Our Story
I have found this road to optimal health because of my daughter, Tori. When I was pregnant with her, I was given many antibiotics for things such as bronchitis and an ear infection. Not having the important knowledge I have today, I didn’t know that those things could clear up on their own. Tori was 4 weeks early when she was born, and I was in labor for 25 hours, so the doctors immediately put me on another antibiotic.
Her gut was messed up from day 1 due to the antibiotics. She wouldn’t latch on, and I did NOT want to give her formula, so for the first few days, we had to feed breast milk to her through a syringe. After that, my husband and I searched and searched for a bottle that she would take. I pumped for a while, but everyone thought it was too much work for me, so after a year, I stopped. That is when all of the nightmares started.
When Tori was a toddler, she gave us a hard time when eating. She gave us excuse after excuse. One that happened often is when Tori told me her tongue was itchy and she would pull on it. I would just tell her to hurry up and eat. I didn’t know that the itchy tongue was an allergic reaction back then.
When Tori was in kindergarten, she was diagnosed with severe food allergies. I used to drop her off at my sister’s house when I needed to go somewhere. The morning after I dropped her off, she would vomit. I knew it was something that Tori was eating, and it turned out to be almonds. Peanuts, sunflower seeds, Shea butter, walnuts, coconut, and many more followed.
When she was in 3rd grade, she would be keeled over in pain every day while she was doing her homework. She and I went from doctor to doctor trying to figure out what was going on with her. The only responses the doctors would give us were either “I don’t know.” or “There is nothing wrong.” Now that I know what I know, I can tell you that medical doctors are not trained in nutrition. Their training consists of how to prescribe a pill to a patient. Pills don't go to the root cause of the problem, they just
mask the symptoms. I have listened to so many interviews with medical doctors saying that when they go to medical school, they are not trained in nutrition, and that is something that I think needs to change.
It was then when I discovered Dr. Mercola and what GMO foods were. I quickly removed all of the GMO foods from Tori’s diet, and slowly but surely, her stomach pains eased off. After a month, the pains pretty much vanished. We still had to deal with her allergies though.
When she was 11, I got an email newsletter from Dr. Mercola about a doctor in the UK that
cured her son of autism. My nephew has autism, so I decided to read a little more on the subject. I soon realized that this could cure almost everything, including allergies! I researched for about 2 months and decided that we were going to do the GAPS diet. I don’t like calling it a diet, it is more like a lifestyle change. It is basically eating the food that your great-grandparents ate. At the time, my son, Kevin, was 6 years old and super picky when it came to eating. His favorite foods were frozen waffles, macaroni and cheese, pancakes, and ice cream. Speaking of ice cream, my husband, Patrick, was probably the reason that Kevin had a lot of ice cream. He used to go through a half gallon every other day!
Boy, did the GAPS diet change our lives. For the better, of course. Tori, at the age of 12 is feeling her ultimate best since 3rd grade. In school, she used to really struggle with learning due to the stomach pains. She went from getting average grades to high honors each quarter. So far, she has only had As, except for one time. She got one B+ when we started to introduce grains again. I feel guilty about that one. Her body really struggled in that duration, and now we know to keep her off of grains. One day,
she came to me and said that she felt like she was in 3rd grade with the stomach pains all over again. That is how we found out the grains we introduced are one of the reactive foods that have ties in with the stuff that she is allergic to. The grains look the same as the molecules of gluten, so the antibodies went after those too, and that is why she had a problem with them.
My son, Kevin, has really changed as well. On his report card, he used to really struggle with behavior. The system of his report card is that 4s are the highest, and the teacher has to get permission from the principal to give someone a 4. Well, last year, when he was eating healthy, he got 12 4s on a single report card! He is less energetic now that he is off the processed foods. He used to literally bounce
off the walls. We actually got a dome jungle gym for him in our yard due to his great report card! If you put one of his report cards from kindergarten and one from 1st grade side by side, you would see that we now have a new child, just from diet change.
We are all getting better by the day and are trying to cure all of our ailments. I now know that this takes time, so we take it one day at a time and hope for the best.
Her gut was messed up from day 1 due to the antibiotics. She wouldn’t latch on, and I did NOT want to give her formula, so for the first few days, we had to feed breast milk to her through a syringe. After that, my husband and I searched and searched for a bottle that she would take. I pumped for a while, but everyone thought it was too much work for me, so after a year, I stopped. That is when all of the nightmares started.
When Tori was a toddler, she gave us a hard time when eating. She gave us excuse after excuse. One that happened often is when Tori told me her tongue was itchy and she would pull on it. I would just tell her to hurry up and eat. I didn’t know that the itchy tongue was an allergic reaction back then.
When Tori was in kindergarten, she was diagnosed with severe food allergies. I used to drop her off at my sister’s house when I needed to go somewhere. The morning after I dropped her off, she would vomit. I knew it was something that Tori was eating, and it turned out to be almonds. Peanuts, sunflower seeds, Shea butter, walnuts, coconut, and many more followed.
When she was in 3rd grade, she would be keeled over in pain every day while she was doing her homework. She and I went from doctor to doctor trying to figure out what was going on with her. The only responses the doctors would give us were either “I don’t know.” or “There is nothing wrong.” Now that I know what I know, I can tell you that medical doctors are not trained in nutrition. Their training consists of how to prescribe a pill to a patient. Pills don't go to the root cause of the problem, they just
mask the symptoms. I have listened to so many interviews with medical doctors saying that when they go to medical school, they are not trained in nutrition, and that is something that I think needs to change.
It was then when I discovered Dr. Mercola and what GMO foods were. I quickly removed all of the GMO foods from Tori’s diet, and slowly but surely, her stomach pains eased off. After a month, the pains pretty much vanished. We still had to deal with her allergies though.
When she was 11, I got an email newsletter from Dr. Mercola about a doctor in the UK that
cured her son of autism. My nephew has autism, so I decided to read a little more on the subject. I soon realized that this could cure almost everything, including allergies! I researched for about 2 months and decided that we were going to do the GAPS diet. I don’t like calling it a diet, it is more like a lifestyle change. It is basically eating the food that your great-grandparents ate. At the time, my son, Kevin, was 6 years old and super picky when it came to eating. His favorite foods were frozen waffles, macaroni and cheese, pancakes, and ice cream. Speaking of ice cream, my husband, Patrick, was probably the reason that Kevin had a lot of ice cream. He used to go through a half gallon every other day!
Boy, did the GAPS diet change our lives. For the better, of course. Tori, at the age of 12 is feeling her ultimate best since 3rd grade. In school, she used to really struggle with learning due to the stomach pains. She went from getting average grades to high honors each quarter. So far, she has only had As, except for one time. She got one B+ when we started to introduce grains again. I feel guilty about that one. Her body really struggled in that duration, and now we know to keep her off of grains. One day,
she came to me and said that she felt like she was in 3rd grade with the stomach pains all over again. That is how we found out the grains we introduced are one of the reactive foods that have ties in with the stuff that she is allergic to. The grains look the same as the molecules of gluten, so the antibodies went after those too, and that is why she had a problem with them.
My son, Kevin, has really changed as well. On his report card, he used to really struggle with behavior. The system of his report card is that 4s are the highest, and the teacher has to get permission from the principal to give someone a 4. Well, last year, when he was eating healthy, he got 12 4s on a single report card! He is less energetic now that he is off the processed foods. He used to literally bounce
off the walls. We actually got a dome jungle gym for him in our yard due to his great report card! If you put one of his report cards from kindergarten and one from 1st grade side by side, you would see that we now have a new child, just from diet change.
We are all getting better by the day and are trying to cure all of our ailments. I now know that this takes time, so we take it one day at a time and hope for the best.