Your Ecosystem On MSG: Katherine L. Reid at TEDxSantaCruz

Learn how a common food additive may be impacting your human ecosystem through a mother biochemist's journey that helped her daughter eliminate her autistic behaviors.

This TEDxSantaCruz talk is one of 22 surrounding our theme of "Activate" at the third full-day TEDxSantaCruz event held March 8, 2014 at the Hotel Paradox in Santa Cruz, CA.

Katherine Reid, PhD, is an entrepreneur, biochemist, and mother of five. Through her research and trial and error, Katherine determined that certain foods common in the Western diet were associated with her daughter's autistic behaviors. Seeing the profound effect of diet on the brain, she has become a provocateur questioning medical approaches and food manufacturing practices relating to health. Given the improvements she observed after helping families and friends transition their diets, she started a nonprofit organization, Unblind My Mind (unblindmymind.org), which educates and raises awareness on the links between food and metabolic disorders, particularly those impacting the brain. Unblind My Mind also helps people transition to a life changing diet, which can be overwhelming when plagued with chronic health issues.

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)