Getting to eat better has helped a lot with his ADHD symptoms and eczma as well as other behaviors.
Erika - I forgot to add that my son was between 5 and 6 when we started this process. Even though he was totally capable of feeding himself,we would often just pick up the fork and feed him. He ended up getting a lot of attention and I don't think that ended up being a bad thing. Once he got used to the foods then we started making him feed himself.
I have to say, my kids are not on the AS, but I learned a lot from Laraine's comment. My 7 year old was a gag and puker. My husband does not eat dinner with us most nights, so they only see me eating healthy and Daddy sitting in the basement with his mcdonalds (BLECH!). Anyway, it took me a long time to get him to eat real food. I had a lot of puke to clean up in those months. My 1 year old eats puree with chunks in it now, and just started with bread a few days ago. I am making all of his foods from organic fruits and veggies, but he seems to have the same gagging problem as his older brother (sigh). So far, we're hanging in there with both girls though, they'll eat just about anything. They don't like borccoli, but the boys do. I just bribe the girls and they'll eat it..or at least enough for a serving. I didn't know that about `milk...my 5 `year old has tubes and the baby has his 5th ear infection right now (I feed him sitting up, never lying down)....I wonder if it's the milk-based formula?
Is that the solar kite? It looks like a great big black garbage bag...I have tons, I can send you some...
OMG, I just now read that article on McD's that you linked to and immediately forwarded it to Tim, who loves their food. So disgusting!!!
It pisses me off when people won't make simple changes to heal an illness. Why wouldn't they want to make a simple change to help keep their child off of a medication that might not be necessary? I mean, if you've tried everything but nothing worked, then more power to you. But I just don't get those people not willing to try everything they can.
I'm back from Thailand, and while there my brother and I had a long talk about evil Monsanto and GMOs. One thing he had read (though he doesn't remember where or how valid the source was, so don't take it as gospel) is that the GMO wheat has been modified to be undigestible to rats to keep them out of the fields, and that same modification also affects some humans in the form of a gluten allergy. My K was allergic to wheat in his earlier years, but he could eat spelt and kamut. He has outgrown the allergy, but we still use those grains. I do't know if you can even buy non-GMO wheat.
I'm signing up for this class. It's from the Daniel's Challenge site I sent you. Supposedly doing the naturally leavened bread digests the undigestibles for you. http://www.mccleanclinic.com/class-schedule/
If you want to take a road trip up here, you can take it with me and stay at our house. Doesn't that sound relaxing? Staying at my house with my 5 kids? It's like a meditation retreat around here. All the time.
Post a Comment