irina.schurov

Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year and my favourite holiday! There is a certain kind of magic in this season that we carry on through our lives, something from our childhood when we still believed in Santa Clause and spent every December waiting for a miracle. Don’t you just feel it? I really do remember the smell of fresh Christmas tree, mandarins and the delicious aroma from the kitchen where lots of wonderful foods were constantly being prepared during this festive season. It is so nice to spend some time in the kitchen with a mother or a grandmother to prepare all sorts of delicious things! I have always loved to be in the kitchen. This place has a certain magic in it, really!

You can combine different ingredients and create something very different and, if you lucky, very yummy at the end of this process. It is like making a magical potion, if you will. I am sure that many children really like to cook and always demonstrate some interest to participate in the process of preparing food. My daughters have always wanted to help around the kitchen! However, sometimes parents do not have time or the patience to spend that time with their kids and cook something together. We rush too much nowadays. Do you not agree? It is much faster to prepare a dinner by yourself and just serve it to your family rather than do it with children and teach them how to peel and cut, mix ingredients, use various kitchen gadgets and how to decorate plates and the table. Time is required for this which we often do not have. We quickly cook, or even stick something in the oven or microwave, and it is done in a few minutes, out of way! Yet, cooking together is much more then just preparing a meal to satisfy our hunger. It is a great educational moment, it is an opportunity to talk to your children about their day, school or something special; it is a process of building an understanding and developing deep connections between generations; it is a possibility to keep your family’s cultural traditions alive! And it just so happens that Christmas is perfect time for this!

I really would like to encourage you to spend some time with your loved ones in the kitchen during this festive period. Do something together every day and have lots of fun! Explain to your kids what you cook and which ingredients you use and why. Teach them to think about what they actually put in their mouth and how important it is for their health, why certain products are better than others and how some food makes them run and dance well, while others make them weak and sick. Ask them to help to do simple tasks and actively reward them for assisting you. Be creative together, invent new recipes, experiment with flavours and colours!  Be enthusiastic about healthy products you use as an alternative to less healthy ones (for example, honey rather than sugar) and bring their attention to the fact that home-made food tastes so much better than ready-made meals. These lessons about importance of real food – the only food we can actually digest properly and benefit from the most. This is truly the most important message you can give your children as this knowledge leads them to make the right food choices, lead the right life style and be healthy! Isn’t this the best Christmas gift we can give our children?

Well, that is enough theory from me! I would now like to share with you one very simple recipe that you can use with your children and cook something delicious! I call it “Gluten Free Fruit Cake”. And the beauty of this recipe is that you can easily change the ingredients by replacing one type of fruit with another, or with dry fruits or berries. You also can add some other spices, tailor it to your personal taste.  You can even choose between making either one big cake or lots of small cup cakes and be very creative with decorating!

You will need:

4 eggs

150g of butter

3 table spoons of honey

3 table spoons of grated coconut

1 cup of almond flour

1/2 cup of buckwheat flour

¼ tea spoon of bicarbonate soda

1 cup of blueberries

Spices: 1/2 tea spoon of nutmeg, cinnamon, clove, ginger (all in powder form)

Cranberries and coconut for decoration

Method:

Beat the eggs with the honey with an electric whisk until the mixture is smooth and fluffy. Add the grated coconut, all of the flour and spices. Mix well. In small cup cake cases put several blueberries and then cover them with your cake mix, leaving some space at the top.

Bake it at 180⁰C for about 20 min till your cakes are ready.

When they have cooled down, put a tiny bit of honey on top of each, add one cranberry on the top and a little bit of grated coconut for decoration.

Bon appétit!

Please, try the recipe and let me know if you liked it and which modifications you introduced into the recipe. Take a picture and send it to me! How about photo on Instagram (#liverightxmas). This will be a great Christmas present for me!

I wish you and your families A Merry, Healthy, Delicious Christmas!

Have you ever realised that in our hands we have the power over our and our children’s destiny? Let me explain what I mean.

How often do we hear excuses such as – “I am overweight but it is genetic and I cannot do anything about it” or “Heart disease runs in my family, so I am sure I will develop heart problems as well at some point” or something similar? This cannot go on any longer! Modern research clearly demonstrates that the health concerns we often blame on our parents and grandparents are actually within OUR control! In fact, only approximately 1% of all diseases are caused by “imperfect” genes. So, although we may have a predisposition for obesity or other conditions, we still have full control over our destiny!

Of course, we do partly inherit certain features from our parents. Whether we are tall or short, blonde or brunette depends on parental input. However, many other factors around us have a huge impact on us and our health. For example, how we have been looked after during our time in the womb and early childhood, what type of food our mother was ate during her pregnancy, how much stress she experienced and many other factors.

It has been shown that a complex interaction between genes, diet, and other environmental factors play a huge role in our life. In fact, our genes have “switches” and they allow for genes to be activated and deactivated. These switches can be affected by many factors, including our food, stress, exercise, sleep, environmental factors and state of our own microbiome.

This simply means that by introducing positive changes in our life style and avoiding unnecessary toxicity around us, we can achieve optimal health. It means that we can take some degree of control over our life and life of our children. For example, omega-3 fatty acids found in oily fish affect more than 100 genes, while a diet high in carbohydrates turns on genes linked to inflammation and so on. Furthermore, our lifestyle has a big impact on genes linked to Alzheimer’s disease.

Autism has been intensively studied recently. Because Autism tends to run in families, researches have identified vast amounts of genes linked to this disorder. However, more and more evidence suggests that genetic “master switches”, that can turn many genes involved in critical pathways on and off, have been shown to be disrupted in Autism. Therefore, Autism as many other disorders appear to have an epigenetic mechanism where environmental and lifestyle factors play big roles in gene regulation and expression. Thus, we can most certainly do our best to reduce the chance of the development of these diseases. We have been empowered so that the lifestyle we lead can directly alter the expression of our genes. This is a remarkable opportunity indeed! Just imagine that by choosing food of better quality appropriate for you and providing your body with a better set of essential nutrients you can directly effect your genes in a positive way!

And of course, nature gets it best. We need to focus more on eating real and whole foods that contain nutrients which, in optimal combination, are necessary for life and the health. If our digestive system is functioning efficiently and our microbiome is in good condition, we have all the right tools to break down and utilise nutrients from these foods and nourish ourselves in the best possible way.

I really hope you can use this information to empower yourself and start to introduce positive changes in to your diet and life style! New Year is almost here and this is the perfect time to implement some changes into your life that will bring you the long lasting gift of health!

Thank you very much and, as usual, if you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you!

 

Do you have a picky eater with autism at home? Do you sometimes struggle to understand why and how your child only eats a very limited selection of food and how to deal with their extremely “ritualistic” eating behaviour? Here I will try to give you some tips regarding this topic. Recently I have recorded 7 tips about “How to expand the diet of picky eaters with autism” that you can find on my blog or Face Book page and my YouTube channel. Hovewer, I have come to the realisation that sometimes you want to see and read the same information and keep a short list of tips handy somewhere. So, here I am summarising my video tips and I hope you will find it useful.

Tip 1 – EXCLUDE ANY MEDICAL REASONS FOR FUSSY BEHAVIOUR AT THE TABLE

If your child is clamping their lips shut when offered certain food, it may be that they know it will make their stomach hurt. Gastrointestinal distress is very common among children with autism, many of whom can’t easily describe their distress. If your child experiences diarrhea or constipation, bloating and even pain, it means their diet needs to be changed! Please, discuss this issue with a specialist. Individual nutritional support for your child will help to fix this problem and lead to further improvements in behaviour!

 

Tip 2 –  STAY CALM, BE PATIENT AND BE CREATIVE

Any child can take time to taste a new food before they really accept it and start to like it. But in the case of children with autism this process can be much longer and more dramatic. You have to be patient as your child explores and samples new foods. If they continue to reject a food even after many attempts, perhaps they just don’t like it. Move to another new ingredient. Either way, on no condition should you let mealtime become a family battleground. Instead, get creative! You can hide a new food inside of something that your child already likes. For example, if they like burgers, next time when you make them, you can add a small amount of the new food you want to introduce into their diet to meat mince, such as finely chopped onion, zucchini, some spices like curcuma and so on. The idea is, to slowly change an appetite on a cellular level! So, if your child eats a new food little by little, finally he will accept it.

Tip 3 – TAKE STEPS TOWARD TASTING

Many children with autism are afraid to try new things, especially new food. This means we need to think of ways to manage this anxiety. For instance, instead of asking the child to taste the new food straight away and even insisting them do it, try a stepwise approach. First, you can simply look at the new food together. Then you can suggest that both of you can smell it and then touch it. When you think your child is ready for a taste, they can try giving the food “a kiss” or licking it before putting a small bite into their mouth. Sometimes, mixing a new food with a favorite one can really help. This is actually something your child can do by themselves as a game to add new food to the one they already know. This gradual approach decreases anxiety about new foods by increasing familiarity.

 

Tip 4 –  IDENTIFY SPECIFIC TEXTURE DESIRES AND THEN BE INNOVATIVE

Some kids have sensory difficulties with food. So, it may be how a particular food feels in the mouth, rather than its flavor, that produces the dislike. For example, a child may dislike the way a cherry tomato turns from solid to mushy in their mouth, even though they like the flavor. It can be difficult for children to separate the good taste from the disturbing texture. Therefore, identify the texture that your child likes and dislikes and then be innovative. If a child only likes only crispy textures, serve food crispy. If they only like smooth textures, serve puree. That tomato, for example, can be chopped into salsa or blended and cooked into sauce. Also, you may consider to look into sensory integration therapies as this can be a crucial key in improvement.

 

Tip 5 –  INVOLVE CHILDREN IN FOOD PREPARATION AND ALLOW THEM TO PLAY WITH NEW FOOD

In order to help your child build familiarity with new food and therefore decrease anxiety about new food,  you can involve your child as much as possible in the food preparation process. For instance, ask your child to count cherry tomatoes or carrot sticks for everyone around the table, mix the fruit salad or press the button on a blender when you prepare a sauce. And, please, allow your child to play with new food. Or even better, do it together! How about painting with tomato sauce or creating smiley faces from different vegetables and berries, maybe you can cut stars or hearts from watermelon or kiwi. While you’re playing, let your child see how you taste the new food — and enjoy it! Build positive emotions about new food which will in turn help to reduce your child’s anxiety for that food.

 

Tip 6 – REMOVE FOODS THAT CAUSE ADDICTION AND OFFER CHOICES OF OTHER FOODS

Picky eating can be due to being addicted to certain foods. This happens because the opiate-like compounds from the improperly digested wheat and dairy proteins cause cravings for wheat and dairy foods.  If your child’s diet is made up of high amounts of only a few products like pizza, pasta, bread, milk, cheese, biscuits and similar products, it’s very possible that their picky eating is due to gluten and dairy cravings as well as some additives which can be found in processed food (MSG, artificial colors and flavors). After removing these foods that are causing addiction, food choice often increases significantly. Also, when you offer foods to your child, try to offer a broad variety and allow choice within the categories you care about. So, this way your child has a choice and a sense of control over what he puts into his mouth.

 

Tip 7 – BE CAREFUL WITH REWARDS AND INVOLVE THE WHOE FAMILY IN THE PROCESS

Unfortunately, the age-old rule of: “if you eat your broccoli, you can have an ice cream” doesn’t work. It may work in the short term, but it won’t work in the long term, it doesn’t help to achieve the desired results. Your child may quickly swallow the broccoli to get their reward, but they won’t learn to enjoy it or understand why it is important to eat a well-balanced diet, which is the goal. So, choose different rewards not associated with food. Such as, playing a game together, watching a film together, reading a book together and so on. At the same time make sure that the whole family participates in the process! If dad is a picky eater and he is not willing to eat the new foods, you will never convince the child to do so. Only complete family effort can be productive. And, please, remember, if you don’t succeed straight away, try, try again! You sometimes need to to introduce new food 15 times before a child start to eat it.

I hope you have managed to read thus all and have found it useful and informative. Please, try these tips at home if you have not applied them already. Let me know if they help you. Do you maybe have any other great ideas and tips on how to help picky eaters to diversify their diet? Please, share them with me and others! I look forward to hearing your stories!

Did you know that 75% of parents who have followed a special diet with their children with autism have since reported significant behavioural improvements in their kids? This is a great success! Dietary intervention really is a base of healing.

Modern science has established a very close relationship between the microbiome in the human gut and the human brain. Up to 80% of children with autism suffer from gastrointestinal dysfunction and as a result of this have nutrient deficiency, an imbalanced biochemistry and finally behavioural abnormalities. Many case studies clearly show us that once biochemical balance has been addressed, children become much calmer and focused, furthermore, what is very important is that other therapies start to work on them much better.

But the lesson that we learn from patients with autism is very relevant to everyone! Many people nowadays experience certain gastrointestinal problems and suffer from chronic inflammation which leads to serious health issues. The majority of people nowadays are malnourished and not because we do not have enough food, but because the food we eat no longer contains all of the necessary nutrients for normal body function. We are also bombarded with different toxins that have lots of negative effects on the absorption of nutrients and the disruption of cellular metabolism. So when additional stress comes along, the weakest point in our organism will start to show a problem.

The same happens with autism. Children have certain genetic predispositions, which can vary a lot from child to child, but when stress accumulates and the immune system is compromised, symptoms of autism start to develop. Due to their young age and the severity of their symptoms, autistic children are much more reactive to any nutrition changes then any other people. But their remarkable, positive response to the right, individually tailored dietary intervention, clearly shows that anyone with any illness will benefit from correct nutrition!

However, these positive effects can only be achieved in the case of carefully selected, personalised nutritional support! It is well known that no one diet fits everyone! This is very important! For instance, have you ever noticed that a certain diet may work for somebody but not for you? Or perhaps somebody suggests you a “great detox drink” that may be very effective for them but you has no effect on you?

But what do I mean by personalised nutrition? A personalised approach into your diet based on identifying different nutrient deficiencies in YOUR body and then addressing these deficiencies through food and nutrition. In some cases, like with children with autism, some food supplements may be necessary as well. The goal of personalised nutrition is to reduce inflammation in YOUR body, fuel YOUR brain and YOUR cells, support the certain biochemical needs relevant to YOU, improve YOUR body functions and help improve tolerance where possible. There are many different good diets exist but we need to choose one for you that will meet your individual needs based on factors like gene expression, nutrient deficiency, biochemical imbalances, health conditions, environmental stressors and microbiome.

Therefore, by using autism as a model and applying a personalised dietary approach to others, it is possible to help many-many people to improve their health condition and prevent many diseases.

Have you been following some special diets that helped or did not help you to achieve your goal? Please, share your experience! If any questions or comments, please, contact me by email at irina@liveright.eu. Visit my site at www.liveright.eu