Since I didn’t get anywhere with the Wellness Committee at the girls’ school, I volunteered to be a room parent in the girls' classroom. This proved to be time well spent, since I could manage at least this classroom’s parties and the foods provided, and the girls wouldn't feel so left out. I swapped all the candy and treats for healthy holiday snacks and fun DIY projects. Not ONE kid complained about the new food! I did notice the only people rolling their eyes in the classroom were the parents. There are tons of ideas online for healthy holiday party snacks. Here is just an example of fun snacks you could use!
I started spreading the word that I would love to connect with other moms of autistic kids to share our stories. I was determined to help as many people as I could. Some of the moms were really excited to follow the diet and start the kefir. But many other moms would say, “That’s too hard; my child won’t eat anything, so they certainly won’t eat what you are describing.” Or they would be looking for a quick fix, like a supplement, or think that drinking the kefir would cure everything without changing the diet. They would be so excited about our new product, thinking that was the cure-all! Some moms would say they were just too busy working, or that they felt too overwhelmed with the autism diagnosis to think about any biomedical treatments. I was truly saddened when parents weren’t receptive to the diet and probiotics, and it bothered me for days after talking to them. I had plenty of moms ask, “What about essential oils?” or “Would a chiropractor be able to recover my child?” No. Essential oils or chiropractic adjustments will not recover your child from autism. For these parents, it was "Anything but the diet!" But the crucial fact remains that children with autism and ADHD should not be allowed to choose what they want to eat because their overgrowth of yeast is actually in charge of the foods they are choosing. The yeast, or candida, cannot survive without the sugars and refined carbs, so they tell their host (you or your child!) to go and get some. It’s like having a parasite in your body trying to survive and controlling you to help it live. So it’s the parents’ job to help these kids, and until they are on the road to recovery and can actually make smart food choices for themselves, parents should be fully in control of everything that goes into their children's mouths. Now that’s easier to say when you have small children that are not out with friends all the time at the neighborhood pizza joint. There is a huge advantage to starting this lifestyle when kids are young and they can grow up eating this way.
Some of the parents I talk to end up asking me about different kinds of sugars they can use because, in my opinion, it is the hardest ingredient to get rid of! The child's yeast is calling for it, but the parents are usually addicted as well. I had someone ask, "You can use coconut crystals, can’t you?” “Coconut crystals” is a very nice term and it sure sounds healthy, but coconut sugar is still sugar and it feeds the yeast—as does agave nectar, maple syrup, brown rice syrup, sugar cane juice, sugar in the raw, sucrose, dextrose, maltose, molasses—and the list goes on. We didn’t let Tula consume any honey either, at least until we felt her gut was healed enough. Honey is a fermentable sugar just like refined sugar is (we used Manuka honey after the first phase of healing because of its wonderful health benefits). While it may be metabolized differently by our bodies, yeasts don't care about that; they'll still eat it and thrive. This is evidenced by mead, an ancient alcoholic beverage made by fermenting honey with yeasts. Same with agave, which is used to make tequila. Both are excellent food for yeasts!
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