A Starting Place.....

Where to begin......
I have run into numerous people lately, like us, who have had behavior and/or gastrointestinal issues. To me, this is an epidemic affecting too many of our children today. With the number of kids on the autism spectrum reaching 1 in 50, according to the latest data. This number, however, does not include the number of kids suffering with adhd, asthma or allergies. There is no doubt in my mind that our children are being poisoned by the environment, the food they eat and the medicine their given. Their tiny bodies have yet to develop before being overwhelmed with toxins. With that being said, I have to disclose, I am not a doctor. I have not had formal medical training. What I have had is a child, who the medical community failed, and I have years of research and experience. For many people who have been failed by the medical community, research and experience account for so much more than an education. Okay enough about that. I must recommend that each parent do their own research and not just take my word for anything. It is soooo important to be informed, and the best way to do it is read, read, read. I first recommend a book written by a great doctor from the east coast named Kenneth Bock. Healing the New Childhood Epidemics: Autism, ADHD, Asthma, and Allergies: The Groundbreaking Program for the 4-A Disorders  In his book he explains why we are seeing such an increase in these four disorders and what you can do about it. I have other books that I have read that I will mention later on at the end of the post. So back to, What can I do now to help my child with their behaviors and/or tummy issues? I have to tell you that many, not all, but many behavior issues are a result of what we eat and how our digestive tract is working. If your child is chronically constipated or has chronic loose stools, it is likely that there is a whole lot more going on. There is no denying that the brain of the body is the gut. So where do we start??

1. Clean up the diet.
I know many people think that they eat pretty healthy. I too was one who thought that our family ate healthy until I looked closer at the food labels. When I mean clean up the diet, I mean eating whole, organic, non-gmo foods, limit or remove sugar and removing everything artificial.  It sounds intimidating I know. Start small. Next time you go to the grocery store only buy foods on the outside of the store.  Try recipes that cook from scratch. Anything boxed is processed and more than likely has ingredients that can make your gut struggle to process.
Have you ever taken a look at the foods that target kids; fruit snacks, kool-aid, candy..... all these foods are marketed for kids and all three are full of artificial color and sugar. Some of the worst things kids can eat are artificial coloring, artificial sugar,  preservatives and pesticides. All four can cause behavior and tummy issues. One easy plan is to eliminate one thing each month. So this month you do away with artificial coloring (this includes all food dyes). Then next month remove artifical sweetners such as splenda, and so on. If your child is a really picky eater just have a little faith that once the offending foods are out of their diets they will adjust. There my be some withdrawl as most of these "food additives" are seen by the body as chemicals. I too questioned my ability regarding putting my son on a diet. When we first took my oldest son off dairy, which included his feeding tube formula that he drank orally. He had about 2 days of CRAZY withdrawl symptoms. Fever, hallucinations, fits of rage. By day 2, I thought I was killing him. Thank goodness I had some great support because, the following evening was the first time he spoke spontaneously and in sentence. It was so amazing. Another trick to is to wash all your produce in a grapefruit extract wash to remove the pesticides. Pesticides are very likely culprits in gastro irritation and negative aggressive and impulsive behavior. Trader Joe's has a great and inexpensive produce wash available.
There are many websites that help with learning to clean up the diet but my favorite is www.pecanbread.com. The author, Elaine Gotchall, of the book Breaking the Vicious Cycle, talks about how to heal the gut and help it return to normal function. We have personally done the specific carbohydrate diet (though it is very difficult in the beginning) and I must say that it is now our way of life. It took some time for the kids to adjust but once they did they started eating vegetables and the variety of their diet expanded tremendously! There is another website, ran by Carrie Vitt, that is dedicated to whole organic cooking and has family friendly recipes as well as weekly meal plans you can purchase and her website is www.deliciouslyorganic.net.
There are 2 specific foods that seem to have a reputation for causing issues and they are dairy and gluten (wheat). We have had issues with these two foods and because of the way that they are processed many people can no longer tolerate them. For adults the feel sick, bloated maybe have cramping, for kids they don't know how to explain their pain so for many it shows in their behavior. www.tacanow.org is a great site for information regarding a gfcf (gluten/casein free) diet. Which I must say is so much easier to follow today than it was when we began 6 years ago.
Cleaning up the diet is Crucial and can make or break your success. If you put junk in you will get junk out. It is that simple.


2. Add in a quality vitamin.
We have done it all. We have tried it all. The best all in one multi-vitamin we personally have found is called Intrakid. You can purchase it at www.evitalhealth.com. It is full of everything you could possibly want in a multi. It is very complete however, there are a couple things I would add.

 #1- a 3rd party tested omega 3 supplement preferably krill oil. Barleans has some great tasting omega supplements as well and you can purchase at www.vitacost.com at a somewhat reduced price. They taste great and my kids love taking it. Omega 3's are great for immune function and for healing the gut not to mention brain function.
 
#2- I would also add vitamin D. However it is important to have vitamin D3 with K2. The K2 helps the body absorb the D3. You can find this at vitacost as well.

#3 Probiotics. If you or your child is senstivie to dairy make sure to get one that is dairy free. There are many good probiotics, the key is to get one that contains Lactobacillus acidophilus DDS-1. 

#4- Vitamin B- This is a great vitamin that helps stabilize moods, mental focus and promote the feeling of wellbeing.

Those three are a great place to start. If you cannot afford intrakid then try to find a whole food multi vitamin from a reputable company. If your child has digestive issues a digestive enzyme may be helpful with meals.

3. Detox the body.
Epsom salt baths are an easy way to detox your body. For kids this is also easy, as I don't know of many kids who don't enjoy being in the bath. We have even used a benonite clay bath for detox with good results. You can find some great recipes here for homemade Epsom salt baths.

4. Detox your home
This is another area that can be overwhelming but start small. Instead of replacing your Scrubbing Bubbles try a google search for a natural toilet bowl cleaner. We use natural dish soap mixed with baking soda for ours.There are millions of sites dedicated to natural living. Wellnessmama has numerous ideas for natural cleaning and living. I have this site bookmarked and frequent it often as there is sooo much information in it. Chemicals in your home can also affect behavior and also gut health. So minimizing the toxic load will help take some of the pressure of the body. OrganicAuthority has lots of good info regarding house goods as well. Look for chemical free substitutes for all your home cleaners and soaps.

This is just a start but if you do all 4 of the these you will be on your way to healing your body and mind.

Websites I frequent:
www.mercola.com  he is the best in information everything supplemental and medical.
www.wellnessmama.com she has loads of great tips, info and ideas.
www.pecanbread.com heal the gut for good!
www.deliciouslyorganic.net great cooking ideas
www.tacanow.org great info for GFCF diet
www.organicauthority.com

Other books to read:
Breaking the Vicious Cycle, By: Elaine Gotchall
Changing the Course of Autism By: Bryan Jepsen