Special Diets
Everyone can benefit from a balanced diet of wholesome, nutritious foods that are free from chemical additives, such as artificial dyes, flavorings, and preservatives. These ingredients are not added to foods to enhance their nutritional value, but to make them pretty and stay on the shelf longer without spoiling. We have found that many of our special kids are especially vulnerable to the negative effects of these chemical additives.
For parents who want to eliminate artificial ingredients and want help, a great place to turn is the Feingold Association www.feingold.org. This organization has been around for decades and maintains up-to-date lists of food products that are free of offending ingredients. Having the lists makes shopping for food much easier because you spend less time reading labels and you don’t have to worry about hidden ingredients. The volunteers at the Feingold Association have done all of that homework for you.
For those who wish to go a step further, and want to only eat whole, organic foods, as our "Maker" intended, there is the Maker’s Diet http://www.makersdiet.com/. When he was in college, the diet’s founder, Jordan Rubin, suffered from a severe, life-threatening digestive disorder. What saved him (literally) was eating only the foods that were eaten in Biblical times. After he became well, Jordan Rubin went on to graduate school and became a natural health-care practitioner himself. He also has written at least 3 books and founded
For some people, even the most wholesome foods can cause a problem because of an allergic reaction or a chain of chemical reactions in the body. When that happens, you basically have two choices: either eliminate the offending food(s) entirely, or eat them sparingly, depending on the severity of the reaction. Often, just figuring out what the offending foods are takes a bit of detective work. In her book Is This Your Child? Dr. Doris Rapp describes procedures that can help you to identify the problem foods.
One type of intolerance that often goes undiagnosed is celiac disease. People with celiac have a sensitivity to gluten (the protein that is found in grains such as wheat, rye, and barley). Basically, the gluten attacks the lining of the intestine, where nutrients are supposed to be absorbed. You can learn more about celiac disease by going to http://www.celiac.com/index.html.
It turns out that a lot of people who have been diagnosed with autism and related disorders have a peculiar sensitivity to gluten and casein (the protein that is found in milk and dairy products). Basically, the gluten and casein do not break down in the body properly and by-products called gliadorphin (or gluteomorphin) and casomorphin are formed. Gliadorphin and casomorphin are opioids, in the same family as heroin and morphine.
For more information about this type of gluten/casein intolerance, check out our "Links" page, especially http://osiris.sunderland.ac.uk/autism/dietinfo.html. Great Plains Laboratory has a peptide test that can be used to diagnosis this type of gluten / casein intolerance. The best way to treat this is to totally eliminate all gluten and casein from the diet, although some people have been able to continue to consume gluten and casein if they also take special enzymes.
For those who are mildly sensitive to a lot of different foods, the best diet choice may be a “diversified rotation diet.” On a rotation diet, "foods are eaten only once every four (or more) days [so that all] food allergies remain unmasked, [while also] preventing new ones from developing . . . The diversified rotation diet doesn't just require many different foods. It requires many different families of foods." In other words, foods that are closely related are eaten on the same day in order to prevent "cross reactions." (Chiu, p. 35) Check out our "Rotation Diets" page for more info. We even included a sample GFCF Rotation Diet for you.
Whatever changes you decide to make in your child’s diet, we recommend the following:
- Don’t try to make too many changes at once. You (and the child) could become overwhelmed and could give up before the diet has had a chance to work.
- If you've tried making one change for a while and you're not seeing enough improvement, maybe it's time to make more changes.
- Don’t be afraid to seek help, either on line or by turning to one of the special diet books (that you’ll find listed at the bottom of this page). We’ve tried to include a variety of helpful resources on this web-site.(http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/GFCFKids/ is a great place to find help. Subscribers to this message group are parents who are using diet to help their own kids. Just about everyone there is eliminating gluten and casein, but many are doing a lot more.)
- Always try to focus on the positive (what the child can eat and enjoy), rather than the negative (what he or she can’t have).
Resources: Books for Special Diets
Chiu, Beverly D. Outsmart Your Food Allergies Using the Diversified Rotation Diet. Vancouver , B.C., Canada
Fenster, Carol, Ph.D., Special Diet Celebrations: No Wheat, Gluten, Dairy, Or Eggs, Savory Palate, 1999.
Hagman, Bette, More from the Gluten-Free Gourmet: Delicious Dining Without Wheat, Owl Books, 2000.
Hagman, Bette, The Gluten-Free Gourmet Bakes Bread, Henry Holt & Co., 1990.
Hagman, Bette, The Gluten-Free Gourmet, Henry Holt & Co., 1990.
Jones, Marjorie Hurt, R.M., The Allergy Self-Help Cook Book, Rodale Press, 1984.
Lewis, Lisa, Ph.D., Special Diets for Special Kids, Future Horizons, 1998.
Rapp, Doris, M.D. Is This Your Child? Discovering and Treating Unrecognized Allergies in Children and Adults, New York: Quill, 1991.
Rockwell, Sally. Allergy Recipes. Seattle , WA
Rubin , Jordan S., N.M.D., C.N.C. Patient Heal Thyself: A Remarkable Health Program Combining Ancient Wisdom with Groundbreaking Clinical Research, Topanga , CA
Rubin, Jordan S., N.M.D., Ph.D. The Maker's Diet, Lake Mary, FL: Siloam, 2004.