Not just the smoothie...

In addition to the smoothie, also give your children a good quality multi-vitamin, a 500 mg vitamin C, and a vitamin B12 every day.

I try to remember to give them another C after school too. It is pretty much impossible to take too much vitamin C and it is used up very quickly by your body. Vitamin C is extremely powerful to your immune system. It has even been shown in studies dating back to the 30s to cure such major diseases as diptheria and polio in high doses, which I think is a huge testimony to it's importance to our immune system.

Vitamin B12 should be absorbed in the mouth for best effect, which is why I don't add it to the smoothie. Make sure when you are buying B12 that you check the label. It should say with folic acid (aids absorption) and ingredients should not have anything that starts with "cyan or cian", yes, had to believe, but meaning cianide.

Smoothie tricks... strategies to be consistent.

I prep smoothie ingredients for a week or two in advance, making it A LOT easier to do each morning!

Almost all the ingredients are available from our local Nutters. Many could be also be found online, possibly cheaper, but if you have a local health supplement store, that is probably the easiest.

I drive to our nearest city an hour away to go to Costco once a month, and that is when I buy frozen strawberries, WAY cheaper than the local grocery stores.

Strategy 1: Prep the berries
To make it easier on your Magic Bullet or blender, chop strawberries coarsely, doesn't have to be too small. I spent a few bucks at the dollar store and got a bunch of 3 oz (90 mL) containers. Chop a bunch of strawberries and make little individual cups of chopped strawberries. Then, prep another little container a third to half full with blueberries or another berry. Then you can just grab one of each container from the freezer every morning! You could obviously get bigger containers and put the berries together too, I just got those containers super cheap.

Strategy 2: Prep the supplements
Invest in a small mortar and pestle and another 2 bucks at the dollar store to get one of those plastic cases with little containers to hold beads for people who do bead work. These are perfect for holding the powder supplements!

Strategy 3: Stretch the supplements
All the following supplements are "Natural Factors" brand. Grind up a vitamin B6 tablet and split half the powder between two little bead containers. Do the same with a GABA tablet, and Mental Calmness tablet, and split half to each container. Last, add your Children's Multi Probiotic and a 1/4 tsp of stevia powder to each container.

Strategy 4: Keep everything together
Last dollar store purchase, I promise! Get a plastic bin from the dollar store for another buck or two, and put ALL the smoothie ingredients in it. Then, rather than having to search for several things in your fridge, you just pull out your bin!

Strategy 5: Daily assembly
Grab your berries from the freezer, and the bin from your fridge. Throw the berries and supplements in your Magic Bullet, add a drizzle of vitamin E, a tsp of Nutrasea oil, a Tbsp of calcium, a few drops of GSE, and 2 Tbsp of OJ and grind!

Strategy 6: Serve in a little bowl like yogurt
Ha ha, yes, you guessed it, little dollar store fruit nappie bowls! My kids are 7 and 9 and we have been doing smoothies for a year now. ONE smoothie split between them is their daily dose. I have found it very successful to have them eat it like yogurt on a spoon rather than try and drink it. They have figured out they can do it in 6 bites if they are not too light loading up their teaspoon, and they have fun counting down!

Strategy 7: No smoothie, no brekkie!
Yes, that's right, nothing else to eat or drink until the smoothie is done. You might meet resistance at first, but I was surprised at how quickly they adapted. I always try not to be too rushed and sit with them while they eat it, the side benefit being that you are there to keep them on task and get it done quickly!

Wow, I can't believe how long this post got, I had no idea there was so much strategy involved, because it really does only take a few minutes a day, and believe me, the benefits are immeasurable.

Fine tuning my Brain Helper smoothie recipe!

So I have answered the cries of my children to cut down the volume of the daily smoothie, and here are the results of my efforts... the children are thrilled and so am I. Split this smoothie between 2 young kids and drink one yourself, parents! If my family is normal, guaranteed the kids will argue and whine less, cope better and be happier... and so will you!

Modified Brain Helper Smoothie
2 large frozen strawberries
1-2 Tbsp frozen saskatoon berries or blueberries
2 slices banana
1 1/2 Tbsp orange juice
1 Tbsp liquid calcium supplement
1 tsp Nutrasea lemon Omega 3 (or 1 Tbsp Udo's DHA oil)
1 tsp probiotic powder
6 drops vitamin E
1/2 B6 tablet ground up
3 drops GSE (grapefruit seed extract)
1/8 to 1/4 tsp stevia for sweetness, or whatever sweetener you like if any

Biochemical Individuality??!

Reading an AWESOME book right now called "Diet & Nutrition, a Holistic Approach". In it, the author (Rudolph Ballentine, MD) speaks about how each person can have drastically different nutritional requirements and ability to utilize nutrients from their food, and how that can affect physical and mental health of the individual.

He uses the phrase "Biochemical Individuality" (from another author who coined the term in his own book) to describe this condition... not as an illness we need to label, but the source of many labelled "conditions"! When the needs are not identified and met for an individual, problems are manifested, and can range from physical to mental, mild or occasional to debilitating.

This concept really resonates with me because it is EXACTLY what we have been living for the past two years with our kids! A few vitamins and extra nutrients, in my son's case removing an allergen, and voila, drastically improved health... and behaviour!

It is a little sad to me that this is not a "main stream" approach in medicine, as it makes so much sense, and we have personally had such success with it. My daughter has not had a siezure in a year and a half, and my son is functioning and developing normally now that we are more consistently meeting his more demanding nutritional needs. It has been such a consuming and worthwhile effort.

Ooooh-mega 3's

Oops, I blew it again, missed a week of the Omega 3 smoothies and paying for it again! I was thinking last night, these kids are driving me crazy, not listening, teasing, arguing, blaming, aargh! It's like they go primal when they don't have their Udo's Oil. Back on track again this morning... thank goodness it starts to work quickly!

On an unhappy note, the health region has responded that they are not in a position to facilitate a study of the benefits of the Omega 3's in the school division, so now I am thinking maybe a university student interested in doing a thesis on the subject could help design a study? Will keep trying, I really want this available for more children.

An egg a day...

Oh, another amazing thing I learned in the early part of this year is the benefit of eating one egg a day, and word is, it's the yolks people! Yes, there was recently a CBC radio piece about this, how the craze in the 80s about cholesterol in eggs being bad for you has been detrimental to health in North America.

Cholesterol is the main component of the myelin sheaths on your nerves, and the seratonin in your brain, so if you are suffering nervous or depression problems, try adding an egg a day... it might beat medication!

Sneaky nutrition...

So alot has happened in the past few months since I last posted. First, I RE-discovered how much the smoothies are helping us... by lapsing in making them for a few weeks. Suddenly behaviours I had all but forgotten started to return. The kids started arguing with me and each other noticeably more!

So I decided I need to improve our nutrient sources in everything else we eat so that we don't rely so heavily on the smoothie.

Here's what I have tried so far...
1) Added Udo's Oil (with DHA) to peanut butter (1 tsp oil to 2 Tbsp peanut butter) and made peanut butter and jelly sandwich with it. They didn't even notice the oil (he he, jubilant sneaky mom laugh)!
2)Tried grinding wakame with my herb grinder and adding it to soup, it was a huge hit! Going to start adding it to more soups, sauces and any dish I can for the extra nutrients, EFAs and minerals

Here is the soup recipe
2-3 large soup bones
salt, pepper & thyme
1 Tbsp cooking oil

1/2 chopped onion
1 chopped yellow, red or orange pepper
2-3 cloves garlic
6-8 chopped mushrooms

2 large chopped carrots
2 cups natural chicken, beef or lamb stock
1/4 cup red wine
4 cups water
1-2 bay leaves
3-4 sticks wakame, rinsed and ground in herb grinder (1-2 Tbsp)

1) Sprinkle soup bones with salt, pepper and thyme and brown them in a fry pan with a little oil.
2) Saute onion, pepper, garlic and mushrooms in a small amount of oil
3) Combine prepared bones, onion mixture and remaining ingredients above in a large pot, bring to a boil, and simmer covered on low for 2-3 hours

4) One hour before serving, add remaining ingredients below and simmer uncovered for the hour before serving:
1/2 cup orzo or brown rice
1 can chick peas, black beans or mixed canned beans
Frozen edamame, peas, corn

(Side note, never fry with olive oil or any other high quality EFA oil such as flax oil! Olive oil, when heated to frying heat breaks down and releases free radicals. As with all high quality EFA oils they should be consumed cold, or added to the dish at the end of cooking for their best benefit to the health)

I also started thinking, what if whole groups of kids could get these omega oils every day?!

I started researching and discovered a school in the UK who had run a trial with amazing results. (Check out http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/parenting/organic-oil-that-turned-adhd-children-into-superstudents-1077637.html). So I resolved to try and get a trial going in our school division. Working on that and will keep you posted!

My daily "Brain Helper" Smoothie

Drink a whole smoothie or make popsicles for your kids!

My "Brain Helper" Smoothie
4-5 frozen strawberries
4-5 slices of banana
1 Tbsp Udo's DHA 3-6-9 Oil (helps nerves, brain)
1 crushed vit B6 tablet (helps nerves)
2-3 oz orange juice

Add if desired (I use these things too)
1 probiotic capsule or 1 tsp probiotic powder (promotes better digestion, healthy digestive flora)
2-3 drops grapefruit seed extract (intestinal tonic, helps cleanse negative bacteria)
6 drops Vitamin E oil (antioxidant)
1/2 scoop Blueberry greens powder (antioxidant)
1 Tbsp liquid calcium/magnesium supplement (if dairy free)
1/8 tsp stevia sweetener, honey or pure maple syrup (only needed if using grapefruit seed extract, as it is very bitter!)

2009 discoveries

So to summarize, these are the discoveries I made in 2009 in my health journey.

1. Your BODY needs Omega 3 with DHA. If it is not getting enough, it will signal your brain to keep sending signals to eat, causing you to snack unnecessarily.

2. Your BRAIN needs Omega 3 with DHA. The brain is composed of fatty tissue. It can not function properly without it, causing you to feel anxious and squirrly.

3. You should try to eat a little bit every few hours, especially protein to have a healthy mind.

4. You need vitamin C twice a day. It is depleted very quickly and is needed to detoxify, especially the liver.

5. If you still have anxiety or mental troubles, find out if you have a brain allergy. Dairy products, gluten based foods and corn based foods are common triggers.

That's it! Not tough at all. A couple of supplements, a little protein, and this has been the key to functioning much better at our mental and emotional best!

Finding the missing piece

So the year has been exciting, and yet at the same time draining and frustrating!

Learning to cook milk free and pack milk free lunches has been completely worthwhile and rewarding, but at the same time, my son had fairly regular relapses all year which caused us to think there is something else we needed to find, and there was.

His anxiety was solved, but his tendancy to pace and "space out" was still popping up regularly. His willingness to play was the most noticable indicator of his mental health. When he was feeling well, he would play and have fun for hours and when he was "off", he would want to sit and play computer games all day, and become very irritated with efforts to divert him.

We had some independent "consumer" lab testing done, and found out his prealbumin levels were very low, which indicates poor protein absorption (or malnutrition, which we knew was not the case!). My son is quite underweight although he eats very well, and we have always just chalked it up to genetics. We weren't really sure what to make of the test until last week, the missing piece just fell into place in a conversation with an aquaintance about these test results. This person is also underweight, and when I told him that my son's protein absorption was poor, his response was, "That's interesting, same here. If I don't have just a little protein every few hours I feel 'squirrly'!". That word, "squirrly". It just clicked in my brain. My son needs more protein, more regularly!

In the past week I have begun making sure my son has protein every few hours starting first thing... a little piece of cold meat with a little salt on it, a slice of bacon, an egg, something. He has a couple of domino sized pieces of meat at recess time, and protein at lunch in his sandwich. When he gets home from school, I have some other little protein snack ready along with his smoothie.

You may find it hard to believe... because I do too... he hasn't had a single lapse since. He is PLAYING! He goes outside to work on the snow fort, he plays games, he colours, he doesn't even seem that interested in the computer! We are having FUN together! And the pacing has finally stopped. I am cautious to say it, but hopefully, this time forever.

Discovering supplements

Let me start by saying Omega 3 with DHA is a miracle substance and absolutely everyone should be having a regular daily dose of it. It has helped everyone in the household, including me, to be more calm and easy going with each other. Now I will talk about supplements.

The wonderful doctor who suggested the possibility of dairy sensitivity, followed up after our milk experiment by recommending a series of supplements that include B6, B12, C, E and Omega 3. She has been diligently tracking his progress every 3 months.

Starting the vitamins was quite easy because there are tasty chewables available, but Omega 3 was alot more difficult. The only ones that taste good don't have much Omega in them and were loaded with sugar in gummy form, and I was already worried about his teeth.

I finally discovered Udo's DHA Oil toward the fall of 2009, and devised a daily smoothie with the Omega Oil in it, along with his calcium supplement, a liquid vitamin E, and probiotic powder.

I am giving this smoothie to both my children, morning and afternoon when they get home from school, and have noticed that even my older child has a more even temper, is more easy going, and that they both have a better appetite for their water and vegetables now! My 8 year old has even told me she "feels better"!

I honestly believe the supplements have been a key support in the recovery of my son's brain from the toxic effect that dairy was having all those years.

Learning curve

The past year has been a busy but rewarding one. I spent hours searching and reading on the internet about "brain allergies" and how food sensitivities can affect the brain in some people.

The first challenge was to learn all the places where milk is hidden in food. "Modified milk ingredients" are in many things from chips and crackers to hot dogs. Every little mistake would bring our little "Meltdown Matt" back with a vengence for about 24 hours.

At the same time, once his ability to focus and comprehend was no longer hampered, his development began to catch up in earnest. It has been so exciting to see him make observations about things he didn't notice before, to begin playing creatively and show more willingness to explore on his own.

The "day one" miracle

At the time of my son's diagnosis he was 5 1/2 years old. At first I resisted the doctor's suggestion that any dietary change could help my son's anxiety, after all, I have been raised to believe my whole life that milk and wheat are good for you. How could this be possible?

Well, on Christmas day 2008 we had a particularly anguishing 7 hour drive from Saskatchewan to Alberta to visit family. We had let each of the kids pick out a drink at a gas station and my son's choice was a bottle of chocolate milk. I didn't make the connection at the time, but during that trip, he was so anxious and wired he was begging to stop the trip, begging to get out of the vehicle and crying out "I can't take it anymore" over and over, although we were constantly trying to appease and calm him, divert his thoughts with singing, movies, books and different activities. He was inconsolable.

At the end of that day, two weeks after the initial diagnosis, we finally decided we were desperate enough to try removing milk for a few days to see what would happen.

Well, what happened was a miracle. Literally overnight, the next day, there were drastic changes in my son. He was calm and happy, did not require constant consoling, and the biggest miracle of all was that he played happily and quietly (on his own!) with some little plastic animals at his grandparent's house, creatively pretending they were talking to each other and coming up with stories on his own. He did not pace at all.

My eyes were opened. Milk was the trigger for my son's anxiety.

How it all began

Well, I didn't know it at the time, but my journey began almost 7 years ago, when my second child was born, a son. At first we marvelled at what an easy baby he was, so content to lay and look at whatever toy was placed above him. We giggled at how early he started raising one eyebrow in response to a little coo or smile from his sister, at 7 weeks. His only difficulty was latching when nursing, he would always turn his head at the last moment, a trait which later continued when we started feeding solid foods by spoon! Low weight gain and then mastitis led to starting the bottle at about 2 months old.

I can't say that I noticed a sudden change, but over time things did change. It's hard to explain, but by the time he was 10 months old, my son developed severely anxious reactions to things. My doctor laughed at me and said they were just tantrums, but to me they didn't seem like tantrums. A tantrum, I thought, should stem from understanding and then active will or anger, but he didn't seem to understand the simplest things. If I handed him a bottle and it didn't "feel" full, he seemed to think it was empty and he would refuse to even try to drink. If something fell, even within reach, it was so upsetting for him, he wouldn't even try to pick it up. Coming to the end of his bottle or sippy cup was a major melt down each and every time it happened.

The endless daily examples of this strange anxious lack of understanding turned into months and years of appeasing, trying to explain, that everything was fine, that each little thing is not a big deal, to relax. We were in constant crisis management mode.

At the same time, although his speech was developing quite normally, and showed normal intelligence, my son had absolutely no desire to engage in creative play, and hated to play outside. This was very hard on his older sister, who wanted to play outside! He screamed endlessly in parks, and swimming pools, gymnasiums, community halls, churches, anywhere with an echo was even worse.

My son showed few physical signs that anything was wrong. Besides affectionately referring to the little "deer turds" in his his diaper, and spiking an occasional brief unexplained fever, his health seemed excellent. When he finally started walking at 17 months, we joked at first that he never stopped... he paced almost obsessively every chance he got, and it became a full time job to divert him from pacing. This was a challenge, as he was so difficult to engage in creative play. He loves tv and computer games however, and will sit and do them for hours, as long as he is permitted.

Occupational therapy at 5 alleviated some of his praxial motion fears, but his anxiety was always hindering him. Finally, just over a year ago, in December 2008 he was assessed and diagnosed PDD-NOS, a mild form of autism, and our diagnosing doctor suggested that eliminating milk and wheat products really helped some children. This was the beginning of a long journey of discovery, that is still going on today. And so begins my story!