Elaine, though we have never met, I will always think of you as Marisa's
guardian angel. The power in your story and your selfless devotion to
personally helping thousands of children and adults live healthier lives is
all the confirmation that I need that miracles DO happen. As evidence, look
at the worldwide network of people communicating daily to help others ease
suffering and wipe out these miserable diseases. What tremendous power for
such a petite and gentle woman! God bless you!
Madeleine(parent on our listserv)
Here is some of the advice that Elaine gave our list
You might need to read the book "Breaking the Vicious
Cycle" to understand.
this part.
Allergies
If the allergy test stated "cow's milk", then it would
not apply to goat's
milk. However, over the 45 years I have been involved
with allergy testing,
I have found it to be very, very inaccurate. I am not
saying that one
should ignore it all, but as a child remains on SCD,
the allergies fade
away.
I remember case after case of people getting well on
SCD and feeling that
they wanted doctor supervision to give them support
nonetheless. During the
first few years, I recommended some holistic doctors
who appeared to support
my work.
Invariably, the patient would call back in tears. Why!
Because they were showing tremendous improvement on
SCD and they were
testing positive to all the foods they had been eating
and upon which they
were getting well.
That is about all I can tell you.
*****************************************************
Just let me add my two cents.
With all due credit to the allergists (they were the
first in the medical
profession to look at food as the culprit in so many
disorders), they, for
some reason (not scientific) decided that allergies
are based on proteins
(and parts of proteins like peptides). Therefore, all
that emerged from
them for the last 25 years had to fall into the gluten
(protein) and casein
(protein) categories. (I should have reversed the
parenthesis)
They stuck to their guns in spite of the growing body
of evidence which
showed us about autoimmunity and the role of bacteria
in creating the
autoimmune condition. And the role of feeding these
bacteria and yeast on a
surplus of carbohydrates in the incubation tank of the
gut (the colon).
But the whole world of gluten had taken on a life of
its own!
Again, those who wish to follow GF/CF and are finding
relief, well, that
speaks for itself. For those who need more, there is
always SCD.
Autism and SCD
I posted the website where you can find the supplement
(2002) to my book.
For those who may have trouble finding it (altho it is
easy) here is the
website address. Just copy and paste this and let your
browser do the work
http://www.uclbs.org/manddbrigade.htm
I am new to this list along with others. This list
started and I knew
nothing about it until August 18th when attending a
Potluck in Toronto. I
was terribly excited to hear about and somehow got in
touch with Mimi.
When I wrote my book in 1987 (the old version) I
mentioned epilepsy and
austim because, after many years of consulting, I
noted that, even before
gut problems cleared, children with these disorders
were either being
completely cured or improving immensely. One GI doctor
even asked me (and I
was a graduate student at Western University in
London, Ontario at that
time) he asked me to please make an appointment and
talk to the Head of
Epilepsy at the hospital connected to my university. I
did and I remember
this awful man sitting there like a corpse and having
all I had to say go in
one ear and out the other. In the wards adjacent to
his office, I could see
the patients who were being subjected to lobotomies. )
Well, getting back to my book, the 4th printing
included a chapter on the
gut and the brain, the 7th printing included a history
of celiac disease and
the awful perversion of the SCD to the gluten
hypothesis; the 9th printing
included the Mom and Dad Brigade.
I have always know about this connection as my own
child, even before
developing ulcerative colitis, was having
schizophrenic type seizures
(professionals tell me it could not be schizophrenia
because you have to be
older to have it - man-made definitions!) but they
were
terrible.
So here I am with you guys and you are making me
deliriously happy with the
successes you are having with Dr. Sidney Valentine
Haas's Specific
Carbohydrate Diet
chelation
I have no experience with chelation and this is one
area in which I dare not get involved. There are many
who believe, based on allergists' advice, that the
basic problem is accumulation of toxic heavy metals.
I, personally, feel that (as in Alzheimer's with
aluminum) it is a result of faulty cellular metabolism
which is probably due to malabsorption of other
nutrients . These essential nutrients which are
probably not being absorbed would rid the cells of
anything that does not belong in the cells. But,
again, I know little more than that.
I studied the detoxification systems of the body
including the P-450 system of the liver (very
dependent on Vitamin C) but feel my information is
incomplete.
Cook your vegetables well
Our first priorities is to get the maximal amount of
food in a digestibale,
absorbable form leaving little for bacterial growth
(or yeast - they ride
piggy back on each other).
Don't worry about cooking the food well.[she means you
should cook it well] We have to cook it to break down
the cell walls of the plant material or else the
substances inside the cells
of carrots, apples, etc. will not be absorbed because
of the rigid cell
walls in uncooked food. It then keeps going down, down
and feeds those
critters which adapt to any energy (calories) that
come down.
Enzymes
Jen mentioned that she heard that probiotics act like
enzymes.
This is not true.
Digestive enzymes split molecules of protein, fat and
carbohydrate so that
they can be absorbed in the small intestine as amino
acids, simple sugars
and fatty acids. That is what we want. We do not want
the long molecules
of undigested protein, carb, and fat to get to the
colon and grow heaven
only knows what kind of bacteria and yeast.
Probiotics should knock pathological or harmful
bacteria off of the
territory and replace them with themselves, the good
guys.
Honey and fruits
As for not using honey because they are afraid of
yeast.....
Most of the yeast information applies to bacteria.
Bacteria and yeast (I am not talking about system
yeast infection) live together in a biofilm on the
surface of the mucous membranes of the gut. Many, many
children (and adults) have used honey and recovered. I
believe the same applies for honey.
I am not in agreement with those on the listserv (and
it was mainly Deborah) who keep pushing "no fruit, no
honey." The beauty of SCD is that we CAN have these
things.
For those who are terribly worried about honey, I
would say, "start very slowly" and try it out.
Love
Introductory Diet
I do feel that the introductory diet should be
followed for at least two days and to introduce the
complete SCD right off the bat is a mistake.
(note from Mimi:life with kids is not perfect,if your
kids refuse the intro diet just proceed ahead.Recovery
will take a little longer but you will get there) .
new foods
When Jen Young and Marisol
and others dialogued with me, it was a constant
exercise in trying one thing
at a time in small amounts and being patient.
about new foods and symptoms
Dear Elaine,
If you read this, I was wondering if you would
respond:
I wanted to ask you a question about WIlliam (3 yrs
old). Because I feel
like I am not sure what IS a normal stool. But we are
trying to go very very
very slow this time in introducing new foods. On
Saturday he had butternut
squash as a new food, and that day his bowel movement
was like the first half
was formed and "log-like", and the second half was
mushy. So does that mean
I should hold off on the butternut squash for a while?
Or does one just keep going unless a food causes major
loose stools, painful
crampy gas, etc?
(It has been almost a month since we restarted from
the intro diet, and since
restarting the diet, he has not had loose stools at
all. He has had fewer
bowel movements, not even every day, but does not seem
necessarily
constipated, I think just adjusting.)
Thank you so very much for your time Elaine, and I am
sorry to bother you, I
just really want to get it right this time!
Sonya
Dear Sonya
I would not hold off on the butternut squash but would
be sure to skip a day
or two and then repeat with half the amount you
originally gave him. Good
luck
Probiotic dose
I noted that 75 billion cfu of acidophilus has been
used. I think that is
far too much.
Three billion sounds more like it.
Just a thought
.
I still think that making yogurt out of goat's milk
according to
instructions under FAQ on
http://www.breakingthegviciouscycle.org and using
either the Lyosan culture or buying some commercial
yogurt(as a starter) with thermopilus,
bulgaricus and, possibly, acidophilus would work out.
Then strain it after
24 hours.
Jen, if I am wrong, please let us know.
Love
P.S. I didn't want to get into an argument about
casein poisoning the brain
but I believe that is 100% incorrect. Who is saying
this?
The protein in the whey, lactoalbumin, is not a good
protein for all and
that is why straining the liquid from the completed
yogurt works so well for
some people.
***********************
Yogurt
However, I think getting the acidophilus powder in
pure form is a good idea
to be given as a probiotic.
Usually a capsule contains 3 billion cfu per tablet or
capsule or the
powdered form will say on the container how much one
teaspoon or more
contains.
I think your SCD kids should have about 3 billion cfu
to start with (divide it
up for the first week giving half in a.m. with
breakfast and half in pm with
bedtime snack. ) Experiment and see how they react.
You can go higher
if they have no bad reactions. Go no higher than 9
billion cfu per day.
As for the homemade yogurt, it would be nice (in spite
of Harry's comments
about the lactose being left (and there is residual
lactose which is
insignificant) if they could tolerate goat milk's
yogurt (made with the same
culture (Lyosan) and following directions given on
Tanya's site,
www.breakingtheviciouscycle.org under "Getting
started."
Jen wrote that Colin is getting goat cheese and one
can strain the goat's
milk yogurt and get the goat's cheese.
A little at a time, a little at a time, etc. etc. etc.
I know how confused parents are and I am truly
sympathetic. But when I
think that the the GF/CF diet is allowing so many
horrible foods and just
because DAN prescribes it, the parents go right ahead
- am I right in
assuming that they use products with corn syrup and
use soy and rice?