We have an epidemic of mental illness in America. Robert Whitaker, author of Anatomy of an Epidemic, calls widespread mental illness a modern-day plague. According to Whitaker, the number of Americans who are on disability because of mental illness has tripled in the past two decades.

What’s going on here? Millions of Americans are on mood-altering drugs like Prozac and Ritalin — so why is the rate of mental illness skyrocketing?

Last weekend I attended a seminar with Julia Ross, author of The Mood Cure and The Diet Cure.

I’ll be honest. The day before the seminar, I was having my doubts. Would the seminar really be worth the hundreds of dollars I was shelling out, not to mention the cost of airfare, hotel room and rental car? I had already read both of Julia’s books. How much more could I possibly learn from a seminar?

The seminar ended up being worth so much more than I could have ever paid.

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I haven’t posted about the GAPS diet in a while. We are still on it. It’s been over 3 months now. GAPS stands for Gut and Psychology Syndrome, a book by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, MD. She is a pediatrician in England who is reversing autism, allergies, and other disorders in children in her practice. Three [...]

Note: You may want to skip this post if talk about poop bothers you. I’m not going to get graphic, but stools are discussed. This is our fifth day on the GAPS diet. So far, it hasn’t been too bad. And some amazing things are happening! I was listening to Konstantin Monastyrsky’s lecture on his [...]

I’m relaxing in our “outdoor living room” in the backyard with a glass of Viognier. Seth is putting the baby down. It was hot today, but now it’s pleasantly cool. I can smell someone barbecuing in the distance. Tonight’s dinner will be easy. I got a dozen fresh scallops at the farmer’s market today. So [...]

… and why you need to eat them too. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylju4YQcDi8&rel=1&border=0] This whole series (videos 1-6) is worth watching. They are talking about nutrition for autistic kids… but it is important information for all of us. Did you know that fermenting foods increases the nutrition hundreds of times? Isn't that exciting? Did you know that serotonin [...]