Thanksgiving is just a week away! How can we make the most out of this special social holiday for our children? Here are a couple ideas:
Plan out your Thanksgiving day
Here are some important things to think about to help set your child up to succeed on Thanksgiving:
-Whose house will you be at?
-Is there any area for your child to play?
-Is there any area for a quiet time or break?
-Who will be at Thanksgiving?
-Will it be quiet or loud?
-Will there be other children to play with your child (older or younger)?

Being on a restricted diet, it isn’t often that my family and I have a great experience in a restaurant that meets all of our special dietary needs and has a staff that shows respect and dignity with my son, Ethan, who lives with Asperger’s Syndrome. But this past Friday – in honor of my husband’s 40th Birthday – we had a truly stellar restaurant experience at Zeppole (a beautiful Coastal Italian restaurant) located inside the Gaylord Texan Resort.
In the past – like most families raising a child with Autism – we’ve had our share of not-so-fantastic experiences in restaurants. On more than one occasion, we’ve left restaurants feeling less than satisfied, both with the service and with the food. In fact, you can read my previous post HERE about an experience this past summer with a judgmental and rude waitress. Many times we will simply avoid places we don’t get a good feel (or good food) from, but it is always nice to find a place to go for special occasions…that is what Zeppole has now become for us.

School is now in full-session and those cool breezes are starting to blow through, sweeping away those hot summer days with the unmistakable gusts of FALL! Yes, its fall, y'all; and that means it’s time for that fall fan-favorite - FOOTBALL! Try these quick and easy gluten-free, casein-free versions of some game day classics and have your family cheering for more than the game this season.

Many people have been told or have chosen to eliminate gluten from their diets and the diets of their families. For many they see a great response in how they feel and function whether they have confirmatory tests or not. However, many are confused about the differences between celiac, an allergy and non-celiac gluten intolerance. I want to explain this to you so you can understand the potential effects on your body. This can be very confusing but many treat them equally. It matters what you are dealing with for your long-term management and health.

Do you have a family vacation on your heels? Are you more anxious about what you are going to eat when you get there than you are about what to pack? I was standing in those exact shoes two weeks ago when I was anticipating our departure to the magical world of Disney.

Many kids with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) function in their daily environments on a Gluten-Free Casein-Free (GFCF) diet…but they’re not the only ones. More and more adults and children without ASD are finding that they, too, feel better and function better with no gluten and no casein in their diets. As one of those adults, I am here to tell you that foods can greatly impact not only our stomachs, but so much more!
While I’ve been on a 100% GF diet for about 12 years, anytime I inadvertently get cross-contaminated foods (from restaurants or items sold at the store) I get Grumpy with a capital “G”! I notice that it really affects my state of mind; I am much less patient, feel significantly more negative about life in general and find that I’m more likely to lose my cool with both Ethan and my husband. I am opposed to yelling as a parent (or spouse), but sometimes when I’ve had gluten, I am so much easier to anger and yes...sometimes I yell. I literally feel less in-control of my actions – such a miserable feeling!

The heat is ablazin’ here in Texas, leaving no room for argument that summer is in full swing. Moms everywhere are packing up their coolers of sugar-pouch drinks, oily chips, cheesy puffed sticks, and cream-laden cones and setting up camp with a poolside view. On a yeast-free, cheesy-puff-free, ice-cream-free diet, it is easy to feel like your left in the shade. It’s a good thing that the shade is exactly where you want to be right now!

The neonatal period is a critical time with regards to priming the gut for allergic disease. After birth the intestinal barriers and immunoregulatory networks are poorly developed and the post-natal period is a time for the normal commensal microbial flora to develop. The timing and dose of dietary antigens is imperative in this development. The mucosae are bombarded immediately after birth by a large variety of microorganisms as well as protein antigens from the environment. The mucosal surface is huge, 200 times the surface of the skin.

What if you discovered you were dying of cancer? I expect you’d seek the best doctors you could find to help you wage a war for your life. You’d likely end up on a variety of medications and treatments, costing you thousands and thousands of dollars…and you’d still probably fear for your health and livelihood. Now, what if I told you that you could reverse the progression of that cancer (or heart disease, diabetes, auto immune disorder, bone disease or stroke) by radically overhauling your diet? Would you be surprised? Would you make those necessary changes all while wondering why your doctor never shared this information and option with you?
The filmmakers of the thought-provoking and potentially life-changing documentary “Forks Over Knives,” which opens in theaters tomorrow, examine this concept – that basic changes to the Western Diet prove to be a much more effective “treatment” for many modern diseases and ailments than standard surgeries/treatments/prescription medications.