Mary Barbera Yeah, processed food is like sugar, you know, everything that's processed down
and changed, as you know. And that's the thing is like, I did a video blog on can
autism be prevented? And you know, I recommended that pregnant women be
healthy, avoid toxins, you know, take supplements that their doctor
recommends. And a BCBA had a big problem with what I said. It's like, why is it a
problem to say avoid toxins when you're pregnant? You know, most people are
like, you know, oh, there's nothing to that gluten casin and free diet. Well, a lot
of us have to be on special and like sugar addiction, alcohol addiction. It does
change your brain. And why wouldn't it also changed the brains of kids,
especially little babies and infants?
Mary Barbera And, you know, if you can try dietary interventions early on, it certainly can't
hurt the situation. Right. When you have control over the food, the more
organic, the more fruits of vegetables, the less stride through, the less, you
know, I think can only help the situation.
Dr. Melissa Olive Right. Well, I have to say so... Mac was born in seventy nine. And by the time he
was two years old, so my mom already knew something was up, but by the time
he was two, she knew there were food problems. So we we were on a farm. We
didn't we didn't milk our own cows, we were still buying our milk in the store.
But we did have a lot of fruits and vegetables or whatever front from the farm.
Well, we did grow our own corn, but we got our bread at the store. But my mom
figured out really quickly corn was a problem and milk was a problem. And so
she had always told us teachers not to feed him any corn. And I will never forget
the day that he came home and pooped out a bunch of corn, and mom took his
diaper and she walked straight to the school, and she said, I told you not to feed
him corn, yet you did. It's probably where I learned all my advocacy skills.
Dr. Melissa Olive But along with the dairy, there are studies out there that are showing us the role
of dairy in the brain and they call it an opiate effect. And so she recognized that
he tolerated the acidophilus milk better than regular milk. And what is
acidophilus? Well, it's rich with probiotics. So here's my mom with no Internet
connection and no Google, no nothing. She figured that out on her own by
whatever, you know, manipulation she was doing that I was not privy to because
I was still a young child. But if it wasn't for these moms figuring these things out,
I think we would be much further behind than we are.