Mumma's Own Blog

Over the years I've worked with many families of children who have either been diagnosed with Autism, are going through the process or are thinking it might be something they should be considering. As a result many of them ask me about Zac's diagnosis and what it was that made us think he might need to be assessed and how did we as a family cope when he did finally get diagnosed so today, I'll share that story with you.

Over the past 30+ years there has been a huge increase in the consumption of soft drink (both full sugar and now diet options), sport drinks and energy drinks. It's nothing to see a young teen walking to school with an energy drink in their hand at 8am, or drinking a sports drink, even though there isn't a piece of sporting equipment in sight and consumption of these is becoming more and more common..  So let's break it down, what is really in these drinks.

It seems we're waiting longer to have kids than ever before and as a result lowered fertility and IVF have become the new normal. In fact, the other day I heard an IVF clinic advertising that if you're even thinking of getting pregnant then you should attend one of their information seminars... That surprised me as I would never have thought to involve an IVF clinic at the beginning of my pregnancy journey. I always thought of IVF as something we do when we've been trying naturally for awhile and it hasn't been happening, I certainly didn't expect to hear them advertising on commercial radio for couples to attend information sessions on how it all works but I guess the world s changing.

Let's be honest, all kids have a bit of a disobedient, defiant or impulsive streak. They question us, challenge us and definitely have a mind of their own, but is there a line where this behaviour becomes too much to handle? Is there a point where this behaviour isn't "normal"? This was the exact situation we came across in the early days before Zac was diagnosed with Autism.. what was normal behaviour for a child (boy) his age and what wasn't..  now before you panic..  if your child does have some challenging behaviours or learnings I'm not suggesting they have Autism but there's definitely some things to think about as far as what you can do to help them.

Over the years I've talked about The GAPS™ Diet extensively, how we were doing it as a family and the ups and downs that went with that. It's been a number of years since we did The GAPS™ Diet and I find that a lot of my patients are very curious as to what we're doing now so I thought I'd share that with you and perhaps give you a strategy for the long term lifestyle approach we've adopted.  My decision for the family was to find a happy medium whereby we were still monitoring our gut health and eating based on The GAPS™ Diet  but it was a much more relaxed version. As a GAPS™ Practitioner, when I'm working with patients, the general rule of thumb is that after you've finished the Introduction Diet you move to The Full GAPS™ Diet and follow that for 18 months to 2 years before transitioning off The GAPS™ Diet.

In the real world we don't all have nannies and live in housekeepers, we don't wear designer clothes and we can't just drop everything and go to Abu Dhabi for a week. In reality we all have different situations, some of us have additional help at home and some of us don't. Some of us have "easy" children and some of us don't. Some of us have children that require much more of us and some of us don't. Whatever your situation though, mothers do have one thing in common, somewhere along the way of having children we lose ourselves and this isn't exclusive to those of us that have children with additional needs.

Headaches can be quite a pain, literally and given the fast paced, stressful lives we now live it's really not that surprising that many of us suffer from them in varying degrees. If you do suffer from headaches it's important to know that there's different kinds which means there's different ways of treating them.

Leaky gut, dysbiosis, SIBO, gut flora imbalance, call it what you like, it seems the unhealthy gut bacteria has a lot to answer for. Not only is there inflammation, autoimmune conditions, mental health issues, ADD / ADHD, Autism, recurrent illness, bloating, IBS and a myriad of other conditions, now we also know that it can affect our ability to lose weight.

As many parents of children with Autism have done before and many will continue to do after me I have read a number of articles, blogs and websites promising the one thing most families are looking for..  Brace yourself people I'm about to say the "C" word....  Promising a "CURE"..  yep I said it.... CURE!!! The thing is, I'm not just a mother of a child with Autism, I'm also a practitioner who works with families who have children with Autism...  I work in an industry where we're touted as "charlatans" with unproven methods and treatments that don't work, promise a "cure" (yes I said it again) and leave families heartbroken.

Being a GAPS Practitioner has meant promoting and using lots of meat stocks and bone broths as part of the healing process. The one thing I’ve come to realise very quickly has been the confusion between what the two are and when is the best time to use them. Today I thought I’d cover off the difference between bone broth and meat stock to try to make it a little easier for you all. The first thing I’ve noticed is it seems to depend on where you live in the world as to what you interpret as being a broth or a stock as in the USA they tend to use the word broth for what we call stock so no wonder everyone’s confused. The below explanations are given based on The GAPS Diet and the way we use meat stocks and bone broths to support gut health, healing and sealing as well as ongoing health maintenance.

Sugar, Sugar, Sugar.... It's the curse of the 21st Century... It's behind obesity, heart disease, anxiety, depression, migraines, chronic fatigue syndrome, mood swings, PMS, Type II Diabetes, inflammation (which of course leads to other significant health conditions), cancer and don't even get me started on kids behaviour when they're on a sugar high..

So I was looking for something the other day and stumbled upon this and thought it might be a good reminder for those of you out there who might sometimes wonder why you're putting in all the effort to do The GAPS Diet with your family. When we were doing the GAPS Diet I would do a nightly poll on how everyone was going with all the changes and restrictions that were involved. The questions asked went something like this:

So you've come to the realisation that you and your family REALLY need to do The GAPS Diet...  there's only one thing standing in the way... your partner!!  They're not too keen on the whole idea...  it may be they think it's a load of rubbish, maybe they're more inclined to listen to their doctor rather than a Naturopath or GAPS Practitioner or maybe they're in denial that there's any issues at all. Whatever the case, the question is "how do I handle this?" Well, here's a few tips that might be of use, and of course make sure you do it in a comfortable, relaxed setting where you're not going to be interrupted, and have some books or information there to show them if you think that may be useful.

Over the years I've worked with many of my patients on maintaining a healthy immune system especially during the winter months or when kids are starting daycare and school. Since Covid-19 became a daily topic of conversation this has become more important than ever and we're starting to take a more active focus on our health. I think it's made many of us realise just how quickly things can change in our lives and whilst the material things in our world can be replaced, the reality is if we don't have our health we really don't have anything at all.

One condition I seem to treat over and over again is eczema in both children and adults. For young children and babies this can be very distressing and uncomfortable and in teens (especially young women) it can not only be painful and uncomfortable it can also be very damaging to their self esteem.

Are you constantly struggling to find different things to pack in the kids lunch boxes? Me too!! Popcorn is one of the cheapest, easiest and yummiest snacks to make and this recipe is one you can do in the morning when you're making the kids breakfast or even the night before (just store it in an airtight container).

Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (or SIBO) is a significant health issue with many patients going through life not realising that their gut bacteria is severely out of balance. Although we have bacteria throughout the body the highest concentration should be in the colon, however, in the case of SIBO we tend to find there's too much bacteria in the small intestine and an overgrowth has occurred. SIBO can present with constipation (SIBO-C), a combination of constipation and diarrhea (SIBO-M) or with diarrhea only (SIBO-D), which is the most common. It can also be the cause of histamine intolerance, bloating, gas, abdominal pain, belching, flatulence and nausea just to name a few.

A question I get asked time and time again.. "how do I get my kids to take their supplements?" Yep that is a tough one and for me it was... let's say... a Battle Royale!! As many of you already know I was fairly convinced there were issues with my son from a young age so with this in mind I was seeing a Naturopath very early in the peace so he did get used to being given things to take when he was young. Not to say this made it any easier nor was he any more compliant.

The humble bliss ball has become a household favourite for many of my patients who often look for that little pick me up around 3pm each day. Instead of reaching for something less nutritious like chocolate or a bag or chips why don't you have a go at something a little tastier. As we know, due to allergies these aren't an appropriate option for the kiddies to take to school but for us big kiddies that like a treat in our lunch box they're a perfectly healthy and nutritious option.

It's hard to believe that 5 years ago we started The GAPS™ Diet as a family..... At the time, when we started the protocol I really didn't know how it would all turn out but 5 years down the track I can absolutely say, without a doubt, it was definitely worthwhile. So, given how beneficial it was and continues to be for our family I thought I'd take a little trip down memory lane to share some of the high's and lows of the experience.

Fermented dairy is a big part of The GAPS™ Diet and quite often even those who hav had difficulty digesting dairy in the past will find they can tolerate the yogurt and whey made themselves following the The GAPS™ Diet Protocol. The main difference between GAPS yogurt and commercial yogurt is that it is fermented for 24 hours to breakdown the lactose in the milk making it easier to digest.

Over the years I've worked with many families of children who have either been diagnosed with Autism, are going through the process or are thinking it might be something they should be considering. As a result many of them ask me about Zac's diagnosis and what it was that made us think he might need to be assessed and how did we as a family cope when he did finally get diagnosed so today, I'll share that story with you.

Generally we’re always worrying about what to put in the kids lunchboxes and whilst I know that’s important what about us? What about our lunchboxes? Unfortunately these aren’t appropriate for most kids lunchboxes, unless they’re in high school where there’s more flexibility in what they can take, but for us as working parents sometimes we really need a mid afternoon snack to get us through the day. These peanut butter bliss balls are a healthy, raw, vegan and satisfying snack with a nice blend of good fats, natural sugars and carbohydrates and you’ll only need one or two to get you through until dinner.

Keeping a kids diet on track can be hard work but in my experience NOT keeping it on track is harder work. Processed foods are so difficult to keep away from our children especially as they get older and are perhaps out with friends more or just socialising more. These foods are designed to be attractive, tasty and most importantly addictive and the problem I find is they also increase the behavioural issues we experience, especially as parents of children on the spectrum. Due to the highly sensitive nature of their gut health I find to many transgressions = more difficult to manage behaviours = frustration. My advice, if things go astray, don't beat yourself up, it happens. Simply get things back on track as quickly as you can and you'll soon turn things around again.

If you've every suffered from reflux, heartburn, indigestion, bloating, GERD, Ulcerative Colitis, Crohns, constipation or diarrhoea then this may be just what you're looking for.

For children on the spectrum their nutritional, diet and supplement needs are quite often far greater than that of our other children. It's important to review their requirements and make sure you're focussing on their current supplement needs at all times. These tips are to give you a bit of a general idea on some of the more common things they may need.

Mumma's Own was created by Naturopath and Certified GAPS Practitioner Sonia Tzerefos in response to my patients need for more support when it comes to their nutritional needs.