How It All Started...

If you knew us before the birth of our third son (Oct 2005) you would have classified us as a family eating a "typical American diet". We enjoyed pizza, lasagna, hot dogs, milk, ice cream, yogurt, whole wheat bread. Not that everything we ate was junk, we did try to eat from all four food groups: the milk & cheese group, the grain group, the meat/fish/bean group, and of course, the butterfinger group (ha ha). The closest thing to great nutrition that we had was we were a part of a Fruit/Vegetable Co-Op where we had a large box of a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables delivered to the house every two weeks.

Now, with hindsight being 20/20 I can clearly see that although all seemed well on the "typical American diet" there were actually many RED FLAGS being thrown, I just wasn't tuned in to the right referee.

The main red flags were:

• Myself - Fibromyalgia (fatigue, joint pain, brain fog), weak immune system, seasonal allergies
• Oldest Son - weak immune system (missed 18 days of school in 1st grade :( ), seasonal allergies, intermittent asthma (particularly after being sick), occasional loose stools
• Middle Son - Jekyll/Hyde mood swings, speech delay, predominantly loose stools

So there we were, blissfully going through life. We recognized we had a few troubling symptoms, but they had all been addressed by doctors and the doctors advised us that all was well.

And then.......on October 27, 2005.......everything changed!