Baked Milk Muffin 4 Months Out, Probiotics, & Chelation

Our daily muffin

So it's been a nearly 4 months since our baked milk challenge and up until about 3 weeks ago, getting my son to finish the muffin was a chore. Mainly, he complained that his stomach hurt or his lips itched. I backed all the way down to 1/4 muffin a day, then I would slowly build it back up. Presently, he's at 1 muffin a day. In all fairness I started giving him digestive enzymes with the muffin about 3 weeks ago, which seems to have been the reason I could escalate it back up to 1 whole muffin. I give him the muffin first thing in the morning with breakfast. But just before, I break open a digestive enzyme cap and pour enough out to fill 2 empty vegetarian capsules size number 3 (one of the smallest). He no longer complains of a stomach ache. In fact, he asks for seconds.

The other thing I've been doing lately is giving him a probiotic. I was experimenting with a lactobacillus mix, but stopped because he got eczema flare on inner elbows and backs of knees. I'm not sure if it was coincidence, since pollen was high as well. However, I temporarily stopped. Although, I have been giving him Gerber Soothe Colic Drops which contain l. reuteri. This is the same probiotic as the BioGai, but licensed to Gerber. (Side note, I have purchased online & via pharmacy - and even in pharmacy, they kept it on shelf, not in refrigerator). At any rate, you can read about the BioGaia research here. My son is not an infant, but a 7 year old - soon to be 8. I give him around 10-11 drops a day. The nutritionist at Gerber, with whom I spoke, said that 100 million would be the dosage for both infants and older. However, I've doubled the dose. We'll see because most of the studies are on infants - but I remain hopeful. And it seems to me completely benign.

Our hair test

A couple weeks back, I did a hair test on my son (the results posted here). I dropped the results with our nutritionist, who said she'd look them over and we'd discuss. Although, her first response - was what do these numbers mean? What do the hair results of the general population look like? Isn't everyone exposed and so wouldn't we all have elevated levels. This is something that I don't know the answer to - and if I get a chance, I'll do a follow up call to the lab.

But, the 2 things I've done & decided are - I've stopped getting our camel milk in plastic and instead been getting it in glass. The cost of the milk has gone up with the added shipping weight - but I feel better about it. Also, in preparation for doing the lose dose Andy Cutler low dose chelation, I've started introducing my son to DMSA. The dose has been approx 6mg that I give 1x a day. We are on 4th day today. While I understand this isn't the recommended process, I want to make sure he can tolerate before delivering around the clock. So far, so good. I'll do it 5 days, then this weekend probably start with DMSA.

What turned me onto chelation is 2 things - 1. there are some similarities in the immune issues in kids with autism and allergy - 2. I read a study that linked arsenic to elevated IgE and asthma. This was a study that was done in India or China - and they found with alpha lipoic acid chelation of arsenic, IgE levels dropped as did severity of asthma symptoms. I'll have to look for this abstract again and post link.

Bone Broth Stew

The hair test results got me thinking about our nutritional status. And while I've been doing some research on mineral supplements, I decided to add foods that boost nutrition as a form of 'food supplementation.' And bone broths are a wonderful way to do that. But as we've crapped up our world and our food it's become more difficult to find clean nutrient dense foods. I've even wondered about organics because if you look at what organics regulate and test for - it's mainly pesticides, herbicides, and gmo - but not things like heavy metal contamination. Hence, the whole aresenic in the rice crap. This isn't something that is normally tested for - and if you look at or think about your water - well I could go on and on. At any rate, my son's hair test inspired me to order a mass of organic bones and meats (fyi, sometimes order can take up to a week, but it is soooooo worth it). And here is our first

Bone Broth with Oxtail and Veggies

bone broth soup.  bone broth stew with oxtail and veggies[/caption]

Recipe for bone broth:

3-4 organic beef oxtail
1 med size beef bone
3 quarts of filtered water
splash of organic apple cider vinegar I

 put in an Le Creuset pot. I brought just to a boil, then simmered for about 10 hours. Just so that you know the smell is not all that pleasant. You can cook for anywhere from 8-10-48 hours. It really depends on your stamina and cooking set up. My friend did hers for 48 hours in a Slow Cooker The process of handling the bones too - not all that appealing. But it is so worth it, especially when it is cold outside. Strain chum. Then once it's cooled, but before gelled, take out bones and meat. I freeze just the broth and use the meat on oxtail for first soup or stew.

Recipe for soup/stew:

(use organic where available)
1 leek
1 onion
swigs of fresh basil and dill
coconut oil
2 portobella mushrooms
1 cup corn
3-4 small red potatoes
1 cup already cooked basmati rice
salt
pepper

Finely chop leak & onion. Chop mushrooms and potatoes in small cubes. Saute the leak, onion, mushrooms, and potatoes until brown in coconut oil. If you can use butter, that's awesome - but we can't. Once it starts to brown, I added salt and pepper couple shakes. I also used scissors to cut up 2 heads of 5 or so leaves of basil off our plant. Saute all these together until potato starts to soften... about 20 or so minutes. Then add about 2 cups of stock along with 1/2-3/4 cup of filtered water. The stock is so robust, the flavor will fill out. Chop dill and add. Let it simmer about 15 minutes - or so until potatoes are soft. Add rice and oxtail meat. Make sure is all warm and serve. Yum! My son, who is not lover of soup, gobbled it up. He loved it. And he got some great minerals: calcium, magnesium, potassium....