From the time Lucy was born, until she was two - she was pretty close to “normal.”  Then…we started giving her table foods.  As a family, we eat healthy…so the foods we fed her were also healthy - we thought.

Come to find out…she was not producing digestive enzymes and most likely had leaky gut syndrome.  As a result, we were basically poisoning her AND starving her.  Her development from age 2 to age 6 was stagnant.  She barely grew physically and didn’t grow intellectually or academically.  No one seemed to know what was going on and basically assumed this was just “how Lucy is”…with the exception of Phylis @ Rock Creek Herb & Vitamin Co.  She recommended cutting out the usual culprits (for people with autism or other brain related issues) , so we started with corn, wheat, and dairy.  There was a stark difference in Lucy’s behavior, bowel movements, sleeping patterns…it obviously made a huge impact on her and from there we began to know that Lucy wasn’t necessarily supposed to hit herself, bite herself, bang her head on walls and floors - this was not “how Lucy is”

When we eliminated nearly everything from her diet and began giving her supplements…she began steadily improving.  We eliminated everything but rice, green beans, oranges, apples, and coconut.   Even with just those five foods, she had to have a digestive enzyme with every meal for her to digest the food.  Doing this kept Lucy stable…it kept us for having to restrain her for 30+ minutes (to keep her from hurting herself)…it kept her comfortable.  Comfortable was a big accomplishment, but most certainly was just the beginning of Lucy’s progress.

Since then, we have found an herbal supplement that has begun healing Lucy’s body.  She no longer needs digestive enzymes or GABA, or any of the supplements we started her on.  She has begun walking around the house, telling us how she feels, feeling remorse and sadness, being affectionate, telling us what she wants (or doesn’t), feeding herself, meeting new people - she is doing all the things she should be doing (but has never done before).   She continues to amaze us, as she catches up - at lightning speed.

I have tried repeatedly to catch her doing all these amazing things BUT she is camera shy.  Somehow she always knows when I turn the camera on, and whatever amazing thing she was doing - she stops.  I managed to catch a few videos for you….however if you really want to see how much she’s changed - come visit!!!

(if you don’t quite remember what she was like, just scroll through the blog and watch some of the old videos - her diagnosis & other info is on the left side of the site)

:)  <--- one proud Mama!

Lucy breathing life into my Mother…with a hug
(Mom is battling cancer & common immune deficiency disease…Lucy used to not go to my Mom - now she absolutely adores her)

She’s sleeping it off (unlike the rest of the family)…6 hours and counting!

Many people who choose to eat vegan do so primarily because of their concern for animals…While we can totally understand that reason, that is not why Lucy is eating a vegan diet.

Initially, we discovered that MSG was one of the main reasons for most of Lucy’s health problems. Once we removed MSG and all the foods which have naturally occurring MSG, she then became sensitive to foods high in glutamate. We finally figured out MSG & glutamate and then discovered that she was also reacting to cysteine and salicylic acid. We now know that she has food allergy/sensitivities to these three chemicals, which are usually naturally occurring. This meant we had to eliminate most of the food that we eat every day. All animal products were eliminated and many fruits, vegetables, soy products, wheat, and beans. Although we are healthy eaters, only one of us is vegetarian…so going vegan (and then some) was not the easiest diet to get used to.

We are now seeing Lucy being calm, comprehending and participating in intellectual conversations, paying close attention to her surroundings, interacting with a variety of people, and generally behaving VERY well. The photos below show what eliminating foods that conflict with your body can do…

taking a nap on her own…is a big accomplishment

ground beef, carrots, celery,onion,cilantro, salt, pepper,peanuts,& rice