I was a teenage guinea pig!

One of the most startling things about modern American life is that we are all engaged in the largest clinical experiments of all time - and with no control group.

Public education is the greatest social experiment of all time. Agri-business is the greatest food experiment. Pharmaceuticals race to our medicine chests with dizzying rapidity.

And the basic trust in our fellow man that is a hallmark of the American allows us to assume that someone is watching out for the welfare of the consumer.

Basic adages such as, "There's no such thing as a free lunch" and "buyer beware" have been abandoned, as we have trusted in our public servants. And, as well meaning as these servants may be, the fact is that the impact of many of these efforts is negative.

Unfortunately, the complex interaction of so many factors results in a lot of confusion.

A perfect example is the autism epidemic. From 1 in 1000, to 1 in 150 is a huge change in statistic. But so many things have changed in that lifetime, how can we know whether it is one factor or many?

Is it fat starvation of the brain? Is it medicine in the water supply? Increases of immunizations? Experimental food?

As I said, there is no control group. What we eat, drink, wear, watch, live and work has all changed in one lifetime. As much as I may try to get off the experimental merry-go-round, I find there are too many factors I can't control. Even if we eat traditional food, I know we are surrounded by more new chemicals than we can imagine. The new coal mines five miles away alone are questionable, in terms of what is being unleashed in the air.

What I can do to fight for our lives, though, I will. Perhaps that, too, is the American character.

To Live Well

6 years ago, my family's health was seriously compromised by eating a "Healthy American Diet". We ate the recommended foods, in the recommended amounts, trying vegetarianism and other fads to try to be well.

So boring to talk about one's health! But, I'm going to do a quick list of our complaints, so we can look at how dramatic it is that we don't have most of them anymore!
DH Obesity, kidney stones, depression
DD 1 Obesity, hypoglycemia, obsessive compulsive disorder, anxiety
DS1 Asthma, hypoglycemia, skin rashes
DD2 Symptoms of autoimmune disorder: alopecia (balding), failure-to-thrive (sudden growth stoppage) skin rashes,
DS2 Asthma, hyperactivity
DS3 obsessive compulsive

Myself, the list is really ridiculous:
Hypoglycemia
Dizziness, including Meuniere's disease symptoms
Skin rashes
Chronic infections
Kidney stones
Dementia
Memory loss
Confusion with numbers and sequencing
Anxiety
Blackouts
Blurred vision
Heart arrhythmia
Night sweats
Heavy monthly bleeding
Anemia
Colitis

Most of these have been reversed by a major diet change:
Raw milk and dairy products, especially goat milk
Fresh, local eggs,
Chemical free meat and vegetables
Elimination of all packaged foods
Elimination of all preserved foods
Addition of traditional fermented foods, such as sauerkraut

Whereas 6 years ago, we had constant doctor's appointments with many different specialists, most of us have now have not been to a doctor for illness or disease for several years. My son did have to go in for asthma once when we were traveling, and "off the diet". Other than that, it has been farm accidents that send us to the urgent care office, and some appointments for my husband and I because of leftover issues, such as hormone problems and hernia.

I want to live! And I want to live well!

edited:
Crazy... but the list continues on as I go about my day!

- short term memory loss
- scrambling of letters when I tried to write

Here's an example of how debilitated I was:
I stopped driving when I did some errands and
1. Left my baby in the car and forgot all about him until he cried in the back seat (I had gone into the store without him).
2. Approached a changing light and couldn't remember what to do (as in, it turned red and I panicked about whether to stop or go).

I also had to have my children decide when it was safe to cross the street, because I couldn't process the sequence of when it was safe to go!