Update on what we are doing

Years ago, while searching for products to use for our GF/CF diet, I discovered that we have a place in Wisconsin, in the City of Grafton called Slow Poke's.

Slow Poke's is run by a mother who had a son with ADD and some other health and emotional issues.
She did a ton of research and changed the way the family ate.
This worked and her son is now off to college and his health is much better. She opened a store to provide information and products she had trouble finding when transitioning to this style of eating.

Its part of the Slow Foods movement, cooking from scratch, and going back to some traditional cooking and eating methods that went out of favor when people wanted the convenience of fast foods and using packaged foods. Our culture changed our diets when newer methods of preserving foods came into common usage, and even though they were improvements in food preservation and distribution, not all of them were improvements for our health. Certainly we had fewer germs, but we also lost some of our natural ability to harbor good organisms that are essential for our digestion and assimilation of nutrients from food.

The GF/CF diet which helps some people with Autism, is also part of this larger eating/cooking style.
We have been on the GF/CF diet for almost three years, and did the diet with my son about 10 years ago, but it was much more difficult for us to do back then, and so we didn't try again for a while. Now there are so many more GF/CF products available, and more support and community awareness, and that makes it so much easier this time. Who knew just trying to eat a certain way would be so difficult in life?

I have tried years ago to follow some of the additional guidelines recommended at Slow Poke's, but until my son got somewhat better it was very difficult to implement any changes, and too much change all at once was difficult. Plus, I had only so much energy myself, because I was also not feeling well at the time, and I have another child with a very different disability to care for also.

Well, we are all doing much better. I implemented the GF/CF diet for the whole family 3 years ago and within 2 weeks, my own long-standing health symptoms improved. This gave me more energy to work on refining things better for my Autistic son. My Autistic son is doing really well. His grades in high school are good, and he has friends.

So I went back to Slow Poke's, the store I mentioned above, and picked up the book that she recommends and designed her store around. I have been doing parts of it's recommendations already, but I am ready to try more of them.

The method is called Body Ecology, and it focuses on the intestinal flora and fauna that help us digest our food, along with other methods for maximizing digestion and assimilation of nutrients from food.

I decided to post what I am doing and putting updates on it. Is anyone else trying the Body Ecology method/life style? It fits well with GF/CF.

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So after talking with some people who have been doing this for a while, reading one of the books on it, and doing some on-line research, I have implemented these things:

* Rinsing, soaking, rinsing and soaking some more all seeds, beans and nuts before cooking/eating them.
There is a chemical that is released by any seed, nut that is meant to start growing after being planted and watered to keep fungus and from degrading too much before sprouting. This chemical can inhibit the enzymes we need to digest them.

This was the best suggestion! I have found that doing this has made all these things much easier to digest for myself, but I still can't get my son to eat beans. It certainly makes almonds much nicer to eat. I buy raw, organic almonds, and soak them in the refrigerator. You can slip off the brown "jackets" and end up with a creamy white nut that is easy to chew and tastes better than the plain raw almond.

* Individualizing for Blood Type
I was pleased to see that the Body Ecology diet recommends individualizing diet for each person, particularly based on blood type, which I have done. The hardest part of this change was getting our blood types, because Doctors don't seem to keep this information on file for anyone any more. However, it was worth doing, because I found some foods I had never tried before that were recommended for my blood type, that I now eat on a regular basis because I really like them, and I feel really good after eating them (In particular, for me this has been making black-eyed peas and turnip greens, yum! I have never tried them before.) Its like someone just knew what would give me extra energy and taste good. Because I follow the GF/CF restrictions already, it seems like its hard enough to figure out what to make for meals, and so being able to add these new foods was very helpful. (GF/CF is recommended for my blood type, so no conflict there.)

* Using Fermented and Active Culture Foods
In the past, I used acidolphus-bifidus supplements, and yogurt. But many yogurts have modified food starch added, which is often made with wheat starch. And there is casein in the dairy. I am told that one breed of cattle produce dairy that has much lower casein in it, but I haven't been able to go that far...as to finding the right cows!

* Raw Dairy
Our state is currently battling out whether to allow raw milk to be sold to consumers. The Body Ecology diet recommends raw milk products and particularly cultured products and butter made from raw milk. This is tricky to do, because if you go to a farmer in our state, (we are a big dairy producing state) you have to ask for "milk for my pet" or give some such excuse. I know of an elderly woman in my area who lost her son to a disease he got from drinking raw milk, so I know there is some risk involved. You have to know the farmer and that the cows and milk are being handled properly.

So I have tried various forms of Kefir that are available at our local co-op, and a home-made version made at Slow Poke's. I don't like the artificial sweetener they use in some of them. I like the version made from coconut milk the best so far. The raw milk ones taste the best, but probably because of all the milk fat. I noticed I gained a pound after drinking a lot of this, so I am going to cut back a little. My son likes the Kefir strawberry flavour.

Once I find a type of Kefir I like the best, I am going to try making it myself with a starter available from Body Ecology.

* Food Combining
I started doing food-combining, but this has been tricky to implement for the whole family, because right now I make one son's lunch and he loves this gluten-free bread for sandwiches (made by "Against The Grain -- The Gluten-Free Gourmet." Against the Grain's recipe is really excellent, but has a small amount of dairy.) Most sandwiches combine a starch with a protein, which is not recommended.

* Sea Vegetables
Because I was a vegan macrobiotic for a year a long time ago (before kids), I learned to use sea vegetables in cooking and so I have already been doing that, but I have increased my use again. I am going to try using them as snacks sometimes.

* Sauerkraut
I have been reading about how to make living sauerkraut, or fermented vegetables, but I just can't picture it. I have a reluctance to let anything ferment, probably my ultra-clean upbringing. (My Mother could have been Martha Stewart.) Has anyone else tried to make sauerkraut?

* 80/20
This one is tougher if you have a really tasty meal in front of you. The idea is to stop eating after you are 80% full, leaving 20% of your "room" for digestion. It helps to wait 20 minutes before even thinking about getting seconds, because that's how long it takes for the hormone that signals your brain that you are full to get to your brain.

80/20 also refers to having about 80% of your plate be vegetables, and 20% proteins.

* Cooking some things and not others
Some vegetables (and even meats, like Sushi) are best eaten raw, particularly in the summer when they are fresh and in-season. Others are best eaten cooked because they have things in them that need to be neutralized. For instance, I need to always cook cauliflower because it can interfere with my thyroid, and I am already on thyroid medication for an underactive thyroid. Fermentation helps this, too. For one thing, as far as I know, all forms of non-fermented soy suppresses thyroid function. I'm still trying to memorize the lists of foods to eat raw versus cooked.

None of these changes is as dramatic as the change to GF/CF was. The results are pretty good. I find that cooking this way so far is helping me, and my kids are still getting used to it, but haven't complained about anything so far.

Slow Poke's Local Food, Grafton, WI
http://www.slowpokeslocalfood.com/

Body Ecology Diet
http://www.bodyecology.com/