INSIDE OUT

Okay, a bit of a cheesy title, I know. But, when I was thinking of what to title this one, "the "straw" that broke the camels back" was the first thing that popped in my mind. What WAS that "straw"? Well, it was RAW!!

Listen, I've been down a seemingly long and frustrating road with my son who has autism. He has always been high functioning and for this I am grateful. The things I KNOW and am quite confident in is how lower functioning he would be if we didn't choose this path. After my last blog entry, I need to remind myself of this all the time. What WERE those things that kept him from slithering down a much deeper, more slippery slope? Well, I'm glad you asked.

1. He only had ONE MMR vaccine. Debate this one all you like. Tell me ALLL about how Dr. Andrew Wakefield was a fraud. Oh, you know him. The one who had his life STOLEN from him because he had the guts to talk about how the vaccine is connected to gut disorders and yes, autism)! Well his partner in "crime" who also had his license revoked, spent the money to take it to the high courts and guess what? The courts were absolutely APPALLED at what the medical community was able to do to this man. If HE'S innocent, then it's obvious who else is.
So, yes, I do believe that my son was spared much consequence because of this.
2. We stopped giving him antibiotics for his umpteen ear infections when he was 2.
3. We stopped eating dairy.
4. We removed a LOT of toxins from our home.
5. He ate only organic food the first year of his life.
6. He did not eat sugar in the first year of his life and VERY limited afterwards.

Listen, this kid is SENSITIVE!! BOTH my boys are. So after removing some of these things from his life for GOOD and seeing him come BACK to us slowly... well of COURSE he would have been worse if we kept using those things!!!

WHAT CAN THE RAW DIET DO FOR AUTISM

If you talk to ANY struggling mother who's child has autism and they are trying to recover them, one of the first issues they will know to be true is ENZYMES. These kids struggle with not having the right amount of enzymes or none at all. This is why many of our kids cannot digest complex carbohydrates, gluten, dairy, and a whole SLEW of natural foods.

I tried giving my kids enzymes, but the cost was too much for us (or so I reasoned at the time). I bought some and gave one here and there without seeing any major results. On the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, EVERYTHING is cooked. I mean carrots are cooked for FOUR HOURS before we were to eat it. Yes... yes I did this. Many people who have a hard time digesting foods MAY do better when you eat food this way at first because the cellular wall of a carrot is SO TOUGH that it's quite difficult to break that barrier to get to the nutrients and just plain hard to break down. So when you have digestive issues, this is an option. But ANOTHER even BETTER option is Raw Juicing.

You see, when you cook foods, you destroy their enzymes. When you eat animal protein, you actually STEAL enzymes. Raw food, however (not heated above 117), maintains their enzymes. Our bodies use the enzymes WITHIN THAT PLANT to help us break down the cell walls and restore nutrients in our bodies. We don't have an unlimited supply of enzymes and for some (whether genetically predisposed or whether pathogenic bacteria steal these or whatEVER), the body needs as much help as it can get!

SO WHAT'S THIS "STRAW/RAW" YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT

Well... guess what... something has changed in my son. SOMEthing, even in this past week, has brought him to us in a way that I have never seen.

Now, before I go on, know that I have been trying to look into my son's eyes since he was 3. We used to see him. No, REALLY see him. We used to get his loving gaze and know he "knew" us. After that started slipping away we longed desperately to find it. I used to love taking video of him JUST to look into his eyes. He couldn't look at me... but he could look into a mechanical lens with no problem. And I used it as much as I could.

But this week. Well, put it this way... I cried tonight. I tried not to but I just couldn't help it. I know the journey we've been on together. It has felt long and tough, but it has never been without celebration, even in the eye contact department. But tonight? Tonight was different. Tonight was something I haven't experienced with my now eight year old son since he was a baby:

He looked at me... No, not "through" me. But he looked at me. Those green eyes had love. They had gentleness. They had a smile. And his eyes are more beautiful to me today, than they have ever been before. The WAY he was able to hold my gaze and just lovingly look at me. I just feel like we have overcome something here. I believe we have crossed over the hump where I can now say we have DONE IT!!!! Now rather than saying that "autism" is still IN him and we need to get it out, I feel like now the autism is OUT of him and with more healing, will be out to STAY regardless of what gets introduced to his digestive system.

Do you know what HE told me he thinks it is today?

Green juices!

WHAT CAN GREEN JUICES DO FOR AUTISM

We started green juicing for S about a week ago. Ideally, a juicer would have been the best, but we've been using our Vitamix with success. We simply put everything in the blender, add water, squeeze out all the pulp, and drink. Oh we've juiced few and far between before. But now we are also sprouting.

The AMAZING benefits of Sprouting:
http://www.thenourishinggourmet.com/2009/01/why-sprout.html

In our present green juices, a measurement of 50% cucumber and celery, 1 freshly juiced lemon, and 50% sprouts and greens are used. B used this measurement when he was Juice FEASTING for thirty days not too long ago - he added apple).

Here's a link to Juice Feasting for anyone who's interested or just curious. This brings a new meaning to juice "fasting":
http://www.juicefeasting.com

Now we are about 80-90% Raw Vegan. But who needs labels. *Rolleyes* ;) We still eliminate gluten. So now, with the elimination of all dried fruits (they cause S to go wonky), the minimizing or eliminating of other certain fruits (apples included), the introduction of daily green juices, the elimination of all dried fruits, and a mostly Raw Diet has done wonders this past week. RAW LIFE WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE!!!!

GROUNDED

A lot of the Autism Recovery community will use a word called, "grounded". For any of you who know what it's like to NOT have a kid who's grounded, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about here. S is absolutely grounded this week. Without my even mentioning it, his dad was FLOORED on the phone with him yesterday (B, his dad in case I haven't covered that in awhile, has been on tour for two weeks). I can't wait to watch as father and son 'meet' again.

Stay tuned for more from us. I'm trying to educate as fast as this world is educating me and I hope this learning never stops. Thank you for your great thoughts and your hopes for us. It is also so encouraging to hear how others are being helped through our story. My hope is that others reading this will not lose hope and will continue to journey together with us as we stumble our way toward recovery.