An Autism Diet - It Could be a Change for the Better
There is much discussion about the effectiveness of a special autism diet. As the parent of an autistic child, you may have considered it in order to help improve the brain functioning and development of your child. While many conventional doctors don’t usually recommend a special diet for an autistic child, there is plenty of evidence indicating that a special diet can actually reduce the symptoms of autism for your child. We have found that changing Jack’s diet has made a huge difference in his life.
Most commonly, an autism diet is a casein-free and gluten-free diet. This simply means that you need to eliminate dairy products (casein) and wheat products (gluten) from your child’s diet. If you’re anything like us, your first thought will be that this severely restricts the choice of foods for your child. It is true that implementing an autism diet requires a lot of determination and hard work because you may need to do more home cooking, but the results are often well worth the effort.
If you decide to put your child on a gluten-free and casein-free diet, there are still plenty of things that they can eat. Fresh fruits and vegetables are great for a start - and often in western culture we don’t eat enough of these anyway. You may need to spend some time sourcing foods that don’t contain dairy or wheat, but once you start looking you will find there are many options available that are pre-prepared for purchase (the good news is, gluten-free products are becoming more widely available with increasing numbers of people being diagnosed with celiac disease). Alternatively, you could prepare things at home yourself. (See our list of recipe and pre-prepared product ideas.)
The nature of autism itself can make a diet change difficult. When changing your child’s diet to gluten-free and casein-free, you will need to make the decision to either jump right in or to ease your child into it slowly. When we changed Jack’s diet we went cold turkey on all his old foods, clearing the pantry and only making the new options available. The first few weeks were incredibly difficult - we were faced with extreme behaviour and mood swings as he detoxed and adjusted to the new ‘menu’, but then life began to improve somewhat.
If you can manage it, it may even be worth considering putting the entire family on the diet (yes we did this, although we have to confess we did smuggle a few ‘when the kids are asleep’ snacks into the house). Your child will feel less alienated as the whole family is changing together, you will be able to keep food preparation simple, and you just might find yourself feeling some positive benefits as well.
It is important that you observe your child’s reactions to this special diet, and note down any changes. Keep records in regard to the food your child eats and take periodic reviews to see if there are any improvements in his or her symptoms or behaviours. The diet may not be for everyone, and even after giving it a try, you may find that it makes no difference in your child’s life. We can only draw on our own experiences with Jack and for us it has been well worth making the change.
Here is an interesting link that discusses leaky gut - the reason for the gluten and casein free diet: http://mothers-reversing-autism.com/Leaky-Gut.html