Heres to finding the right balance
As I sit here in the living room watching Jordan eat his lunch from today I'm amazed at how independent he has become. He took his food out of his lunchbox and heated each one up individually and brought both containers to the table along with his banana and thermos and sat to eat. With no help from me. Unfortunately I'm watching him eat because he became ill at school. I think it's from the bone broth he has had two days in a row. Well not only the broth, I just don't think it helped the situation. When I decided to put fermented foods in Jordan's diet, I added both the yogurt and sauerkraut pretty much the same day, and he's been eating them both just about every day as well. He's been getting two probiotics in capsules and adding the bone broth was too much for him. The gut is a very delicate organ, but it needs bad bacteria just as much as it needs the good ones. There has to be a balance or things will be out of whack. I didn't take notice when his hands were becoming extremely dry that there was an issue. I just kept them covered with coconut oil. However today I get a call from his school this morning that he had diarrhea and threw up. On my way to get him I thought it could only be the broth but upon further research I see it's a combination of all I am giving him in his diet.
Our bodies always give us a warning when things aren't right within. It can be dry skin or acne, fatigue, irregular bowel movements and countless others. Jordan's dry hands after implementing the yogurt and sauerkraut should have drawn a red flag being as though Jordan has had a problem with eczema in the past but hasn't shown any sign of it recently. I just chalked it up to it getting cold, even though it's not that cold out, and the fact that he likes to play in water. Just a few weeks ago he continuously licked his lips which caused the skin around them to dry out and bleed. Same thing I thought. But I have since learned that the symptoms from having too much "good" bacteria is the same as the symptoms of having too much "bad" bacteria which are bloating, gas, diarrhea and constipation, headaches and skin conditions. Also you do just as much damage healing the gut with fermented foods as you can being deficient in nutrients to keep it healthy. So now I have to revamp everything I have been doing for the last 2 weeks. I will be removing the fermented foods and one of his probiotics as of today. I will still give him the bone broth, but maybe 3 days out of week like I intended to initially. Hopefully in doing this it will improve the eczema on his hands soon and in the meantime help me, with the help of his DAN doctor, find a healthy balance for his diet and repair his gut the right way. Lord knows I don't need to give him anything else to contribute to the issues he already has.
Aside from dealing with this issue, I wanted to mention the small growth in maturity I see in him. When it comes to preparing his food, he can do it all on his own if I allow him. Once I told him to pull his food out of the refrigerator so I can heat it up but he had already pulled out his plate, two pieces of chicken and placed his cabbage on the plate as well. Also, today when he was done with his lunch, he placed both his pyrex containers and their lids in the dishwasher. That was very different being as though I've never taught him to put things in the dishwasher. I'm very particular on how things go in. He's also doing different things daily. Some days he wants to watch Alvin and the Chipmunks on TV and some days Super Why on Netflix. Sometimes he wants to play on the computer and others he wants to swing on his indoor swing. Just a little bit ago he asked for batteries for the Scout LeapFrog toy he has. He hasn't played with it in months, maybe over a year. It's nice to see him remove from the routine at times. Even if it is something that is below his age level. It gives me the sense that he isn't so closed minded and wants a little variety. He even has his little sister following his lead this time, playing with hers also, instead of him following her. I hope to continue to see more things like this. As his gut continues to heal and allows for the toxins to stay out of the body and nutrients to get where they are supposed to, I don't see why I won't. Just have to have the faith. With faith, it doesn't make things easy, it makes them possible. Luke 1:37 "For with God, nothing will be impossible."
