For 20 years, I have spent every waking minute working on the failing health of my family. We were 100% gluten and casein-free for over 10 years. I’ve implemented every “autism” diet ever developed, and even designed some of my own. I’ve grown wheat grass on my patio, and made my own yogurt from probiotic strains you had to order through the mail. And like many of you, I have a huge cupboard full of supplements that I hoped would be our miracle–and all these years later, most of the bottles sit half-used on a shelf, too expensive to throw away.
I was a corporate trainer by trade, and I feel there’s a need for someone who has walked this path in all its difficulty to help you all sort through the mess of information about autism. The medical community has come a long, long way, to be sure, but I believe it’s the moms who have done the work who will benefit you the most. And so I’m going to throw my hat in the ring.
I am not a doctor. I will not be giving any of my own opinions about medical issues. What I will do is bring you great research no one else is talking about. Really, some of the most effective tools I’ve found came from outside of the autism community, and often from research done many years ago.
But something else I will do is share with you what worked for us here–and not just for my son, but for my whole family. Changing the way you eat, and cook, and live is HARD. There were some interventions that we tried that helped a lot, but were unsustainable for the long-term. And as my son grew and got better, and was involved in life outside of our home, it became unreasonable to expect him to stay with the complicated protocols that we had in place.
Today, my son is away at college. What once were severe health issues now look more like chronic fatigue, and possibly ADD. And unfortunately, sometimes like depression. While in some ways I feel like I’ve “won” this fight, if I’d known 15 years ago what I know now, my son–and my whole family–would be in a much better place today. And it wouldn’t have been so HARD!!
Whether you are just beginning, or years down your biomed road–or even if you are later in the game, like me, I invite you to revisit some of the research, and maybe rethink your strategy a bit. Let’s take advantage of the 20 years of research we have behind us,
It is my hope that those of you with children now will be the generation to crack the code on this mystery we call autism.