How does gluten (wheat) and casein (dairy) affect my child? I have been asked this question a plethora of times. Let’s take a closer look at the situation. Have you ever taken an opioid or prescription pain killer? Whether pre- or post- surgery, due to chronic pain, or a broken bone, these drugs tend to cause a mix of euphoria, lethargy and clouded brain function / hallucinogenic thought. If your child / children test positive for a gluten or casein allergy (or both), their bodies are unable to break down these foods. A casein allergy indicates incomplete breakdown of milk, while a gluten allergy is directly linked to an inability to break down wheat or cereal products.
The incomplete breakdown of wheat, milk, or both turns the partially digested food into peptides. When the peptides mix with stomach enzymes, they produce opioid peptides. Gluten peptides are known as gluteomorphins. Casein peptides are known as casomorphins. At this point, the gluteomorphin and casomorphin in the system will either enter the urine or permeate the blood brain barrier. If they reach the brain, they will ‘fit into’ an opioid receptor sites and mimic a hallucinogenic drug. The peptides will alter the nervous and immune systems as well.
Long story short, a piece of cheese pizza could replicate an opioid drug when consumed. Imagine standing in front of your child watching them consume a prescription pain pill. It’s not a ‘warn fuzzy’ thought.
Prior to making any dietary alteration, its imperative you meet with a physician and test for food allergies. It’s not a given that all autistic children have food allergies. Based on my experience, a very high percentage will test positive for at least gluten, casein or soy. Some parents are able to strictly adhere to the diet.
I have counseled a tremendous amount of parents with newly diagnosed autistic children. Based on my follow up, the GF/CF (and sometimes soy free) diet has been beneficial. GF/CF foods have dramatically improved. From your local supermarket to specialized markets like Whole Foods to a wide variety of internet sites, GF/CF foods are widely available.
Day after day, year after year, children trot off to school carrying a significant burden with them: their backpack. Backpack weight is a major health issue, and it's only getting worse. Here's what you can do about it.
Do you know what's in your child's backpack, how much it weighs, or how that weight is affecting their neck, shoulders, back and spine? You need to know, because studies suggest far too many children are carrying far too heavy loads to and from school, and with serious consequences.
For example, a 2003 study in “Spine” found a significant relationship between the incidence of lower back pain among schoolchildren (ages 12-18) and both the weight of their backpacks and the amount of time the backpacks were used. Some backpacks were inordinately heavy; 18.9 percent of the students surveyed carried backpacks that weighed more than “20 percent” of the student's body weight when full.
In another study, published in the same journal a year earlier, four of five children said their backpacks were heavy, and two-thirds said they felt fatigue when carrying theirs. The study also showed that lifetime prevalence of low back pain was related to the amount of time children carried backpacks on their shoulders.
Not very good news, is it? So, what can you do as a parent to help your children in this regard? Here are a few simple suggestions courtesy of The Joint Chiropractic in Mount Pleasant: *Make sure your child's backpack weighs no more than 10 percent of their body weight. *Also ensure that it doesn't hang more than 4 inches below their waistline. *Urge your child to wear both shoulder straps. *The straps should be adjustable so the backpack can be easily fitted to your child's body. *Look for a backpack with a lumbar support or pad and make sure pad fits or rides in curve of low back. Some backpacks have a waist belt that can be used also to minimize stress.
Children and babies can suffer from neck pain, low back pain and headaches. Chiropractic adjustments offer a safe and effective way to help children feel better. Many people simply do not know how much of difference Chiropractic adjustments can make to an infant or child’s health because infants and toddlers are usually unable say that their necks or low backs are hurting. When a child is old enough to tell an adult about his or her neck or back pain, it can easily be dismissed because many people find it hard to believe that a child could feel back pain like an adult does. Actually, they can and they do. The truth is that Chiropractic adjustments can easily treat the ailments of many infants and children.
Chiropractic for Babies
The birth process can be very traumatic to an infant, especially if the baby’s head and neck are pulled in any way during labour and birth. One easy method to tell if a baby’s neck is misaligned is to watch where he or she looks in a car seat. If the baby constantly looks in the same direction, the vertebrae in his or her neck are most likely fixed (the chiropractic term is subluxated). Subluxated vertebrae can often be irritated or sore and an adjustment will help those joints to move in a more normal range of motion, while reducing the discomfort that the baby experiences.
Colicky babies find great relief with Chiropractic adjustments. A Denmark study (Klougart N, Nilsson N, Jacobsen J. Infantile colic treated by chiropractors: a prospective study of 316 cases. J Manip Physiol Ther 1989; 12(4): 281-8) showed that 94% of the infants who received chiropractic care noted a significant decrease of crying time within two weeks of treatment.
As babies grow, and learn to crawl and walk, their spines are modified by their newly acquired body positions and by gravity. It is important to have a child’s spine checked at the major milestones of development, especially at the crawling and walking stages to ensure that the vertebrae are all moving in a normal pattern of motion.
Chiropractic for Toddlers
Another concern for Chiropractors with regards to children are bumps and falls. As babies learn to navigate their bodies in space, they fall frequently, and these jolts can cause misalignments in their spine. Anatomically, the spinal cord is housed by the vertebrae, and nerves exit in pairs from between each vertebra. When the vertebrae are out of alignment, they press on the nerves as they exit the spine. The result is that the nervous system is not able to function as well as it could.
Chiropractic for Children
Sports, especially contact sports can cause back or neck pain for children. Heading the ball when playing soccer, sliding into the boards head first in hockey, being hit by the ball or by other players in baseball or basketball can all cause misalignments in a child’s spine. Chiropractors can make the most difference the earlier they treat a child who has hurt his or her neck or back.
Children can suffer from migraine headaches. While Chiropractic care cannot help all types of migraines, some migraine headaches originate from fixed or subluxated vertebrae in the neck. Adjustments can help to reduce or eliminate the frequency and intensity of these types of migraine headaches.
Children can suffer from neck and low back pain if their backpacks are worn improperly or if they are carrying too much weight for their body size.
In Conclusion
It is very important that a child’s spine grows in proper alignment. If your baby seems uncomfortable or consistently refuses to look in one direction, please have his or her spine checked. If you child has had a fall, plays contact sports, or complains about neck or back pain, please consult with a Chiropractor. It can make a such a world of difference to your child’s health.
Every day your body functions, your eyes blink and see, your tongue tastes while your stomach digests, your ears hear and can even tell from which direction the sound is coming, and you can speak. During the day you walk, run, stand still, and sit, all the while you are breathing, your blood is circulating, the temperature of your body is being regulated, and your immune system is fighting off any bacteria or viruses with which you come in contact. Every night, while you sleep, your body is still working and working hard to replenish your energy, to rebuild the cells of your blood, skin, tissues and organs, and still you are breathing. The only thing that controls every single one of these functions and thousands more is the most delicate master system. Its importance is so great that the main part of this system is housed in bone. The power of this system does not require any drugs or vaccines, it simply requires no interference from the bones that surround it.
