NAET Allergy Treatments

Hi to everyone who still reads this abandoned blog. :) This will be my final blog entry on The Gluten Free Gathering....however I will be leaving the blog up.

I wanted to share how after being gluten and dairy free (and nut and soy and egg free) for the past 18 years, I no longer have any allergies.

I am going to paste what I wrote on our private family blog and you can do what you like with the information. I know a few years ago, someone wrote about something similar - how their family (3 out of 5 family members had severe gluten/milk allergies) had their allergies healed/treated/fixed through some alternative medicine. I totally dismissed the idea thinking it was impossible....but it's not. My hope is that this could help you in your own GF journey. Anyway, here is what I wrote...

ALLERGY TREATMENTS

So I have been wanting to write about the treatments that we have all had. It is complicated, but at the same time very simple. I'll explain a little of process.

We went to a naturopath doctor who practices NAET (Nambudripad's Allergy elimination Treatments).

We had been told about this treatment by  friends whose little boy had developed fairly severe milk and gluten allergies. They told us about the treatments - and while it sounded kind of weird, we also knew that this couple was very conservative and would not get involved in any new-age stuff. I am very open to alternative health care - I study herbs and use them in my own family's health care. I try to be proactive in preventative medicine - still this seemed far out.

One of the first things we did was research NAET on the Internet. The results were not very promising! About 95% of the reviews we read were negative - it didn't work - it was hokey - it was a money grab, etc. We already knew that there would be more negative than positive as that is just the way the Internet is...but this seemed bad! But when we talked to our friends again - their boy was still fine on milk and gluten.

Last fall, Steve and I were out for dinner, planning different goals for the family. On the top of my list was to at least TRY the NAET treatments. 

If they didn't work...well, we would lose some money.

If they did work - or even help a little, it could really make it easier for the family especially as the older kids are out doing different activities, working and singing more.

Steve and Emily went in first. Steve is very sensitive and he said that he had no "bad vibes" or whatever from either the Dr.'s or the treatments.

Emily had the most severe allergies and we wanted her started first. She had a lot of different things to deal with and she still has some treatments left (though she is leaving them for now as they are not severe).

They responded well to the treatments and as we could afford to, we started the next person. I was about 5th in our family to go through and unbelievably, after over 18 years with gluten intolerance and milk allergy - ALL MY ALLERGIES ARE GONE!

I can eat anything and feel well! it is MOST amazing!

I told Steve that just finding out exactly what I was allergic to was worth it as it wasn't what I thought I was allergic to. Interestingly, I was not allergic to gluten - only to oats and barley. With the dairy, I was allergic to the casein and milk fat. With nuts it was just almonds. I was also allergic to a variety of vegetable oils (thought I had gall bladder problem but I was not able to digest the oils properly). The night shade family (potatoes, peppers, tomatoes) was a surprise allergy for me.

As to the process of the treatments....

Just a word of advise: before going to a naturopath using the NAET treatments,  confirm that they are registered and trained to do it properly. From what we read on the web, there are many people out there just pretending to know what they are doing...and people are getting duped.

An official website is: http://www.naet.com/Patients/patientshome.aspx

When we had our treatments, the Dr. would first test for different allergies. We would lay down and hold an arm strait up in the air and they would apply pressure (trying to push our arm down) to test how strong we were. Then, in our other hand, we would hold a small glass vial with a concentrated form of an allergen in it. The Dr. would push on our upraised arm again and if we reacted (or were allergic) to the substance we were holding, our upraised arm would be too weak to hold up. If we were not allergic, we would have strength to resist the pressure and we could hold our arm up.

Then to treat each allergy, we would hold the allergen in one hand and lay on our tummies. The Dr. would gently massage down either side of our spine (where the main nerve impulses run) several times. Then they would use a little vibrator on about 10 pressure points on our hands and feet (the whole process is very non-invasive). Then we avoid that allergen for 25 hours (one full day cycle) - then start trying to eat that allergen. In all but one case, we were "fixed" the first time around - Emily needed two treatments for one stubborn allergy.

The treatments uses principles of acupressure, kinesiology, and magnetism. I am sure that some naturopaths mix the NAET treatments with other eastern healing techniques that could get weird. You would just have to use your own discernment on a case by case basis. 

Hey, I'm not sure if I made this all very clear or just muddied the waters, but please feel free to ask me any (nice) questions you might have about this. If you are in Alberta, I can give the the name and number or the Doctors that we used (a husband and wife team) in Red Deer.

 This has really changed our family life! 

We can order pizza! :)

I make home-made wheat bread that rises lovely and tastes SO good.

Everything has become simpler with cooking and traveling and eating out!

Our grocery bill has NOT gone down. Did you know our family could easily eat our way through over $75 dollars worth of cheese in a month?!?!

We have a few treatments left - Will, Stella and Pearl have several each and Steve, Gray and Emily have 1 or 2 each. It has been expensive - costing us over $3500 (Canadian $).

The Lord kept providing for us through this - and to see my kids able to eat good healthy food and also have the freedom to eat out with friends or at singing events....it was so worth it!

Roll-Out Buckwheat Biscuits

These biscuits are WONDERFUL!

1 cup     buckwheat flour
1/4 cup  rice flour
3/4 cup  potato starch
1/2 cup tapioca starch
1 tsp     guar or xanthan gum
2 1/2 tsp  baking poweder
1/8 tsp   baking soda
1 tsp      salt
 _____________________________

1/2 cup  margarine or lard, cold
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2 Tbsp    coconut milk (undiluted)
1             egg
2 Tbsp    honey
1 tsp       apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup   cold water (depending on your air humidity level, you may need to add a little more)


Procedure: (Preheat oven to 425)
1. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl.
2. Cut fat into Tbsp size pieces and add to dry ingredients.
3. Cut into flour with pastry blender until the fat is the size of large peas.
4. Combine the coconut milk, egg, honey, vinegar and water together. Whisk until smooth.
5. Add the wet ingredients to dry all at once and mix until just combined. (see note)
6. Transfer dough onto a board that has been sprinkled with tapioca starch.
7. Knead a few times to form dough into a lump.
8. Roll out to 3/4" to 1" thick. Cut with a starch sprinkled cutter.
9. Place on cookie sheet.
13. Bake at 425 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned on the top and cooked through.

Notes:
Gluten free flours absorb liquids slower than gluten flours. I often let my dough sit for 5 minutes to absorb liquids before I add any flour or starch to a wet-looking dough. If this biscuit dough is still too wet to roll out after a few minutes, I add 1/4 cup potato starch and lightly mix in (you don't want to over mix).

I bake on the top rack of the oven as these biscuits burn easily on the bottom. They are delicious with stew for a hot meal or with a salad for a cool meal. My favorite is a biscuit with honey for breakfast.

These biscuits freeze well and are still moist when defrosted.

"FREEDOM" BREAD (Gluten Free, Egg Free, Dairy Free, Soy Free)

This egg free thing has thrown me for a loop. I have countless times picked up a recipe to bake and had to put it aside because I was not sure how to change it and didn't have time to experiment. This is REALLY limiting!
I have been slow to post recipes because I like to have them turn out nice for me at least twice at home before I put them up. My first try at bread was great. The next was a flop (think BRICKS). As I was going to sleep one night I had an idea of something to change - so the next day I tried again and the batch turned out quite good. The next two times yielded better and better results. So I am going to share the recipe. It is not corn-free (I apologise) but if you can not have corn, I am sure you could experiment with other starches.
I was not only happy with the soft inner texture, the crunchy crust, and the high rise - I was also very happy with the taste! It has a slightly nutty, sweet flavor which I especially like toasted. :)
This recipe yields 2 large loaves, but I think three small loaves would work too.

1 cup     tapioca starch
1 cup     potato starch
1.5 cups     corn starch
1 cup     buckwheat flour (could try sorghum flour - it is not easy to find where I live)
2 cups     rice flour
2 Tbsp     sugar
1/2 tsp     xanthan gum
2 Tbsp     psyllium husks or powder
1.5 tsp     salt

1.5 Tbsp     yeast
1 Tbsp       sugar
1 cup       hot water

3 cups      hot water
0.25 cups   oil or fat
1/4 cup     flax seeds

Directions:
-Mix the first set of ingredients (all dry) in a large mixing bowl.

-Combine the yeast, sugar and hot water and set aside to bubble.

-Put the flax seed and 3 cups of water in a blender. Blend on high until all the seeds are broken up and the mixture starts to thicken slightly (<1min.).

-Preheat oven to 430 degrees.

-Pour the flax mixture, oil and yeast mixture into the dry ingredients. With an electric mixer or by hand, beat the dough for until smooth. Continue to mix the dough on medium speed for 3 to 5 minutes (my daughter Emily has found that this drastically improves the texture of the bread).

-Scrape into two greased, large sized loaf pans and set on top of stove to rise for about 10 - 15 min. or until the dough is just above loaf pan.

-Gently set the pans in the oven and bake for 35 minutes.

-Take out of loaf pans. Lay the loaves on their sides to cool on racks. Wait until mostly cool to slice. Enjoy!

Egg Free Adjustment

The past couple of weeks has been a time of adjustment in my kitchen: an adjustment to egg-free. For that change to happen, I needed a provoking insentive - afterall, I always felt sorry for folks that had to go egg free. We can't have gluten, milk, nuts or soy....but AT LEAST we could eat eggs.
Not any more.
The insentive for this change was provded by my husband being sick. Steven and Graeme had stopped eating eggs on their own over a year ago. It seemed they were mildly intollerent to them in large doses. Steven continued to have stomach problems and it took us a long time to connect it with eggs in baking. But now that he has tried eating egg-free, his stomach is feeling MUCH BETTER. I am on a campagn to change over my gluten-dairy-soy-nut-free recipes to also be egg-free. :) God must give grace, becuase what I dreaded isn't so bad! (So far!)
One of my first experiences was with cookies. I had several types turn out VERY WELL. In fact: beter then normal.
My next experience was with bread. That also turned out GREAT! I am shocked, amazed and thankful! I will be posting my new recipes over the next day or two. I hope they turn out as well for you as they have for me.
Jenny

2 Minute Mexi-Vinaigrette Dressing

Green Salads with Toasted Tomato-Herb crusted Croutons.

This is one of my favorite dressings of all times! Whether you make it spicy or mild, it is bursting with fresh flavor that adds a real zing to a salad.

As a bonus: it is pretty too. :)

Yield: 1/2 cup - enough for two large salads

Mexi-Vinaigrette Dressing

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (or oil of your choice)

4 tsp  apple cider vinegar

1/4 salsa (mild, medium or hot)

1/4 tsp. GF Italian seasoning

2-3 tsp honey

Put all ingredients in blender and blend until smooth. Pour into small pitcher to serve.

Variations:

-Use a specialty salsa such as spicy mango.

-Add 5-8 small stuffed green manzanilla olives before blending.

NOTE: Since my husband has gone egg-free, he has used this dressing more and more. We have canned salmon as least once a week and I used to add different olives with mayo. Now he puts this dressing on his salmon sandwich and it is DELICIOUS!

The Bestest, Crunchiest, Yummiest Oven Fries

The family gave these fries a top rating at supper tonight - and they WERE good! In fact, when I tried one, I thought, "Oh no! I have gone and made something addicting!" I will have to make them only occasionally or my waist line will reflect my liking for them!
As is my habit, I did not measure ingredients as I cooked. However, it should be fairly simple to guesstimate according to how many potatoes you are using.

CRISPY OVEN FRIES

1 large potato per person, cut into fries
rice flour to coat - 1-2 Tbsp per potato
seasoning salt
onion salt
olive oil 1-2 Tbsp per potato

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place cut potatoes in a bowl. Toss with flour to coat. Sprinkle generously with seasoning salt and onion salt. Sprinkle olive oil over potatoes and toss to coat. Dump onto baking sheet and cook for 45-60 minutes or until crispy and brown.
Enjoy with ketchup, salsa, or the dipping sauce below.

SMOKEY DIPPING SAUCE

1 cup sour cream (for dairy free, use 1 cup mayonnaise)

1-2 cups salsa, according to taste

2 tsp chili powder

2 tsp taco seasoning

few drops of smoke sauce

Stir all ingredients together - adjust seasoning to taste. Great with vegetables, tacos or fries.

Carrot Cake

Baked and arranged by my lovely daughter, Emily.

CARROT CAKE

   Preheat oven to 3
Mix these three ingredients together50*

    1 cup        brown sugar
    1 cup        oil
    4               eggs

.Add these ingredients (except the grated carrots) to the first three. Mix well, than add the grated carrots. 
    1/2 tsp      salt
    1 1/2 tsp   cinnamon
    1 1/2 tsp   baking soda
    1 1/2 tsp   baking powder
    1 tsp         xantham gum
    1 cup        rice flour
    1/2 cup     potato starch - tapioca starch
    2 cups      grated carrots
    
Bake for 40-50 min. Cool.

If you can have dairy, slather this moist cake with cream cheese frosting. If dairy is a problem, try the plain white frosting below. It really is quite nice - if you can keep yourself from thinking about cream cheese! 


                                                                 FROSTING

    3 cups       icing sugar
    2 tsp         margarine
    1 1/2 tsp   vanilla extract

    non-dairy substitute such as Rice Dream
Mix the icing sugar and margarine together, than add milk till the icing till the icing is shiny and has a creamy consistency.