Karen Ranzi is CCC-SLP (Speech-Language Pathologist) for 43 years, with 20 years of experience with autistic kids. In 2021, she wrote a 52-chapter book, almost half of which advocate a plant-based lifestyle leaning towards raw foods:

Book: Heal and Prevent Autism: Natural Solutions That Work (292 pages, 2021).

The book has a foreword by Dr T Colin Campbell who coined the term Whole Food Plant-Based in 1982, and also by David Campbell who is a Special Education instructor.

Foodwise, she encourages WFPB guidelines (cooked or raw) depending on what her clients wish to do. Her main goals are clean eating (no processed food) and maximizing fiber intake. So she doesn't insist that her clients adopt a specific system; she guides them towards their maximum potential, given their current circumstances and their motivation levels towards adopting the cleanest possible food system.

Websites: Super Healthy Children and Feel Fabulous With Food.

Personal Story: Karen's paternal grandmom experienced emphysema at young age in early 1920s - she was given 3 months to live. Somebody brought her a book on the 'Mucusless Diet' (centered around fruits and veggies) by Arnold Ehret (who is remembered today for his work on Natural Healing systems | Naturopathy). Her son (Karen's dad) was only 4 year old at that time, so she had strong motivation to heal herself. With the adoption of the Mucusless Diet principles, Karen's grandmom lived for another 50 years.

So Karen's paternal grandmom and dad were into plant-based guidelines leaning towards raw foods, and also ethical vegans (for example, they would take spiders out of their house instead of killing them). However, Karen's mom was worried that her kids may not get enough protein. So she and her sister were raised on animal foods and processed foods. Karen ended up with acne, digestive issues, menstrual issues and so on. At age 17, she adopted vegetarianism for ethical reasons. Many years later, she realized the cruelty inherent in the dairy industry and became vegan in 1989 but continued to eat processed foods.

When Karen had her own children, her young son developed asthma and chronic ear infections. Karen facilitated his healing by cleaning up her family food system further: through elimination of processed foods, and adopting a raw vegan diet. Her son recovered in 11 months. Surprisingly, Karen cured herself of some of her own conditions through this change. For example, within 3 months, her acne from several years went away.

Chef AJ interview: Karen Ranzi has a good aura - she seems knowledgeable and experienced in helping families with kids.