Page 73 - Fall2010

Food Feature

LACTO-FERMENTATION MADE EASy WITH THE PICKL-IT SySTEM
By Kathleen Mills

The Pickl-It system for producing tasty lacto-
fermented foods was the blessing that emerged in TAKING ITS TOLL
our efforts to help our adopted son. The constant health and behavior issues were
He was eleven months of age when we adopted taking a toll on our entire family. Seeking the ad-
him, diagnosed developmentally at a two-month- vice of doctors, we were discouraged when they
old level. Lacking motor skills—no crawling, failed to show any interest in the topic of our son’s
sitting or interest in holding toys—he occupied bowel movements. Each appointment ended with
himself by head-banging or hyper-focused star- a referral to yet another doctor. When we finally
ing at one object. If we touched or talked to him, reached the top of the stack of diplomas, degrees
he’d react by bursting into ear-splitting screams. and specialties, we weren’t any farther ahead than
Rejecting our offers of comfort and hugs, he’d free when we first began. In frustration, and only par-
himself from our grasp, avoiding eye contact when tially in jest, I suggested we’d get better results if we
we pleaded with him to let glued parrots feathers to
us help. our son, letting our board-
There was no doubt certified avian vet take a
that a poor diet during his look at him. All health-
first 11 months of life— based discussions about
sugar water and soy for- our parrots always began
mula—played a role in his with good solid data, ob-
poor physical and mental tained from various blood
condition. panels and stool cultures.
Nearly as troubling At four years of age,
as finding blood trailing our son displayed signifi-
down his cheeks, resulting cant visual and auditory
from his self-mutilation, hallucinations, as well as
was the condition of his violent behavior during his
gut. Early-Intervention therapy
program. A psychiatrist
DROPPINGS determined that the only
My husband and I “logical explanation” for
were “poopologists,” as his “condition” was schizo-
one doctor along our jour- phrenia, but given its rarity The Pickl-It
ney described us. We’d in a child so young, she system for
been trained by twenty years of parrot keeping, referred us to her former colleagues, recognized
monitoring the health or illness of our flock by as world renowned autism researchers. producing
observing the color, shape and frequency of their They took a “conservative” approach, tabling tasty lacto-
droppings. the schizophrenia-diagnosis, and instead orches-
Applying that knowledge to our son, we were trating a whirlwind series of tests over the next few fermented
greatly alarmed by his “droppings.” They alter- months: MRIs, EEGs, BEAM (kicked-up EEG), foods was the
nated from bright gold to dry and white, with a IQ, competency exams, as well as stool, urine and
sawdust-texture. If we didn’t immediately change blood panels. The tests ruled out seizures, brain tu- blessing that
his diaper, flame-red half-dollar size blisters ap- mors, fragile-X,and epilepsy. Relieved to eliminate emerged in
peared. conditions our son didn’t have, we still weren’t any
We noticed that when his bowel movements closer to understanding his condition. our efforts to
cycled from bad to worse, his over-sensitivity to We found clues in a WAPF article, “Soy: The help our
sound and light, hyper-focusing on objects, self- Dark Side of America’s Favorite ‘Health’ Food,”
mutilation and insomnia all intensified. where we learned that estrogens (including the adopted son.

FALL 2010 Wise Traditions 73