Friday, January 20, 2012

Proof in the piano


A friend of mine just sent this email:

"Today is piano day and our teacher comes to our house (with 4 kids, it
works just as well for her). My primary target child always goes first. I
told her about Feingold last week but we weren't really on it yet since I
hadn't received the program yet. (I had just taken out the main offenders.)
She was interested in it for her own family, so I sent her some info and
links. 


During the target child's lesson, she stopped at one point and said
'I am just going to cry, you are doing so well.' Then she told me after he
got down that it was like having a new child and if that isn't a testimony
she didn't know what is.

So thankful for Feingold!
"

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

I asked the moms on the Feingold yahoo board about the salicylites, like, do differenat apples make a difference? Can cooked tomatoes be okay but not raw?

Several moms said that Granny Smith apples made them speed dial the exorcist, but other apples were fine. That's encouraging. I am 99% sure that the apples I gave him were Grannies.

Please, Lord, don't take away our apples...

Holy tomato, we're juicing

Because Feingold wasn't complicated enough, my husband and I decided to go on a 10 day juice fast.

You can follow along here:

It's Almost Naptime

boo to salicylites

The two salicylates foods that I have been the most worried about were apples and tomatoes, because those are the ones we eat the most.

Saturday night Ike had a raw tomato at dinner. Sunday he kicked Shep in the face, laughed, and called him stupid.

Yesterday he ate a granny smith apple. Just now he threw a tantrum when I wouldn't let him play my iPhone. A trantrum that was short and distractible, but a tantrum none-the-less.

I'm hoping these are coincidences...further testing will ensue. Also gonna try cooked tomatoes and different kinds of apples see if I see the same effects.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Questions about the Feingold Diet?





Since we began the Feingold Diet, Ike's behavior is so, so different from what it was this time last month. I still have a nervous feeling in my stomach every time I go to pick him up from preschool, afraid that the teacher is going to give me 'the look' and explain how he clobbered another kid or refused to obey her.

But every day I get two little words that make my heart sing: "Good day!"

At home, he is sweeter and more patient. His relationship with his siblings has improved so much, especially with Shepherd. Before he was the bratty baby brother. The other day, Shep said, "Mom! Ike is so funny now! And cute! And fun! I love having a brother!"

Perhaps my favorite part is how well his language has improved. He can express himself so much more than he could. His expressive language is almost normal. The worst part about having a child with a speech delay (I've had two) is that it stunts your relationship. Maybe that is the greatest blessing from Feingold - Ike can talk now, and Shep is right, he is funny!

I've had several emails from friends who are considering doing Feingold. They have lots of questions like, How hard is it? Are you doing the whole family or just one kid? Is it costing you a fortune?

I am wondering if y'all have questions too?

If you do, please leave them in the comments and I will do a Q&A soon.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

God bless the coal mine canaries



I've changed the title of this blog to Coal Mine Canaries.

Okay, random title. Why?

You've probably heard the phrase "a canary in the coal mine," which refers to the practice of sending a canary into a coal mine to see if there were noxious gasses inside. If the canary died, voila, there was your answer.

The clear message was don't follow that bird.

A few years ago, one of my dear friends became very sick. She had been exposed to some mold in an apartment air conditioner, and it caused her system to go totally ballistic. We all desperately prayed for her as she went from being one of the most vibrant people I knew to a fatigued girl who felt like crap all the time. By God's grace, she got better.

She ended up with an extreme chemical sensitivity, and from my friendship with her and her sister, my awareness of all the chemicals in our environment has been increasingly raised over the years. Which is why in our house I buy natural cleaning products, get a headache from my husband's scented deodorant, don't burn candles, and I don't use perfume.

(I'm a little bitter about that one, I confess. I love perfume. But now, I can't bring myself to spray it. I just imagine the chemicals seeping into my cells and I sadly walk out of the bathroom.)

I always said that my friend was a canary in a coal mine. Meaning that, she is exposed to chemicals like PineSol or pesticides on her salad, and she drops like a canary. (Not literally, of course. She doesn't die. But she definitely drops.)

But her body is no different from mine - it's just hypersensitive. Those chemicals are affecting my body too, just not quite as obviously.

For the rest of us, I think the effect is often just as powerful, only much slower. We don't get sick immediately. Instead, one day, we get a brain tumor. Or breast cancer. Or fibromyalgia. Or lupus. Or we can't get pregnant. Or we start menopause at age 35.

My friend is actually one of the more blessed ones - she was forced into a very quick wake up.

My son is a canary.

If I ingest red dye #40, I might get a headache or get crabby, but I won't associate it with that peppermint I grabbed on my way out of Pappasitos. Same for the rest of my kids.

But little four year old, 35 pound Ike has results that are instantaneous. He eats a pickle, he spits, pinches, pushes and hits the other kids at school. He eats a Nutella sandwich, and his language instantly declines and he stares at you blankly when you ask him a question. He swipes some Doritos, and he wets his pants and sobs uncontrollably when his train track won't connect.

Ike is my precious little canary. He's made all of us aware, so aware, of all the junk that I was feeding my family when I thought I was being a healthy mom. He's made it very clear that a tiny bit of poison is far, far too much.

God used Ike to save my family, I'm convinced of it. We may never know the devastating effects he prevented by forcing me to find answers.

The canaries in our lives are our greatest blessings.

Food LIARS!

Food LIARS! was the byline of the email my sister-in-law Laurel just sent me and I thought it was a good one!

What's in that OJ? Tropicana is sued


It just makes me sad that you can't trust anything you read on a label. I mean, I don't really trust PepsiCo, they've made no attempt to ever put health first.

But what about other food? I hope my organic stuff is really and truly organic, but is it? There is no way  to know.

Let's just all move to a farm and buy some cows and grow our own food!!!!