Friday I attended a seminar on Childhood Brain disorders.  Currently 1 child in 8 has a brain disorder, and it is getting worse every year.  Those of you that are primary grade teachers already experience this, but most of the populace is still living in the illusion that brain disorders are rare - like maybe 1 child in 500.  One child in eight is huge.  The social and financial burden on society alone is enough to bankrupt the state once these kids grow up and their parents are no longer able to take care of them.  The emotional impact on families of these kids is overwhelming.  The incidence of interpersonal problems, depression, anxiety, paranoia, psychotic behavior, hostility, and sleep disorders is significantly higher in parents of autistic kids.  We are talking chronic severe stress for these parents.

The conventional medical model for supporting neurodevelopmental disorders is:
Step 1: Medicate to decrease symptoms
- Amphetamines (addictive)
- Sedatives (addictive)
- Antipsychotics (addictive)
- (eventually all these drugs stop working and the child is left with just the addiction)
- Beta blockers
- Behavioral therapy (punishment/reward training)

Step 2: Hope they grow out of it  (not going to happen)

None of these treatment methods do anything for the actual problem - they are only to make the lives of the caretakers a little easier.  Why is that the approach they take?  Why, because the real problem is complex.  Doctors and the public want simple answers - "give me a pill for the problem so it will go away."  Addressing these problems requires time, energy, and lifestyle changes for the parents as well as the child.  The parents have to be involved and "treated" as much as the child.  

What is the alternative model for supporting these disorders?
Step 1: Nourish the brain to optimize outcomes
- Essential fatty acids
- Neurotransmitter support
- Dampen neuroinflammation
- Diet to support brain growth and health

Step 2: Activate the brain - stimulate brain growth and development

Effective intervention is very time dependent.  In an infant the brain is still forming and is very changeable.  As the child becomes older there is less and less improvement that can be achieved.  By the time the child reaches his or her teen years, improvement is very limited.

Early diagnosis is critical.  Most parents are familiar with the ages by which your child is supposed to reach certain milestones in their development, such as sitting up by 4 to 9 months, standing by 8 to 17 months, using two word phrases by 15 to 32 months and so on.  These milestones are the first tools for early diagnosis of developmental brain disorders.  No one wants to believe their child has a problem so denial is the most common response.  Eventually most kids do develop these skills, but the delay is a red flag that a problem is present.  Immediate action will give your child the best chance at optimizing their development.

Proactive parents may want to start out from day one enhancing their child's diet and supporting optimal brain development.  What does this look like?

Your brain is essentially a big ball of fat.  The fats you eat make up the fats your brain is made of.  Eat the right fats and your brain works better - the wrong fats and it does not work right.  The most important fat your brain needs is DHA.  This is found in fish, organ meats, eggs, nuts, seeds, and certain algae.  Fish and the algae they eat are by far the best sources.  Stay away from mercury laden fish.

The worst fat for your brain is trans-fats.  These are found in shortening and margarine (and therefore in most frozen entrees and bakery items), and are formed any time you heat vegetable oil and cook things in it.  Never feed your child fried foods, period...ever...or yourself.  That means no French fries, no doughnuts, no chicken nuggets, no corn dogs, no potato chips or corn chips, no deep fried apple pie, no battered fish, nothing fried in vegetable oil.  This is not a problem if you fry in coconut oil or fry with butter or lard - they do not form trans-fats.

The next huge issue is gluten and casein.  In simple terms that means grains and milk products.  In one study of 132 children with ADHD, every single child improved both behavior and functioning after being put on a gluten free diet.  When doing TOVA testing to diagnose ADD and ADHD the single biggest trigger of poor performance was milk products.  There are mountains of studies on this now and the proof is there - grains and milk products directly make brain functioning in susceptible children worse.

Does that mean that milk and bread are bad for all children?  No.  In America about 30% of children have the genes that make them susceptible to these foods as triggers for autoimmune disease reactions that attack the brain.  In studies of autistic and ADHD/ADD kids the testing shows 70 to 90% of them will have the genetic markers for this sensitivity.

A growing child has a lot of nutritional needs.  Children are made of protein and fats (as are we all).  They need a lot of good quality protein and the right fats to be healthy.  What children never (I MEAN NEVER) need is sugar, simple carbs, and trans-fats.  (NO, they do not need sugar or simple carbs for energy - that is a huge marketing lie.)  That basically leaves out all fast food, processed food, and almost anything that comes in a box, bag, or can.  Kids need fresh real food.  100% perfection is not realistic, but 90% is.  Shoot for 90% of your foods being fresh and real.  That means someone in the family (unless you have hired help) has to learn to cook if you want healthy kids.  Suck it up, this is just the reality of life.  (Actually I guess you could do all raw foods including raw meats, but this actually is even more work.)

Methyl donors - your brain has an insatiable need for methyl donors to be healthy.  What does that mean?  Certain foods supply a chemical compound called a methyl group which the brain needs to form neurotransmitters and to form the protective myelin sheaths around the nerves.  Food sources include egg yolks, butter, peanuts, sesame and flax seeds, cauliflower, beef liver, meats, fish, broccoli, and in supplement form - methylcobalamin B12 and choline.

Stress - this should not be a big surprise.  Stress kills brain cells.  It especially likes to kill the cells that enable us to form short term memory.  On a nutrient level one substance has been found to protect these cells from the effects of stress - phosphatydlserene.  Unfortunately this nutrient is destroyed in the gut so it has to be injected or taken as a transdermal skin crème such as our Adrenacalm product.

On a larger mind-body level, the roots of stress lie in internal conflicts and poor skills at getting our physical, emotional, and mental needs met.  Fortunately skills can be learned and conflicts resolved when you know what to do and how to do it.  The information you need is all carried in your subconscious mind and support such as that provided by Ellen in our office can bring that information to the conscious level.  The key is using your body's own muscle strength reflexes to guide us to that subconscious information rather than using traditional talk therapy that relies only on what is in your conscious mind.

Brain inflammation - this is the real key to the permanent damage that takes place in children.  Brain inflammation is a small forest fire that keeps burning for years, slowly destroying brain cells and brain function.  Many many things trigger brain inflammation - gut/brain connection problems, infections, poisons (like mercury & lead), autoimmune reactions (like to gluten and casein), head trauma, emotional trauma, drugs (like drug babies), alcohol (as in fetal alcohol syndrome), and so on.  The list has not been completed yet.

There are no (zero, nada, none) medications for brain inflammation even though this is the root cause of not only child brain disorders, but Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, dementia, and most of the sign and symptoms of aging.  At this point science has identified several natural plant flavonols and other compounds that will halt brain inflammation, but no lab has yet been able to synthesize them in a patentable form.  So nothing has been promoted or marketed medically as being helpful for this most critical area of health.  Fortunately Apex Energetics Nutritional company has been developing brain nutrients to fight brain inflammation.   

There are two steps to helping an inflamed brain - improve the blood flow and quench the fire.  Specific plant nutrients are able to do both of these.  For blood flow we use Nitric Balance and Neuro O2, and for quenching the fire we use NeuroFlam.  All three products contain all the substances that have been thoroughly tested and published in peer reviewed journals to be effective for settling down an inflamed brain.

Neurotransmitters - each child may have specific neurotransmitters that may be deficient in their condition.  Which neurotransmitters vary depending on each child's particular case.  Each of the brain neurotransmitters can be supported through nutrients that have been put into a spray form to make them easier for little kids to use as pills are often difficult to get a child to take.

Brain stimulation training

The last big area that has to be addressed is how to stimulate these kids brains to grow properly.  Most of these disorders lie in a lack of development in the frontal cortex portion of the brain.  This is the part of the brain that deals with language, spatial relations, movement, rhythm, appreciation, and higher conscious functioning.  It keeps the limbic (animal motivation) portion of the brain in check.  (Interestingly visual processing stimulates the limbic brain, not the frontal cortex - so TV, video games, and computer time actually work against developing the areas of the brain that need help the most.)  

So what helps these kids the most - sports, gymnastics, dance, learning a musical instrument, learning a second or third language, art, building things, philosophy, and service to others.  The key lies in activities that stimulate both sides of the brain equally.  Mental tasks that engage only the left side of the brain like history, math, memorization drills, and so on, actually fatigue the brain and decrease its functioning in these kids.  Balance of activity is very critical.  Kids need to move their bodies up and down, side to side, right and left, and back and forth.  If you notice your child not moving symmetrically and evenly (which usually produces clumsiness) this is a red flag that a portion of his or her brain is not firing properly.  Often all that is needed is to get them to actively and consciously engage in movements that activate and train that portion of the brain.  Sometimes you need to physically move them through the awkward movements yourself to get the brain engaging and firing (some of you may recall me doing this with you while using the Biomagnetic tool to stimulate the brain stem to retrain certain movements into your body.)

This has been a long newsletter, but as I said in the beginning, this is not a simple topic.  The 2-hour class that I took is just a teaser for a 2 day course coming up that will go into the real detail on this subject.  I hope this information will be of help to some of you specifically.  For the rest of us, we all have brains and all of us need to keep our brains working the best we can so all this information applies to everyone of us.            

Take care of yourself.

Good Journey,

 

 

david@fairoakshealth.com

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About Dr. DeLapp

Dr. DeLapp has been a philosopher, non-force Chiropractor, medical intuitive, and health innovator for over 30 years.  He began experimenting with  medical intuition in 1972 while studying physics at UC Davis.  In addition to physics he designed and completed an individual major in the philosophy and psychology of education.  Shortly after he choose to pursue a career in the only truly health oriented profession available at that time, Chiropractic.  He graduated with honors in 1981 with his doctorate and opened a private practice. 
Since that time he has continued his research into the effects of consciousness and learning on health. 
He developed the Biomagnetic Retraining system for correcting movement abnormalities. 
Since 1991 he has focused on developing a powerful system for uncovering and assisting the mind-body connection in health and personal growth.  The in-depth coaching, guided by the subconscious direction from the body, is called Heartflow and the simpler mind-body retraining for health and unfoldment he has named Gracework.  Both are available at Fair Oaks Health.

Dr David DeLapp DC
Chiropractor

Ellen Flowers FGM
Spiritual Life Coach

 

Somatic Therapies

 

Lorena Morales