Autism and Vaccines and Diet, Oh My . . . .

Here in the San Diego area there has been a recent outbreak of measles. It started elsewhere and has spread elsewhere, but several children came down with measles here because they had not been vaccinated. Some were too young and some had parents who chose not to vaccinate.

Many parents who choose not to vaccinate their children make that choice because they have read that the rise in vaccinations and the rise in autism diagnoses came at around the same time and don't want to put their children at risk in case there is a connection.

Trust me, I totally understand that fear.

But what if vaccines are not the cause of the rise in autism. What if it's something else? Like diet? What we eat today is so far removed from what people ate 50 or 75 or 100 years ago. Vegetables are less nutritious because the ground has been stripped, meats are loaded with hormones and antibiotics. Processed foods full of preservatives and unpronounceable chemicals are everywhere.

You are what you eat, whether you like that idea or not. Yor body functions - well or poorly - because of what you feed it.

Wheat has been bred to maximize its gluten content. ACK!

What if the rise in autism has to do with increased exposure to fluorescent lighting? Within a couple of years it will be mandatory to use fluorescent bulbs - no matter how dangerous they might be, and no matter how many people cannot tolerate them.

What if?

Maybe just maybe a lot of kids get things like measles for no good reason at all.

Tale of Publicity and Acknowledgement

Yesterday I received my "Fearless Flyer" from Trader Joe's. Inside were featured FOUR different products flaunting - actually FLAUNTING - that they were gluten free! These products were:

Peanut Butter Cookie Dough
Homestyle Pancakes (also dairy-free!)
Gluten Free Brownie Mix
Flourless Chocolate Walnut Cookies

I don't know how many of these "Fearless Flyers" they mail out, but hats off to Trader Joe's for calling attention to the need for these products, and recognizing the market for them!

Tale of Kindness - Tale of Exasperation

Tale of Kindness

Last night my daughter went shopping and came home with ingredients for gluten-free lasagna, which she proceeded to prepare for dinner. Cooking and shopping are still kind of new for her and for her to do this for me was appreciated more than words can express. It came out very good and I am looking forward to the leftovers!

Tale of Exasperation

Last night my husband went to the local Mexican food place and came home with a burrito for himself. Flour tortilla.

Sigh

Tale Of Aggravation

How A BIG Company Alienated A Whole Lot Of Customers With A Little Change

One of the rules of life that I particularly like is "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."

I am not a big fan of Cadbury Creme Easter Eggs made by the Hershey Company, but a lot of people wait all year for this one special treat.

Some of these people are gluten-intolerant and appreciated more than most that this was a treat they could enjoy.

However, it seems the Cadbury Creme Easter Eggs, which were once safe for these people to eat, now contain WHEAT!

Ya gotta ask why.

I can't imagine they made such a significant change in quality that it was worth alienating some of their most loyal customers!

NOTE: Adding wheat or gluten to a product will NEVER EVER add even one single customer. Not even one. Not ever. However, adding wheat or gluten to a product is guaranteed to drive thousands of customers away because the formerly safe product is now toxic to their systems.

Banning Incandescent Bulbs Is A BAD Idea

Today it was announced that the Philippines will phase out incandescent bulbs by 2010. Canada and Australia have already made similar legislation. Even here is California we are headed that way.

While I think encouraging the use of energy efficient bulbs is great, the outright banning of incandescent bulbs is just plain wrong.

Why? Because tens - maybe hundreds - of thousands of people are adversely affected by fluorescent light. These people will essentially be confined to their homes, and if they run out of bulbs because they didn't stockpile enough, they will sit at home in the dark.

You probably are not even aware of these people unless you know one personally because they already cannot go shopping for clothes or groceries or anything else, nor can they go into any other public building because they all use fluorescent lighting. Most of them cannot work for the same reason.

The Western world must curb its energy use, but the outright banning of the incandescent bulb is NOT the way to do it.