Lisa's Story

When my daughter was almost two, she started having ear infections and residual ear fluid. Two different ear, nose and throat doctors advised surgery to have tubes put in her ears. That  didn't feel right to me. I thought we should be getting to the root of the problem instead of just putting a bandaid on it. I kept asking about allergies and if there was something else we could try.  The answer was always "it's just a five minute procedure, it will be over before she knows it." 

I started looking for alternatives and found Disease Proof Your Child. I read the chapter on ear infections, and what a shock it was to find the culprit could be dairy. All those years of hearing how essential dairy was for growing children had been drummed into my head. We decided to eliminate it and bump up our intake of veggies (ironically, I had already been a vegetarian for fifteen years). By the next follow-up doctor's appointment, her ears were clear. And I had lost fifteen pounds in the process. The nurse asked what we did and I explained changing Abbey's diet. She told me that they would sometimes suggest that to parents, but they never do it.

Since then, we've maintained our Nutritarian lifestyle. I had another baby who will be three in November and has never been sick. I still get id'd (I'm 43) and am training for the Army 10-Miler. We don't get sick and my kids are happy and even-tempered, even in spite of not gorging on fast food and candy. It's been a challenge at school (there seems to be a sugar-fueled event weekly), but I'm fighting the good fight and my kids are better for it.