Eating Nutritious on a Budget: Beans

Not only are beans cheap but they can be very nutritious when properly prepared. Canned beans are prepared in high temperatures and pressures that reduce the amount of proteins and other nutrients.   Homemade beans taste better than canned and they are rich in minerals and B vitamins.  Beans have phytates that are hard for the body to digest.  Soaking beans in whey reduces phytate content.  For people on a casein (dairy) free diet, you can substitute whey for apple cider vinegar and achieve the same results.  

This is another recipe from the Nourishing Traditions cookbook by Sally Fallon.  In the cookbook, the author talks about the reasoning behind careful preparation of beans, "Traditional societies whose cuisines are based on legumes prepare them with great care.  Beans are soaked for long periods before they are cooked.  The soaking water is poured off, the beans are rinsed and the skins picked off.  As the legumes cook, all foam that rises to the top of the cooking water is carefully skimmed off.  Sometimes water is replaced midway during the cooking process.  Such care in preparation ensures that legumes will be thoroughly digestible, and all the nutrients they provide well assimilated because such careful preparation neutralizes phytic acid and enzyme inhibitors and breaks down difficult-to-digest complex sugars."

Mother makes a large batch on "cooking day" (Sunday).  They can be frozen and taken out the night before needed.  Eat them with celtic sea salt and cheese, use them for tacos or burritos, or mash them up for refried beans.   

Basic Beans

2 Cups Beans (kidney, pinto, black, or white)

2 Tbl Whey (or apple cider vinegar)

4 cloves garlic, peeled and mashed (optional)

Celtic sea salt and pepper

Cover beans with warm water.  Stir in whey (or apple cider vinegar) and leave in a warm place for 12-24 hours depending on the size of the bean.  Drain, rinse, place in a large pot and add water to cover beans.  Bring to a boil and skim off foam.  Reduce heat and add optional garlic.  Simmer, covered, for 4-8 hours.  Check occasionally and add more water as necessary.  Season with salt and pepper.  Note: do not add salt during cooking process as it will make the skins tough.

Shelf Life of Eggs

Mother Earth News had an article in 1977 where they conducted research to find which preservation method produced the longest shelf life of eggs.  Enjoy!

Mother Earth News
November/December 1977

We went out and bought ourselves 30 dozen guaranteed fresh, washed, uniform-sized, agribiz-type, unfertile, supermarket eggs from a wholesaler ... and we also rounded up another 30 dozen fresh, unwashed, nonuniform, homestead-type, fertile, non-supermarket eggs.

20 CONTROLLED BATCHES OF 36 EGGS EACH

We suspected from the beginning that there might be a difference in the keeping qualities of fertile versus unfertile eggs. (Our tests have since shown that there is ... and that difference is weighed heavily in favor of the fertile eggs, but perhaps not for the reasons you might have thought.) So we started right off by dividing our 60 dozen hen fruit right down the middle, with 30 dozen fertile eggs on one side and 30 dozen unfertile eggs on the other.

 Each set of 360 eggs was then further divided into 10 separate batches of three dozen each: [1] a control group that was left sitting out at room temperature, [2] a batch that was kept under "controlled refrigeration" . . . that is, 36 eggs which were put into an airtight container and stored at a constant 35° to 40°F, [3] a group that was completely covered by a solution of 9 parts water and 1 part sodium silicate, also known as "waterglass", [4] a group that was submerged in a 16 parts water/2 parts lime/1 part salt solution, [5] a batch that was packed in lard, [6] a group that was merely coated with lard, [7] three dozen that were coated with vaseline, [8] 36 eggs that were packed in dry sand, [9] three dozen that were packed in wet sand, and [10] 36 eggs that were packed in dry sawdust. Except for the refrigerated batch, all the groups of eggs were stored at a room temperature which varied from 65° to 70° F.

AND ONCE A MONTH ...

Our experiment was set up on February 4, 1977 and was designed to run for a full year of regular monthly "look, sniff, taste, and texture" tests. It very quickly became apparent, however, that some of the "preservation" methods we were trying were worse than no attempts at preservation at all. The eggs (both fertile and unfertile) buried in both the wet sand and sawdust looked bad, smelled bad, had lost their taste, and had runny textures just one month after being "preserved". Even the control groups-eggs which were just allowed to lay out at room temperature with nothing done to them—were better than that. Conclusion after only four weeks: Trying to store eggs in either wet sand or dry sawdust is counterproductive. Forget it. Anything else—even nothing at all works better.
Surprisingly enough, the control eggs—although slightly mushy and musty—were still edible a full eight weeks after our tests began. Except for one El Stinko waterglassed egg (which must have had an unnoticed crack in its shell at the beginning of the experiment), however, the other seven batches still in the running were all much better. Which meant that the "preservation" methods they represented really were preserving the hen fruit to one extent or another.
Believe it or not, our controls (both fertile and unfertile) were hanging in there yet after another full four weeks had passed. If we'd had our druthers, understand, we'd have eaten something else ... but, under survival conditions, we could have lived on the completely unprotected 90-day-old eggs if we'd have had to. Some of the other groups, on the other hand, were becoming a little disappointing. Most of them (even the refrigerated ones) had more or less runny whites, one of the refrigerated store-boughts smelled bad, all the vaseline-coated eggs were marginal, one of the fertilized eggs packed in dry sand had a bad sulphur taste, and a store-bought kept in waterglass was very definitely bad.

By June (120 days after the experiment was begun) all the supermarket and all the homestead control eggs had gone completely rotten. The dry sand groups (both fertile and unfertile) were also terminated at that time ... as were the store-boughts that had been coated with vaseline (the vaseline-coated homestead eggs were only marginally better). The fertile and unfertile eggs packed in lard were getting pretty "iffy", the ones coated with lard were doing a lot better, the lime water groups were still edible (although, in the case of the supermarket eggs, barely edible), the refrigerated eggs seemed to have firmed up and were nearly as good as fresh, and-while the waterglassed groups were, in general, doing far better than average-one of the fertile eggs covered with waterglass was very definitely bad.

The ranks of the still-good eggs began to thin considerably 150 days into our test. By July, the supermarket eggs packed in lard weren't making it anymore (while the fertile eggs packed in lard were runny but edible). Likewise the waterglassed eggs. The lime water store-boughts, on the other hand, were still "good" (except for the one we didn't even open, since it floated), while the lime water homestead hen fruit was only "edible". Both the agribiz and the down-home eggs coated with lard were "good enough to eat for breakfast". While-maybe just by contrast-the store-bought refrigerated cackleberries were "good, like fresh" and the homestead refrigerated hen fruit was "excellent".
August, of course, was more of the same. The lard-packed fertile eggs were still "OK", the waterglassed fertiles were still "OK", the lime water homestead eggs were barely edible and the lime water store-boughts were rotten. The lard-coated hen fruit (both fertile and unfertile) all looked weird ... but could be eaten. Which really only left the refrigerated supermarket and refrigerated homestead eggs as "good" and "looks almost fresh".
The fertile eggs packed in lard, coated with lard, preserved in waterglass, and covered by lime water were still all "OK" in September. The store-boughts coated with lard were not. Leaving, again, as the Big Winners the refrigerated fertile eggs ("good") and the refrigerated unfertile eggs ("good, almost fresh").

CONCLUSIONS

At the end of seven months (all of our experiment that was finished and processed at the time this issue went to press), then, we had drawn these conclusions about our egg preservation experiment:
[1] Unwashed, fertile homestead eggs seem to store much better than washed, unfertile agribiz eggs. Why? Probably for the simple reason that they're unwashed ... and not because they're fertile. Hen fruit, as it comes from the chicken, is coated with a light layer of a natural sealing agent called "bloom". And, while a good wash may make a batch of eggs look more attractive, it also removes this natural protective coating ... leaving the eggs more subject to aging and attack by the air and bacteria in the air.

[2] The very best way we've found to stash eggs away for long-term storage is in a sealed container at a temperature of 35° to 40°F. Their whites may become somewhat runny looking over a period of time, but even after seven months—the cackleberries stored in this manner smell good, taste good, have a good texture, and—in short—seem "almost fresh".

[3] The widely touted idea of covering eggs with a solution of one part waterglass (sodium silicate) mixed with nine parts of boiled and cooled water does indeed seem to work better than any other "room temperature" preservation method we tried. If our experiences are any indication, though, it's really good for only about five months and is a distant second to controlled refrigeration.
Another point: As good as some eggs kept in waterglass were, almost every batch we opened seemed to contain one real stinker. Which makes it a superior idea to open any waterglassed egg (or any egg, for that matter) separately into a cup ... where it may be inspected before pouring it into a skillet, pan, or dish with other food.
[4] Unwashed, fertile eggs submerged in a solution of 16 parts water/2 parts lime/1 part salt, packed in lard, and coated with lard seem to keep at room temperature almost as well as unwashed fertile eggs that have been given the waterglass treatment. Washed, unfertile eggs do not.
[5] Unwashed, fertile eggs packed in dry sand or coated with vaseline and stored at room temperature keep a little longer-but not much-than unwashed fertile eggs that are just left lying out at room temperature. Washed, unfertile eggs exhibit the same characteristics ... with all storage times running a few days less across the board.
[6] Forget packing any kind of eggs in wet sand or sawdust! Our tests show that such methods of "preservation" can turn eggs rotten within a month and are worse than doing nothing at all to the hen fruit.

Martha's Video of the Week

Martha's List of Toxic Plants

Mother found a website that provides a list of toxic plants for chickens.  She was surprised to find onions on the list.  This is good information for mother to have on hand before she gives us the garden compost at the end of the growing season.

Here is the link to the article:

Toxic Plants and Their Effects

Martha's Video of the Week

Beet Kvass: Liver Tonic

Once a week, mother gives us left over beets that she uses to make Beet kvass.  What is Beet kvass?   It is a slightly effervescent lactic acid fermented drink.  It is another cheap way to make your own probiotics with the addition of medicinal properties.  Beets are rich in vitamins and minerals.  Beet Kvass is an excellent liver tonic.  Grandmother drinks 4 oz everyday to improve the residual side effects of the chemotherapy and radiation she underwent for breast cancer.  She also drinks it to keep kidney stones at bay.  This recipe comes from the Nourishing Traditions cookbook by Sally Fallon.

Beet kvass
3 medium or 2 large organic beets,
peeled and chopped coarsley
1/4 Cup Whey (refer to Making Whey post)
1 Tbl sea salt
filtered water

Place beets, whey and salt in a 2 quart glass container.  Add filtered water to fill the containter.  Stir and cover securely.  Keep at room temperature 2 days before transferring to refrigerator.

Chopped beats, whey and salt

Note:  Do not use grated beets in this recipe.  They exude too much juice resulting in a too rapid fermentation that favors the production of alcohol rather than lactic acid.

Martha's Video of the Week

Muesli (aka Yummy Oatmeal with Stuff in it)

This tasty treat doesn't come our way often but mother makes a really yummy muesli for breakfast.  Growing up, mother couldn't stand oatmeal and its weird texture but when times are tough it is very economical and (when prepared properly) extremely nutritious meal.

Muesli

• 1  Cup Rolled Oats (See note below for GF/CF)
• 1/4  Cup Almond Slivers (Optional)
• 1/4  Cup Dried Unsweetened Coconut (Optional - see note below)
• 2 Tbl  Fresh Whey  (GF/CF can substitute 2 Tbl Apple Cider Vinegar or Lemon - see note below) 
• 1 1/2  Cups Filtered Water

Combine all ingredients, cover and let soak for 7 to 24 hours (I make mine before I go to bed).  

• 1 Can Coconut Milk (or your favorite milk/milk substitute - see note below)
• Strainer or Large Sieve

The next morning, take a strainer lined with cheesecloth (or a large sieve) and rinse the oatmeal mixture.  Put the ingredients back in the pan, add coconut milk and bring to a boil.  Once it starts to bubble, cover and turn the burner off.  Let sit 3 minutes while preparing toppings:

• Coconut (see note below)
• Chopped pecans
• Chocolate chips (Look for GF/CF)
• Pure Maple Syrup

Have fun with the toppings.  Papa is the one who came up with the toppings listed here and it tastes just like a cookie.  It was the only way to get mother to eat it!

Mother used to practice the GF/CF diet and, back in those days, oatmeal was on the "cannot have" list.  Today, oats have been approved for the GF/CF diet, so long as the oats are guaranteed by the manufacturer not to be cross contaminated by gluten.








 The following recipe uses whey.  For people on a strict Casein Free (Milk Proteins) diet, this recipe can be used with apple cider vinegar or lemon as noted in recipe (Apple cider vinegar is mothers favorite.  If you haven't read it yet, check out my post "An Apple A Day..."). 






This recipe includes coconut and coconut milk.  Coconut has saturated fat but being a medium chain fatty acid, the body utilizes it right away vs. storing it in fat cells.  

It took mother a while to find unsweetened natural coconut but it can be done.  Mother stores it in the fridge to extend the shelf life.  

note:  Mother's son hates shredded coconut, so she doesn't put it in unless he is at grandma's; however, she does still use the coconut milk and he doesn't even know it!  If you or your child hates shredded coconut, try omitting it and try using the coconut milk.  If it doesn't work, you can use your favorite milk substitute.

 

Trying to find coconut milk with simple ingredients was a challenge but it can be done.  The ingredients in "A Taste of Thai" are:  coconut, water, and guar gum. 

If you are wondering why the oats are soaked overnight, there are two reasons for this.  The first, is that the oatmeal cooks faster and the second is best explained in a direct quote from Sally Fallon's book "Nourishing Traditions":
      "Soaking allows enzymes, lactobacilli and other helpful organisms to break down and neutralize phtyic acid.  As little as seven hours of soaking in warm acidulated water will neutralize a large portion of phytic acid in grains.  The simple practice of soaking cracked or rolled cereal grains overnight will vastly improve their nutritional benefits.
     Soaking in warm water also neutralizes enzyme inhibitors, present in all seeds, and encourages the production of numerous beneficial enzymes.  The action of these enzymes also increases the amounts of many vitamins, especially B vitamins".

An Apple a Day...

Mother once heard from a friend that if you wait until the first frost to harvest apples, they will taste even better.  Fall is fast approaching and along with it apple harvesting will begin.  I can almost smell the warm apple cider right now!  

When mother was researching biomedical treatments for her children, she came across the benefits of Apple Cider Vinegar.  She used to prepare a glass of water with one teaspoon of Apple Cider Vinegar and a teaspoon of raw honey and serve it to the children twice a day.  

Wanting to know more about the benefits of Apple Cider Vinegar, mother read the book "Apple Cider Vinegar:  Miracle Health System" by Patricia Bragg.  It provided a lot of useful information and mother recommends it to anyone wanting to learn more. 




Below is an article that mother found on the internet that highlites the benefits that can be found in Apple Cider Vinegar:

Apple Cider Vinegar  - Linda Paul

"I am sure we have all heard the old saying , “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.” This could well have a lot of merit. Apples are among the most health-giving fruits available to us. They contain a host of beneficial vitamins and minerals, such as phosphorous, potassium, magnesium, calcium, iron, and many trace elements as well. And, they are the central ingredient in apple cider vinegar.

Cider vinegar is a powerful detoxifying and purifying agent. It breaks down fatty, mucous and phlegm deposits within the body. By breaking down these substances it improves the health and function of the vital organs of the body, such as the kidneys, bladder and liver, by preventing excessively alkaline urine. It also oxidizes and thins the blood, which is important in preventing high blood pressure. This powerful potion also promotes digestion, assimilation and elimination, all the while neutralizing any toxic substances that enter the body. Cider vinegar has been found to neutralize any harmful bacteria that may be found in certain foods. When a mixture of cider vinegar and water is taken before a meal (particularly food served in restaurants or at picnics where the preparation or duration of food left uncovered and not refrigerated is questionable), it seems to prevent diarrhea or digestive upsets.

Apple cider vinegar contains a potent supply of potassium which researchers feel is helpful in easing the effects of common colds and allergies, including mucous formation, watery eyes, sinus and catarrhal problems. Cider vinegar can also be beneficial for symptoms such as tooth decay and splitting of the fingernails, which are symptoms of potassium deficiency. Potassium is essential for the replacement of worn-out tissues within the body. This mineral is also important to soft tissue repair, as calcium is to the bones and teeth. A deficiency of potassium within the body can produce callous formations on the souls of the feet, insufficient replacement of worn tissue, and hair loss.

Tests have proven that soil deficient in potassium will produce anemic and undersized plants, but when potassium is introduced into the soil, the plant becomes healthier and increases in size. When potassium, in the form of cider vinegar is fed to livestock their appearance improves and their stamina increases. This can also prove true on a human level for those who have potassium deficiency. A few teaspoons of cider vinegar taken with water each day has been known to produce amazing results. Cider vinegar can be taken alone or used in cooking. It can be used as a salad dressing, for pickling, in making mayonnaise or sprinkled on potato chips or French fries. It can used as a hot or cold beverage sweetened with honey. The best method of using apple cider vinegar is in its natural liquid form.

When the body is lacking certain minerals or salts, ill health can be the result. Toxic build-ups with the body can cause boils, blisters, acne, etc. Cider vinegar detoxifies and helps with the cleansing and clotting processes of the blood, by helping along the blood oxidation process.

Cider vinegar is thought to be beneficial in the treatment of arthritis, as a beverage or with compresses soaked in hot vinegar applied directly to the joints. It is also thought to be helpful when used to treat asthma, nose bleeds, osteoporosis, cancer, candida, high cholesterol, colds, constipation, muscle cramps, colitis, diabetes, diarrhea, depression, dizziness, ear discharge, eczema, fatigue, gallstones, kidney stones, hay fever, headaches, heartburn, hiccups, indigestion, insomnia, kidney and bladder problems, metabolism, nasal congestion, sore throats, stiff joints, ulcers and weight loss.

Please check with your physician before starting any new treatments, including dietary changes. Alternative or holistic health procedures are meant to be complimentary process to traditional medical practices, and not used in place of them".

Curds & Whey

My mother loves to give my sisters and I leftover curds and whey.  Fresh whey, when properly prepared, is a great natural probiotic.  Whey is good for chickens and humans.  Whey is the most beneficial when prepared from raw milk but I realize that not everyone has access to good quality raw milk.  Luckily, it can be made from good quality, unsweetened, plain yogurt.  The following recipes for yogurt whey and raw milk whey are from mother's favorite cookbook, "Nourishing Traditions" by Sally Fallon

Homemade Yogurt Whey

 Unsweetened, unflavored (preferably organic) plain yogurt

Strainer

Cheesecloth

Bowl

Put a strainer in a large bowl and line the strainer with cheesecloth.  Pour yogurt into cheesecloth and allow fluid to drip into bowl (This fluid will look like lemonade and may have some white cloudiness to it).  Allow to drip for several hours then gather the cheese cloth and (Don't squeeze!) hang above bowl until the bag no longer drips.  The entire process can take around 7 hours.  The remaining yogurt is now called curds or kefir cheese or farmer cheese.  The flavor is a bit pungent for my mother's tastes but when mixed with Ranch Dressing mix people gobble it up!  The curds and whey can then be stored in the refrigerator for up to 6 months.  Yes, that's right...when properly prepared it has a crazy shelf life!

Homemade Raw Milk Whey

Good Quality Fresh Raw Milk (1 Gallon)
Yogurt Starter Culture (1 Packet)

Strainer

Cheesecloth

Bowl

Pour yogurt starter into raw milk, mix well, and set out at room temperature for 1 to 4 days until the milk separates.  When the milk separates, put a strainer in a large bowl and line with cheesecloth, pour milk into cheesecloth and allow fluids to drip into bowl.  After a few hours, gather the ends of the cheesecloth and hang above bowl until dripping stops.  This can take 7 to 14 hours.  Refrigerate when complete.  Shelf life of 6 months.

Martha's Favorite Video...

I really know how to lay a quality egg!

If you read the headlines last month about the egg recall, then I can’t blame you for being concerned about the quality of eggs sold in stores. Lucky for me, mother feeds us good quality chicken feed, fresh food scraps, oyster shell, and whey.  She also started hanging our food above ground because someone kept pooping in the food and knocking the feeder over.  They say that chickens aren't the brightest pennies in the pond but I think we found a pretty successful way to have our food raised up so we wouldn't have to bend over to eat it.

You can tell a good quality egg by the hard shell, the bright yellow yolk stands up in the center of the whites and the yolk is hard to rupture. It also says a lot that my eggs can sit out on the counter for a month before they need refrigeration.

Having access to clean water throughout the day and having our home lined with a deep layer of pine pellets keeps us clean, healthy and smelling good. Now, if I can just keep that neighbor cat from staring at me through the fence in the morning, I’ll be a-okay.

Probiotics: Healing the Mind

You'd probably be surprised to find that chickens benefit from probiotics just as much as humans.  When Mother first started biomedical treatments for Autism, she used to buy expensive probiotics for her children when times were good.  Now, she makes her own (which I'll ask her to share later).  For now, Mother explains why probiotics are helpful by sharing with us the following article from her Autism file:

Dr Natasha Campbell-McBride knows about children's health from personal experience. Her son was diagnosed autistic when he was three. At three and a half, he started a programme of treatment. Now 15, he attends a mainstream school.

“I remember that traumatic moment of the diagnosis ‘Autism’, being announced to us by our doctor followed by a statement 'There is nothing that can be done', says Natasha. “Well, being a doctor myself, I have to say ‘Your doctor is wrong! There is a lot that can be done’.”

Natasha and her partner Peter were founding members of PEACH (Parents for the Early intervention of Autism in Children). PEACH is a parent-led group helping parents of children with autism Intensive Behavioural Intervention Programmes. Also known as ABA, this approach is based on highly personalised, one-to-one coaching that teaches children language, play, academic, intellectual, self-help and social skills. An ABA programme can sometimes achieve miracles, but Natasha’s research and experience has shown her that it is still not enough.

“Looking back now, nobody could predict that a little boy without any language, constantly self stimulating, eating very little apart from milk from a baby bottle could undergo such a transformation. On the whole what happened to him can only be described as a miracle. However, his achievements are not due solely to the ABA programme“, says Natasha.

“A huge part of his transformation was in his nutritional management. Being trained as a medical doctor I knew that conventional medicine has nothing to offer children like my son. So I went back to university and trained as a nutritionist. We have changed his diet and after trying various nutritional supplements we have found the ones that work. An autistic child needs a very special nutritional management, a major part of it being – putting his gut flora right! Gut flora is a living organism very sensitive to the diet, antibiotics, steroids and stress.

“Diet on its own is a very powerful tool in helping an autistic child. But it cannot solve all the problems without nutritional supplements. In order to rebalance the gut flora it is essential to use a strong multi-strain probiotic.

“He showed an excellent response to probiotics. From about two to three months after starting it we saw dramatic improvements in our son – his eye contact became normal and stable, the self-stimulation had almost disappeared, he generally became more aware and with us. Everybody comments on how healthy he looks. He used to be on a milk-free diet. We introduced some milk products back into his diet and found that he tolerates it now without any symptoms.“

As a result of their experience, Peter heads up Cambridge Bioceuticals, a UK company founded by a team of doctors, nutritionists and scientists dedicated to advancing the research and use of probiotics. And he has become one of many children able to be helped by a combination of treatments with one thing in common – the use of powerful, multi-strain therapeutic probiotics.

“More than 400 children have gone through my clinic“, says Natasha. “Hyperactive children, children with dyslexia and asthma and eczema and ADHD and other disabilities, and what I see is that what we have in our society is an epidemic of compromised gut flora.“

As a result, she says, we also have an epidemic of poor health in children. “We hardly have any healthy children nowadays. One survey showed that only 10% of school children did not have a diagnosed condition. If you look at a typical school, you hardly see any healthy children. Some are obese, some look malnourished, a lot of them are very pale, a lot of them have eczema, a lot of them have asthma. About 30% of them are on inhalers. The situation is very sad.“

Recent international studies have suggested a relatively strong causal relationship between increased risk of childhood asthma and exposure to antibiotics during childhood, especially during the first year of life.

Prof Julian Crane of Otago University has commented: “Our paper, together with a study published …in Thorax (Farooqi IS, et al. Thorax 1998;53:927-32), raises the possibility that broad-spectrum antibiotics, particularly in the first year of life, may be associated with an increased risk of atopy and asthma. For reasons that have been pointed out in both papers, these results cannot be taken as definitive, but rather as hypothesis-raising.

“On the other hand, the results are plausible. Broad-spectrum antibiotics came into clinical usage in the 1960s, and their increased use coincides with the time trends for the increasing prevalence of asthma. There is a plausible mechanism, namely that broad-spectrum antibiotics may alter and reduce bowel flora and thus switch off the immunological signals that these gut bacteria send to the developing immune system.“ (1) Crane has also showed, with a study of 450 children at six Steiner schools in New Zealand, that even with• parents opposed to the routine use of antibiotics, a staggering 75% of the children had used antibiotics, 36% in the first year of life!

Autism is also exploding. “In this country one child in 250 is diagnosed as autistic, when 10 years ago we had one child in 10,000“, says Natasha. This is nothing to do with improvements or changes in diagnosis, she says. “The medical establishment and the government are trying to present it that way. But what that would mean is that 10 years ago doctors were so bad at diagnosing our children that they were missing one child in 250. But autism is not a disability that goes away as the child grows up. If they had missed one child in 250 10 years ago, then we would still only have one in 250 teenagers with autism now, which we don’t. Everybody who knows and works with autism is convinced that there is an epidemic going on.“

Although various causative factors have been promoted, Natasha is convinced that disturbed gut flora is at the root of it. She has a well-worked out chain of events that even explains how a compromised flora – and all that goes with it – has been passed on through the generations. Unless it is corrected, future generations are doomed to an ever-increasing level of ill-health, with potentially no one safe from a cycle of infections, allergies, arthritis, digestive disorders, atopy and, for some, hyperactivity, ADHD and autism. I asked her to explain this devastating theory; she started with the basics.

“We really started prescribing antibiotics for everything and anything in the ‘70s and ‘80s“, she says. “That’s when we started to get generations of people with compromised gut flora. Antibiotics wipe out the beneficial bacteria as well as the pathogenic bacteria. Remember, our beneficial bacteria are very vulnerable to antibiotics and get wiped out very quickly. If the course of antibiotics is short and the person has a fairly solid gut flora, then it usually recovers. But if antibiotics are repeated quite often, and particularly when people are prescribed long courses – such as when people with acne are put on tetracycline for 2 years or so – they invariably finish up with digestive disorders like IBS, because their gut flora gets wiped up. When the beneficial bacteria are not there, then all sorts of pathogens and opportunists get a chance to grow to occupy the gut and to populate it. They start digesting food in their own way, breaking it down into inappropriate substances. And they also damage the gut lining, making the gut leaky and allowing this maldigested food to get absorbed. The immune system reacts to this maldigested food as foreign substances and hence you get allergies.“

Now maybe it’s just the fashion, but everybody you meet these days says they have some sort of allergy. It’s either hayfever or permanently runny nose or skin rashes or food intolerances. Practitioners may distinguish between true allergies and “mere“ intolerances or sensitivities, but the public doesn’t. To them, there’s not doubt whatsoever that there’s an epidemic of allergies too.

“Allergies usually happen when the immune system gets out of balance“, says Natasha. “The major balancing agent of the immune system in the body is the gut with its gut flora. The flora can literally be described as the right hand of our immune system. But when the beneficial gut flora is not there, the two major arms of immunity, TH1 immunity and TH2, get out of balance. [*types of helper cells: current wisdom is that TH2 cells stimulate production of IgE, the master of allergic reactions, while Tl cells inhibit].

The end result of abnormal gut flora is a weakening of the TH1 arm; the TH2 gets over-active, and that’s the arm of the immunity that’s responsible for allergic type reactions, atopic type reactions. So instead of reacting to the environment stimuli in a normal, natural way, people start reacting in an allergic type of way.

“The gut flora’s really a huge, huge agent. On average everyone carries two kilograms of bacteria in their gut. There are more cells there than there are in an entire human body. We can’t live without this mass of bacteria and it’s a highly organised microbial world, dominated by beneficial bacteria.

“What I am seeing now are generations of people in this country with compromised gut flora – because I don’t just examine the child, I get a full medical history of the parents and the grandparents.

“A grandmother, for example, perhaps has arthritis, which is another sign of toxicity in the body. When opportunists and pathogenic bacteria occupy the gut, they produce a lot of toxic substances. These toxic substances seep through into the bloodstream and settle in different tissues of the body causing an auto-immune attack on those tissues as the immune system tries to clean the body up. So someone with arthritis usually has some abnormalities with the gut flora; they are being poisoned by their own gut. There is a certain level of toxicity in the body, which has particular design to settle in the joints. So the grandmother will have arthritis, or rheumatoid arthritis, or allergies or digestive disorders.

“A baby is born with a sterile gut and as the baby goes throughout the birth canal at birth, it swallows its first batches of bacteria. So a major part of the gut flora which would populate the virgin gut of the baby, comes from the mother. So this grandmother gives her compromised gut flora to her daughter. So now the daughter will be prone to PMS perhaps, to migraines, to digestive disorders – that’s what I see in mothers of autistic children. Between 95-100% of mothers of children with autism, hyperactivity, asthma, eczema and other problems, also have conditions that are related to abnormal gut flora. I hardly ever see healthy mothers.

“What happens is that she initially inherited the compromised gut flora from her mum, but she grows up and at the age of 15 or 16, she goes on a contraceptive pill. Many mothers use an oral contraceptive for quite a few years before they’re ready to have children. The contraceptive pill is a steroid and that damages the gut flora even further. It has a devastating effect on the gut flora.

So by the time this woman is ready to have children her gut flora is seriously compromised and that’s what she passes to her child.

“Because the gut flora is the major part of the immune system, when children are born with compromised gut flora they are left immune-compromised as well. With autistic children and hyperactive children, we see that in the first year of life and second year of life they’re very prone to infections, to ear infections in particular, and a lot of chest infections as well. They quite often go through one ear infection after another and eventually they are put on permanent antibiotics, which would wipe out whatever precious little beneficial bacteria they got in there.

“If you thought that grandmother’s breast-feeding may have gone some way to repairing this damage, think again.

“Breast-feeding is the best thing to establish normal gut flora. But breast milk is a two-sided coin. On one hand it’s the best food for the baby, because children who are not breast-fed develop completely different gut flora from those who are. And that sort of gut flora predisposes them later to all sorts of health problems. So breast-feeding is best. On the other hand, a woman whose gut is populated by abnormal flora will have toxins from that gut flora in her blood. And whatever’s in her blood is likely to be in her breast-milk. So she will be passing toxins through her breast-milk to her baby.

“A lot of these children have low stomach acidity. So when they start solids at the age of six months, they usually can’t digest them – particularly dairy milk proteins. This results in toxicity coming from pathogens such as the clostridia and candida families, which grow in abnormal gut environment producing particular kind of toxins that reduce the ability of the stomach to produce acids.“

Because of all these factors, a baby is not going to develop normal gut flora. If the normal bacteria are not there, then the coast is clear for all sorts of pathogens to take hold. On top of that, says Natasha, because the normal gut flora plays a huge role in digestion and absorption of food, these children go on to develop multiple nutritional deficiencies. “In parallel, the pathogenic flora convert the food into a whole host of toxic substances. A lot of these toxins have been well-studied and you can test for them. They have been found routinely in autistic children and in hyperactive children.

“Some of these toxins are well-known to CAM practitioners, such as the acetaldehyde produced by yeasts acting on sugars, and the ethanol that results from that when candida species get going. Others are less familiar, but can be found in the medical literature. Clostridium, for example, one of the opportunistic pathogens unleashed by antibiotics is known to produce a potent tetanus neurotoxin, which has been identified as a possible cause of autism in some case. (2) The suggestion is that this neurotoxin can be transported along the vagus nerve from the intestinal tract to the central nervous system and into the brain, disrupting the release of neurotransmitters. Another form of clostridium produces a botulinic neurotoxin, says Natasha.

Other researchers believe that sulphate-reducing bacteria in a disturbed gut flora may explain why around 95% of autistic children have low serum sulphate – about 15% of that found in controls (3). The resulting reduced sulphation not only increases gut permeability and inflammation but may also inactive neurotransmitters involved in the modulation of mood and behaviour. The sulphate research trail was kick-started by the observations of the UK self-help group Allergy Induced Autism. AIA encouraged Dr Rosemary Waring of Birmingham University, whose pioneering research proved that autistic children have problems with detoxification, so that certain foods and used neuro-transmitters are not processed effectively. (4)

One of the most significant findings is that opportunistic fungi in the gut can produce opiate-like substances. Dr Alan Friedman, PhD, a Johnson & Johnson researcher with an interest in autism, has found dermorphin and deltorphin in the urine of autistic children (5). As Reading university’s Dr Max Bingham, PhD, comments, these compounds are “many times more potent than morphine“ and had previously only been found on the skin of “poison dart frogs“ and traditionally used as arrow-tip poisons and hallucinogens.

There is already a well-established “opioid theory of autism“, in which researchers have confirmed that children with autism had many abnormal peptides (small pieces of partially broken down proteins) in their urine. These included casomorphine and gliadomorphin. These peptides are the breakdown products of casein and gluten, giving a sound biochemical basis for a successful dietary intervention first investigated in Norway and then replicated at the university of Sunderland’s Autism Research Unit by Dr Paul Shattock and colleagues (6). Opiates and the gluten/casein sensitivity turn autism into a living nightmare for the afflicted children. “These opiates absorb very well, cross the blood-brain barrier and then block the brain in certain areas“, says Natasha. “These children have got normal eyes, normal ears, normal tactile sensitivity, but their brains cannot process the information. So the result is that children don’t hear, don’t see and don’t feel the same way we do. The whole sensory input gets jumbled up in their heads. They don’t develop speech because they don’t hear properly. The speech that is addressed to them from their parents, from their carers, is jumbled in their heads. They can’t make sense out of it. The highly functioning autistic individual they say that quite often they can see one half of the page and can’t see the other. They can hear certain vowels and they can’t hear others. They can hear certain frequencies but not others.

One child, for example, could clearly hear his mother’s voice, but not his father’s. The same happens with children with dyslexia; that’s why they can’t read, because their visual areas of the brain are blocked with toxicity.“ And this all comes from the gut. Just like the nature cure pioneers always maintained: your gut can poison you. The good news is that the gut can be helped back into balance and the research• clearly supports dietary intervention. – autism is NOT all in the mind.

“Diet is a huge part of the treatment for these children“, says Natasha. “They need the kind of diet that heals the digestive tract, stops it leaking and establishes the normal gut flora.“ Natasha employs the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, a strict grain-free, lactose-free and sucrose-free meal plan that limits the particular carbohydrates needed by harmful yeasts and bacteria. (See panel.) Only mono sugars are allowed: fructose, galactose and some others found in fresh vegetables, fresh fruit and honey.

The original diet was developed in the 1950s by Drs Sidney and Merrill Haas to cure patients with coeliac disease and was first published in the Haas’s book The Management of Celiac Disease in 1951. It has since been championed by biochemist and cell biologist Elaine Gottschall, MS, author of Breaking the Vicious Cycle: Intestinal Health through Diet (first published in 1987 and still in print). Gottschall’s eight-year-old daughter, diagnosed by specialists with incurable ulcerative colitis and with a deteriorating condition, was symptom-free in two years after following the Haas instructions. With more than 40 years experience of the diet, Gottschall says; “Some of the most dramatic and fastest recoveries have occurred in babies and young children with severe constipation and among children who, along with intestinal problems, had serious behaviour problems. These included autistic-type hyperactivity as well as hyperactivity, often accompanied by severe and prolonged night terrors. Very often the behaviour problems and night terrors cleared up within ten days after initiation of the Haas Specific Carbohydrate Diet.“ (7)

Natasha says, “Autistic disorder is essentially a digestive disorder. So once you put the digestive tract right, you lay the ground for recovery.“

Dr Andrew Wakefield is the internationally respected gastroenterologist who was researching Crohn’s and Ulcerative colitis when he found a type of inflammatory bowel disease in autistic children who had received the MMR vaccine. He was sacked when he published his findings in the Lancet. Wakefield has written: “I sit across from you as the parent and you say: 'this is what happened to my child, they were developing normally, they had speech, language, social skills, they received their MMR vaccine and they developed bowel symptoms and their behaviour deteriorated, I lost them, the light went out'. You listen to that story, you don't buy into it, but you say: 'is there anything I can do to substantiate this in my job as a physician?' You investigate the symptoms and you find that there is an inflammatory bowel disease that has gone unrecognised in these children . So the parents were right“. (8)

According to Natasha, before Wakefield started investigating, the medical profession didn’t want to know about digestive abnormalities in autistic children. “How many autistic children that I see have digestive abnormalities!“ she says. “All parents talk about it. They have diarrhoea, constipation, flatulence, pain, bloating, the whole picture. So the occasional child who actually made it to gastroenterologist and whose gut has been x-rayed, invariably showed faecal compaction. Old compacted rotten faeces glued to the walls of their gut.

“Wakefield was the first gastroenterologist to seriously look at it; he found the same thing – an autistic child’s gut is chock a block. He also found inflammation, which in some features was similar to ulcerative colitis, in others was similar to Crohn’s disease and others were unique to autistic children. He found abscesses filled with pus. He found ulcers, he found compaction, he found erosions, he found the whole length was inflamed. And because these children cannot communicate, they cannot tell you that they’re in pain, cannot tell you that their tummy is hurting, the parents don’t know about it. But many do go to doctors and say ‘My child has diarrhoea’, ‘My child has constipation’. Some of these children have horrendous constipation. They don’t go to the toilet for a week to ten days and then they have an enormous, extremely painful hard stool, which cracks their anus and the anus bleeds. This sort of experience is very painful for the child, so they end up holding on for as long as they can, until they just can’t hold any longer – and they have another hard stool.“

Remember, these are children who are also unable to communicate to their parents and carers the pain they are in.

Along with diet, Natasha says supplementation is very important. Probiotics are the absolute foundation – but they must be the right sort. And that means a multi-strain product containing soil bacteria, not just lactobacilli and bifidobacteria. These are what she calls “therapeutic“ probiotics as opposed to the milder, prophylactic products. “You need soil bacteria to break down the putrefaction and clear out the pathogenic flora because they are aggressive, they actually use them in industry because they have great ability to clear out putrefied waste. They work in a clinical setting far more effectively.“

Even so, a child is typically kept on the strict diet and taking probiotics for at least two years. “Nothing works that fast in nature“, she says. The good news is that autisic children are born with normal brains and recovery is possible. “The majority of them are developing normally until the scales are tipped and toxicity starts affecting their brain development. It usually happens in the second year of life. If you catch them early and you teach them appropriately, they become perfectly normal, they finish up in mainstream schools. Obviously they’re all different, some of them would have some idiosyncracies, or they’ll be a little bit eccentric, but they’re within normal range.“

Apart from fish oils, she doesn’t include many other supplements. “I do believe in providing most things through the diet with children. Once the diet is put right, the gut starts healing and the child starts absorbing nutrients from food.“

Similarly, she finds that once the gut flora is right a lot of food intolerances disappear and the major source of toxicity is removed, easing the load on the liver and detoxification systems. However, some children will need to be actively detoxified using combinations of juices. “We all have a so-called detoxification system. When the system is overloaded with toxicity, overloaded with work“, she explains, “then the more you store it in various tissues in order to deal with it later. But in children which are highly toxic, autistic children, the time never comes for the toxins which are stored in tissues.“ They also tend to store a lot of heavy metals – even so, she prefers the gentle effectiveness of juices to chelation. "The child has a couple of 8oz glasses a day of freshly pressed juice. Therapeutic kinds of juices are generally vegetable juices, particularly green juices, which taste ghastly! So I suggest 50% of something tasty, like pineapple or orange or apple or mango, to disguise the taste of the other 50%. Of that about 40% will be carrot juice, 10% beetroot. You have to be careful with beetroot because it is extremely powerful and can really make you sick. So other juices we use are celery, lettuce and then greens like spinach, parsley, dill, fresh nettles, dandelion leaves, those sort of things."

The children use the juices while on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet. The only other thing they drink is water – unchlorinated, bottled or

filtered, and lots of it.

To check progress, Natasha may use a Great Smokies stool test. "It is useful when we have been through the intial stages of the programme and if we are struggling with something and what to know what's going on. I don't do the test before we have done the intial baseline treatment."

The only other test she is liable to use is the organic acid test (OAT) developed by Dr William Shaw of the Great Plains Laboratory. A non-invasive urine test, it measures around 70 different biochemical compounds, picking up abnormal urinary metabolites that are the "signatures" that can reveal what specific overgrowth a child has. It also reveals some nutritional deficiencies. We'll give Shaw the last word: "The last half of this century could be termed the era of antibiotics.

The next century will be involved in developing new antimicrobial treatments (probiotics or beneficial bacteria) or other therapies that have less potential for harming young children. Pasteur and others found that lethal strains of bacteria could be rendered harmless if animals were given other benign bacteria simultaneously." (9)

· Dr Campbell-McBride holds a Degree in Medicine and a Postgraduate Degree in Neurology. She also holds a second Postgraduate Degree in Human Nutrition from Sheffield University. In her Cambridge Clinic she specialises in Nutrition for Children with Learning Disabilities, and Adults with Digestive and Immune System Disorders. She lectures at a BANT-accredited conference

in London on October 9.

· Cambridge Bioceuticals Probiotics site:www.bio-kult.com Includes case histories and other articles by Dr Natasha Campbell-McBride.

· Reprinted from CAM Magazine August 2003.

References

1. Wickens K, Pearce N, Crane J, Beasley R. Antibiotic use in early childhood and the development of asthma. Clin Exp Allergy 1999;29:766-771. Crane quoted at

www.chiroweb.com/archives/17/17/01.html

2. Bolte ER, (1998). Autism and Clostridium tetani. Medical

Hypotheses 51(2): 133-144.

3. Waring (2001). Sulphate, sulphation and gut permeability: are

cytokines involved? In: The Biology of Autism – Unravelled.

Conference proceedings 11th May 2001, Institute of Electrical

Engineers, Savoy Place, London.

4. Alberti A, Pirrone P, Elia M, Waring RH, Romano C.Sulphation

deficit in "low-functioning" autistic children: a pilot study. Biol

Psychiatry 1999 Aug 1;46(3):420-4

5. Unpublished research reported in Autism and the Human Gut

Microflora, by Dr Max Bingham, PhD, Food Microbial Sciences

Unit, University of Reading, accessed online at

www.fst.rdg.ac.uk/research/fmsu/Autism.htm6. Shattock P and

Whiteley P. (2001) How dietary intervention could ameliorate the

symptoms of autism. Pharmaceutical Journal, July 7; 267(7155).

7. From chapter one of Breaking the Vicious Cycle, accessed

online at http://66.40.242.169/chap1.html

8. "Why I Owe It To Parents To Question Triple Vaccine", Andrew

Wakefield explains why he first warned of a possible link between

the MMR jab and autism, Sunday Herald (Scotland), 10 Feb 2002.

Accessed online at http://www.sundayherald.com/22194

9. Interview with Dr William Shaw about microbial metabolites in

autism and other developmental disorders, accessed online at www.autism.com/shaw-yeast/interv.html

Which Came First, The Chicken or the Egg?

I recently asked mother who laid the first egg. She was not sure.  In fact, she was not sure where the first chicken came from or if an egg just showed up on Earth one day.  She diverted my question with one of my favorite stories about my arrival to our family.  Let me share it with you:

Not long ago, my husband and I were living in an apartment with our 3 young children, catching our breath from job loss and financial ruin, and it didn’t take long to figure out that apartment living and children under the age of 10 were a bad combination. We needed a yard for the children to play in and it needed to happen soon! I had already been following the rental home prices on Craigslist and watched as rent prices started falling. We needed a yard but not something landscaped that would be ruined by the children. I also started to envision having a garden to supplement our food stamps. After a few months of waiting, we found the right home at the right price with a large neglected weed infested yard. By my reasoning, if the landlord didn’t care if the yard was a nightmare, why should he care if I turned it into an organic garden?

We moved in just before the start of spring and I went to work building raised beds from fence boards and used cardboard. Seeds were soon planted and we were on the way to independence.

Before

After

As seedlings started to sprout, another great idea came to mind…how about chickens for eggs? As you can imagine, the children were overjoyed to get chickens! We went to a family owned feed & seed and each child picked out their very own 1 week old chick. Chicks are so entertaining that I could spend hours just watching and holding them. The biggest and fastest growing chick was Martha, a “Production Red” hen. When I would venture out in the garage to check on them, Martha would be the first to turn her head sideways and give me the eye.

One week old

One month old

Now that I was a mother of soon-to-be hens, I needed to make a permanent home. I originally thought of building a moveable chicken coop that wouldn’t destroy the yard, something we could move every few days. So, I designed a coop on wheels and upon completion, it was perfect. The only problem arose after we filled it with litter, it weighed a ton! I proceeded to move the coop to a permanent position and build a small yard for them to play in.

The permanent home and yard

Move in day was most exciting! Martha and her “sisters” were pretty excited about their new home. Their coop had 3 nesting boxes but when I went to check on them that night all 3 were cuddled together in one nesting box. 

They sleep together in the far right nesting box

During the day, I let them play in the yard but they soon started focusing all of their energy into my newly growing plants. This was not going to work until the fall when the garden would go to compost. So, I started keeping them in their yard and supplying them with plenty of kitchen compost. It is amazing the amount of food they can consume!

Martha eating my peas

At 19 weeks of age, Martha laid her first egg. It was tiny and we felt really bad cooking it but it tasted really good. She lays an egg every day. Martha’s eggs are now normal sized and when I saw a tiny egg show up one day, I knew it must be another one of our hens producing.

The egg on the left is from a newly producing hen and the one on the right is Martha's

One morning, the chickens were making a terrible racket and I ran out to see what was wrong. Jumping over our fence was a cat that had obviously been terrorizing the hens. As soon as I approached “the girls”, they quieted down and Martha gave me the eye. It was then that I realized that they looked to me as their Mother.

Mother Shares Her Thoughts on Autism

I asked Mother to share her story of raising 3 children affected, in varying degrees, by Autism. She was reluctant at first but finally decided that it may be a cathartic experience and a good way to find closure.

There is a lot of information out there about Autism, from research to treatments, and I devoted a year of my life to finding out about them all. There are many views and conflicting opinions but I have come to my own conclusions on certain issues (note: as with all opinions, everyone has one, so feel free to take mine with a grain of salt). When I hear the word Autism, I think of two different types. One type of Autism is not genetically linked, is a lifelong disorder that does not improve with biomedical treatments and has been in existence for many years. The other type of Autism is new and growing at an alarming rate. It has genetic links and is triggered by environmental factors, it may or may not be grown out of but it does respond favorably to biomedical treatments when caught before the age of 3 years and greatly improved in children above this age. I think the second type of Autism is a different disorder completely that needs to be reclassified and assigned a new name.

The following is a list of additional conclusions that I came to while conducting my research:

• There is a genetic link.
• It is an autoimmune disease.
• Environmental factors compromise an immune system that is genetically compromised.
• The environmental factors are unique for each child.
• Treatments and therapies are unique for each child.
• The uniqueness of environmental causes and treatments extends to siblings.
• Siblings can be affected by different environmental factors, respond differently to biomedical treatments, and have different degrees of Autism.

When I initially found out that my children had Autism, I wanted to know what it was, how it would present itself in the future and how it could be that more than one of my children would by diagnosed with it. I was surprised to find that there were treatments that were leading to a reversal of the diagnosis. It was at this point that I found several therapies that claimed to produce a reversal in children 3 years of age and younger and significant improvements in children over this age. What started as a quest for answers turned into a passionate and urgent search for a cure, as my child had just turned three when diagnosed.

The next few years would be a blur of biomedical treatments, physical therapies, educational therapies, behavioral therapies, lab tests, research studies, and meticulous journal keeping. Gone were the carefree days of baby book entries and sweet baby memories. In its place was constant monitoring of behavior and allergic reactions.

As the economy of the nation collapsed, we collapsed with it. Facing foreclosure on our home, bankruptcy, unemployment and foods stamps, I watch everything I hold dear fall from my fingers. All therapies came to a grinding halt. We would have to move 4 times in one year as we struggled to make ends meet. The children were traumatized and I would not only have to suffer their outrageous behavior but I would also have to deal with my husband’s anger as the finger pointing began. It would take everything I have to juggle it all, to provide harmony and balance, and to heal a marriage on the brink of ruin.

In the end, we were able to stop the blame game. We took the time to acknowledge the choices we made. It is so easy to lose sight of the goal when you are in the middle of the fight. Everything we did was for the children and given the same situation, we would have made the same choices.

After 5 years, I would achieve my goal and reverse the Autism diagnosis for both of my children and my youngest would avoid it, for the most part. From Autism to a cognitive and speech delay diagnosis, I was content. My children are social, funny, compassionate and engaging. I have utilized all of my knowledge and skills to reinstate the most beneficial treatments while on food stamps. We were able to sell our home a month before it went to foreclosure, my husband has started his own business, and we are on the slow road of restoring our credit and lives. 

“When you do nothing, you feel overwhelmed and powerless. But when you get involved, you feel the sense of hope and accomplishment that comes from knowing you are working to make things better.”