Questions about autism diet?

[sl_underwood]

Several people have mentioned a special wheat/dairy free diet for their autistic children and this may be a stupid question, but if you eliminate all wheat and dairy, how do they eat a healthy diet? Dont all whole grains contain wheat? What about getting enough calcium? I am not knocking the diet, I am seriously considering it for my son, I am just not sure how to go about it? It seems that just about everything contains wheat and dairy, even stuff you wouldnt think would. Thanks in advance.

 

[BeckyScott]

That was my first thought too. Justin had a very limited diet- by his choosing- consisting mostly of mac-n-cheese, cheese sandwiches- the exact things that I needed to cut out. What would he eat?

He has more than just the gluten and casein going on, though, we found out. Quite a few IgG allergies.

Well, wheat & gluten are out. But he is okay with rice, potato, corn, and soy. (corn is iffy for some kids, though, and soy still isn't a good idea, so both of those are very limited at our house) The good thing is, that there are plenty of gf products on the market now. I can find rice pasta at Wal-Mart, even. And things you think should be gf sometimes aren't, you have to be very careful, like regular Rice Krispies. You'd think they'd be okay but they have malt flavoring. But there are plenty of things available once you start looking. I buy gf bread mix and use the bread machine, the health food store carries pre-made stuff but I prefer the bread machine bread. I buy some of the food from amazon 'cause it's cheaper, but you do have to order it in bulk, so best for cereal, bread mix, stuff you know you'll need.

Dairy is the same deal. Many stores carry soy milk now, but we don't do soy. We do rice milk. There is also a potato-based milk. The health food store carries rice "cheese", rice "ice cream".

There are some things you can't find a work-around, and you end up cooking from scratch much more. There's a learning curve involved, but once you jump in, you get the hang of it. I'm no Betty Crocker and we managed.

We do a calcium supplement. I get his from Kirkman, it is a powder so I can dump it in a drink. We also use Kirkman vitamins, and a ton of other things.

http://www.gfcfdiet.com/ go to the bottom of the page, where it says Directory, click there, there is a huge huge list of gfcf food. Like a whole notebook's worth. I printed it all out, all of it, and went thru it with a highlighter for the things I could buy at a "normal" grocery store. There is also a gfcfkids Yahoo group that is very active, typically 4 or 5 daily digests a day, lots of good info.

 

[mechurchlady]

The GF/CF diet is an option for autistic children. I am on an absolute no GF and am supposed to be dairy, soy, egg, chocolate free and avoid fizzy drinks, alchohol and caffeine because my stomach is damaged by celiac.

What does a GF/CF diet consist of? I had to do research since I am soy free due to allergies but luckily just cumulative poisoning and stomach problems.

http://gfcfdiet.com/NewpageDirectory6.htm



This site lets you shop for allergen free items.
http://www.allergygrocery.com/search.php

We can eat any meat that is not cooked in butter or certain sauces. There is nut butters, tasty milk substitutes, jelly, condiments, pickles, salads, bacon, eggs, and tamales. I love sorbet, candy, and gluten free cereals for a snack. I can drink most soda pop, juices and even have an otter pop. Churchy loves food and was so happy to have scallops, elk and chops on her midwest trip. I love Thai and Mexican food.

it is not doom and gloom. If I was rich and lived in a nice home on the east coast and had servants then I would be very fat. I would eat cereal more often and have me a chef cooking enchiladas, tacos,, tostadas and barbecued ribs. Currently I wrap a tortiall around cold cuts, hot dogs or other sandwich fixings. I am limited but thank God that I am GF/CF instead of having a disease. It is not that bad.

 

[sl_underwood]

Thanks for explaining. I cook nearly everything from scratch right now (because it costs less and is healthier) Typically, my son has oatmeal with fruit or waffles with fruit for breakfast, lunch at school (not sure how I would work this one out) and his favorites for dinner are anything itallian or mexican. So how does this work at school or when you plan a trip like WDW or even just daytrips where you will have to eat out?
Thanks again, I appreciate you both taking the time to answer.

 

[sl_underwood]

Just wondering, are there any good books on this subject?

 

[breezy1077]

There's an autism and ADHD cookbook out. I cant remember the exact name but theres not that many so if you google it you'll find it.

 

[KirstenB]

Just wondering, are there any good books on this subject?

I forget the title of the book, but the author is Karen Seroussi. She wrote a book about her son Miles, and his transition to a gf/cf diet. It talks about how he always had diarrhea, had very few foods he'd eat, etc. The few foods he would eat had either gluten or dairy or both in them. The theory is that these foods are like an opiate to the person, yet they make them very sick at the same time. She lists all kinds of foods you can eat. The metamorphosis in her son was startling. He really improved beyond belief.

I removed milk from our dd's diet, and subbed in soymilk. That improved our Zoe's alertness and focus tremendously. I try to exchange her wheat foods for something else where I can, but we're not gluten free or probably even close. I realized in reading the book that it would be easy for us to make food substitutes. Our dd eats a huge variety of foods, and has no digestive issues at all. Therefore, we've decided not to do "the diet" full blast right now. Our other dd would starve to death if I cooked that way full time.

 

[BeckyScott]

Thanks for explaining. I cook nearly everything from scratch right now (because it costs less and is healthier) Typically, my son has oatmeal with fruit or waffles with fruit for breakfast, lunch at school (not sure how I would work this one out) and his favorites for dinner are anything itallian or mexican. So how does this work at school or when you plan a trip like WDW or even just daytrips where you will have to eat out?
Thanks again, I appreciate you both taking the time to answer.

My son takes his lunch to school every day. The school knows not to give him anything to eat except for what I provide. If there is a party at school, I find out what is being served and provide something as close as possible for him. Actually, this year I volunteered to be Room Mom, which took care of some of that problem. DS is not only gf/cf but has a bunch of other food allergies, so the school doesn't want to mess with him at all and lets me just handle it. They give me warning if there is something special going on. The teacher sometimes does food treats, okay it's candy but there are lots of candies that are gfcf and so she just buys those instead and uses them for the whole class.

Mexican and Italian- Mexican is easy. Sub in corn tortillas for flour, that's really easy to do. Sub in rice or soy cheese for the real cheese. The fake cheese melts up pretty well. Italian, the pasta can be tricky. I can find rice pasta easy enough, but it is really picky about cooking time. There's a very small window in there between Not Cooked Enough and Total Mush. I prefer the corn pasta, it seems to hold up better, but it's harder for me to find. Anyway, they make spaghetti and elbow and rotini. I make "fake" pasta sauce because DS is allergic to onion, and it seems all pasta sauces have onion powder. The health food store sells a soy parmesan, a can of sprinkles like Kraft. Honestly, I have yet to find a good substitute for pizza. It's the crust. All the ones we've tried taste like cardboard. DS will eat it, though.

Van's sells frozen gfcf waffles, that might be an option for breakfast? If you want something hot. I *believe* Bob's Red Mill just started selling a gf oatmeal, I read some discussion about it, but we haven't tried it.

The Disney thing is not so bad, and I am beginning to think DS will eat better there than he does at home! Up in the DISability FAQ, there is an email for Brenda Bennett. She will send a list of foods. When you call to make ADR's, you tell them. And then you also call the restaurant 72 hours in advance. They have gf food "in stock" with warning, or will cook up something special. The lists Brenda sends give you a good idea for Table Service. They've been really great to work with. As far as other vacations/day trips, we haven't done a *real* vacation since DS went gfcf. Day trips we pack food, pack a lunch.

 

[mechurchlady]

Talk to his school as thy might serve hot meals that are GF/CF and if not then the school still needs to know not to give him snacks and stuff that are not GF/CF.

There are many good resources if you look only for GF or CF instead of autism. There are a lot of people who are not autistic who are GF/CF.

 

[ecki]

Kayla lives on Tinkyada pasta (the only brand she'll eat), Ener-G pretzels and Pamela's baking mix. We buy them in bulk on Amazon.

 

[Figment1964]

Just wondering, are there any good books on this subject?

This is the one that got me started: Special Diets for Special Kids by Lisa Lewis. Another one that I found really helpful was: Enzymes for Autism and other Neurological Conditions by Karen L. Defelice.

HTH!

 

[LauraVV]

Several people have mentioned a special wheat/dairy free diet for their autistic children and this may be a stupid question, but if you eliminate all wheat and dairy, how do they eat a healthy diet?

Here's a link to some research about autism diets.

http://news. bbc.co.uk/ 1/hi/health/ 7300327.stm