Guest Post: GNOWFGLINS

Wardee is one of my all time favorite real food resources.  She even has online classes for those of us who are entirely visual in our learning style (hello, ME!), and podcasts, and recipes, and fermenting book, and ebooks, and resources galore.  Today I am entirely and completely privileged to have a guest post on her blog! So jump on over to GNOWFGLINS to say hello, and be sure to check out her GAPS series.

And don't forget...have hope!

Life Change

"Your patient will never be able to go back to the typical modern diet full of sugar, artificial and processed ingredients and other harmful "foods".  Use the years of following GAPS nutritional protocol for developing healthy eating habits for life!" 

- Dr. Natasha Campbell-Mcbride, 

Gut and Psychology Syndrome, pg. 155

We bought this house when Ellie was 2 months old.  We moved in one month later, two weeks before Christmas, and have never fully unpacked.  Boxes and piles throughout the house have sat untouched for over two years. We are selling.  As I clean and pack I am witness to the insanity and change of the last 2.5 years. We have never really had the chance to make this place home, and though we didnt know it at the time, this house would not be what we needed.

When we bought this house it seemed ideal.  It is located on the fringe of a newer subdivision, a couple blocks from farm fields, and within 20 minutes of most everything. On 1/4 acre corner lot it has a huge backyard and we made plans for a play structure, sand box, raised beds, and fruit trees.  Now it sits with chickens, chicken coop, metal swing set, sand box, and a half-dozen unfinished projects.  We did get in three raspberry bushes that the pet rabbit loves to torture.

The last 18 months have been absorbed with finding safe food for Ellie, and now my family. The hunt has been tough.  Regardless of how I tried to phrase the question the results were often the same.  Farmer's were offended that I questioned their feed practices, and some were dishonest which put Ellie's healing at risk.  Safe food has been hard to come by, and often expensive.  When I find it, I stock the freezer like a beef bone hoarder.  Often times my sources will just disappear.  Randomly they just stop calling me back, or tell me they are not comfortable selling their products to me.  This has gone on for over a year.  Search time and drive time have kept my days tense.

About a year ago I was in the thick of searching for Ellie safe meats when our local chicken guy just didn't show up to give me my eggs. He literally went from weekly chatting it up with me, to dropping off the planet.  It was so bizarre.  It caused me to pause and seriously examine our situation.  There has always been this underlying fear of 'what if we can't find food for her' or 'what if we don't have the money to feed her'.  This incident made those fears very real, and pushed me to my knees.

I told God that I knew He would heal her, and thanked Him for hope. I told him that I was tired of chasing safe food and unsure how to continue.  I asked Him if I was to continue searching, or make a change. Was He really expecting me to spend an unknown amount of years driving my car all over hill and dale to find food for her?  Food that I couldn't always even trust entirely? He knew our situation. He knew that I simply could not continue to squeeze a GAPS family, an FPIES toddler, working full time, and hours of searching for safe food into every day.  He also knew I was willing to do whatever it took, for as long as needed.  His response response gave me clarity and a vision.

What I realized was this:

I do not wish for Ellie to be 30 and looking for safe food on craigslist.
As the parents, I believe it is our job to make sure she grows up to be an adult 
who can provide for, and take care of herself.  
In addition, we want to always have a safe place
for her to come home to.

I took that to daddy, and he agreed.  We didn't know how we would get there, but we knew God had that plan for us.  We laid it at His feet, and the rest is history.  

Here we are a year or so later.  We are making a life change.  We are moving.  We have a vision. We have an idea of what we want to do.  We are even a little bit excited.  We plan to raise some animals for Ellie, for the family, and for other's in need.  Sounds exciting, eh?  It IS...now.  It was not all roses getting to that point, let me tell you. When I was a little girl I never said 'I can't wait to grow up and be a chicken farmer'.  We have had to do more accepting of our new normal, but that is o.k. Things don't always go as planned, and certainly not when we decide to have children.  But isn't that how it is supposed to be?  

We are officially on the hunt.  We are looking for a home.  We are open to most anything, and I am just specifically asking that it not be under a bridge (truly).  In all reality I am very comfortable saying:

It doesn't have to be big enough.  It doesn't have to be fancy enough.  It just has to be safe enough.  

And with that we have hopes of acreage and the start of a chicken farm.  Want to help? Know of a lead? Have a safe place for Ellie? Have a rental property that needs some great tenants? Want to sponsor a barn raising?  Or help us launch our business?

By the way, Big Sis has been asking to live on a farm since she could speak.  After we moved to this house she informed us that she liked it, it was nice, but when was God going to give us that farm?  We laughed.  And I am certain God did, too.  He clearly hears the prayers of children.  

For more info on how you can help or what we are looking for click HERE

Not My Idol

I grew up in the church.  Having had my fair share of mission, ministry and overall church experience, I feel fairly well equipped to say that the Western Protestant church lacks in the area of addressing food.  In fact, most will quickly put up a defensive wall regarding all things food, and limit its spiritual implications to food laws being old testament, and 'all things in moderation' justifying most everything else. When we ventured down the eye-opening path of Ellie's healing, I found myself ill-equipped to manage the balance between trusting in food and trusting in God.

There is no doubt in my mind that information on GAPS was divinely placed directly in my path.  It has opened doors once unimagined, and created a healing hope that was non-existent in Ellie's future. At the same time, I have often been reminded by other GAPS moms that it is God that does the healing.  During the 10 days of Team Ellie I felt compelled to be sure I had laid the burden of healing Ellie where it should be - at the foot of the cross, and that the food changes we have made in our home have not become an idol.

The real food world of bloggers has created some interesting dynamics.  Various food perspectives and experiences are thrown about, often condemning opposing views, and lately there seems to be a surge in accusations of food idolatry. Ironically, at the same time as I began my ten days dedicated to Ellie, a small group of Christian bloggers launched a real food attack, blogging about those who shamefully damn souls and stop spreading the love of Christ for the sake of maintaining self-righteous eating habits. As I read through their posts and a few others I found, I realized that there were indeed some points that held true.


In the last 15 months I have learned how incredibly important it is to remember that the God of the universe does not operate bound to the laws of the universe - He did create them, after all.  He can heal (or not heal) whenever, wherever, and however He chooses that will most effectively glorify Him.  In addition, one quick read through the Bible will confirm that food is much more spiritual than any mainstream Westerner would like to admit. Eating, fasting, and hunger are referenced throughout both Old Testament and New to illustrate the power of God.  To ignore these references is to ignore the spiritual implication of food.

Ironically, one lesson that was difficult for me to learn was that while it is inappropriate to preach food over the love, mercy and grace of God, I don't have to sacrifice the well-being of my children because other people feel uncomfortable.  I will not tell my child that there are certain times it is acceptable to eat something harmful, any more than I will tell them there are times it is acceptable to lie, cheat, or steal.  We do the best that we can, and we often fall short in all areas (fast food anyone?) which is where we rely on the incredible grace of the cross.  Our God is not a God of grey; He is a God of black and white.  That being said, there are times as an adult we are called to ministry and asked to sacrifice our bodies knowing that God has asked us to trust Him.  This may be realized through surviving without running water, living in a hostile war torn territory, or sharing a potentially harmful meal, just to name a few.

Yet thanks to FPIES, the focus in our home has been food for so long, I still wondered how that was manifesting spiritually. Long gone are the days of carved images representing fertility or rain or good crops.  Generally speaking, mainstream America recognizes idols as statues of wood or stone; yet it is possible to make an idol out of anything, and food is no exception.  I took this to the Lord, and I asked Him to show me: had I made food an idol in our home?

What I found was one of those rare times that I received reassurance instead of reprimand. I was reminded of the path He orchestrated for Ellie, leading us to GAPS, and showing us the proof - she is getting better. I was reminded of the countless times I learned something new and amazing, and how every time without fail it brought me back to the feet of Jesus in an effort to express awe at His perfect creation. From the sun, to bacteria, to the basic functions of the body (poop!), science can only begin to see the tip of how we need the world as it was designed. That is not an idol; that is properly placed praise. Food is not an idol in our house.

For the first 18 months of Ellie's life I fought doctors and mainstream medicine for answers, and treatment protocols, and demanded the cure. I spent every day reading as many medical articles and studies as I could find, piecing together concepts in one spot with information in another.  I examined existing treatments and was devastated beyond belief when I was told 'we don't know'.  I clung to the hope that medicine would have an answer, and I scrounged through every medical journal I could find looking for it for 18 months. Trusting anything for knowledge, power or provision instead of God creates an idol. I had made medicine the idol.

James 5:14-16 instructs:  Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

The dietary changes we have made in our home are a reflection of our experiences and evidence seen in one amazing little girl.  We have watched a toxic little body rid itself of symptom after symptom with God-given, properly prepared, and healing real food. I believe the lessons learned are universal.  But we are all in different places in our journey and in different stages of healing - physically, emotionally, and spiritually. May only God get the glory every step of the way.

Matthew 5:13-14
You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

May I always be salt and light.

It's a GAPS-iversary!

On the night of February 10, 2011, I held a dying child in my arms. 

Her weight had plummeted, she was dehydrated, and her elemental formula had failed her.  I spent that night rocking a screaming child, cleaning up vomit, and staring into her dull eyes. I was paralyzed by fear. 

We had been told:
absolutely do NOT feed her animal products
she is horrifically allergic to corn
there are no medical studies
feeding her is by trial and error

We had been instructed to:
take her off the elemental formula
feed her homemade almond milk and her safe foods (a handful of fruits)
try lamb
try a multi-vitamin with corn as an ingredient
wait for an appointment with a 'top nutritionist'

We had been 'reassured':
she can go at least a month before we need to be concerned about her malnourishment affecting her

Her doctors had always marveled that she continued to grow and maintain her weight in the 90+ percentile, in spite of her medical problems and limited diet.  Her lack of hair, puffy body, and swollen joints were just signs of a chubby baby.  And now her weight had begun to decline for the first time in her life, and there was expressed concern for her 'entering her failure to thrive'.  Her body was tired and worn out from fighting.

We followed the advice we were given, and she dropped 22 ounces in less than 3 weeks time.  And on the night of February 10, 2011, I was certain she may not make it until morning.

Fear. I could never explain the fear.

I will never forget kneeling beside my bed in anger and fear and panic, and thinking it completely ridiculous that I would live in one of the richest nations in the world, yet there was no answer for my daughter.

The actual dates are muddy since email dates do not match blog post dates;  I certainly was not focused on taking notes.  I had already purchased the GAPS book and had skimmed it.  My brain was a muddled mess of GAPS facts, what the doctors were telling me, and what I had found in my own research.  I look back at my blog posts and cringe: I had no idea what I was doing and no one to ask.  There are a lot of things I should have done....differently.  And a lot of things I did not understand.  But by mid-March, and after 5 weeks, we had Ellie entirely on stage 1 of the GAPS introduction healing diet.

It was hard work.  And it was petrifying.  

Miraculously there was one other FPIES mom on the other side of the continent who had decided to start her FPIES twins on GAPS the same week, and without either of us knowing.  Praise God for miracles such as this. Her support over the last year has helped to keep us moving forward. Never underestimate the importance of support.

Tomorrow it will be a year since I sent my first email to Dr. Natasha, and she responded with exactly what I needed to hear:  You can heal your daughter.

One year ago tomorrow, someone I had never met saved her life.

And I vowed I would not be quiet about it.

GAPS heals autoimmune disease. Period.  It is not a band aid. It is not a fluke. It is not a trendy diet or a prescription for a select few. It is scientifically backed, time tested, and designed for even the most difficult autoimmune diseases. And in the face of fear, it provides hope.

Need hope? 

The Leap

We did it.

June 1 we (I) made the leap and went GAPS with the entire family. Aside from being grain free, this also means we eliminated starchy, hard to digest vegetables (such as potato and most beans) that hinder digestive healing. To help with the transition I purchased a meal plan service from a GAPS website. This helped but also made some things harder for my perfectionist nature, as I tried to do everything perfect and ditch all of my regular recipes (not what I would recommend).

The questions I have received about WHY we have made this leap are all the same - why would you do that, and isn't that outrageously expensive? So here is the short of it:

We did it because the base for your immune system lies in your intestines, and your foundational intestinal bacteria are inherited from your parents. Inherited - not genetic. Having a child with FPIES says 'momma, take a look at your own gut'. Intestinal flora is shared from dad to mom, and mom to dad, as well (no explanation needed I hope). While not as visibly severe, Ellie's sister has her own issues. And if there is anything I have learned from FPIES it is that not all reactions or symptoms internally are visible on the outside.

Yes, it has been outrageously expensive. I think. Maybe not. Because I have not had the time to shop prices, and I already have one child who eats the equivalent of a $20 roast every 2 or 3 days. There are things that can be done to bring down the cost, and considering the end result, the cost is worth reworking the entire budget (in my humble opinion). This area is something I hope to work on and be able to share with other families in order to provide encouragement towards making healthier choices.

And if I may note, ignorance is always bliss. Always. Now that I have new information there is no way I can justify going back. I cannot choose between my children, providing one with what I know to be Real Food, and one with compromised nutrition, in an effort to keep my food budget down. Is it hard? Ab-so-STINKIN-lutely. But as a friend reminded me, anything worth it always is.

Celebrations

In the middle of the broth making, meat blending, egg finding, and night waking, it is easy to forget the progress Ellie has made and the celebrations we have in only a few short months time. It has NOT been easy, and the decisions have often been difficult, but we are moving forward. As Ellie nears her second birthday, I start to panic about small things like:
*she still has a pacifier
*she still eats from only a bottle
*she shows no signs of potty training....

And I am often reminded of these things when out in public. Comments such as 'what is in the bottle?', 'are you feeding her coffee?', or indignant 'she still wakes at night?' can catch me off guard. And though my insecurity may be high, my mommy radar often picks up looks when my 22 month old is reclined on my lap drinking a bottle (that is brown) instead of eating finger foods, or I allow her to have her pacifier without a second thought. She looks older than she is which doesn't help. She has always been in the 90+ percentile. So for sanity sake I must stop and force myself to think of how far she has come.

Last year on the morning of her first birthday she was gifted her first rectal scope and biopsy. But in the last few months things have changed. So as she nears her second birthday, here are a few that I do my best to remind myself of often:

- She is no longer on a lab made formula.
- She is showing almost no hypotonia.
- She has advanced in communication skills.
- She no longer reacts topically to many things.
- She has not had a full blown FPIES episode since we started GAPS.
- She is only waking twice a night now.
- She is no longer showing extreme sensory sensitivity and is even touching and putting some foods to her lips.
- She eats REAL FOOD!

And all of these things I must celebrate. They are progress. They are hope.

Wait....What happened to the fruit?

After a lengthy list of fails, Ellie's first 'safe' foods were the pit fruits. We gave her apricot, peach, nectarine, cherry, and plum without FPIES reaction. In the same botanical food family happens to be almond, so we trialled almond milk and began giving her that as well. Once we began GAPS with her I eliminated these from her food list, and forgot about them until asked about them a few times recently.

Ellie is no longer eating these fruits -yet. Her sugar intolerance test told us that she has virtually no enzymes to digest sugar or carbohydrates of any kind. Any thing that can not be digested causes irritation, and it would either feed her bad bacteria balance or sit in her intestines undigested to ferment. Fruits also provide very minimal nutrition and can even have anti-nutrients, if she is able to digest them at all. In short, feeding her these fruits now would get in the way of her healing and block proper digestion of the four foods she is currently eating.

The good news is that these fruits did not cause a completed full blown crazy TCell response launched by her immune system, resulting in a typical (or in Ellie's case often atypical) FPIES reaction. Because of that there is great hope that she will eat them in the future without any problems, and does not have a true intolerance to them. I can not wait to use almond flour to bake for her!

It's Certainly A SUPER Market!

Over the last 6 months or so I have begun to take note of some most interesting items on the shelf at the supermarket. I finally decided it would be fun to share them with all of you. Perhaps you have already noticed them, or perhaps not. Perhaps you buy them (sorry). Another FPIES mama recently shared the picture of an apple 'juice' she found at the store, because she knew how much I would enjoy it. I can't seem to get it to post here, but it was a lovely green box with apple, that says "Apple Artificially Flavored Drink. No Juice." The question is: what then is it exactly?

Below are a few of my favorites. Warning: sarcasm alert

Let us start with this lovely Rice 'cheese' pictured at the left. Galaxy Nutritional Foods has figured out how to make American flavored processed cheese food alternatives out of rice! It is soy free, cholesterol free, lactose free....but when I turned over the back, guess what? It has diary casein in it. Darn. That's ok. The rice is not FPIES friendly, anyway.





Next up we have something that I found while sea salt shopping.

Yup. That's right. The 'no salt' for your low sodium needs. There were no ingredients listed.


Contrary to popular belief, fructose on the shelf is not derived from fruit. It is a nutritious sweetener highly processed from high fructose corn syrup. What? You didn't think you could process high fructose corn syrup? You can! Read the sign! This lovely little sign was courtesy of the bulk bins at Winco (in case you are looking to purchase some).

Ahhh....Xantham Gum. An FPIES favorite. From our local health food store. Gluten free, wheat free, and an 'authentic food'! For the preservative need in you. Feel free to add this soy or corn based ingredient to your baking goods to give it some fluff in the name of 'gluten free'. (Not FPIES safe)

This one made me stop and laugh. Do not forget to pick up your imported octopus, in a can, with SOY and olive oil. Uh......


I had to include this most frustrating picture. It is the back of a granola bag. The ingredients look great, right? For our corn free home I was thinking it was a good choice. Until I read the black italic writing. Packaged in corn. DOH! Did I mention they are replacing BPA products with a corn based plastic? And the 'new' Styrofoam comes from corn? That meat packaging you see in the store? Agh!



Last, but certainly not least, I had to include one of my most favorite items now featured on the grocery shelf as well as at the local farmer's markets. Vegetarian chickens. That's right. I am not really sure who is creating the need to produce these. It is full of confusion for me. The vegetarian that wants bug and worm free eggs? The consumer that doesn't know chickens are designed to eat bugs and worms? Those hoping for the ethical treatment of animals, not realizing to keep a chicken from eating a bug they have to be fully caged and not on the ground? I am so confused on this one!


I used to get frustrated because I wanted to be able to shop the market and throw whatever I wanted to in my basket. Stupid FPIES, I would think. I can no longer shop without thinking. Now I know that our new normal has opened up a more healthy realm for the entire family, and that if I really look, most things in life can give you a good laugh.

Digestive Enzymes: NOW what do we feed her?

The search for an explanation of digestive enzymes and why they might be missing revealed a list of additional 'disorders' and 'diagnoses' that are labeled as genetic, but with no gene yet found. All of the enzymes can be missing in various capacities, and it is very often a secondary condition to intestinal dysbiosis. Let me say that again - a secondary condition due to intestinal damage and NOT a genetic disorder. Our G.I. brought this to our attention early on. This is what I believe Ellie has, Sugar Intolerance as a secondary condition to FPIES.

Congential Sucrase-Isomaltase Deficiency (CSID) is one dissacharide deficiency diagnosis with it's own parent group website. On this website I found a very helpful list telling sucrose and starch levels in various foods. One quick glance through shed light onto the progression of foods allowed on the GAPS and SCD nutritional programs. The introduction diet (or healing stage) of GAPS allows for only broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, onions, leeks, and squash (winter and summer). All of these vegetables have extremely low levels of any sugars that would need enzymes for digestion. Winter squash and carrots are the highest in starch, and most surprisingly, broccoli and cauliflower have almost zero levels of fructose, sucrose, maltose, lactose or starch. Those green vegetables that the doctors have said for Ellie to avoid due to high levels of protein? Low low LOW on the scale of digestion needs. Good good GOOD choice for us! And right in line with Dr. Natasha. More confirmation we are headed in the right direction.

So the answer, once again, was right in front of me. What do we feed her to continue her healing? GAPS, stage 1. For those of you curious here is a fantastic resource I found by another blogger. She compiled a condensed view of the healing stages of GAPS. Her super cute site has a super great name, too: Health, Home and Happiness. A very important three!

A Pause For More Miracles

While attempting to locate lamb bones, I contacted the company that supplies grass fed organic lamb to the local Whole Foods, Trader Joes, and Natural Foods Co-op. The customer service I received was incredible and personalized. They asked me a few questions about what I was looking for, and then said they would arrange for bones to be delivered to the local Whole Foods for me to pick up. I thanked them for their time and briefly stated that it was for my daughter who only ate meat. The response? We are glad to help and the bones are donated. We have let them know you will be picking up the entire case.

Amazing. The word of the year.

I have received permission to tell you who they are:

Atkins Ranch

Not only do they have fantastic customer service, they also have a fantastic product. Take a look at their website for more information.

Thanks again to Atkins Ranch!
What an amazing gesture of kindness for our Ellie!

The Method To My Madness

Who is Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride?

- She is a doctor of neurology
- She is a doctor of nutrition
- She obtained her first degree in Russia
- She obtained her second degree in the UK
- She practices medicine in the UK
- She previously worked as a neurosurgeon
- She is the mom of a child previously diagnosed with Autism
- She has done extensive research on the 'gut/brain connection'

While she has her own field experience and medical work dating back to the early 80's, she also works with other doctors all over the globe and does an excellent job of compiling research. This includes the Specific Carbohydrate Diet. (You may find a bunch of websites dedicated to which is 'better', GAPS or SCD, but the truth is they fall in the same group.)

Her original focus was to heal her son, and investigate the autism spectrum. What resulted was a compilation of information connecting intestinal health to overall health and nutrition. She promotes underlying health and healing protocols based on medical research and experience, combined with the ability to recognize individual gut and immune system conditions.

To me, she was the unheard of - medicine combined with nutrition.

Now I do not wear rose colored glasses. I am not/was not hoping for a miracle fix. And I did not randomly pick a doctor off of the internet. I had done my research, which included speaking to other GAPS homes and patients over the course of two years. But seriously, ....SERIOUSLY. What did we have to lose?

So I emailed her, doubting I would ever get a response. Yet to my surprise, I received a personalized response to Ellie's condition within 24 hours.

And what I received was hope. HOPE. Let me say it again:

HOPE

And the best sentence in her email?
"...children at her age recover quite quickly once you start feeding them properly."

So you see, there IS a method to my going out on a limb and choosing a path other than what Ellie's doctors can give. And this method does not come from the quack witch doctor on the corner. It comes from a brilliant, experienced, doctor of neurology and nutrition, who has made it her goal to help other mothers around the globe. Not with a magic pill. Not with a prescribed medicine. But with a challenge to examine the environment in my home, the food on my table, and the toxic load that Ellie has inherited from me. Overwhelming? Yes. But finally a place to start.

Our Special Order Chickens

After the borrowed Vitamix arrived, Ellie began chugging her bottles with liquid meat. I felt the long time burden of feeding my daughter begin to lift, and a relief that was unexplainable. The missing link at this point was providing a variety of meats to give her a variety of nutrients, and also finding a 'bird' to round out her needs. Ideally, we could go purchase a chicken and give her chicken soup, but finding a chicken that has not been fed soy or corn is literally impossible. I have been hunting for soy and corn free chickens and eggs for months. Chickens in North America have been fed commercial feed, and corn and soy for so long, that I couldn't even find a generation that knew otherwise.

You have probably heard someone say at some point that homemade chicken soup really does have healing properties to it. Well, it does! It is bone broth! You throw in a chicken, cook it up, and make soup. I find it almost humorous that we are OK with chicken bone broth, but think other animals are funky. Sometimes when I make these realizations I shake my head at myself. How goofy I have been!

Finally on craigslist I found a farm in the Apple Hill area that is raising chickens for meat, and selling them at farmer's markets. They were in their second year, and going to begin selling their organic chickens to a local restaurant as well. I emailed the business owner (Tom), and told him what I was looking for. To my amazement, he offered to look into raising chickens for slaughter for me, special order! Special order chickens. Who would have thought!

Tom is very knowledgeable, and did extensive research on my behalf to find a soy and corn free alternative to feeding the chickens, and also make it himself so that the per pound charge for these chickens is not outrageous. (Of course, 'my' soy and corn free chickens will be leaner and smaller than the 'other' chickens.)

Real Food Farms in Camino, CA will be beginning soy and corn free meat chickens this month. Please contact them (realfoodfarms@gmail.com) if you are interested in purchasing chickens that are soy free, or both corn and soy free. They are competitively priced, and very impressive. I am unsure if they ship, but you can always ask. After all, look at the accommodations they have made for Ellie!

Day >>10<< of *REAL* Food!

Today was day 10 of real food for Ellie. Since I have spent every waking moment on the internet, on the phone, driving to various stores and markets, and in the kitchen cooking, it has gone by extremely fast. This is a good thing because if I had any more time to think about it I would have vomited from anxiety.

Ellie has been doing fantastic on home made, grass fed, corn free and soy free bone broths. There is an amazing healing factor to consuming bone based soups. If you don't believe me, just Google it. The resources are amazing. Bone broths have been used for centuries because of their amazing healing nutrients.

Yesterday we added in pureed lamb and she had a field day. Today I added in pureed salmon, and she began a hunger strike. I only let her go about 4 hours protesting because instructions I (personally via email!!) received from Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, doctor of neurology and nutrition, said to feed her bone broth with pureed meats and marrow every hour. Back she went onto lamb for the rest of the day, and she did great. She still is battling a virus which is continually reminding me to be nervous. Occasional fussing, extra napping, stirring and waking in her sleep, all stop me in my tracks and cause me to ask myself 'reaction!??..or just virus???' I think some things will just never change.

This is the farthest thing any doctor here in the U.S. would recommend that you feed to an FPIES child. Meat means high protein content, and FPIES is a violent allergy to food protein. Instead we have fed Elianna fruits which are known to be low in protein (a.k.a. lower in nutritional value) and higher in sugar content. I now speculate that she has 'passed' these fruits because they have fed the bacteria imbalance in her intestines and continued her gut dysbiosis. I will continue to add some formula in to her broth until her stools look more regular, and I can get her onto a regimen of probiotics. These are coming in the mail.

Only 10 days ago I was on my knees begging for direction as I watched Ellie's eyes grow darker and foggier, and her little body show signs of dehydration and lack of nutrition. Her extended belly had become harder and rounder than ever, and her energy was low. She whimpered a lot, and spoke very little of her typical jibberish. Today I was in awe as I ran my hand over her belly to find that her eczema is disappearing where her skin has always been horribly dry and scaley. Her cognitive ability has increased, as she is now talking clear words, engaging in conversation and following directions in ways she has not done in the past. She is initiating play, and expressing normal emotions such as frustration, and preference. She is giving kisses and asking for food. All of this within 8 days. And no one will ever be able to tell me that food allergy and intestinal health does not influence the brain and development, because I have seen it with my own eyes, in my own child.