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The following is adapted from The Search for the Perfect Protein, chapter 9
by Dr David Minkoff
My practice has a strong interest in the effect of protein on the overall health of autistic children. Many autistic children are sensitive to textures and smells, and most don’t like meat, fish, or eggs; they like French fries. They often have a horrible diet, and it’s not because their parents don’t try their best—the kids simply won’t eat it. If they dislike the texture, they won’t eat it, and you can’t force a two-year-old to eat!
We’ve found that autistic kids are loaded with environmental toxins. These are often acquired from their mothers in the womb, as it is known that the mother will “detox” into the placenta, and then into the baby. Then, after birth, heavy amounts of substances like mercury, aluminum, and formaldehyde enter their system from vaccinations, which adds to the load. Newborns suck on plastic bottle nipples and pacifiers; chemically-laced, flame retardant parts on their cribs; and GMO laden baby cereals laced with pesticides. When they get older, they crawl around on the floor and in the grass, and they’re exposed to more chemicals and pesticides. They don’t stand a chance! Children’s systems are overwhelmed the moment their lives begin, and if they lack good nutrition, they will exhibit developmental delays and may not be able to adequately detoxify to maintain their health.
Babies need to receive excellent nutrition so they can grow and develop to their full genetic endowment. As you know very well at this point, the main structure of the body is protein, and proteins are made of amino acids. For children who are finicky protein eaters, or autistic children who refuse it, our PerfectAmino powder drink mix in mixed berry, strawberry or lemon-lime flavor goes down easily, and kids are usually happy to take it. Parents put a half-scoop in a few ounces of water, and the kids drink it down. It tastes good to them, and it’s an effective way to get protein and essential amino acids into children who don’t eat enough meat or fish to maintain healthy bodies.
Some parents are successful in getting their kids to eat nutritious, balanced meals, and some are not. We know many parents who supplement their kids’ diets with Perfect Amino, and just like adults, they have more energy and recover faster after playing sports.
The coaches of a local soccer team and gymnastics team rave about how much better the kids recover when they get enough protein—they are less sore and exhibit better endurance. The benefit continues throughout the higher education years as well: A PAC 10 school’s championship program swimming coach has his athletes take PerfectAmino, and he believes it’s had a big impact on their performance. In athletics, recovery is the key to consistent performance and adequate protein intake makes that possible.
A newborn was born with gastroschisis, a condition in which the skin and muscles don’t close over the intestines, and the abdomen is wide open at birth. Doctors gradually stretched his skin over the first few weeks of his life to get the gap to close. They were able to sew the skin shut, but his abdomen was so tight that his intestines couldn’t function.
Since the baby couldn’t eat, he was given food through an IV called hyperalimentation. This was his sole source of nutrition, and it contained everything he needed to survive. He could take almost no nutrition by mouth for seven or eight months. Kids on hyperalimentation can get hepatitis from the IV proteins, and unfortunately, this child developed the disease. He turned yellow, and the hospital staff couldn’t give him the hyperalimentation protein any longer. After seven months, he was still in the hospital and only weighed seven pounds; he hadn’t grown at all. His mother checked him out of the hospital on a two-hour pass and brought him in to see me.
We began to give the baby half a gram of Perfect Amino per pound of body weight. His mother mashed up a tablet with a bit of applesauce and water, and the child could easily take it. He began to grow and put on weight within the first two weeks. Since he could now take in protein, his hepatitis cleared, and his gut began to function properly. With only half a tablet of Perfect Amino three times a day, his weight gain increased to the normal rate for infants–he gained a pound or two each week until he caught up to his peers. By age two, he was like any other child in size and development. This is an inspiring, remarkable story and a testament to the power of Perfect Amino.
An issue with pregnancy today is that women don’t spend six months getting themselves into optimal health before getting pregnant. When the mother is unhealthy, the baby becomes a dump site for the toxins in her body. If a mother is toxic, she can take Perfect Amino and consult with a doctor to create a whole-body detox and nutrition program to benefit herself and her baby.
We know healthy moms make healthy babies, and I believe the healthiest babies come from mothers who have taken Perfect Amino during pregnancy and nursing. Breast milk from Perfect Amino mothers is a beautiful, of creamy consistency, and high in nutritive value. Supplementing with Perfect Amino while nursing not only creates wonderful breast milk, but it benefits the mother’s health, also. Nursing mothers are often exhausted and may not be eating well, so they deplete their own body protein to feed their child—it’s only a matter of time before her bones, organs, and immune system break down.
Jill came in as a patient because she was having trouble becoming and staying pregnant. She had two children, ages two and three, and wanted one more. She was almost forty-two, and was concerned that if it didn’t happen soon, it wasn’t going to happen at all.
She had nursed both of her children until age two, and her eating habits were poor. Since she chased two kids around all the time, she snacked on chocolate chips and only ate one meal a day. She had gotten pregnant a few times, but miscarried. The results of her blood work reflected her poor nutrition: she had low serum amino acids, low vitamin levels, and low essential fatty acids. I told her to hold off on trying to get pregnant again until we had a chance to improve her health. We put her on a nutrition program with extra doses of Perfect Amino, and within six months her blood levels had increased, she was back to a normal weight, and her energy was great. I gave her the green light to begin trying again, and within two cycles she was pregnant. It’s all about nutrition!
Pregnant mothers must consider the nutritional needs for two people. They must ensure that their growing fetus receives optimal nutrition to engineer a healthy, perfect body, and they have to keep their own nutrition up in order for that to happen. They also must be healthy enough to nurse for a year or two, without breaking down their own health. For these reasons, attention to essential amino acids prior to, during, and after pregnancy is of the utmost importance.
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We’ve all heard of gluten.
We’ve heard that it can be bad for us, not bad for us, mildly bad for us, etc.
But what is it really and what does it actually do?
Gluten is a mixture of proteins found in many grains, processed foods and commercial drinks that contain two specific proteins called gliadin and glutenin.
Now, some people know they are sensitive to these, either severely or only mildly, but there are many more who actually are sensitive and experiencing reactions without knowing what’s causing it.
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But one area it affects us quite severely is in our microbiome, where these toxins kill off the beneficial bacteria that help to produce key calming neurotransmitters like GABA and serotonin.
We covered the microbiome in the last article: a colony of trillions of bacteria in our colon, and how it affects every aspect of our health, our hormones, our longevity and the ability to build muscle, lose body fat and stay fit.
Our body's ability to relax, de-stress, recover, and sleep deeply is heavily determined by one area of our body overlooked more often than almost any other — our Microbiome.
This colony of trillions of bacteria living in our large intestine helps produce the calming, relaxing, cortisol-lowering, and sleep-giving neurotransmitters GABA and serotonin.
These bacteria have more to do with our overall health, calmness of mind, nerve function, ability to sleep, ability to burn fat and build muscle, and even our hormones than you might think.
This colony, made up of about 500 different species of bacteria, is called the Microbiome.