The best thing you can do for yourself right now is to get started on a good full-spectrum supplement for your body to build up a base of immune system strength and a foundation for improvement. After about 2 months you can re-assess your body positives and negatives and go from there with an add on of other specific nutrients. In order for your body to heal itself, it has to have a base of all nutrients to provide biochemical balance.

I believe the Ultra Body Toddy is the greatest source of a full spectrum supplement for many reasons. First of all it's liquid and so it's more bio-available to your body. It's in a 3.5-4.0 pH range which also allows your body to take it in and use it more abundantly and rapidly.

It does take your body about 90 days to build a new cell. So any nutritional program should be maintained for at least 3 months to see a real change. With the many conditions you are experiencing I would think you would see significant improvements sooner though.

As far as diet goes, try to stay as close as possible to whole, unprocessed foods. For instance, try to stay away from "fast food" and cook your own. You'll get a lot more nutrition that way. It's cheaper too! The closer to the natural state, the more vitamins and minerals you'll be getting. You don't have to be too fanatical--just be more concientious. Proteins are important too. It's the first thing the body needs. Protein actually means "of first importance". You don't have to eat a lot of meat to get the protein. You can eat beans, eggs, fish, nuts, cottage cheese, etc.

After you start your nutrition program, be patient, don't give up too soon! You might need to go extra slow on the Ultra Body Toddy because of the IBD. You just don't want to do anything to rapidly, you need to give your body time to adjust. We suggest you start with 1 teaspoon full of the liquid supplement in a little bit of juice at each meal and work your way up to 3 or 4 teaspoons, OR if you like capsules better, you can start on a full-spectrum capsule like Maxum Essentials. Hope this helps!

What are some of the alternative options for my husband? He is a little sceptical about diet elimination and the impact of food allergies. I look forward to any response you can offer to this e-mail.

I ordered from you last X-mas because my husband has Ankylosing Spondilytis and there really isn't a lot out there in the way of nutrition or management for this disease. When I found your site, quite by accident, (just surfing) I was amazed that there was a package of supplements for the AS patient. Figuring it really wouldn't help, but not having many options, I ordered the package and my husband faithfully took all the vitamins. We really didn't know how much it helped him until we were out of everything, and he had been "off" the supplements for a couple months. I reordered and he has been doing much better since re-starting the AS package. It really does help him feel better and most likely have less inflammation. What ever the reasoning (I know you have already done all the research for me!) I am grateful that we have this resource to turn to. He doesn't want to run out of the supplements again! Thanks for having a viable product in this world of scams and useless junk! Joanne Handsel, Customer from North Carolina, First Order was December 2000

Thanks so much for the positive feedback. We work so hard to assure that we provide accurate educational materials and a complete nutrition program and it is a great reward to know we have helped you. This market is so competitive that we are posting e-mail reponses on our web page so that others can know our interactive service and successful programs. We will, of course, keep your name anonymous. If you have any problem with this please let us know.

Dear Healing w/Nutrition:

My husband really won't mind if you use our name. There is so little out there to help AS patients, that if anyone wants to contact us to find out how the AS Kit has helped my husband, we are glad to oblige. Joanne Handsel, Customer from North Carolina, First Order was December 2000

Both of my daughters are ADD. My one daughter is now 13 and we just took her off Dexedrine. She's doing better with her studies, but it still takes her extra time to do it. Normal for anyone w/ a learning disability. But, now, we have learned that our youngest, age 5, is also ADD. We haven't taken her into a doctor as of yet, but school psychologists and her teacher (who has an ADD child of her own) recognize the symptoms (as do I). But my 5-year-old is unique in that she rarely eats anything besides chicken, P&B sandwiches and noodles. She does, however, have a problem with soft drinks. We try to limit the amount she gets to only 2-6oz cups a day.

Question: How do we get her to eat the more nutritional foods when she doesn't even like to eat at all? And any type of vitamins would be hard as she doesn't like to take anything that resembles meds. It's a force-feeding session. Any tips?

I know how tough it can be to try and get your children to take vitamins and medicines. I think all parents struggle with this. But did you know that there are vitamins that are liquid? I give my children the "Toddy" products and hardly ever have a difficult time giving them their vitamins. My problem is remembering to give it to them, my kids usually remind me to give it to them. They actually like the taste!

I would try the "Toddy" products for both of your girls. I know personally 3 children who use the Toddy products and don't need to use the medications anymore. It's worth a try. One of my friends has an 11 year old boy that has been on all the medications for ADD, and he wasn't getting any better. He hated the way he felt on the meds and wanted off. The doctors also told her that there wasn't any thing else they could give him, they had given him as high a dose of meds as the boy could handle and he wasn't getting any better! That was scary for her and so they decided to try nutrition and other natural ways. She took him to a naturopathic doctor who tested him for allergies and depletion of vitamins and minerals. He takes the Ultra Body Toddy and stays away from all allergens that he can and he also takes some homeopathic drops. He's doing extremely well. No meds and is getting better every week. He feels so much better not being on the meds and his parents feel better too.

You might find that once your five-year-old is on a Full Spectrum Vitamin supplement, that she won't have cravings for the soda pop any more. You might also check into having her tested for allergies. The body will crave things if it isn't getting all the nutrients it needs.

The Toddy products are Money-back guaranteed and they're all natural, so there is absolutely no harm in trying! Because they're liquid you can put it in grape juice and she'll never taste it or know it's in there. I've tried it in a few different juices and grape juice disguises the taste the best. Also, with the liquid vitamin, it assimilates easier and so is absorbed more readily and completely.

It's usually recommended for children under 12 to take the Kid's Toddy. But all the children that have ADD/HD are recommended to take the Ultra because of the higher B vitamins and the grape seed extract.

The only thing the Ultra doesn't have is Essential Fatty Acids. It's not in there because it can oxidize and cause free-radicals, so it has to be encapsulized. These are so important for ADD kids. I'm not sure how you would get that down her. Maybe open them up and put it in some kind of food? I let my two year old chew on the capsules. He likes the capsules, but not the oil that's inside, so he spits it out....but I know he's getting some!

The best thing to give your son is a product called Ultra Body Toddy. It has all the vitamins, minerals, amino acids plus extras. It's liquid so it's more bio-available to the body. I love this product! He also needs EFA (essential fatty acids), it's not in the Ultra because it oxygenates rapidly and so it needs to be stabilized in capsules. We do recommend a kit for ADD/HD.

Personally, I think you should have a EFA (essential fatty acid) supplement that supplements both the Omega 3 and Omega 6, Flaxseed is an Omega 3 only. So I would buy a supplement that has a combination of oils. You can take, both children and adults, 2-6 caps a day. You can experiment with them and see how many you need. An average amount to take is 2-4 a day. If you have a problem not absorbing Omega's, or you need more for a medical problem, then add more. My mom was taking 6 a day for awhile, trying to lower her blood pressure. When she got where she wanted on her blood pressure, she went back to taking 3 a day. So it's your call.

As far as the seafood is concerned. Just eat what you want, and supplement so that you know you're covered. I don't think there's a way to know exactly how much you're getting in seafood.....you just know you're getting some! Hope this helps!

The best thing to give your son is a product called "Ultra Body Toddy." It has all the vitamins, minerals, amino acids plus extras. It's liquid so it's more bio-available to the body. I love this product! He also needs EFA (essential fatty acids), it's not in the Ultra because it oxygenates rapidly and so it needs to be stabilized in capsules. We do recommend a kit for ADD/HD, and our website has other useful information on ADD/HD. Hope this is helpful!