Why There is Hope for Healing:
The body heals itself, to the most optimum health possible. Optimum health is very individualized. It is the individual ability for the body to be the very healthiest it can be. And health is defined by the body’s ability to work exactly as it is supposed to: where every cell, tissue, organ, and organ system is receiving and processing proper, needed nutrients in order to work, and is detoxifying on a regular basis, of things it doesn’t need, in order for it to work properly. So the culprit for optimum health is lack of the good stuff the body requires, and too much of the bad stuff the body doesn’t need. That’s the basics of all wellness and all healing, put in its simplest form. When it comes to Autism, here are some common threads: accumulation of toxic materials in brain and/or nervous system; lack of specific brain-building nutrients, inability for body to absorb needed nutrients, and society’s wrongful way of trying to address outward Autism behaviors. Our society has historically tried to eliminate or reduce typically Autistic outward behavior, such as repetitive motions or speech, which is the exact opposite of what it takes to change the way the brain needs to rewire, to achieve healing.
Brain NeuroPlasticity: The Best News Ever!
Science has discovered that the brain never stops working at making new connections! For our entire lives, neural pathways are built…whether they build towards better brain function or worse brain function, is entirely up to the individual, and the input being given to and received by the brain.
Positive neural connections are built by:
Positive experiences of all kinds, including, but not limited to:
Relational interactions
Mental thoughts
Affirmations
Music
Appropriate Physical Touch
Color Therapy
Aromatherapy
Hydrotherapy
Spiritual Faith and Prayer
As Part of the Body, Wellness for the Brain Requires:
Specific brain-building foods, including fresh, clean and filtered water, as well as nourishing, uplifting and positive music, relationships, entertainment, school, work and home environments, a solid and positive spiritual faith based on truth, and positive mental and emotional states of mind (which ultimately flow out of what an individual is exposed to positively or negatively, AND how an individual processes things…which by the way, is changeable, due to Neuroplasticity throughout life, no matter the diagnosis).
What the body DOESN’T need is toxicity, in terms of not only man made toxic ingredients found in foods, cosmetics, body care, cleaning, laundry care, and any man made product surrounding you, but also the toxicity of negative music and entertainment, toxic relationships, school, work and home environment, or toxic spiritual beliefs, as well as negative mental and emotional states of mind. Most, if not all Autistic children deal with heavy metal toxicity and/or other chemical toxicity that has settled in the brain. All of these are obstacles to building positive neurological networks in the brain!
Therefore, ultimately, the only thing that stands in the way of anyone’s optimum health is either the lack of what the body needs to get the job done, and/ or the overabundance of toxicity that the body doesn’t need. So lifestyle, which includes your relationships, what you eat, your exercise/movement level, your stress levels (how you choose to deal with these stressors/whether you are taking in and absorbing that stress, or letting it go), how much you sleep and quality of that sleep, and even what you think about, how you process what happens to you, what you focus on, the music you listen to, and the things you choose to watch, as well as your spiritual faith…EVERYTHING that you think, do, apply, breathe in, hear/listen to, eat and drink and believe…EVERYTHING, brings you either closer to your optimum health, or takes you farther away from it!
Again, I cannot stress this enough: For every person, optimum health is different, but it is about being the healthiest possible, and developing to the fullest potential possible for that person. With Autism in particular (but honesty, this applies to EVERYTHING), it is most important to be diligent in both nutritional/nourishing excellence and in continuing detoxification! Remembering that the whole person is body, mind and spirit, and we need nourishment in all three, as well as detoxification in all three! These three parts cannot be separated. So suffering in one area will cause suffering of all areas. The mental, emotional and spiritual portions will be discussed in more detail on separate blog articles.
Optimal health will show in reduction of symptoms and increased overall wellness of ANY health issue, no matter what it is, and that includes ASD. Nourishing the body, and detoxifying it can have astounding outcomes!