SCREAMS recommends a diet free of additives

http://come-over.to/FAS/brochures/SCREAMSbroch.pdf

My 3 year old's therapist gave me a handout today. I was happy to see that it mentioned how much an additive free diet can help. This particular handout is for Fetal Alcohol Syndrome but I see so many similarities between FAS and Autism. I appreciate any FAS literature for Ana, then I use it to apply to Andrew also.

Cost of healthy foods

http://www.dailyspark.com/blog.asp?post=what_20_will_buy_at_the_drivethru_and_at_the_supermarket

This was an awesome article about the cost of eating healthy foods. I loved it. I did notice a few comments about the unrealistic prices of their healthy foods so I have to say that I love living in Utah. I was thinking their healthy food prices were way too high and they could go lower. :.) We have great prices on produce at places like Winco or Reams.

yellow icing or frosting

I just found this in an old depression ad

Yellow Icing for Jack o’Lantern Smiles:
1 egg yolk 1-1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 tsp melted butter 1 tbsp orange juice
1 tbsp grated orange rind

Break up egg yolk with fork. Add sugar alternately with the butter and orange juice. Add the orange rind.

I'd only do this if you have farm fresh eggs that you can trust and orange rind that you are sure hasn't been sprayed. Looks fun!

Winter soup

MMMMMMMMm here's a new recipe, I know they come few and far between now that my staples had all been posted. I had a few veggies that I needed to use quickly so I decided to cook them all together in the pressure cooker.

1/4 of a banana squash
2 sweet potatoes
4 russet potatoes
1/2 onion
few cloves garlic
2 cups water
all in the pressure cooker, or however you do it

When they were soft I just put them all in the vitamix in 2 batches plus enough water to get it to the right consistency.

Served with salt and pepper and 1 tsp of pie type spices mixed in, then on top went homemade croutons, craisins, and slivered almonds. So super good and everyone loved it. Andrew even drank some in a cup (thinned down and extra fixins went on the side)

Difficult Children Nutrition Cure!

This was a great article from a great woman. Note my comment at the end, out of all of our foster children we saw dramatic improvements in all when following a natural diet. I didn't elaborate much on this blog about it because we're supposed to keep the fostering to a minimum on our blogs.
http://www.teachingselfgovernment.com/difficult-children-nutrition-cure-646

I was like you once

I WAS LIKE YOU.......ONCE
if you see me
at the supermarket,
and my child is
screaming,
rolling on the floor
with anger seeping from his pores.
please don't blame me,
I was like you once,

If you are in a restuarant
and my child
throws food and it
hits you in the face,
please, don't be angry,
I can't handle any more rage.

If you see my child
climbing over
a very tall fence
with nothing on
except his hat.
Please don't call the police,
I only looked away for a minute.

If you see me
crying, as you
pull up next to me
at a stop light.
at a busy intersection.
Honk and smile, I need a friend.

If you see me,
running down the street
with curlers in my hair
chasing a small child
who runs so fast, I can't catch him
Help me chase him down.

If my child grabs
your child, or pushes him
or bites or
kicks him, or
says words that make your hair curl.
Please forgive him, and me too.

If you happen to
see us, walking
in your neighbourhood,
or in the malls,
or at the park
Please don't turn away,
I was like you once.

copyright 1999
Sally Meyer

It's official

I just realized that I never blogged about our official diagnosis. We've "known" for years but there were so many things that convinced me otherwise and we just didn't really want to hear it. My little guy (10 now) had his full battery of private testing last month and got a diagnosis of Autism-Aspergers, and Anxiety disorder. I hear that's about the age a lot of high functioning kids are diagnosed because the world starts to become more abstract and while others are growing up emotionally, these kids aren't. We've been going through a mourning of sorts because the words are hard to hear. That's why I didn't put this on the blog for a while. But, if the purpose is to help others who have the same issues, it should be made known. Who knows what great people will find help through natural foods when googling aspergers-diet or aspergers-food. As I've said many times before, it doesn't take everything away and it's not going to "cure" everyone with autism but it does make a dramatic difference in the level of symptoms. I know that a lot of people talk about gluten free/casein free but so many try that diet while still including petroleum. PLEASE try both together first! I have heard of so many failures to improve with only gluten/casein free but I rarely hear of a failure to improve with petroleum free (when actually following Feingold).
Thanks to everyone for your support and I'd love any comments or suggestions. I've written so much about our life that the blog has been super slow and I just post articles here and there. Love you all, Danika

An article from the Chicago Tribune

http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/ct-met-food-dyes-20110101,0,1972784.story?page=1