Autism, ADD, Obesity, Diabetes:

Today it seems as though every child has some kind of learning disability, inability to concentrate, hyperactivity, mood swings, disability related to obesity.  What do they all have in common?  Research shows, we have a fair amount of control over it's onset and have the ability to heal it when it shows up…1 in 4 is on Adderall, 1 in 3 is Obese, and the one I'm most passionate about, 1 in 50 kids today have:

AUTISM

I had heard it on a PODCAST of my buddy Sean's…Dr Tom O'Bryan, innovator of modern gluten research, stated the following, combining the efforts of multiple pioneers in the field of auto-immunity worldwide:

If a woman has a form of auto-immune disease, she produces antibodies to her own tissue…
If she gets pregnant, there is a high probability that she will develop antibodies to the fetus' brain tissue…if this occurs:

There is an 86% chance her baby will be born on the autism spectrum.  86%!!!

20% of women today have some form of auto immune disease and this is ON THE RAPID RISE! 

There is a trinity of conditions that Dr. Alessio Fasano has conducted on why autoimmune presents itself:

1. ENVIRONMENTAL TRIGGER – In the case of celiac disease, the trigger is gluten, the protein that is found in wheat, barley, rye and products made with them. In other autoimmune conditions, the trigger could be a food allergy/sensitivity or it could be an illness, infection, trauma or even major life changes like divorce or death of a loved one.
2. GENETIC PREDISPOSITION – We tend to think that genetics are the “be-all and end-all” of our health, body composition and even behavior, but this is far from the truth. Genetics play a role, but not the main defining one. People with celiac disease have inherited a set of genes that encodes particular proteins that makes them more sensitive to gluten.
3. LEAKY GUT – It's estimated that 85% of Americans have this. The concept of the leaky gut was initially met with a great deal of skepticism from the conventional medical community, but thanks to the pioneering work of Dr. Fasano and others, that skepticism is turning into an embrace of the concept and a search for the answers to help people with leaky gut.  How is leaky gut caused?  READ THE ARTICLE I wrote on this topic as well as what I do to help my clients heal from it.  I'm living proof it can be fixed.  Until I began my work as an FDN, I had no idea I myself had leaky gut…until I learned the definition of a SYMPTOM was.

My awareness on LEAKY GUT unfolded from there and it has since spawned my curiosity on how I could help educate aspiring mothers on the connection of these 3 conditions, and autism as well as how to improve the digestive track and hence behavioral expression of a person with autism.  

My first question to my best friend was:

“Would this Food Sensitivity test and my lab work to investigate the health of your students gut, and ensuing protocols to heal them according to the results, correlated with their behavior, improve their conditions?”  

So I invited my friend on our RADIO SHOW, where I interviewed Child Behavior Therapist, Ashley Robert, Program Director of BASIC School, which stands for Beacon Autistic Spectrum Independence Center, in Orange County, CA. Listen to that episode:  CLICK HERE or click on image to the right.

Naturally, my main questions had much to do with Nutrition and the digestive health of these children and adults who fell on the spectrum.  Her main beef with this topic was this:

Children with autism are already suffering enough, why give them junk food on top of it to inspire obesity?

Knowing quite a lot on the topic, I realize that the relationship of food to how we think, move, act, look, sleep, digest, etc runs deep. And following my work with my clients in clinical practice of Food Sensitivities and their relationship to inspiring disease, I wondered if it was being discussed in the field of Autism.

We talked about it so much, that she insisted I be part of her schools program, offering parents an educational approach to how they can improve their childs' lives and in many cases, relieve their symptoms 10 times over, or completely, as did Dr. Natasha Cambell-McBride, by way of the GAPS diet.  A Russian doctor, she delivered an autistic baby and forged through much research to create a healing protocol that reversed her child's autism.

TRENDS OF AUTISM

• early 80s – few thousand
• 15 years ago – 1 in 10,000 kids
• 10 years ago – 1 in 1,000
• then 1 in 150…
• 1 in 88 in 2012
• TODAY – the most recent statistics from the CDC show it to be 1 in 50 in the US

80% of autistic population is under 16 and it's incidence is up 1000% in school systems!

Why?  Is it from vaccines, like Jenny McCarthy states?…Is it Vitamin D deficiency?…Electromagnetic fields? Mercury toxicity?…or something benign and overlooked like digestion?

Based on the research of Dr. Alessio Fasano, a physician and researcher at the University of Maryland who conducts research on celiac disease, he along with a team of other doctors concluded a few known risks today that increase odds of child born to autism:

1. Prenatal anti-depresant (1 in 4 women takes today)
2. Assisted fertility (2% of our kids are born to this)
3. Diabetes and obesity

TODAY, 1 IN 3 CHILDREN ARE BORN TO C-SECTION.

Ricky Lake did an amazing documentary on this topic:  The Business of Being Born (watch it BELOW for FREE)

A current national cesarean section rate of over 30%, despite evidence that a rate of 5% to 10% would be optimal. READ WHY IN THIS ARTICLE.

There is much evidence that is leaning toward the likelihood that C sections increase odds for a child to be born on the spectrum. Reason for this is because much of our immunity is formed and bonded in that first few hours of our birth, most importantly along the last few minutes as we experience the world for the first time through the ‘slip and slide' that is our moms vagina, home of many bacteria, both good and bad, that determine the health of our gut and immune system.  Unfortunate for many children being born today, they are born destined to an uphill battle, and a fight they have no choice to walk away from…

In an article recently written by a mother, regretful of not doing more research before she had her baby, she wrote:

George Malcolm Morley, OB/GYN has done extensive research regarding C-Sections and autism and has concluded that, “A baby born by C-section is 3-4 times more likely to have autism.”

She goes into depth at the many ways she later researched were contributing factors to autism, based on real science.

“I am admitting here for all the world to see: I gave my son Autism. I did it. Me. And no one can ever take that away.”
How did she give her son autism:  Read more:  HOW I GAVE MY SON AUTISM

Ok, so now your child has autism.  Now what?
According to new studies: The lifetime cost of providing care for a person with autism is $2.4 million… just the annual cost of autism therapies and treatments can exceed $40,000 to $60,000 per year.  Full article HERE.

$2.4 million!  About 10 times greater the cost than an average child.
Yet, people claim to not care or be able to afford to eat organic, live healthier, repair their health first and clean their systems up before trying to conceive. What if I told you I would PERSONALLY teach you how to prepare for THE healthiest baby possible for less than what the average person spend on fast food every year? Today we have the ability to research for ourselves:

• what steps we should take and things we should avoid to get pregnant naturally and carry a healthy baby to delivery, and the aftermath of how to feel them…
• Yet when I tell them the cost to work with me to clean up their bodies from the harmful chemicals of their past, they turn their cheek.  Why?  Because it's a lot of work to ignore ‘food cravings' when you're pregnant, it's easier to embrace ‘it won't happen to me'.  You may think this harsh of me to write, but the numbers speak for themselves.
• 1 in 50 and on the rise…something we're doing in Western medicine and with our food system, is incredibly wrong!

SO NOW WHAT?  MY CHILD HAS AUTISM

“Show me a person with autism and I'll show you an inflamed gut” ~Dr Datis Kharazzian.

Children with autism often have trouble communicating, so they may not be able to tell their parents that they're experiencing painful symptoms like acid reflux and stomach cramps. Instead, they scream, act aggressively and throw temper tantrums. The discomfort, pain and other physical reactions from the allergic response could trigger autistic behaviors.

The Autism spectrum can be improved or sometimes, eliminated when addressing the health of the gut! Studies show that virtually EVERY person with Autism has abnormal gut flora, affecting the brain.

Secondary to the food sensitivities, another theory proposes that many children with autism have a “leaky gut,” aka increased intestinal permeability (Watch Dr Fasano's interview here) This theory suggests that autistic children have tears and holes in their intestinal walls, possibly due to damage from toxins, antibiotic sensitivity or infections (such as an overgrowth of the yeast Candida albicans). In addition, these children may lose healthy digestive bacteria and have damage to the cells that produce enzymes needed to absorb certain proteins (such as gluten) properly.

There are a couple of different theories as to why children with autism can benefit from a diet free from gluten and casein. One draws a connection between food allergies, FOOD SENSITIVITIES (Read more about this test I offer in my practice) and behavioral problems.

Thousands of parents throughout the world have placed their children on this restricted diet and have observed dramatic improvements. 

I'm fortunate to learn from experts in the field such as Dr. Datis Karrazian, who is best known for non-pharmaceutical applications to chronic illnesses, autoimmune disorders, and complex neurological disorders, such as the Autistic population.

DR MERCOLA wrote a great article on this topic: 

The book Our Toxic World: A Wake Up Call, by Dr. Doris Rapp, is an excellent resource if you're unsure of how or where to start. Other helpful tips for tackling autism include:

1. Lower the EMF burden in your home, especially in your bedrooms.
2. Carefully review the vaccination issue, including the conventional vaccination schedule, and know that in most US states you still have the right to opt out of vaccines.
3. Avoid pasteurized milk; it's an absolute imperative to the treatment of autism. Those managing this illness without restricting milk are deceiving themselves. This includes all milk products, such as ice cream, yogurt and whey. Even natural flavorings in food must be avoided unless the processor can guarantee that caseinate is not included.
4. Completely eliminating sugar/fructose, juice, soda, French fries and wheat (pasta, bagels, cereal, pretzels, etc.) is also highly recommended.
5. Get proper sun exposure. Vitamin D deficiency in conjunction with damaged gut flora may be two of the most significant contributing factors to autism.

Optimizing your vitamin D levels and your gut flora during pregnancy may be two of the most important prevention strategies discovered to date.

HOW CAN YOU HELP YOURSELF OR YOUR CHILD?

If you're a soon to be MOMMY aspiring to clean up your body, and educate yourself on your options to build optimal health for you and your baby, I can help! I SUGGEST beginning this 1 YEAR prior to conception, since we cannot do any kind of detox while you're pregnant or breastfeeding.  Is it worth the investment to do everything possible you can to ensure a healthy baby, rather than live with the surprise of $1.4 million by NOT taking these steps?

If you're a soon to be DADDY and want ‘the above' for your significant other, set up a time for us to all talk about how I can help.  You're not off the hook because it IS 50% YOUR DNA. 😉  So there will be steps on both parts to clean up.

If you're a PARENT or guardian of an autistic child, or director of a school program, I would LOVE to help out.  Throughout this article, I have referenced Food Sensitivity testing, Heavy Metals and Leaky Gut to name a few.  I will likely start here with your blessed soul and create a healing protocol for their gut, improving their quality of life and yours!

Please do not hesitate to CONTACT ME if you'd like to schedule a consultation to discuss how I can help.

I'm on the board as a nutritionist resource for a well-known local autistic integration program, called BASIC.  I am looking to get more involved in others as well, especially in Southern California!

I take this topic very seriously, as I do your health and the health of your loved ones.

NAMASTE!