What's in a vaccine -- formaldehyde, MSG and mouse serum?

With all this talk about the hidden dangers of vaccines, especially with relation to mercury and autism, I found a recent blog entry at Rescue Post very enlightening. It showed what the ingredients -- approved by the CDC -- are in each vaccine. And, it included a link directly to the CDC's Website that shows this. Here's the direct link to the PDF file - click here. Or, here's the link to the page of files with all types of information about vaccines - click here. Another interesting file on that page is the Thimerosal content of vaccines -- click here. The ingredient list is disturbing and includes MSG, lactose (for those allergic to dairy, mouse serum formadehyde, red dye, thimerosal, yeast, calf skin, mouse brain, soy and human fetal tissue. Don't believe me -- look through the documents. (Oh, the human fetal tissue is "human diploid tissue.")

Autism cluster found in New Jersey school

For our autism education today, this is an interesting article from The Record in New Jersey about a cluster of autism cases found in one school. The article reports the study found of 24 school staffers, 57 percent of their children were diagnosed with neurodevelopmental disorders and 24 percent were diagnosed with autism. Read more.

The Record
Autism study hints at school cluster
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
By KAREN SUDOL, STAFF WRITER

A research study has found a possible autism cluster among children of teachers who worked at a Northvale school.

"While we cannot yet determine the cause of these findings, we can say for certain today that the prevalence of autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders ... is statistically significantly higher," said study leader Dr. Lawrence D. Rosen.

The study's task force will now look at environmental factors at St. Anthony's that could have caused rates of autism and other learning disorders to be higher than state or national levels.

"Whether the building is contributing is speculation," said Rosen, also the medical adviser for the Deirdre Imus Environmental Center for Pediatric Oncology at Hackensack University Medical Center, which initiated the study.

The findings released Tuesday were based on interviews with 24 school staff members who came forward after 500 letters were mailed to present and past employees. Rosen said he doesn't know the total number of teachers with children who have worked at the school during the past 10 years but that he wants to interview all of them.

Read the rest at The Record.

Tom's Bread - a gfcf bread

I hadn't posted this individually on my blog yet and thought it was time I did. If you're looking for an easy and reliable gluten - casein free bread, this is a good one. Tom shared this with the GFCFRecipes Yahoo message group and it is widely requested. People just call this Tom's Bread. It can be made in the bread machine or oven. I've subbed potato starch for the corn starch. And, I've even used a mock yeast recipe instead of real yeast. I also use regular cane sugar instead of the brown sugar. Very good gfcf bread. I'll post it below just as Tom wrote it:

CELIAC LIGHT BREAD by Tom Van Deman August 20, 2003

1 1/8 cup Chickpea flour also called Garbanzo bean flour (Jim's note: I've switched to sorghum here -- same amount -- as my youngest can't deal with the bean flour yet)
1 cup cornstarch (I use Cream corn starch)
1 cup + 1 Tbs. tapioca flour
3 1/2 tsp. xanthum gum
1 1/2 tsp. salt
3 Tbs. brown sugar (Make sure that there are no lumps)
1/4 tsp. creme of tartar
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/8 cup warm water (uncomfortable to touch but not boiling)
3 Tbs. vegetable oil (I use peanut oil or canola oil)
2 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast

Bread Machine Method

WARNING: Adding more liquids or flours or reducing same could cause the bread to not cook thoroughly on the inside or to be too heavy. Also I am at almost 6000 feet altitude in Denver area which might cause your bread to be slightly different than mine. First try it as is and then experiment if necessary.

Combine all of the dry ingredients in a medium size bowl except for the yeast. Mix dry ingredients thoroughly with wire whisk. Mix together the lightly beaten eggs, warm water, and oil in a separate bowl and thoroughly mix with wire whisk. Pour the liquid ingredients into your bread machine bowl (I use my Zoj). Immediately spoon in your dry mixed ingredients on top of the wet ingredients to make a mound in the center but covering all of the wet ingredients. With a spoon or spatula make a small depression in top of your dry ingredients (must be dry for the yeast) and immediately spoon in your yeast. Place your bread machine pan in the machine correctly and turn the machine to regular wheat bread cycle and turn on machine. (This dough will need two kneadings in order to get its content to proper consistency.)

Do not add any more liquids or flour. The dough will form a sticky ball. With a spatula scrape down the sides of machine bowl to make sure all of the dry ingredients get into the dough ball. On the rise cycle use your spatula that is wet to smooth the top of the loaf, if desired. Bake the bread using the medium crust setting. When finished turn the loaf out onto your wire rack and allow bread to cool or you can slice it while hot (Do not squeeze the loaf too tightly while holding it to slice while hot.) Slice the bread thin with a serrated bread knife or electric knife and enjoy.


Oven Method

Turn your oven to 375 degrees. Combine all of the dry ingredients in a medium size bowl or your mixer bowl including the yeast. Mix thoroughly on medium or low setting. Mix together the lightly beaten eggs, warm water, and oil in a separate bowl and whip with wire whisk until all ingredients are mixed. Pour wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix with your mixer on medium speed (Use paddle or dough hook). When sticky ball forms scrape sides to get all of the flours and ingredients mixed together and continue to mix for about 1 minute more. Scrape into a 9 x 5-inch lightly greased loaf pan. Cover with plastic wrap, set in non drafty warm place and let rise until at least double size (approximately 45 to 60 minutes). Remove plastic wrap and pace pan in preheated oven. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped with a spoon. Turn the loaf out onto your wire rack and allow loaf to cool or you can slice it while hot (Do not squeeze the loaf too tightly while holding it to slice when hot.)

Free Autism video glossary now online

This could be a big help to anyone looking to decipher the world of Autism Spectrum Disorders. It's a free, online video glossary that explains a lot of the lingo and behaviors involved with these disorders. Now you can see the things that your doctor, teacher or therapist is talking about.

You can access the glossary, called the First Words Project, at http://firstwords.fsu.edu/.

The project is the product of the Florida State University's Dept. of Communication Disorders. Here's a statement from the university's website: "Our major goal is to identify early red flags of developmental language disorders, autism spectrum disorders, and other communication delays in children under 24 months of age. Through our research findings, we aim to improve screening tools and early detection of communication disorders by maximizing the role of the family, which will help families obtain intervention services sooner."

Note that the link above takes you to the Autism Speaks site, which hosts the actual video glossary. You have to click the big LOGIN button and register, which takes just a minute. It's very easy to use.

Even if you don't need it, bookmark the site and save it for when you get those requests for help from others.

Garlic broccoli recipe - good luck!

I'm posting this recipe simply because it's good. It's gluten and casein free. It's soy free. It's rice/corn/potato/bean free. And, I'm sure there are some kids out there on special diets that like broccoli. My youngest (PDD) does. My oldest (also PDD) doesn't. And, best of all, the adults (that's us) love it. The recipe has many healthy benefits. First, it's low cal, low carb and fat free. Second, the broccoli, for my money, is the king of fiber in veggie land. It also has Vit C, folate, potassium and the phytochemical called sulforaphane, which has been proven to lessen the risk of cancer.

And, the recipe includes some olive oil, a proven link to decreased risk of heart disease and cancer along with increasing HDL, the good cholesterol.

Then, the garlic, which, according to WholeHealthMD, it "may protect against stomach and colon cancer, slow the build-up of artery-clogging plaque, prevent the formation of blood clots, help lower blood pressure, reduce the chances of infection, improve nasal congestion and sinusitis."

Wow!

So, how do you make it. Way too easy.

Take a bunch of broccoli - I don't measure. Wash it. Cut it as you wish.

Prepare 1-2 cloves of garlic. Chop fine.

Heat 1/4 cup water in a stove-top pan. Toss the broccoli and garlic in. Add a pinch of sea salt and a dash of black pepper. Cover with a lid for five minutes.

This essentially steams the veggies.

Pour 1 tablespoon of olive oil over the veggies. Heat for a minute longer.

Strain the veggies or remove from pan with a slotted spoon.

Eat. Yum.

Gluten free chicken nuggets recipe -- my versions

I realized over the weekend that I had failed to post one of the most-requested recipes in GFCF land! Chicken nuggets.

So, here, I'll offer a couple different versions for you. However, this is very adjustable, depending on your child's likes and dislikes.

Basic fried nuggets:

- cooking oil (I used Tuscan Sun, non-GMO)
- Chicken (I use breast meat)
- GF flour mix (any will do. I have used different mixes. Some really like frying with chickpea flour mixes. I've also used a sorghum mix with tapioca starch. Use what you like. For today, I will use 1/3 cup sorghum, 1/3 cup tapioca and 1/3 cup potato starch.)
- Spices: add what you like. I add this: 1 tablespoon chili powder, 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, 1 tsp sea salt. Other possibilities: black pepper, cumin, cilantro, parsley, oregano, etc.
- Optional: ketchup
- Optional: egg substitute (I use Ener-G for this)

So, pour some oil in a frying pan. Heat on medium high to high. Mix the dry ingredients. Add your spices. Make the egg substitute.

Wash, trim and cut your chicken into nugget pieces.

Now, version 1: mix spices into flour mix and stir till blended. Coat chicken with dry mix. Fry several minutes on each side until cooked through.

Version 2: mix spices and flour. Dip chicken into flour mix, coat with egg sub, dip again in flour mix until coated. Fry several minutes on each side. This is a crispier chicken. You could also add a little baking soda to this too. Try it out.

Version 3: With either of the above two versions, you can coat the chicken lightly with ketchup before dipping and coating. Adds a welcome flavor to the mix. Very good.

Version 4: Try baking these instead of frying. I've done this with the "crispier" version. Baked on 400 degrees for about 20 minutes, flipping halfway through. I've also done chicken strips this way. I think if you did the non-crispy version, you might cook less and maybe have to dab some oil on top halfway through so they didn't dry out.

Version 5: With the fry versions, you could also do this "popcorn" style, simply by cutting the nuggets into smaller pieces, and then cooking them for less time.

I purposely didn't include cooking times here because everybody's pans heat differently and some people use real fryers and all ovens are different, etc. etc.

Anyway, hope this works for you. If not, check for more GFCF nugget recipes at Recipe Circus, like this one here.

Will a new Autism brain center lead to new treatments?

Why is so much 'real' research, funding and general concern about autism among public officials happening everywhere but here?

Oxford Mail
Princess to open autism image centre
The Princess Royal will officially open the world's first brain imaging centre for autism at an Oxford hospital tomorrow.

A special scanner at the £2.3m centre at the university's Department of Psychiatry at the Warneford Hospital, Headington, will help Oxford University researchers study the brains of autistic children and adults, to look at how it functions as they complete tasks.

The technique will highlight how the brains of those with autism disorders differ from other people, and could lead to better treatments.

The Princess Royal will be shown the scanner and other facilities at the Oxford Neurodevelopmental Magnetoencephalography Centre.

While in the city, the Princess will also attend a Citizenship Ceremony at County Hall and join a meeting of the St Helena Diocesan Association at Pusey House.