Episode 224 — Seriously, Clean Up The Diet First
Guest: Novlet Davis • Date: October 3, 2024
Episode Overview
This week, food is the focus. Our guest is Dr. Novlet Davis, an internal medicine physician and devoted mom. Her son, diagnosed with moderate to severe autism at age 3, is now 12 and thriving. Dr. Davis has an inspiring story and a unique perspective as both a mother and a functional medicine doctor.
About Novlet Davis
Dr. Novlet Jarrett Davis is a physician trained and board-certified in internal medicine. She started a weight loss clinic and helped many patients accomplish their goals. She practiced outpatient primary care medicine for two years after medical school and loved it. She became interested in preventive medicine, which involves helping patients with chronic diseases improve their quality of life through diet and lifestyle changes. She exercised at a local park two nights a week with her patients and educated them with regular classes on nutrition, diet, and healthy lifestyle changes. She then transitioned to hospital medicine, where she took care of very sick patients for 15 years. She has worked in hospitals in North Carolina and Kentucky. Part of her role as a Hospitalist involves teaching and training interns, residents, and medical students. In 2015. her son was diagnosed with severe autism, and it was during that time that she started to explore functional medicine to a greater extent. Functional medicine focuses on treating the root cause of a problem more so than the symptoms. It was using this method that she was able to help her son recover. When not working, she enjoys relaxing at home with her family. She also enjoys reading the bible and doing activities such as running and walking.
www.raleighholistichealthcare.com
You’ll Discover
A Common Mistake Parents Make (5:05)
Some Early Warning Signs (12:37)
The One Thing To Focus On Most (16:24)
A Great Research Tool (23:32)
Power Move #1 To Upgrading Nutrition (32:21)
Power Move #2 To Upgrading Nutrition (33:10)
Power Move #3 To Upgrading Nutrition (36:23)
Referenced in This Episode
Full Transcript
Novlet Davis | 00:00
Focus on the diet first. It's like building a house. I said, do the foundation. The diet is the foundation. It doesn't cost as much as the big thing.
So focus on that because that is what I think is the main thing it is. And I've seen it in many patients now to recovery and especially at that fast rate.
Cass Arcuri | 00:20
Want to truly be the best parent you can be and help your child thrive after their autism diagnosis? This podcast is for all in parents like you who know more is possible for your child.
Len Arcuri | 00:31
With each episode, we reveal a secret that empowers you to be the parent your child needs now, saving you time, energy, and money, and helping you focus on what truly matters most, your child.
Cass Arcuri | 00:42
I'm Cass. And I'm Len. Welcome to Autism Parenting Secrets.
Len Arcuri | 00:57
Hello and welcome to Autism Parenting Secrets. It's Len and with me today is Dr. Navlet Davis. She's a physician trained and certified in internal medicine and now has a functional medicine clinic in Raleigh, North Carolina. She's mom to Christopher, who was diagnosed with moderate-sphere autism at age three, and he is now 12 years old and thriving. Dr. Davis has an inspiring story to share, and she brings to this discussion a very powerful combination that only a mom who is a functional medicine doctor can provide. The secret this week is...
Seriously. Clean up the diet first. Welcome, Dr. Davis.
Novlet Davis | 01:42
Thank you.
Len Arcuri | 01:43
So, yes, we met at the MAPS conference, Medical Academy of Pediatric Special Needs. We've had a few episodes. I'll put them in the show notes. And that was me being a parent. And a whole bunch of medical professionals, practitioners, not just medical doctors, but practitioners who are dedicated to serving this population of kids. And so for you to be there, my guess is that there's been a journey that's led you to being even at that conference.
So I'll hand it off to you to share your personal story and how you're right now really helping to empower parents to be the best parent they can be for their child.
Novlet Davis | 02:26
Yes. Thanks, Len. I love talking about autism. It's my passion. It did not start that way because as Len said, I'm a internist and I was a hospitalist for 20 years. But in 2015, I was My son, three years old, was diagnosed with moderate to severe autism. Prior to that, I did not really know much about autism because I'm an internist. I take care of adults in the hospital, a hospitalist, 18 years or older.
So how I come to find out that he had moderate to severe autism was I sent him to a preschool. And in the preschool, after he was there, he's twins. I have a boy girl twins. They were three years old. Send them to the preschool because I just wanted them to get to in a social setting prior to being able to go to school, kindergarten.
So after he was there for about maybe not even a week, a few days, they called me and they call me every day. Christopher is crying. Christopher is. And I'm thinking this is a daycare. Why are they calling me? They're supposed to be equipped to handle that kind of stuff.
So after about a week, they called an official meeting for myself and my husband. And we thought, you know, Christopher, he's so smart because he could do a lot of stuff on the iPad. They were going to tell us how, you know, how maybe he's a genius or something.
So when we got there, it was, I thought it was just going to be his teacher. It was a room full of the owner, everyone. And they, I mean, we were just like taking it back. At least I was. And we sat in the room and They said to me, we are not equipped to take care of Christopher here. They said he's a danger to himself. He's climbing up on the stuff. He doesn't. She said, I said, so what are you trying to tell me? They said, "He's different. He's different." They did not use the word autism. They said, "We cannot take him. His sister can stay, his twin sister, but we cannot take him here." So I was, I mean, I was shocked. I was upset. I was, so I. All my other physician friends, I was telling them what happened to me.
And then I tried to get him into another school that they recommended. And when I went there for an evaluation, by a psychologist and I they evaluated him and after three minutes he was done and Next day, I went for the results and I took Christopher with me. And I was, this is the first someone was ever honest with me. I went into his office and he looked at me and he looked at Christopher running around, no spatial orientation, knocking everything down. And he said to me, you're a physician, right? Said yes. And he said, look at your son. I'm like, and she's he said, your son has severe autism. How could you not know that? That's what he said to me. And right then and there. It's like I was, you know, I had to sit down because I was just like, I don't know, I had to sit down. I was so weak.
So he said, look at him, he is bumping his head in all the furniture, he cannot talk. So the afternoon, I think I had Like a block. And everything he did, I had a reason for it. And that's why when other parents, I see them going through the same thing. I could totally relate because when I look back, he had every side.
I mean, he couldn't talk. He didn't know who I was. He would, if I come home from work, he would still be playing. The others would run to me. I look at videos. He was out of it totally. And. I was just in denial and I blocked it all out. I compensated for everything. No one could say anything about him to me. And right at that moment is when I had to face everything that was somewhere in me. I had to face it. And he sat me down and he said, your son has severe nonverbal autism. We cannot take him at this school either. He said, I said, so what do I do? He said, I, he said, you have to get him an intense ABA. And even then we don't know if, you know, how will you be able to function?
So he gave me some numbers and I, so that was my introduction to, The autism right.
Len Arcuri | 06:48
There. Well, thank you for sharing all that. And I mean, I'm flashing back to, you know, my own experience with my wife, Cass. And when we got the diagnosis, I guess I couldn't get beyond the fact that it was like a three minute, you know, evaluation that then the next day you get this unbelievably shocking diagnosis.
You know, statement about your son. So I have issues with how somebody could do that quickly. But I guess I could appreciate like you, like the honesty of somebody just sharing something that again, hopefully they're sharing it with the intent to be useful, but still super hard to hear and I think, the suggestion that you got And I think so many parents who are listening can probably be late, right? You get this message and then you get very little hope, right?
So in your case, just like in our case, they said, You got to go ABA, you got to hit it hard and then you kind of keep your fingers crossed. Even then it may not work, which I feel like that, You know, I wish things had changed in the, you know, over 12 years since that was the case for us or longer than that now. But I think a lot of parents are still getting that message early on, which really sets them off.
You know, potentially in a real wrong direction and in a bad place in terms of mindset about what's possible. Right.
So you heard that. What were your next steps?
Novlet Davis | 08:19
I, Len, I tell you that was if someone could point to the worst day of their life, because this is my only son. It was the worst day of my life. I think once he gave me the paper and I left that office, I don't even know how I got home. Because I got home and the only thing I had strength to do was get in bed. I couldn't do anything else. I get in bed because I was so weak. I was It was just devastating.
So I stayed the rest of the day. My husband came home. We talked about it. And to the next day I said, you know, I have to be there for him. It doesn't matter how I feel.
So I got up all the numbers he gave me. I didn't even call. I just went to the places and I knocked on the door. They let me in and I, Started to tell my story. You got to let him in. You got to let him in.
You know, I need to start A, B. I need to start speech. I need to start OT. I need to start all those things he told me.
So once I went through the grieving phase pretty quick, I jumped on and I started getting him. I got him into everything. And I scheduled another psychologist because I wanted to make sure because I figured that one just took three minutes, four or five minutes. How could he tell all that in that short time?
So I said I wanted a second opinion. So I scheduled him for another psychologist and we went there that he took two hours. She was a two day psychologist. But then she said the same thing. She said he has, you know, moderate to severe. She said moderate to severe because I was like, could you say mild? And she said, well, I can't say mild. I just was looking for something to say that he wasn't as bad as they said. And she told me at that point that I should put my name on a waiting list for a group home because she said those it takes a long time to get in. And so it's best to just start early. And my husband was like, so what can we do? How should we help him? And the same thing, ABA, speech, OT.
So like every other mother, I said, well, let me just Google because I don't know what else to do. And, you know, it sounds to me like it was a death sentence.
Like it doesn't matter what I do. He was going to. I started Googling and trying to, to see how I could help him. And I started trying to find, are there any success stories? Has anybody recovered? And that's when I saw it was, I saw some stuff about Dan doctors. Then.
So that's how I got started.
Len Arcuri | 10:45
Got it. Yeah, well, it's strikingly similar to our journey as well, where those conferences that defeat autism now, which is no longer in existence and it's kind of reconstituted itself. And in many ways, it's now being continued by what MAPS is all about. But yeah, those conferences definitely were incredibly important for me to be able to continue. Help educate me on what is possible in these different ways of looking at how you might be able to help your child biomedically.
So I found them extremely useful. So interesting that that's how you, like where you seem very much like my wife, Cass, where immediately, you know, she was going to search and see what she can find and then find these different avenues where, you know, that may seem obvious, but I think, yeah, It's hard for a lot of parents where they may get this diagnosis and then you kind of, whether intentionally or unintentionally, just kind of take a back seat and wait to be told what the next steps are as opposed to being a bit more proactive, which is what Cass and then you both did. And going back to what you were talking about before, though, I want to just touch on it is so easy to miss it as a parent. Because, you know, you only are looking at your child through the lens of love and acceptance. And it's really hard to see. Even now, when I look at photos of my son, you know, in the first year, you know, he doesn't look healthy. And at the time I thought he was the picture of health. Right.
You know, so, and so even behavior wise and the like, it's, you know, it's easy to kind of to knock yourself, but it's easy to miss when you're the parent. And I guess refreshing when you have someone who can give you an objective assessment of what they see, although what you experienced sounded Very direct and very abrupt. For me, it would have felt like getting hit in the head with a shovel.
Novlet Davis | 12:34
Yeah, that's how it felt to me at the time. It was, I think I needed to hear the truth though, because When I looked back, when he was about 18 months, my husband had said to me, that her, his dad thought Christophe had autism because he was just there spinning the wheels on the truck and lining up toys. And I was so upset that they could have said such a thing. But I went to the pediatrician and I was telling the pediatrician, you know, what my husband and his dad said. And he said, no, you know, he's fine.
You know, so then I felt good. I'm like, they don't know what they're talking about.
So, yeah, so it was good that someone actually just you know, just came on and say, you know, this is it. And then I was able to, get through that denial phase and just start seeing what can I do to help him now?
So. So yeah.
Len Arcuri | 13:29
Yeah, no, the grieving piece of it is one that, you know, is easy to miss in terms of the fact that things are different. And your child, even though your child is who your child is, you're in your mind what you're hoping for, what you're wanting for your child. All that does, it's a traumatic event to hear a diagnosis, especially when delivered with very little hope.
So I appreciate where you were and the fact that you said, okay, there's got to be more I can do. You found about conferences, you found these different approaches. What would you even now, at this point in your story, suggest to somebody who's just received a diagnosis in that early phase, other than allowing yourself to grieve And to go through that process to some degree. To be able to get into a place where you can then make good decisions, right? Because if you miss that grief step, it's easy to kind of just stay in a place that, you know, without trying to judge it just isn't the strongest place for you to figure out what's going to help your child the most.
Novlet Davis | 14:42
I would say because if I know now, if I know then what I know now, because Back then, I did not know it was possible to recover. Because even though I see all the stories, I didn't. I didn't know it was possible to recover.
So I would tell a mom that was going through this phase and I spent, personally, I spent a ton of money on therapies. I spent a ton of money on ABA.
I mean, it's just, I can't even imagine how much occupational therapy costs. So if I was to do it again, I would tell someone really just really focus on healing the body, focus on the diet, just focus. That's where I have had the most success. And even seeing patients today, I've seen people that go to, you know, I like hyperbarics. I like stem cell. I like everything else. But if I had it to do over out of just it's only after I've was going through everything for six months to a year. I started with, you know, with diet early but i really didn't believe as much because everyone it was so conflicting some people were saying gluten-free dairy-free is good some people were saying it didn't make a difference it was everything was all over the place i was looking at studies and some were positive some were negative so i can tell you of 99 to 100 percent Myself. Because my son went from that severe autism To be totally recovered by five and end up from an autism school to a regular school, no assistance, getting A's and B's.
So I know 99% and what I did. I work on the diet. I was on that diet.
Like, I mean, so I know I would tell a mom, I know that's what you should do. You should focus. Don't forget all the big things. Forget, do it, but focus on the diet first. It's like building a house. I say, do the foundation. The diet is the foundation. It doesn't cost as much as the big thing.
So focus on that because that is what I think is the main thing it is. And I've seen it in many patients now. To recovery, and especially at that fast rate.
Len Arcuri | 16:56
All right. Well, that's a powerful perspective. And when you talk about the diet, right, I think a lot of times where it gets confusing is that, first of all, you're not talking about a diet for autism. You're just talking about using diet for overall health and wellness, right?
So it's really not, this is not about autism per se, as much as what's going to be the best thing to help your child's body be everything it's designed to be. So you're saying diet is... Super important. 99% perhaps of the population The results, if you will attribute to diet and you don't have your own unique. Here's the diet that you should do. Right. Because that's where it becomes so individualized.
Novlet Davis | 17:39
Yes, I'm from Jamaica. You probably hear my accent, right?
So I grew up in Jamaica and when he was diagnosed and I started thinking back in my mind because I'm from the country in Jamaica. My dad had farms and everything.
So we were getting the cow and getting the milk from the cow and everything was natural. We never knew a fast food. We didn't know anything like that. And my mom had eight of us and none of us had any issues. And my mom is 94. She doesn't even have a high blood pressure.
I mean, she's as healthy as ever. So I just started thinking back to those days.
And then I started thinking that when I look at the research in the 1970s, they didn't, it was one in 10,000, right? So I think, what were they doing? I want to go back to living just like back in those days.
So that's what I did with the diet. I said, we're not, we cleaned out our pantry. I'm cooking everything from scratch. And I'm I know it can be done because I'm a hospitalist. I was working seven 12-hour shifts, seven days on, seven days off.
So I was really busy. But I would dedicate a whole day in my kitchen. I said, I'm cooking everything from scratch. There's nothing processed that's going to go in his mouth.
So I bought everything organic. And I cooked everything so if it's and I want single things so if I'm getting meat I'm getting beans I'm getting just nothing that I can you know with more than eight ingredients as they say so that's what I did organic clean food clean diet and he was a picky eater you know that's what they say he would only eat like three or four things so that's what we started with he wouldn't eat when we started he wouldn't eat anything my husband would sit at the table one hour just Slowly feed and eat a bite here and there. And it's not going to change. It was a hard process from someone who did not eat only crunchy.
Like so it was very hard that first month. But we did it.
So that's what I did. I just it wasn't like a GAPS diet or a, you know, SCD diet. It was just a very healthy, no processed food diet we started off.
Len Arcuri | 19:45
Okay. Yeah. There's nothing more foundational than that, right? Which is basically another way of phrasing that is you didn't feed Christopher crap, right?
Like you didn't, you fed him real food and, and you made it yourself to make sure that anything that could be toxic, that could mess things up for him. You know, you made sure you took control over that.
So I, yeah, I love hearing that. And I applaud what you did because, I know we had a similar response, and Cass totally led the way with taking control in the kitchen, But, you know, our son, Rye, he had, in addition to the autism diagnosis, you know, life-threatening allergies to most foods, particularly peanuts and soy was what's truly life-threatening and a whole bunch of sensitivities to pretty much everything.
So our hand was kind of forced where we had to be in the kitchen or Cass was in the kitchen cooking things from scratch, non-process. It was more of necessity. In your case, it wasn't, but you did it anyway. Because you saw... You believed, I'm guessing, and I'm putting words in your mouth. Tell me if these are correct. But you knew, you had a sense and inner knowing that food really mattered and it was worth the effort.
Novlet Davis | 21:00
Yes. Yes. And I was onto that because he had severe constipation. He would only go to the bathroom once every seven days or so. And I have to sometimes make him. His belly, I took pictures, looked like he was pregnant, you know, sometimes. And I noticed the behavior got worse during those things. And when he did have a bowel movement, the bowel movement was so large it would block the toilet.
So I had this stick with a thing on it that I had to break it up before. So I know it has to be the gut because the bowel movement was It was just, there was something with that bowel movement.
So I said, it has to start from the gut. So I started researching about gut microbiome and I started saying how to heal the gut and diet food is medicine. I started with that.
So that's how I really started honing in on the gut.
Len Arcuri | 21:55
Good. Let's focus on that for a second because While I'm nodding and everything you're saying makes perfect sense to me and I feel like it's obvious, it may not be obvious. I've run into so many parents. Who aren't aware that you know, in terms of what, proper GI health looks like that, you know, you're looking at least one formed bowel movement a day, which is what's appropriate for your child and for adults too, and for us to detoxify and to have good health, gut health, brain health.
So the idea of a child being constipated for a week and only going once a week, that's not a minor thing. That's a major sign that Now, we had the opposite problem where our son had 12 unformed bowel movements a day, which was a great sign to us that something wasn't right. And again, none of this has anything to do with autism. It's just that proper or good GI health is really important for us to do basically bodily functions, right? To eat food, to absorb nutrients, to get rid of what needs to get gotten rid of. And so I know there's a lot of adults walking around who don't have a formed bowel movement a day. And not to say that that's not okay, but again, in terms of your body, it's designed to do that At least that's the process that you're going for. And I just I know a lot of people aren't really aware of that.
So they may have a constipated child and not think it's a big deal.
Novlet Davis | 23:24
Yeah, it was a big, very big deal for us because once we started, so first I, you know, researched and I go to PubMed a lot because that's where I'm, you know, internist. I have a degree in biology and master's in physiology.
So I love to look at research. So there's so many research though on PubMed.
I mean, over 80,000 articles even just last year, just on autism. So there's a ton of information.
So I started looking, how can I get the bowel movements better, changing the diet, doing more vegetables, more fiber, doing stuff like magnesium. So I noticed though, once I started getting a diet better, once I started the bowel movements every day, His behavior, all that, you know, he used to bang his head on the stairs. The banging of the head stopped. He was up.
You know, half the night, all that kind of stuff stopped. So I got, I read every book too. I was up three o'clock most. I know Cass probably the same thing. I didn't sleep. I didn't sleep much myself. I was up like three o'clock every morning. My husband's a chiropractor.
So we were all up all the time researching. I mean, how can we help him? And so we researched. We read Natasha McBride, the Gaff's book. And she said in Europe.
Brain function. So now I know, but back then I just know by looking at him as a parent, that if he doesn't have a bowel movement, his attitude, the angry, the hitting of the head and all those things were worse.
So we got the enema back. And if he did not have a bowel movement, then I'd get that enemy kit out and he was going to have a bad moment one way or the other.
Len Arcuri | 25:33
You made sure it happened. So let's hover over this for a second, because I think you had a lot of really good concepts I'd like to just focus on.
So if a parent's listening and they're like, okay, how does diet work? Matter, like in terms of the behaviors.
So your son was basically getting kicked out of a school because they said those behaviors, whatever he was doing, I'm guessing aggressive or unruly or whatever the case may be. So if you're looking at it now and you're saying, okay, well, Diet. You taking control of the diet resulted in those behaviors lessening or going away. What specifically do you think it was?
So in other words, the diet could make a big difference perhaps if there were nutrients that he needed and wasn't getting in his existing diet. So therefore, upgrading food may have given them nutrients that helped with the proper functioning and the like. But And so I'm guessing that was a part of it. But otherwise, I think what you focused on is the fact that the GI issues he was having and the fact that he wasn't, that basically he was kind of retaining and not excreting the waste, that the toxins were basically wreaking havoc.
Like they should have been exited each day, but instead they were accumulating. Yes. And that was the reason why changing the diet cooking yourself, not having the chemicals, additives, and all those things that come with processed food. And I'm guessing perhaps eliminating some foods that maybe he was allergic or sensitive to. Yes. Right.
So it was more of a toxicity. Issue for Christopher. Is that correct?
Novlet Davis | 27:18
Yes. So it was both. It was all that you mentioned.
So when he was, the gut was so distended, he was reabsorbing toxins. I realized that.
Plus you just could not be comfortable because if you have bowel, if someone has bowel movements, just sitting in there, your belly just getting more distended. And I think he probably wanted to go. Then it hurts probably, but he wasn't able to tell me That it hurts.
So I think because of that, with the pain, he didn't know how to express it. Then he would be...
And then the nutrients, I think that with him not being absorbed, just like you said, with all the inflammation in the gut. Not being able to absorb all those proper nutrients, can't make a lot of the enzymes and all that stuff.
So magnesium, you know, all those zinc, all those things taste. So everything was off.
So I find that once I started giving him very nutrient dense food and I did start, you know, multivitamins too. I started doing all those things that he wasn't banging his head anymore. I noticed he would line up toys, but he was, he wasn't crying as much because he would have these meltdowns that could go on for a long time, for 45 minutes, he would just go on and on.
So all those kind of got a little bit less, all the, you know, he would kind of have his hand up with his fingers up his face and kind of always kind of stemming and, spinning around in circles, turning lights on and off, walking on his tiptoe, just, you know, So all those things I noticed with the change in diet and just doing just a change in diet, I went to organic. Because that's all I could find. And just real food, which I spent all day Saturday in the kitchen preparing.
Like I prepared what I did because I was so busy. I'd prepare for like three, four days at a time.
So on Saturdays, I would go... Buy all my groceries, buy my meat, like a good whole foods, get all organic. Because seasoning my meat, I was determined that he is not getting anything processed.
So I would get all my season, my onions, scallion. I would blend them up in a blender, put a little salt. I would make a basic jar of that. I would season all my meat and freeze them and then cook some.
So I was, my whole day on Saturday was, was in the kitchen, just preparing and prepping and labeling and all that stuff. So everything.
So, so yeah, so we had a, he had a lot of nutrient dense food, when I was done with everything. Yes.
So I think it's, I really think that And one thing I want to say to parents is because when I was doing that Lent for the first month, because people say, I've tried gluten-free for one. I did gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, diet-free.
So they said, I tried it for one month and I didn't see anything. But I could have given up because I was going for At least six, seven, eight months. I saw some behavior improvements, but as far as speech, as far as awareness. I would still have to hold on to him or put something around him when we're going anywhere because he'd run away. I still had to watch him in the backyard because he'd pick up the bird poop and try to eat it. I still, you know, you take the dog food and try to eat it.
So I still had to, I still had, I see him with the dog food in his mouth. So I still had to, I still saw all of that. And there are days where I said, Is he going to get any better?
I mean, I'm doing all this and he's still just as autistic as they come. So I realize, and I'll tell this to parents, I realize that when people have tried it one day and, it didn't work. You can't. For me, I was solidly a year not knowing if he was going to get better, not knowing if he was going to talk. I didn't know any of this. I was just going that, you know, I was just going. But when he started improving after doing all and I didn't do anything miraculous. I really just did the diet supplements. I did some testing and not everyone is going to be like that for. But my whole thing was making sure he had really good food.
And then after a year. All of a sudden he just started.
I mean, I just, it's like exponential after that. It's like, I don't know. It's just like, exponential after that. If you see one year video and another year video, he started talking, he started looking at me. He was more aware. He was playing with his siblings. The fear, he had a lot of fear. He could not go on a rollercoaster, could not ride a bicycle. He was so fearful. All that kind of went away.
So for us, it was a solid year of just before we started seeing changes.
Len Arcuri | 32:10
Well, in what you just shared, there's two really powerful power moves, I think, that you put into place. Let's go back a little bit. One was the batch. Cooking, right?
So you Didn't have time to do that, to kind of cook and prepare and do all that every day, given your schedule. So you just devoted a day, right? Which you could have been doing other things. You devoted a day because it was a priority and to batch cook and to like portion it out and use like a food saver to free, you know, freeze meals and all that. That's a fantastic way of making this more manageable.
So yeah, that, that's a great best practice cast, which I wish he was on this call because I'm, there's so much that you two have in common and you can share even more tips, but yeah, batch doing it all in one day and having it for the week. That's a, Very powerful thing to do.
And then the other thing, which, you know, is definitely worth us focusing on is you committed to the idea that food really mattered. And you let go of the idea that, okay, and it's got, I got to see results quick. Because it is a long, like diet changes and upgrading the diet dietary interventions, whatever word you want to give it. It's a long-term play. Now, you could see some short-term improvements if you are feeding less toxic food to a child, right? You could expect that. But otherwise, no, it is a long-term play.
So the fact that you went in it committing to it and not saying, I'm going to do it for a month, and if it doesn't work, I'll go back. Because that's the other thing, if you look at it, is this isn't a intervention. Let's see if this helps. It's really the food avenue is more of a total lifestyle shift. It is.
Right? Where you're like, this is how we're going to operate. And I trust that this will help everyone in the family, including my child on the spectrum. And I have no idea when positive things will occur that I might be able to pinpoint. But even if I don't, It's still worth doing because this is just the right thing to do for overall health. Yes.
Novlet Davis | 34:22
And I have to say, when we committed to doing this, because I have three children and When we committed to doing this, myself and my husband, we committed together and we decided as a family, we're going to do this. We cleaned out our house. No one in my house, in our house, was eating any gluten. No one in our house was eating any chips or anything. We didn't go to a fast food.
So we committed as a family to doing this. And I tell my other siblings, you know, this is what we're going to do. I said, our son is drowning and you guys have lost. I think a dietician told me this. With her child before he even had the diagnosis of autism and said, he's drowning. You guys have life jacket on. We all have to save him. We have to do this as a family together. I can't do it by myself.
So, so everybody was eating the same thing. So we all went good and afraid.
And then just as an aside, my, the twin sister was born with congenital hypothyroidism. So she was on thyroid medicine from she was born. And when she was about two and a half, the endocrinologist tried to And the TSH went up.
So he said she was going to be on it for life. When I started the Diet for Everybody... After taking her back to her endocrinologist, maybe like six months later, She took her off the medicine.
And then he monitored her blood for every six weeks and then six months. And then he discharged her. And she's 12 years old too now. She did not have congenital hyper. She was just toxic. I think she was really just toxic because once we detoxed everybody with all the diet and, you know, we were juicing and making kefir, I mean, sauerkraut. He was fine.
So you can tell I'm sold on that diet. I'm really sold on that lifestyle change because I've seen it take away sickness from my household.
Len Arcuri | 36:18
No, that's absolutely amazing. And then now you stumbled on another, a third power move that you did, which is you did it together. And, you know, and so if, Certain food wasn't worth feeding Christopher, right? If it was quote unquote toxic in your mind from his standpoint, right? Why not for everyone, right? Everyone can benefit, even though I'm sure you and your husband didn't have to give up gluten and you could have continued eating it.
Yeah, what a power move for everyone to do it. And we did the same thing. And I always had to scratch my head at other parents that I would see at conferences who would talk about doing a special diet for their child, like a real restrictive diet, But their child's the only one at the table with that diet and everyone else is eating all the other stuff. And I'm like, wow, that... For that child, that's just got to be so hard and a wonder. Meltdowns and picking, hey, the child's looking around saying, I'll have what you're having. And so again, it may seem like a sacrifice, but it really is a gift you give yourself to eat a cleaner diet to model for your child eating healthy, nourishing foods. And I think your story, there's so much that I can resonate with. I think so much that's going to really resonate with our listeners. And your child, you know, I think the key message here is that gut health is really important.
Novlet Davis | 37:41
Very important.
Len Arcuri | 37:42
Food, is perhaps the biggest move you can make. But if gut health's important, there's a lot of shortcuts that are out there too. Let's say if somebody has a child like Christopher was with severe constipation, you know, you could take a shortcut and say, okay, constipation. Okay, let's take Miralax every day and move things along. But with Miralax, there's like so many issues. We did an entire episode on it about the dangers of PEG, which is the only ingredient in Miralax. And that's where You know, it's a little bit complex in terms of looking at your child's gut health and having a medical practitioner like yourself to guide you with what's going on, what's happening that might be resulting in constipation or diarrhea or whatever the case may be.
And then giving you a plan that's unique for your child. But yes, while there's a lot of things that can help your child, a lot of interventions, getting food right is cleaning it up and making sure it's as nourishing and non-toxic as possible is a move that can benefit any child.
Novlet Davis | 38:51
Yes. And it's so tricky. I think I say sometimes that it seemed to me to be healthy these days. It almost takes a whole degree in just food science because I mean, some parent, I was even reading an article yesterday and it was talking about, I think it was in New York. I'm not sure which, where it was, but it was talking about, this, the artificial sweeteners that a lot of the artificial sweeteners aspartame and all those that they found, I think is it, I forget the name is neotame, I think that it's, a One of the parent, one of the compound or something coming from aspartame that they, that's in yogurt, they put it in yogurt and all these other things. And that the research found that it was toxic to the lining of the gut and toxic to the gut microbiome and how detrimental it was for your health.
So a mother, some say, I'm feeding my child yogurt. I'm trying to get them healthy. But you're taking 10 steps forward and 15 steps backward because you don't know that you're trying to get the gut microbiome healthy because you're doing that. And instead, you're destroying it because, you know, with little things like that.
And then I said, Mel, good thing I did everything from scratch because I didn't take any chances because sometimes you think something doesn't have anything bad in it because it's touted as being good. But then again, process, you look and you're not making gains.
So just the little things like that can really throw you off. And you're saying, well, the diet isn't working.
Well, that's why it's not working because you're doing everything, but you're giving that and you're destroying everything that you're just built. There are so many factors involved.
Len Arcuri | 40:34
Yep. Which is why getting good guidance from the right practitioners, again, people with the right perspective, there's a bunch out there. And generally, though, you don't necessarily want to just go to a nutritionist who may, you know, be kind of just giving generic guidance. It's, you know, someone who's got a perspective that really is useful is the key finding that right person or practice like yours. Tell people a little bit about how they can find out more about you.
Novlet Davis | 41:01
I am in Cary, but I do virtual or in person if you're in the state of North Carolina. I do have people fly from other states and come to North Carolina. My website is RaleighHolisticHealthcare.com.
So you could find me on that website.
Len Arcuri | 41:20
All right, perfect. Well, I really thank you for this conversation. I think, again, this is just a topic we can't talk enough about. And I really appreciate you sharing your story and about what's really possible for a parent if they really take this seriously and focus on food. And again, what that means for you, it's going to be unique, but there's so much opportunity to improve things with something as simple as just really taking being more mindful and upgrading the diet.
So thank you for sharing with everyone how they could do that. Thank you. Your child wants you to transform now. And the fastest way to do that is with personalized support. To learn more, go to allinparentcoaching.com/intensive.
