I’m not sure exactly where to start, but I’ve been meaning to type this for some time, so here it goes – disordered as it may be. A couple of years ago observations by others & by me were starting to note that there was something special about my dear little Eliana. Since very early on in Eliana’s life, I had wondered about some of her behaviors that didn’t fall in line with the typical parenting thoughts that said “if you do this then that” or “your child will be doing / saying / asking this or that.” While each child is unique, it is easier in hindsight to see where some of the causes of Eliana’s specialties came from. What a blessing God has given us in this dear girl! In the past 1.5+ years some friends & family had suggested that there might be a possible Asperger’s diagnosis, and then a possible mild autism diagnosis, based on her behaviors that they had observed. A very dear friend, Joanna, who is very health-minded, suggested that Eliana’s eating habits could have a significant impact on her behavior, and WOW was Joanna right! Please forgive me, but I’m going to omit the many processes that her changing eating habits went through as I / we figured out what Eliana could eat and what greatly impacted her behavior, but I will try to list in order the foods that were noted to have a significant impact and were thereby eliminated: • Food coloring (ANY!) • MSG (including the hidden MSG ingredients, like “natural flavors”, “spices” etc. – and yes, that means all those foods in your pantry that have those code words, boooo) • Chemicals in your food (that would be any of those that sound like a chemical and not a real food…yes, that means most of those ingredients in your boxed foods, boooo) • Sugar (even raw, organic, or brown sugar, and even if there isn’t “that much” sugar…like canned corn or typical peanut butter even, sigh) • Gluten (she does not have celiac’s disease, but being for the most part gluten free makes a HUGE difference) • Honey (not even local, raw honey. Boooo! I thought she could have this instead of sugar but found out I was wrong) • Any sweeteners really (again, boooo!) So anyways, the reason I’m bringing this up is because I wish someone would have told this to me earlier on. The impact that these foods have on my little redhead are really incredible. I can’t tell you how many times I had this little girl red-faced and screaming and yelling at me and throwing fits on the floor and flailing and kicking – and I’m not talking about a 2-year-old-tantrum. I cried from having no idea why she was behaving this way, and I could look into this little girls’ eyes even as she was screaming at me with murderous thoughts and see it was as though she was TRAPPED inside of her body –and that’s exactly what those chemicals and foods do to her, and I hope this post will help some other mama figure out why their child is SO OUT OF CONTROL. With the help of my dear friend Joanna (and a few other friends & family) I was able to eliminate so many of these foods that have HUGE impacts on my little Eliana – and now if you see her on any given day, she is a sweet and mild-tempered girl who loves baby turtles, snuggles her Bible, and dances and twirls around the house like a butterfly :) But let me tell you, friend, that when she gets those foods in her – even just once, OH does the truth of what they do to her come back out! As you’ve read above, her diet is now very restricted, and our whole family diet has changed because of it (though we’re not all gluten free, and after the girls go to bed Tim & I have some candy chuckle chuckle), her sweet demeanor is now the standard, and on special occasions she is allowed to have sweets or gluten (as she did today when we went to the Victorian Country Christmas festival) – but she is reminded that she will have to practice extra self-control because of those chemicals/foods. When she has them, she is SO quick to be ill-tempered, selfish, mean, and overall lacking self-control, so I’ll remind her as she’s about to eat them “honey, I want you to remember that today you get some special foods, but because of the chemicals/sugars, you’re going to have to practice extra self-control, okay?” and without a doubt I have to remind her of that later that day – and it helps her to process why it’s hard for her to deal with what would be normal situations in any other circumstances. Explaining to Eliana that God has designed our bodies in different ways, and that because we’re in a sinful world we all have different struggles with our bodies and minds – and that she has a particular challenge with sugars/chemicals, and that they cause her to “have a really hard time fighting sin and practicing self-control” – that helps her so much! And she’s not bitter about it, and young as she is, she really seems to grasp and see the tangible difference there is when she eats well versus when she consumes those foods/chemicals that impact her negatively. And she knows that on certain days on special occasions she can have those special treats :) and she also knows that if she is born again, repenting and trusting in the Lord Jesus for the forgiveness of her sins, that she will one day go to heaven and have no diet restrictions =D Praise the Lord! My sweet friend Joanna, who ever loves Jesus and the Gospel, and who rightly does not want to see *actual sin* excused as a mental or medical condition (as in yelling at Mama or being disobedient etc.), lovingly cautioned me as we were walking through the probable working out of Eliana’s mild autism, that I would need to be sure that knowing that Eliana has autism should not excuse her to sin. So whether Eliana has had those “bad” foods or not (and again, it’s verrrry rare that we allow this for obvious reasons), she is not allowed to be disobedient – yelling, being unkind to sister, stealing toys, dishonoring, ignoring, etc. Understanding the way that God has allowed my sweet girl to develop has been exceedingly helpful to me, and I am reminded of her challenges to being in public (i.e. big stores & crowds, it seems very hard for her to concentrate and be mindful of me and of others – though not in a rude way, but in a butterfly-doing-her-own-thing way), her challenges in standing still when she’s telling me about her imaginary drawings or other things, her desire to count down numbers on the microwave, on timers, or on my alarm clock, her desire to complete her drawing to perfection, her challenges with maintaining eye contact – all these things are part of her design, and while it is my responsibility to make sure that I am not allowing sin to rule the roost, and that I *need* to train her as much as I am able, I am also grateful to be considerate of her special needs – and of the impact of foods on her special needs. And WOW is there ever an impact! Candy, juice, cookies, brownies, pancakes, crackers, bread, rolls, prepared foods, boxed foods, sweet foods, all restaurant foods, in general most foods – gone! But OH the blessing it has been to my sweet girl, friends! She is no longer trapped inside that raging body! Friends, while your child may not be autistic, would you be willing to consider that if these foods have such an impact on her, what impact could they be having on your child? Or on you? We all know that children are said to be wild if they’ve had sugar, and we know that diagnoses of ADHD / ADD etc. are rampant – friend, could it be that what’s in our food is the culprit? I certainly am not qualified to answer food questions, and I know there are many “forbidden” food items that I didn’t specifically mention, but let me give you this thought: look at the ingredients of your foods, and examine, how many ingredients are there? If there are more than 4 or 5 in mine, I’m leery. Again as parents, while we should be considerate of special needs and/or of the impact of foods – we can’t excuse sinful behavior as “oh well they have this issue or ate that food” – but it is most loving to clean up the family menu and address the sin rightly, with loving obedience to God’s laws and pointing our blessings to Him Who made us and Who will gladly pour out His rich mercy on all who repent and have faith in the life, death, and resurrection of His beloved Son Jesus.
Posted on: Sat, 06 Dec 2014 09:35:50 +0000
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