True-food and herbs can certainly help with seizure recovery.
Step one, get a food allergy panel done. Once we saw on paper what Zach’s offenders were, we were able to eliminated them.
Step two, remove highly processed foods (including seed oils) and sugary drinks.
Step three, add in real fruits, vegetables, cold pressed juice, grass fed meats and unrefined oils and fats.
Zach is calmer and seems more grounded. I can’t be certain if it helped lessen his seizures, but he doesn’t have as many as he once had, and it helps him recover from them by keeping his body strong and resilient. We’ve noted that when Zach’s immune system is under attack the seizures are more prevalent, so building the immune component in his body and keeping it strong helps for sure.
We have used real food and herbs extensively through most of his illness. Using high quality food offers real sustenance and gives the body the fuel to fight as well as the opportunity to pivot quickly if the needle of health is not moving in the direction wanted. No need to titrate. Sometimes we add more protein, sometimes it is bone broth, or pulling the whole grains, adding in an herb for a few days. Good quality, highly nutritious food is a tender and loving friend, it won’t kick you in the liver, keeping in mind that every body is different.
We pay attention. There isn’t one magic bullet. I believe it is the whole package of, clean food, solid sleep, the right supplementation, unconditional love and support, a calm and peaceful environment along with staying on point with intuition that make Zach’s health routine positive.
Clean food:
Words mean mostly nothing in today’s world of food labels: As Zach’s shopper, I must be a researcher, a detective and a naturopathic’ish doctor, and major snooper in order to purchase the safest options for my family.
Words used by the add marketing teams can quickly lead an uneducated shopper to be led astray by the word stamped across a package. Like, natural, which is equated with healthy. There are so many other words and icons dreamed up around a conference table and stamped on packages to trick. I laugh when I see GF, DF, and V stamped on a bag of snap peas, I mean…really? I mostly love it when they stamp a very unhealthy product with all the food icons they can find practically begging people to purchase it. One just has to laugh and walk away. It requires dogged dedication and determination and most shopping days I wish it were easier.
We have options. The processed food world is on a slippery slope and quickly failing us and hopefully itself (instead of “just do it” with a Nike swoosh behind it, I say, “just don’t buy it”). Shop at local farmers markets asking for locally grown organic fruits and vegetables (some vendors do not grow, but purchase from goodness knows where. You have to be on your toes), or grow your own. Research local grass fed meat producers and other local true-food purveyors. This is commonplace in our household. Bottom line, food that is grown, by people you trust in regenerated soil, raised on pasture, or produced using the most natural, clean methods offer humans and animals the best outcome to heal.
We use a modified paleo diet. Not all consumables are food. All true-food can be a help to our bodies. And what I’ve seen here at home, when we consume clean true-food as body fuel we all function better. We can we give our bodies a big ol’ energy boost and our immune systems a leg up. Healthy is the new thin.
PLUG: an unapologetic roof top herald for our organic juice bar and fresh food bistro in Bend Oregon called NWRaw. Because, it was birthed out of our need for clean powerful true-food options and we couldn’t find any locally besides our food cooperative grocery store (which I’m so thankful for). Right now our Bend location is one year old and our little engine that…we hope, could (the restaurant business needs your support). We opened our first NWRaw in Ashland, Oregon, February 2014. It had been going well, so we began expanding in 2020 (😳 bad timing, or was it) with two stores open by August of 2023. In September of 2023 because of the lockdowns and what that did to the restaurant and service industry and after having to subsidize monetarily for two years, we, with tear stained faces, had to close the doors of our first-born-beautiful-business-baby. Living near Ashland and commuting to Bend is now what we do to be close by, to parent and hold the hand of our newly opened second-born-store. Mostly, I stay behind in this extra dry year, to keep an eye on fires beings that it is a literal tinderbox on Staunton Hill and I would be needed to help get Zach to safety.
NWRaw evolved and today it is a beautiful space serving nothing but the best to the local community. I am proud of what we have created and how it has evolved.
The research needed to open a store with quality products has pushed and inspired me to learn a lot about true foods and how they support the body. It has given me information to build Zach’s meal plan… (actually, we don’t meal plan around here, at all, but the word “plan” sounds like we have our shizzel together. We do not. We know he eats only organic and high quality and we have a loose grocery list set on repeat).
Honest scientific studies may change our perception of some foods as we’ve seen. The miracle food, Kale once wearing her crown, has step to the back of the line after having a nice long run. Now it seems like it is heritage grains at the front of the line. What will it be next? This endeavor will not end in a closed book and a signed plaque. It is a life long journey.
Okay. I’m off of my soapbox!
Our passion and commitment to health may be one of the reasons Zach is doing well. He has his days, but mostly his condition is predictable, so we keep trucking on; his skin glows, his eyes sparkle and speak to us and oh those smiles, be still my heart.
We keep it as simple as possible. Firstly, lots of love and tenderness, clean food, lots of rest and sleep, simple supplements and pure water. The exercise element in this scenario is lacking because of his physical state, but he used to run his “love trail” two or three times per day seven days per week (it is one mile long).
Food and supplements that purported that they might support Zach and help his recovery from seizures and bolster his nervous system were a manageable option for someone in my realm of learning, since the pharmaceuticals weren’t stopping the seizures.
Firstly the CBD oil I’ve mentioned before in other blogs.
B-vitamins, especially methylated b vitamins, extra b-12 (in the form of methylcobalamim), magnesiums: Malate, Taurate, L-Threonate and Glycinate are my favorite forms to give Zach. Vitamin D-K2 5,000 mg, or more if needed. With clean highly nutritious foods we try not to give a multiple vitamin as most are not well absorbed.
I have a cupboard of go to’s for building the immune system, natural cold and flu remedies, etc but I won’t go into that here.
Prepare a healthy meal at home, put on some music, sing and sip a good wine while you prepare. Living food absorbs energy just as we do when we are around someone who radiates good energy, we feel it. What we feel is real and it transfers from living thing to living thing. The food we consume is living as it should be. Dead food, as I call it, has no energy, no light or life therefore it doesn’t impart, or give you verve as our food is intended. Go for the real, go for the light, go for the best.
FOOD WE USE:
pasture raised turkey, chicken, lamb or pork
green beans, avocados, apples, leafy greens, sprouts, olives, sweet potatoes, carrots and fresh berries along with a long list of other fresh fruits and vegetables.
grass fed whole milk yogurts and fermented foods (so easy to do at home),
organic olive oil, coconut oil and ghee, etc.
homemade wholegrain sourdough breads in moderation (make at home also)
We offer treats like organic pizza, or an occasional few bites of keto ice cream, or I make cookies from scratch or pie and bring him a serving, but as a family we don’t eat a lot of sweets and when we do, I make them and cut the sugar. They are treats.
Dining help for those who need extra assistance to feed themselves plate guard, utensils, towel bibs.
Zach feeding himself with the help of a plate guard a few years back (those big brown eyes slay me!) 
Lots of verity and bright color with good fats
I am no Augusto and Michaela Odone creating a product like Lorenzo’s oil. But I feel our health regime for Zach has helped his quality of life. It is the best I can offer and that is all any of us can give. We had no where else to turn, but to send out a desperate plea to God, The Universe, Nature, Beauty, Light and be willing to study and apply what I’d learned, dig in and try natural things. I’m not the kind of person to just throw up my hands and do what our neurologist all those years ago told us to do, which was to go home and love on Zach….till the end. I will do that sir and more. I am here to give it my all. Onward I say…
As I sat with an RN the other day going over Zach’s care, she did a light exam, pulse, oxogen and a physical look at his tummy tube, then she looked at me and said that compared to some of her other patients with similar medical issues, he looks astonishingly well and healthy; that she wouldn’t have known our son had any issues other than that maybe he was a quiet individual. I nearly burst into tears. And I reasoned we must be doing something right. Zachariah does look well and though I know the outward appearance of a person does not necessarily show what is on the inside, it certainly can speak volumes about overall health. His seizures are less now than they used to be. We are hanging on to hope with as much joy as we are able.
I will never stop looking for ways to help Zach.
In a nutshell:
We use mostly dried herbs for teas, or alcohol free drops.
We walk away from refined foods (mostly), fast (fat) foods, from GMO’s and things sprayed on or added to our food to make it shelf stable. Bio engineered foods are not on Zach’s grocery list either. So mama puts on her reading glasses while she is shopping and reads labels. I’m that lady. I check for things I know do not agree with Zach (with any of us) MSG and glyphosate being huge culprits as well as a list of chemicals made in labs that I can’t pronounce. Healthy food does require more time in the kitchen, which I’m not mad about.
TREATS CAN BE MOSTLY HEALTHY:
GF/DF/EF Oatmeal Cookies (preheat oven to 350) makes 6 dozen
Mix in a glass measuring cup the flax +water, equivalent of 3 eggs (3 TBL spoons of milled flax and 9 TBL of water), mix in
1tsp of organic vanilla
1 C organic golden raisins
Mix all of the above and let set for an hour
1 C extra virgin coconut oil, or grass fed butter
Mix 2 C organic maple sugar crystals, or organic cane sugar
2 ½ C Gf Flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp’s soda
2 C gluten free and glyphosate free rolled oats
¾ cups chopped organic pecans or walnuts (optional)
Add egg/raisin mixture and mix well
Drop heaping teaspoons onto ungreased sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes till browned around the edges.