All-natural adjustment
Local mother shares learning experience that changed a childBy Dave Emke demke@post-journal.com
Article Photos
Something just wasn't right with Renee Shutters' 4-year-old son Trenton.
It was fall 2008 and he was starting pre-kindergarten. His attitude was puzzling, and far from ideal.
''It got to be to the point where the teacher and I were writing back and forth about his changes in behavior,'' Mrs. Shutters said. ''Basically, two or three times a week, he was just flopping on the ground and crying.''
Combining the meltdowns with some angry and disturbing comments he was making toward his teacher and classmates, his mother and his teacher were quite concerned about young Trenton.
''It was really scary, because other days he would be fine,'' Mrs. Shutters said. ''I was really worried about him, thinking that maybe he was bi-polar, because of the extremes of being great one day and so angry the next.''
Saying she used prayer and soul-searching to try to help her get to the bottom of Trenton's problem, Mrs. Shutters found her answer one evening where she least expected it - at the Jamestown Savings Bank Ice Arena.
The Shutters family was hosting a Jamestown Jets ice hockey player for the 2008-09 season, and when attending a game one night Renee happened to encounter a friend and enter a conversation she was not expecting to have.
''I ran into my friend who I hadn't seen in forever, and it was the only game she's ever gone to, and the second thing she said is that she found out her son is allergic to Red 40,'' Mrs. Shutters said.
After inquiring what that meant, Trenton's mother discovered that her friend's son had actually been removed from his preschool for destructive behavior - behavior that his mother was able to trace back to an adverse reaction to Red 40, a common artificial food coloring present in many processed foods.
Thinking back, Mrs. Shutters remembered that Trenton's preschool teacher had said that a student in her class had suffered from a similar problem in a previous year, and she began to think that Trenton's problem might be related.
''We had brought in different foods than we normally would have in the house,'' because of hosting the Jets player, Mrs. Shutters said. ''He loved these 'teenager foods,' so my little guy was getting a sip of this and a taste of that.''
Checking through her cupboards, Trenton's mom found that it wasn't just the Gatorade and Laffy Taffy the Jets player was bringing into the house that were causing problems in her son. Artificial colorings were present in almost everything - Red 40, Yellow 6 and others were in frosting, pancake mix, snack foods ... nearly everything her young son was ingesting on a daily basis.
So she started doing some research on the Internet and discovered the Feingold Diet Program, which cites studies claiming that artificial colorings - along with three preservatives and artificial flavorings - are neurological toxins that cause serious learning, behavioral and health effects in people who are sensitive to them.
''They basically cause these kids to just have no self control,'' Mrs. Shutters said. ''They're angry, they're depressed, all sorts of terrible things.''
She immediately placed Trenton on the Feingold Program, eliminating all foods with artificial colors and flavors from his diet. When Trenton returned to school, his mother met with his teacher to explain the new diet she was placing him on, and she provided the teacher with special treats to give Trenton during snack time.
The change in the child was almost shocking, his mother reports.
''Normally, the big problem at school would be the tricycle - if he didn't get one, he would be flopping on the ground and inconsolable,'' she said. ''Two days later, no artificial colors in his diet, he doesn't get a tricycle. He looks at his teacher and says, 'Oh well, maybe next time it'll be my turn.'''
Trenton's teacher was ''cracking up'' as she shared the story in an e-mail, Mrs. Shutters said.
''We were like, 'Oh my goodness, can this really be it?''' she said. ''It is just amazing, the progress we've seen from that point on.''
MAKING A DIFFERENCE
A little over a year later, Mrs. Shutters said she can spot children around town as they are having ''Red 40 meltdowns.''
''It's just where the child has no control, just flopping and screaming,'' she said, adding that most of the time the behavior is seen in boys because of testosterone mixing with mercury in the dye. ''There's all sorts of science that backs that up. Girls might do a little worse in school, but they don't cause a whole lot of commotion, so nobody ever notices.''
The commotion that Trenton used to cause in school, as well as on the ice rink as a member of the Timbits Minor Hockey Program, is gone these days. The seemingly magical transformation drew skepticism from some, including from Trenton's hockey coach, who had gotten so used to seeing the boy's poor behavior on the ice that he had needed to place a ''shadow'' junior coach on him to make sure he didn't hurt himself or others.
At a summer hockey camp, two coaches approached Trenton's parents to ask what had happened to change the little boy's attitude so dramatically.
''Two coaches stopped us and said, 'What did you do? Who is this kid?'' Mrs. Shutters said. ''I think they thought we put him on drugs.''
What they had actually done, however, is just the contrary - they had removed toxins from their son's system. No more Yellow 5 and 6, Red 3 and 40, Blue 1 and 2, Green 3, Orange B, BHA, BHT, TBHQ, artificial flavors, or vanillin for Trenton. And while that may sound like it would require a drastic change in diet, replacing ''normal'' foods with a steady diet of bland, tasteless pastes or something, Trenton actually can continue to eat a rich variety of foods available at normal, everyday grocery stores, his mom said.
''Feingold has a researched grocery list,'' she said. ''I can go through the grocery store and know that I can buy things like Premium Brand Saltines Original or Fritos - those are OK.''
Anything she can't find in a store, Mrs. Shutters said she purchases online. She said she has gotten many baking supplies from online sites, in addition to snack foods including SunSpire chocolate candies - similar to M&Ms, but colored with vegetable-based coatings instead of artificial products.
As for her shopping list, the Feingold program offers detailed grocery lists of acceptable, non-artificially flavored and colored foods including products by Breyers, Edy's, Jif, Tyson, Jelly Belly, Ghirardelli, Lay's, Kraft and Orville Redenbacher's. Yes, even Pizza Hut makes the grade.
''Basically, they took out the BHT, which is a petroleum-based preservative,'' Mrs. Shutters said of how Pizza Hut became all-natural.
Other restaurants are accommodating as well, she said. Applebee's will specially produce all-natural food with a pre-submitted doctor's request form, for example, she said.
''I've been really happy that when I explain the situation, and when people see how far we've come, and they see what an impact this has had, I think it's amazing the support I've gotten,'' Mrs. Shutters said. ''I've been trying to help as many other moms as I can, because I know how desperate I was.''
LENDING A HELPING HAND
One specific local establishment that helped her out recently was Ecklof's Bakery, which made Trenton's sixth birthday a special one this past December. Mrs. Shutters bought all-natural food colors and shared them with the team at Ecklof's, who were ''absolutely fantastic'' about working with her on the project, she said.
''I went through their ingredients, and their chocolate cake just happened to be natural anyway,'' she said. ''Their frosting usually would have one artificial ingredient in it, but they said they could scoop out the frosting for my cake before they added that one ingredient.''
Mrs. Shutters donated the all-natural food colors to Ecklof's, and she said the bakery has expressed a willingness to use them and the special, non-artificial frosting for any mothers who are interested in trying the Feingold Diet with their children. Trenton's cake exceeded all of her expectations, she said.
''They did it with a great big smiley face and rainbows on it, and my little boy was just so happy,'' Mrs. Shutters said. ''It was a gorgeous cake and it was all-natural.''
The smiley face on the cake was symbolic because not only does Trenton love smiley faces, his mother said, but his attitude since the change in his diet has been sunny and bright - in stark contrast to what his mother, teachers and hockey coach were seeing in the days when he was ingesting artificial colors and flavors.
Though she admits it was not quite as easy as just flipping a switch, Mrs. Shutters says the change in Trenton was quick and it was drastic. Within two weeks, she said, even he had noticed the difference in the way he felt.
''We were saying our prayers at night, and he looked at me and said, 'Mommy, I think I'm finally happy now,''' she said. ''You can imagine how that felt. My little boy, who all this time had been so angry and depressed, all of a sudden felt good again. It was just amazing to me.''
A quality engineering manager at Whirley Drink Works in Warren, Mrs. Shutters has been trained to conduct root cause analysis in situations - by directing corrective measures at root causes, the likelihood of a problem reoccurring is minimized. And it was clear to her that she had found the cause of Trenton's problem. And through her research into issue - and discovering all the research that has already been done on the topic - she realized that the word must be spread to mothers everywhere.
''Here are these neurological toxins that are cumulative in these children's brains, and some people can metabolize them better than others,'' she said. ''It's not just behavior that it affects. These toxins will find your weakest link, and that's where it will show up. ... There are studies that were done in the 1980s where they removed the stuff out of the kids' breakfasts and lunches and the kids who were learning disabled, 60 percent of them were no longer learning disabled.''
Mrs. Shutters now conducts workshops in which she shares what she knows about the Feingold Diet and the dangerous effects of artificial colors and flavors. She is willing to hold them for any group such as a Rotary Club or Parent-Teacher Association that is interested in hearing her speak, and she also offers to meet with any number of interested mothers who would like to gather on a weekend or a Sunday. She is currently planning to hold such a workshop at the Wegmans cafe on Sunday, Feb. 21 at 3 p.m.
For more information, contact Mrs. Shutters at 488-0407 or by e-mail at viper3870@yahoo.com.
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noneofurbusiness
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02-18-10 5:06 PM
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Our meeting venue has changed from Wegman's to BETHEL LUTHERAN CHURCH , 904 West Third Street, Jamestown, NY. Use the Cook Avenue Entrance. Hope to see you there!!!
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