Paleo Play - Autism and MovNat

Very often, we in the autism community seem to focus mostly on food and therapy choices for our kids, but don't spend a lot of time on fitness and exercise unless it has something to do with formal physical therapy.  I, on the other hand, am convinced that a full-life approach to issues like this is the most appropriate way to address any issue, not just autism.  And exercise, particularly the type of exercise that kids should be getting (mainly play), is a key component of that.

Mark Sisson points out the importance of play in his ten rules of the Primal Blueprint, in rules 2,3,4,6,7, and 10.  Obviously he states it overtly in #6, simply "Play."  But those other rules all have to do with promoting HOW kids play and what they get out of it.  Move slowly frequently, lift heavy things occasionally, sprint sometimes, get some sunlight, and use your mind all come from play, especially for kids.  And it's a huge component of his new book, The Primal Connection.  

And what's more, I think it's important with all kids (not just the autistic ones) to expose them to a lot of different kind of stuff and ways to play.  I don't worry much about my kids getting exercise, because our family is so fitness-oriented, but I do worry sometimes about them getting pigeonholed - particularly in Duncan's case.  I think that the more autistic kids get to deal with new stuff, the more they'll be able to adapt to it (even if sensory triggers set them off with it on occasion).  Granted, I understand that this needs to be scaled for each child's sensory needs and abilities, but in our case it's easier than for some.  

I'm preaching to the choir here, but I truly believe that our bodies need to be treated as a system.  We have a dangerous tendency in our country to 1) attack symptoms and not root causes of issues; and 2) to look for a silver bullet to solve an entire problem at once.  Learning to move properly as MovNat espouses can only help to set up better neurological signaling from throughout the body, creating the bodily awareness that neurotypical kids take for granted but that many autistic kids are sorely lacking.  And getting healthy signalling from the body can only help create healthier processing in the brain itself.  

So when we received an invitation from MovNat Ohio to join them for a family training session as they assessed their program and how it might serve the autism community, we jumped at the chance!  I've been infatuated with MovNat since I first saw Erwan Le Corre's "The Workout the World Forgot" video, and one of my personal resolutions for the year was to take as much advantage of MovNat as I can (having the world's first MovNat-certified gym in your area sure makes that easier!).  

The session went beautifully.  I'll defer to MovNat-certified trainer Lori Crock and her recap of the session on their blog for a description and some pictures.  But I'm pleased to say that there's a gym in town that not only views things the same way as I do, but that is showing a wonderful open-mindedness about how their already-fine program can benefit a group of people that frequently get overlooked in the fitness community.  

I'm also going to point out another facet to this that Lori mentions:  MovNat can "teach" us how to play with our kids again.  Too often we defer to toys, and movies, and such when we look for quality time with our families.  And there's nothing wrong with that, as long as it's not the sole focus of how we interact with the ones we love!  Lots of articles are coming out of late about the importance of roughhousing with our kids, particularly at an early age.  But that's not just a benefit for the kids and their development - it's important for the parents as well!  

Think of the idea that the best way to learn something is to have to teach it to someone else.  If we're passing on our knowledge of the world (at all levels, not just intellectual levels) to our kids, at some point we're building our own understanding of it.  And that can do nothing but make us better people as well.  

I look forward to working with Lori and fellow trainer Jeff Turner more as we move forward in life and with our fitness goals - not just for ourselves, but for both our kids as well!  

Autism Speaks Explores Connection Between Breastfeeding and Autism

Autism Speaks, one of the nation's largest autism advocacy and fundraising groups for autistic individuals, addressed a question today that many mothers ask about possible reasons that their children may or may not be autistic: that of breastfeeding.

Autism Speaks: Breastfeeding and Autism Risk

Obviously, breastfeeding has many benefits for a child - the passing of healthy probiotic bacteria and antibodies to help boost the new human's immune system, plenty of healthy fat for the development of the brain, general nutrients for survival, and plenty more.  And the article responsibly mentions this benefit to infant health.

The article goes on to provide a search of PubMed for the many breastfeeding and autism-related studies that have taken place.  And then it very wisely and responsibly mentions that many of these studies do not prove anything, relying more on correlation than causation, pointing out a number of possible variables that could feed into that correlation and making those studies' results less than a stamp of "Yes" or "No."

And finally, the author mentions that such factors as the diet of the mother doing the breastfeeding can be a factor.  If the mother's diet is bad and they're breastfeeding, it only stands to reason that the child's diet will be less than optimal, and the article mentions this as a factor that can contribute to a child's general health, not just their possibility of becoming autistic.

The article says all the right things, for sure.  Encouraging breastfeeding in combination with an improved diet from the mother can only help to ensure that the epigenetic triggers causing autism are kept off.

For more on this topic, it's also recommended to check out Chris Kresser's Healthy Baby Code.

Get Your MovNat On With MovNat Ohio on March 9th

For whatever reason, I've never mentioned MovNat here on Paleomental, but I'm going to do so now.  Because MovNat Ohio, the very first MovNat gym in the world, is offering up a 1-day Fundamentals Workship on March 9th, and I want YOU to come!

MovNat is a system created by Erwan Le Corre, which returns us to the roots of natural movement and trains us to move like our ancestors did.  In many ways, modern life has taken away our natural knowledge of how to move via modern introductions of things like padded shoes, chairs, roads, etc.  And while all these things have arguably helped us develop into the civilization we are today, they've also taken quite a few things away from us:  health, mobility, strength, and a connection with the world.

MovNat is out to change that.  Breaking down human movement into twelve types, (things like walking, running, crawling, climbing, jumping, swimming, etc.) and figuring out the most bodily efficient and optimal ways to do those twelve things, the MovNat practitioner learns to free their body from the status that Le Corre likes to call the "Zoo Human" and releases that human back into the world that we evolved to live in.

By learning how to properly and efficiently move again, the practitioner will then develop the proper muscles for those movements with plenty of mindful practice, and lengthen their lifetime of mobility far beyond what is considered normal for today.  It's the best way to get yourself in shape for anything that life might throw at you!

And MovNat Ohio is offering a one-day Fundamentals workshop, taught by Movnat Certified trainers Lori Crock and Jeff Turner at their Dublin, Ohio facility (and, naturally, the parks and trails around it!).

The link to register is at MovNat Ohio's website, and there's a time-based sliding registration fee.

I'll see you there - and please let them know that I sent you!

Enter Primal Toad's Massively EPIC Giveaway!

How Todd Dosenberry pulled all this together, I don't know, but I admire the heck out of him for it.

Todd, as you may know, is the high-energy blogger over at Toadally Primal and he's got an EPIC Giveaway going on right now, with one of the greatest gift lists I've ever encountered in a Paleo contest!  Check this out:

• Squatty Potty ($80)
• US Wellness Meats Gift Card ($100)
• TX Bar Organics Gift Card ($50)
• CocoMoJoe Bars Variety Pack ($39)
• Kasandrinos Imports Olive Oil 1.25 mL ($42)
• Paleo Kits – Steve’s Club Sampler ($30)
• 1 original large PaleoKit 
• 1 grass-fed small PaleoKit 
• 1 grass-fed Just Jerky 
• 1 original PaleoKrunch bar 
• 1 PaleoKrunch original flavor cereal 
• 1 coconut small PaleoKit 
• Tanka Bar ($10)
• An "I eat heart healthy saturated fat" t-shirt ($20)
• A Primal Blueprint "Grok on" t-shirt ($20)
• The book Practical Paleo – Signed by Diane Sanfilippo ($40)
• The book Make It Paleo – Signed by Bill Staley & Hayley Mason ($35)
• The NomNom Paleo iPad App & NomNom Paleo Socks ($10)
• The book I Love Real Food ($12)
• Toadally Primal Smoothies Package ($29)
• The book Moan Out Loud ($20)
• The Paleo Budget Shopping Guide ($20)
• Robb Wolf’s 30 Day Total Transformation ($25)
• The 21 Day Sugar Detox ($21)
• The 30 Day Intro to Paleo ($15)
• Rebel Fitness/Strength/Running Guides ($147)
• The Primal Blueprint 21-Day Total Body Transformation Pre-Owned ($23)
• The Primal Leap Pre-Owned ($197)
• 1 Year Paleo Magazine Subscription ($45)
• 1 Year Paleo Lifestyle Magazine Subscription ($30)
• 4 Paleo Magazine Issues Used ($28)
• The Real Food Summit ($99)
• Beyond Broccoli Pre-Owned ($20)
• Cereal Killer Pre-Owned ($13)
• Amazon Gift Card ($25)

And there may be more.  Enter this one TODAY!  

World Autism Awareness Day

Hi everyone, today's post is a little more personal than I've posted in the past.  Today is World Autism Awareness Day, and I wanted to ask a bit of a favor of you:  remember autism.  From recent reports, this condition now affects 1 child in 88 born today (1 in 54 boys).

And honestly, it's the little things that really help the most:

• If you see a mom having trouble with her child in a store, when the child is throwing a tantrum or simply not listening, it's possible that mother is dealing with an autistic child who's having a sensory meltdown.  This happens when the kid's senses are out of whack, making them hypersensitive to some stimuli (various noises, too much visual activity, even the feeling of some clothing fabrics or textures of foods can be triggers) and it actually causes them pain.
  
• If you see a parent throwing a fit because the food her child received at a restaurant contains gluten or casein, keep in mind that omitting those proteins may be what's keeping her child from becoming uncontrollable (I'd imagine this one is more understandable for people reading this blog).
  
• If you see a kid who's "stimming," or shaking their hands around or doing something that looks like grabbing at imaginary butterflies, don't stare or get uncomfortable - this is the way that many autistic kids blow off a little steam, like tapping a pencil or drumming your fingers.
  
• If you hear a child grunting, squealing, or squawking and it is annoying you, think about how annoying it must be to be that child and not be able to form words.  Many autistics are non-communicative because they physically can't speak, even though they may have a lot to say.
  
• If you see a kid who's ignoring you when you try to be friendly and say hi, they may not just be rude or insensitive, they may be autistic with severe social issues and not understand the reason behind being friendly or social, so they simply aren't.  Many autistic kids have to intellectually learn the social cues that neurotypical folks take for granted.

There's so much more I could go into here, but it's really important that, especially with the rising rates of autism in the world, we understand that these kids need some different sorts of understanding.  If you'd like to look into this more, I highly recommend the book: Ten Things Every Child with Autism Wishes You Knew by Ellen Notbohm.  It's short and to the point, but it'll explain a lot of the stuff I just mentioned and more.

Thanks!  

A New Thought for Minimalist Footwear from Japan

Now I'm a real code ninja...

About a month ago, I was bemoaning the fact that I needed some new shoes for work.  I could have just gone out to the local shoe store or department store and get a pair of inexpensive brown or black shoes to throw on (my office is business casual), but you could bet that the shoes weren't going to be the most comfortable things in the world, nor particularly good for the feet.  And to buy a pair of the currently available minimalist shoes like VivoBarefoot or something similar is in the $130-range, which I wanted to avoid for the time being.

However... I was watching some Akira Kurosawa movies and I noticed the footwear that some of the samurai in it were wearing (Yojimbo and Sanjuro, if you're interested).  And that led me to recalling some of the footwear I'd seen when I was taking martial arts when I was younger, particularly the Japanese shoes known as Tabi.

Tabi are traditionally Japanese workers' boots.  They're prized for their flexibility and the sureness of foot that the wearer has as they manipulate construction sites and the like.  Unlike the American equivalent, which are generally steel-toed boots, these boots for the Japanese worker allow the wearer to feel what's under foot and be sure of where they're stepping.  They're also worn by performers and the like, and they're frequently known as ninja shoes or boots because they're frequently worn by practitioners of that martial art.  They're lightweight, pliable, thin-soled, and very comfortable.

They have flexible rubber soles, cotton uppers, and they're split between the first toe and the other four toes.  This has the dual effect of allowing more sureness of foot by allowing the foot to spread out and also ensuring the foot doesn't slide around in the more relaxed fitting boot.  The most common style is a calf-high boot, but there are also ankle-high models.

I got a pair about three weeks ago, and they've been my footwear of choice since they arrived.  And they feel awesome.  There's so much feeling coming through the soles that you find yourself seeking out rougher ground simply to get the massage that comes with such a shoe.

I've found that I walk more smoothly in the shoes.  I'm not able to heel-strike like I was in the habit of doing with standard shoes (it hurts!), which leads to a more natural stride.  My feet aren't compressed into a space that is entirely too small with my toes jammed into a narrow tube.  I feel like I'm nearly barefoot most of the time, even more than I do with Vibram FiveFingers or VivoBarefoot shoes.

And the cost?  $30.00 a pair, in general - much less expensive than the above-mentioned footwear.  You do need to buy a few pairs of tabi socks (also split between the first toe and the rest), but even that isn't a huge expense:  I paid $15.00 for a six-pack of well-made socks.  And of course, you can keep wearing those with more pairs of tabi.  There are models in other colors besides black, and even some made for specific activities like running (though you have to be careful of sole thickness if your goal is minimalism).  They even have leather ones if you want them to be a bit more "formal" looking.

The downside?  Well, the only one I've come up with is how they look.  In three weeks, I've had about five people at my job actually notice them, as they're fairly unobtrusive unless someone's looking right at your feet.  So that's pretty much a non-issue for me.  Your results may vary, of course, depending on where you're wearing them.

Do I recommend them?  Yes, wholeheartedly.  They feel great, they're inexpensive, and they're available via Amazon.com and other places.  Try a pair out!

Rikio Fighter Black Jikatabi (Outdoor Tabi)

A Big Change...

As you may have noticed, things look a little different around here.  I've moved this blog off of Wordpress and over here to Blogger, where I have all my other blogs (Fellrath.com, Carless Columbus and Train 4 Autism - Columbus).  The Wordpress thing was my experiment to try out that platform, and basically I didn't like it much, to the point of not posting over there as often as I should have. 

Some of the comments were lost in the transfer, unfortunately, but mostly it all came through without a hitch.  I'm pleased.  So I hope you'll join us back over here at this incarnation of the site, and apologies to any I may have ticked off with the move.