Autism Treatments Update
May 2013

My son is now 19 and still doing very well.  We are looking into getting an "official" DAN Doctor so that we can get certain kinds of labwork and try other treatments that need a prescription.  However, doing things the low-tech, inexpensive way has taught me a lot.  I do a lot of research on everything I do for my son and that saves me from having to pay a specialist to figure things out.  However, many families might prefer just paying some professional to do all the research and planning and making all the decisions on what to do next.

David is starting to date, and has been on several dates with several people.  These dates are mostly invites to birthday parties, group dates to movies and the mall, dances, a trip to a roller coaster park, and most recently, a wedding. Oh, and lots of texting and Skyping and such. 

He graduated High School at 18, with a regular diploma, having completed all the necessary coursework.  He is working at 2 volunteer jobs, practicing independence skills at an apartment (not living there) going to the YMCA twice a week, attending a Bible study group for young adults on the spectrum every Sunday, and hanging out with friends.  He is studying Geometry and English at the High School to make up for missing so much regular classwork because he used to be in Special Ed.  He recently learned soldering and took apart a Game Boy system and added a lighted screen to it.

Learning to Ride A Bike

I haven't written an update for a while, so the biggest thing we worked on since my last update was learning to ride a bike three years ago, which took an entire summer but was well worth it.  Over the years, since he was small, I was buying all different kinds of bicycles to see what he would like best, including a nearly adult-sized tricycle, but nothing really worked well.  All our ABA therapists gave it a try teaching him, but to no avail.  He would panic and jump off the bike almost immediately. 

Finally, I heard about a specialized bicycle training program for teaching children with special needs to ride, called "Loose the Training Wheels." 
http://www.lttwsew.org/index.php
"Dr. Richard E. Klein., an experienced engineer from Illinois, is the creator of Lose the Training Wheels, a training program that teaches disabled children and adults how to ride a conventional bike. Richard and his wife Marjorie travel extensively every summer to conduct camps across the nation.   With a proper environment and training with adapted bikes, children who are disabled are taught how to ride and transition to a conventional bike within a 5-day period." 
Loose The Training Wheels is Now called "I Can Shine"
http://icanshine.org/

 The program, (as with most things we need for David) was too expensive for us, so I called them and asked them some advice about what kind of bike to try.

They said to prepare for the program, they had these recommendations:

Buy a good helmet that fits well, and some
elbow pads and knee pads,

And find a bike that has

• balloon tires, 
• upright handlebars
• no hand brakes (back-pedal brakes), 
• no gears at all, 
• a "girl's" type bike that has no straight bar from the seat to the handlebars (it doesn't have to look girlish, of course)
• no basket, mirror, or anything to obstruct forward vision or distract

Remove the pedals from the bike to begin so he would just push with his feet on the ground.  Make sure the bike is short enough that he can sit on the seat with his feet on the ground.  You can lower the seat at first, and then raise it later on when he's riding.

We found a low traffic spot with a very slight incline for him to practice on.  Then when he could just barely ride, we put the pedals back on, and we went to a nearby cemetery where there was no traffic to practice more.  (He didn't take offense at the cemetery at all.)

So we did this and got an inexpensive bike from Sears in Red and White that he liked that looks very retro.

I decided that instead of arguing about going out each day to try to ride, we would simply have a ten minute bike riding practice every single day.  We even set a timer so he would know it would be just 10 minutes.  He seemed to like the consistency.  He got a prize from the "Prize Box" each time just for trying.

I keep at box at home with all kinds of stuff I am certain he will like.  (Certain is the important word, here.)

It took all summer, but with lots of help and encouragement, and often two people, running along on each side, he finally learned.

He loves his bike now.  He rode it to and from school on good weather days for the last two years.  We've finally been able to go trail bike riding as a family. This is important because bike riding is my favorite sport.

We kept the bike simple at first, but as soon as he was riding comfortably he got a bell, a mirror, lights for riding at night, padded bike gloves, a lock, and some other accessories.  He knows how to inflate the tires and lubricate the chain, and takes very good care of it. 

Bike riding is a whole new freedom for him.  Its good exercise, free fun, practical because you can get places you need to get to, more social than being inside a car, and good for the environment.  Its social in that so many people have bikes, and its something he now has in common with just about everyone.

He also learned important rules of the road for any moving vehicle.  This has prepared him for learning to drive a car, which he is now working on.  He has his temps and has been driving for about 9 months now. 

Update on GF/CF Products we really like:
In a previous post I listed our favorite pantry and refrigerator additions.
I have been really enjoying the Shaar bread products.  They are packaged so that they keep on the shelf until you need them.  I like the French Baguettes for making garlic bread with olive oil and garlic.

David has learned to make GF/CF pizza with
Organicville pizza sauce,
Applegate nitrate-free pepperoni,
Daya vegan mozzerella,
organic diced sweet red peppers, (very high in vitamin C) 
Italian Seasoning from Penzy's Spices from where he works 
and we are using plain "Against The Grain" Pizza crust.

Ener G makes gluten-free communion wafers for Church, and

San-J makes organic gluten-free single serving Tamari (soy sauce) packets I can take with us to restaurants.  I requested these from our local co-op and they finally started carrying them a year ago.

He started buying soda on his way home from school, so since he's an adult now, I eased up on our restriction against soda (because of the high fructose corn syrup which has traces of mercury in 30% of it and the food colorings and artificial flavors.)  I found an organic soda made by Blue Sky which he can have no more than one per day.  It used to be an occasional treat, but now is one of the few things I have relaxed on because he's an adult.  

The biggest change with his diet is that he finally began eating some animal products.  I decided I didn't know anybody that doesn't like bacon, so we began with nitrate-free bacon.  It took about a year to get him used to it.  Now he eats very well-cooked bacon (no fat on it) and the nitrate-free pepperoni I mentioned above on pizza.  I think he is more flexible about a lot of things now that he has been feeling better on this diet.

I don't think anybody needs to eat a lot of meat, since the Seventh Day Adventists actually on average live longer than the rest of us and they don't eat meat.  But David doesn't get enough protein yet from just a few nuts and seeds, and he still doesn't eat beans yet.  I do supplement him with sub-lingual vitamin B12.

I read a book on Enzymes for use with Autism treatment and was inspired to try them as a next step.  Both of us now take Gluten Ease digestive enzymes every time we go out to eat even if the server insists its gluten-free, because it takes care of any possible contamination concerns I have had.  I notice it most with myself, since even a tiny crumb can make me sick for hours to three days of feeling lousy.   Now I won't go anywhere without them.

.

My Concerns About Tapioca as a Gluten-Free Ingredient

 

Tapoica as a Gluten-Free Ingredient

Tapioca and exposure to Cyanide

I have a concern about the large amounts of tapioca being used in making gluten-free products. Usually, the main ingredient is rice flour, and potato flour/starch, and then tapioca plus a lesser amount of variety of other ingredients.

Lately, I have been getting a reaction from eating certain GF pre-prepared foods. It could be cross-contamination if it is in a restaurant. But my home is gluten-free. It could be that I am reacting to one of the ingredients. It could be that the flours are processed in facilities that process other white flours, and they could easily become mixed up in the packaging process, or during storage or transportation.

People with Autism are suspected of having an inherited or pre-disposed lowered or impaired ability to detoxify toxins from food and exposure in the environment. This could be from liver damage, also. This makes them more suseptible than the average person to poisoning from heavy metals like lead, mercury, arsenic, and cyanide.

The tapioca plant contains a substance that converts into cyanide in the body unless it is processed carefully to remove this substance. I am asking myself many questions:

How carefully is this process being done in America, and if the tapioca is imported, how carefully are we monitoring the tapioca for remaining amounts of this substance?

And, if tapioca has the potential to cause cyanide poisoning at all, is it safe to be used in products that are being given to people who have Autism, not to mention Celiac disease?

Here is some research I did:

Tapioca is made from the root of the cassava plant.

The cassava plant has either red or green branches with blue spindles on them. The root of the green-branched variant requires treatment to remove linamarin a cyanogenic glycoside occurring naturally in the plant, otherwise it may be converted into cyanide. Konzo (also called mantakassa) is a paralytic disease associated with several weeks of almost exclusive consumption of insufficiently processed bitter cassava. The toxin found in the root of the red-branched variant is less harmful to humans than the green-branched variety. Therefore, the root of the red/purple-branched variant can be consumed directly.

So the question is, which kind of tapioca is in a given product? I wish there was a requirement for labeling a product as to which kind of tapioca the flour is made from.

Tapioca is almost completely protein-free, and contains practically no vitamins. Tapioca is used as a thickener because it never discolors and contains no discernible taste or smell. Moreover, it never coagulates or separates when refrigerated or frozen, and it leaves baked goods (especially bread) with a white color.

Despite being a convenient and functional thickener, however, tapioca flour’s nutritional value leaves a lot to be desired. In fact, from a nutritional standpoint, it is almost worthless.

Aside from being very high in carbohydrates and therefore calories (100g of the flour contains a whopping 340 calories), tapioca flour contains hardly any fiber, fat, or protein (indeed, protein deficiency is a common characteristic amongst people living in regions in which tapioca is a staple food), and practically no vitamins save for trace amounts of niacin, a B vitamin that helps the nervous system to function properly.

Tapioca flour does contains some minerals. 100g of the flour provides us with 1mg of magnesium and iron, 7mg of phosphorous, 20mg of calcium, and 10mg of potassium. However, these are unimpressive figures. To put things in perspective, enriched white flour (widely considered to be unhealthy) exceeds tapioca flour’s mineral content in every regard, often considerably. For example, 100g of white flour contains over 100mg of phosphorous and potassium.

So tapioca flour is a poor substitute nutritionally, even for replacing processed white flour.

The cobalt in artificial _{vitamin B12} contains a cyanide ligand as an artifact of the purification process; this must be removed by the body before the vitamin molecule can be activated for biochemical use.

Cyanide poisoning occurs when a living organism is exposed to a compound that produces cyanide ions (CN⁻) when dissolved in water. Common poisonous cyanide compounds include hydrogen cyanide gas and the crystalline solids potassium cyanide and sodium cyanide. The cyanide ion halts cellular respiration by inhibiting an enzyme in the mitochondria called cytochrome c oxidase.

The cyanide anion is an inhibitor of the enzyme cytochrome c oxidase (also known as aa₃) in the fourth complex of the electron transport chain (found in the membrane of the mitochondria of eukaryotic cells). It attaches to the iron within this protein. The binding of cyanide to this cytochrome prevents transport of electrons from cytochrome c oxidase to oxygen. As a result, the electron transport chain is disrupted, meaning that the cell can no longer aerobically produce ATP for energy. Tissues that depend highly on aerobic respiration, such as the central nervous system and the heart, are particularly affected. This is an example of histotoxic hypoxia.

Cyanide poisoning is a form of histotoxic hypoxia because the cells of an organism are unable to use oxygen, primarily through the inhibition of cytochrome c oxidase. If cyanide is inhaled it causes a coma with seizures, apnea, and cardiac arrest, with death following in a matter of minutes. At lower doses, loss of consciousness may be preceded by general weakness, giddiness, headaches, vertigo, confusion, and perceived difficulty in breathing. At the first stages of unconsciousness, breathing is often sufficient or even rapid, although the state of the victim progresses towards a deep coma, sometimes accompanied by pulmonary edema, and finally cardiac arrest. Skin color goes pink from cyanide-hemoglobin complexes. A fatal dose for humans can be as low as 1.5 mg/kg body weight.[1]
Blood cyanide concentrations may be measured as a means of confirming the diagnosis in hospitalized patients or to assist in the forensic investigation of a criminal poisoning. Cyanide toxicity can occur following the ingestion of large doses of amygdalin (found in almonds and apricot kernels and marketed as an alternative cancer cure), prolonged administration of sodium nitroprusside, and after exposure to gases produced by the combustion of synthetic materials.
In addition to pesticide and insecticide, cyanide is contained in tobacco smoke, smoke from building fires and some foods, like almonds, apricot kernel, cassava, yucca, manioc, and apple seeds. Vitamin B12 in the form of hydroxycobalamin, or hydroxocobalamin, may reduce the negative effects of chronic exposure, and a deficiency can lead to negative health effects following exposure.
Exposure to lower levels of cyanide over a long period (e.g., after use of cassava roots as a primary food source in tropical Africa) results in increased blood cyanide levels, which can result in weakness and a variety of symptoms, including permanent paralysis, nervous lesions, hypothyroidism, and miscarriages. Other effects include mild liver and kidney damage.

Most significantly, hydrogen cyanide released from pellets of Zyklon-B was used extensively in the systematic mass murders of the Holocaust, especially in extermination camps. Poisoning by hydrogen cyanide gas within a gas chamber (as a salt of hydrocyanic acid is dropped into a strong acid, usually sulfuric acid) is one method of executing a condemned prisoner as the condemned prisoner eventually breathes the lethal fumes.

Cyanide poisoning is sometimes treated with Oxygen, which may explain why hyperbaric oxygen works for some children with Autism.

It can also be treated with a form of vitamin B12:

Hydroxocobalamin

Hydroxocobalamin, a form (or vitamer) of vitamin B12 made by bacteria, and sometimes denoted vitamin B12a, is used to bind cyanide to form the harmless cyanocobalamin form of vitamin B12. Hydroxocobalamin is newly approved in the US and is available in Cyanokit antidote kits.

And an antidote can be from the use of glucose and nitrites, which might explain why people in our country prefer sugary foods and foods preserved with nitrites.

Food additive

Due to the high stability of their complexation with iron, ferrocyanides (Sodium ferrocyanide E535, Potassium ferrocyanide E536, and Calcium ferrocyanide E538) do not decompose to lethal levels in the human body and are used in the food industry as, e.g., an anticaking agent in table salt.

This could be why iron supplementation can benefit persons with Autism.

I am concerned that anti-caking agents are not listed as an ingredient on food labels except as a number. For people who have trouble detoxifying cyanide these agents could be very harmful to them, adding to their total toxic burden.

What's for dinner Saturday night?

A Gluten-free choice for dinner:

In my City, Wauwatosa, we have a new Farmer's Market this summer. Organic produce, live music, fresh made drip coffee, crepes made while you watch, the very BEST apple cider I have ever tasted (I hate the taste of preservatives.) Its close to my house and we take our bikes there every Saturday morning.

Farmer's markets are my favorite places because I get to watch puppies and children and cyclists. Our market is right on a railroad track and we get to see the trains close up. It's on a beautiful scenic bike trail, and also alongside the Menomonee River, by a bluff filled with old trees that provide shade. A tiny red historical building that just was remodelled sells candy nearby, and our favorite restaurant, Noodles, is just over the bridge.

My friend Linda runs a business making naturally gluten-free Mexican food using grass-fed, hormone-free meats. She sells them at the Farmer's Market in pans, frozen, and so every Saturday all summer, this has been dinner. My favorite is the vegetarain ones with spinach and black beans.

Linda Mulholland is the owner of Cocina DeLeon. Linda's enchiladas and side dishes are based on her mother's recipes from Monterrey, Mexico. In creating her recipes, Linda took the flavors she loved growing up; lime, salsas, chiles, garlic, corn tortillas, and Mexican cheeses.

Cocina DeLeon
18900 W. Bluemound Rd., Suite 117
Brookfield, WI 53045

(414) 403-8650

Linda@cocinadeleongourmet.com

Movie Review - The Horse Boy

I just saw a preview of the movie, "The Horse Boy." As the parent of a 16-year old child with Autism, I was pleased to see Autism getting more public attention and that a family was willing to let the world see their son's stuggles and healing, their parenting, and their challenges with accepting and dealing with Autism on a daily basis.

There are so many things about this movie I can identify with. The period of grieving the loss of the child you might have had, the period of learning to accept the child you do have, and the period where you stretch and learn and grow into someone you never thought you could be while searching for answers to a puzzle no one has quite figured out. I understand the great love and desperation that drives a parent to try everything in their power to try to help their child -- even non-mainstream things that you would never have considered otherwise.

This journey took me all kinds of places I never would have been and developed my risk-taking skills, and I learned so much about so many things. And sometimes you just have to surrender to what is, and learn to just be with instead of force a child to change. This surrender is much like a spiritual process, and so the parents in the film have reached out to spiritual healers in Mongolia through their son's connection to animals, and the families' connection to horses.

Our son did horseback riding as part of his therapy. We couldn't afford the more formal "Hippotherapy" which involves having a specifically trained therapist, a person who also specially trains the horses, and, of course, specially trained horses. This is expensive, and might be partially unnecessary to the process, since mainly having trained people is for safety reasons, and for liability and insurance purposes. The father in the film says that he had trained horses, and taught horseback riding, and so was very familiar with horses already.

http://www.americanequestrian.com/hippotherapy.htm

We had a therapist already working for us doing ABA therapy (Lovaas type) who had rescued a police horse from being put down because of a stroke. He offered to help our son ride his huge disabled horse, and they helped each other to heal.

http://www.lovaas.com/

In some ways, I think Autism resembles a stroke in the brain, because there seems to be some type of brain injury that occurs that happens in genetically susceptible individuals. There are some behaviors that all the coaching, training and discipline in the world are intractable at any given moment, and they seem more like a brain adaptation to abnormal sensory processing than anything like a discipline issue, or a lack of information (education). This makes any Autism therapy more like rehabilitation than like education, although these two modalities resemble each other.

Autistic people use their senses differently, probably not by choice, but because they have to. And this can lead them to be more like animals, who sense the world differently than we do, and don't use a formal (structured) language to communicate. When the five senses are hypersensitive, and social/language brain activity is less sensitive, then it seems like other human abilities can come into play that we were never aware that we had. Autism uncovers unusual abilities side-by-side with very limiting dis-abilities.

I read a lot about Shamanism before and since having my son, (I am a practicing Christian by choice) and I understand how a Shamanistic method might be attractive to the parents in this film as a healing modality. When nothing else works, and your child has been given a diagnosis that is just as intense as a cancer diagnosis, you often pray first...and often. And the compelling change in the child after being with the Shaman's is proof that ancient and folk ways do have a place in healing.

"Shaman, Healer, Sage: How to Heal Yourself and Others with the Energy Medicine of the Americas" by Alberto Villoldo Ph.D.

I am concerned, however, that people don't stereotype Autism as only some kind of demon possession, although it might be characterised that way, and spiritually it might seem like that. We had a superstitious church in our city that took a 6 year old Autistic boy and tried to expel the demon from him by holding him down for hours at a time, and the child died. This is what I am afraid of...a fundamental approach toward a spiritual answer that takes Autism itself too literally and the illness is not literally demon possession.

Autistic boy dies at faith healing service
Police: Pastor's brother held on suspicion of child abuse

http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/Midwest/08/24/autistic.boy.death/

Trying to peg Autism into an already-existing category does a disservice to the child, and inhibits what you might learn from the child's illness and/or genetic differences by observing how this disease/illness is unique, and how each individual Autistic child is unique. A child might have a deep spiritual side that is relatively unaffected by his disability, or might even be enhanced by the Autism.

But it could go the other way and the Autistic might be affected by a spiritual challenge that is overshadowed by his or her manifestations of Autism symptoms. However, it is not just a spiritual problem. And even if Autism has a spiritual origin (perhaps everything in this world is of spiritual origin) it does have very real physical components that can be dealt with, and very real symptoms that must be dealt with.

The Mongolian people accepted the child and the parents and didn't seem to judge them. Acceptance is the cornerstone of a treatment modality that I am very drawn to and used this approach a lot over the last ten years with my son, which is called the Sonrise Method, by Barry Kaufman. We didn't go to the treatment center because of the expense, but I got a lot out of reading his books and following the spirit of the methods the center employs.

http://www.autismtreatmentcenter.org/

Before you can change anything, you must first accept what is. To put it another way, (as per Dr. Phil) You can't change what you don't acknowledge.

As I have learned, you can't change Autism by simply fighting with it. Increased disciplinary measures don't work (in the way we traditionally discipline), but it takes great discipline on the part of the adults in the child's life to do what does work, with enough clarity, understanding, persisitence, consistency, and with enough accuracy. What you resist, persists. And focusing on the "bad" might only enhance the unwanted aspects you are trying to modify. Forcing the child to hide the symptoms of his illness, and not to express his discomfort except in certain very specific ways, seems almost abusive, if you were to view it as if it were diabetes, or any other injury or illness.

There was a child in our state that had diabetes, and the fundamentalist religious parents chose to only use prayer as a healing method, and the girl died at age 11 from a very treatable disease. She had been displaying serious symptoms for a long time.

Parents charged in diabetes death
They didn't get medical help for sick daughter

http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/29556929.html

There were several symptoms that my son had that were considered socially odd, and we had a very difficult time changing them. We then realised that some things, like hand-flapping, were self-regulatory mechanisms that he was using to manage his energy and emotions. When we tried to completely eradicate hand-flapping at a young age, he only became more agitated and had a more difficult time focusing on what we were trying to teach him. After a few years, the hand-flapping was something more amenable to change, and he learned to bite his fingernails instead. His fingernails would be almost completely bitten off, but this was more "socially acceptable-looking" behavior and so it was tolerated for a while until we could find some other way to help him self-regulate. He went through several phases like this, with each adaptation becoming more sociably acceptable, until now he is very close to being normal. I can still spot the self-regulatory things he does, but most people wouldn't see it as any kind of problem.

At age 4, the parents in the movie were already saying that no other healing methods were working. Of the many methods we tried, most of them required some time, and quite a bit of skill and ingenuity to implement with an Autistic child. I am concerned, for instance, that many parents who try the GF/CF diet for Autism don't do it thoroughly enough and for not enough time to affect any lasting change. When we first tried it, other family members undermined the effort, and the school and extended family were totally unfamiliar with it, and not interested enough in this method to really be on-board with it. Then, several years later, on trying it again, with more resources, and more products available, and a different strategy, it worked.

The strategy that finally worked best for us with the GF/CF diet was to put the entire family on it. Paradoxially it seemed to be easier than just putting the Autistic child on it. And also, other family members' health improved as a bonus.

Karyn Seroussi wrote about this diet's use for Autism years ago, and here is a link to an article that I first read before trying this healing method:

http://www.autisminfo.com/seroussi.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EJUsyypI4Y

http://www.amazon.com/Unraveling-Mystery-Pervasive-Developmental-Disorder/dp/0767907981

I will post again with what these differences were.

I was not expecting to like this movie. I was sure that I would be disappointed by any parent's approach that claimed that only horseback riding, and only Shammanism worked for their son's Autism. I am tempted to think that removing the child from his home environment for an extended period of time, to an un-industrial area where the ambient toxin levels were lower, and the foods were less processed and locally grown, all contributed, in part to their son's improvements. Plus, the extended, loving focus of the parents and all the surrounding people's concern and non-judgemental attitudes probably helped the boy tremendously. The little boy who accompanied the group was very tolerant of the child's differences.

We found that having a peer who was recruited to play with our son helped him a lot. This helped him learn in a more age-appropriate way (i.e., not all coming from adults, in an adult sort of way.) A lot of Autistic children grow up to be like "mini-professors," acting more like miniature adults, because they mimic the authoritarian, information-based, and lecture-type communication given them by adults. This style, of course, doesn't often go over well with other children, who would often much rather just play. And play is a form of learning among higher-intelligence animals (as well as with humans.)


But I did like the movie. I loved seeing it with my son, and asking him if he remembered being like this or that. There were a lot of memories that came flooding back, about the difficulties, and the joys. I loved seeing the beautiful Mongolian landscapes and people. I loved seeing the great love and concern between the parents and their child. The horses were beautiful, and the suspense of what the outcome of the risks this family was taking was intriguing.

I wish everyone who thinks that parents of Autistic children are somehow "refrigerator parents" would see this movie. I hope that everyone who thinks Autism is just something that requires more discipline would see this movie. I think that people who think that Autism sometimes resembles a tantruming, colicy, child can see that it is more than that.

These children are in real distress. I think that you can see in the movie that the child does suffer and is not enjoying any benefit of a "power struggle." I think that the child's suffering should spur us to find better treatments for Autistic children and to provide more help for their overwhelmed parents. And to not look only at traditional healing modalities as the only possible alternative for treatment. This is a baffling illness and we might be limiting ourselves too much if we only look in the tired, worn paths for the answers.

It is unfortunate that insurance doesn't cover Autism treatments of any kind (until only very recently) and even if it did, it would never cover about two thirds of the things that have really helped our son.

I think that in some ways, insurance stifles innovation in healing. And by its institutional nature it can minimize and even denigrate traditional healing modalities. So I hope that all those who are concerned about the best interest of the child with Autism and their caregivers will still look in a broad spectrum of healing alternatives for the possible answers. And not every child will respond in a cookie-cutter fashion to a certain treatment. And so unless (until!) we can find a cure or better yet, a prevention, we will have to have a lot of tricks up our sleeves to try.

We have inherited a very large tool kit of healing methods, and we are only using a small portion of it. I hope we can find a more balanced approach in the future.

All-purpose flour mix (GFCF)

All-purpose flour mix

Buy some rice flour, tapioca starch and cornstarch (or potato starch)

Mix them in these proportions:

1/2 cup rice flour
1/4 cup tapioca starch
1/4 cup cornstarch or potato starch

Blend and store in the refrigerator and use for any recipe that calls for wheat flour.

Here are some tips for baking with no-wheat flours:
------------------------------------------------------------------------

• Warm up all ingredients to room temperature (for instance the eggs.)
• Use a deep-sided bread pan (3-4 inches high)
• Pre-test your yeast to make sure it is still active before using it.
• Mix the salt into the flour, not directly with the yeast (hurts the yeast)
• Be careful about how much liquid you use, too much and you get a gummy center, too little and it will be crumbly.
• Use a thermometer to check doneness.
• Bread is done when it is 200 degrees inside and sounds hollow when you tap the bottom.
• Remove the loaf from the pan when done and cool it on a rack or it will get soggy.

Eating Gluten-Free Casein-Free on a Budget

For eating gluten-free on a budget, there are nothing like potatoes!

A bag of potatoes can go a long way and there are a million ways to make them! The easiest is to scrub one, poke two holes in the skin and microwave for 4 minutes. Drizzle extra virgin olive oil on it, add a tablespoon of water and some sea salt. Any cooked vegetable is a good topping.

Beans are very inexpensive. Black beans are easy to digest. Beans go very well with rice. To save money, buy a pressure cooker and make beans from a bag according to the directions on the bag. This is a great source of protein, and very inexpensive. If you cook them right, they will digest easily.

Easy Bean Recipe:
Mash up a cup or two of the cooked beans up with a 1/8 cup lemon/lime, several cloves of crushed garlic, 1/4 cup of sesame paste and sea salt for a great pate. Drizzle with olive oil and paprika before serving. (This is usually called hummus if you make it with chick peas.)

Now that its summer, try going to a Farmer's Market in your area and get just about anything there. The cost is often lower because you are cutting out the grocer. The seller's often have great suggestions and recipes for cooking their produce. Buying locally is also good for the environment, and you get to meet the people who grew your food!

Get an air popcorn popper. (See my previous posting on air popcorn poppers, Friday, July 25, 2008.)

Popcorn is very cheap and you can buy it in bulk, organic, and have it for snacks. Some celiacs can't eat fibery stuff, so be careful that this is something your system can handle.

Sprout mixes are very inexpensive. Making sprouts is easy and cheap!

One of the most inexpensive and versatile vegetables is red or green cabbage. Cabbage keeps a long time in the refrigerator, and is a great flavor enhancer. Sliced thin and mixed with shredded carrots and your favorite salad dressing it makes a nice summer cole slaw. Add a few leaves of cabbage chopped up into any soup or stew for a much fuller flavor. It seems to make everything more savory and more satisfying. Just don't overcook it or it can turn to mush!

Try getting any fruit, or berries in season and making smoothies with them, just put them in a blender with some ice and some rice milk, and add some honey or real maple syrup for sweetness.

Don't forget that nuts, seeds and nut butters are good sources of protein! Make sure they are very fresh. Nuts can go rancid easily.

We have a bowl of cherries on the table right now, next to a bowl of cashews. I slice a sweet red pepper crosswise (the slices look like a flower) and put on a plate with some black olives. It is the best junk food!

Sauteed mushrooms have a savory taste that makes anything have a meaty flavor.

Inexpensive Vegetable Stew:
--------------------------------------
Take all your current vegetables (include an onion or a leek, and a stalk of celery with tops, and a leaf or two of cabbage for flavor) and some potatoes and saute them a little in some olive oil, or roast them in the oven. Cut everything up into chunks before beginning, sautee the harder vegetables first or roast them longer. Start a 1/2 large pot of boiling water. Add a can of black beans. Add the vegetablesand some fresh garlic. Throw in a handful of carrot tops, a few beet tops, some kale or other greens at the last minute. Add some Sea Salt, pepper. Cook until everything is done about 15 minutes. Serve in a bowl with a little gluten-free mayonnaise on top for a garnish.

Don't forget that most Chinese, Japanese, Thai, and Indian foods are mainly gluten-free. Mexican is gluten-free if you get the corn tortillas instead of the flour. You have to call ahead, or call the manufacturer to be certain that there are no additives that contain gluten, however.

Really cheap shopping list:
-----------------------------------
A bag of black beans.
A bag of popcorn.
A sack of potatoes.
A head of red cabbage.
A clump of carrots with tops on.
A bunch of celery.
A head of garlic.
A container of lemon juice.
Iodized Sea Salt.
A can of mixed nuts.
Some honey or real maple syrup.
Extra Virgin olive oil.
The freshest fruit in season.
Any favorite vegetable.

A Personal Experience Putting an Autistic Boy on the GFCF Diet

Ok, I thought I would share with you my personal experience because I am not a Doctor.

My personal experience is with a child who had moderate Autism, no language, hearing issues, behavior issues, pica, and all the classic signs of Autism 11 years ago. He was diagnosed by 3 different Doctors so he could be admitted into a research program for Autism. (Dr. Lovaas's Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) research study.) I was trained to do this treatment also, as well as recruiting and training all the therapists who worked with us with supervision from the Wisconsin Early Autism Project. The ABA therapy helped tremendously. In fact, I don't think my son would have ever learned to talk or read without this therapy. But it doesn't address the organic cause of the Autism, which, at the time, nobody knew anything about or what to do for it. At least in my City. The diet was only one of many things we tried with our son.

But the diet is so important to his well-being that we have tried it more than once, even though at the time we first tried it, I struggled with it because there was so little information about it, and I couldn't get the other family members to be on the same page with it. This time around is so much easier, and I have the whole family on it so cooking is simpler. Everybody seems to like it and I have more specialized products available to replace some of the things we missed the most, like frozen waffles and ice cream.

Also, Oprah went on a diet that is called "The 21 Day Cleanse" which is supposed to be GFCF also, but eliminates meat, too. So more people are looking for GFCF alternatives. The demand is up for more products, and resources.

This is how we started. His whole life, my son has limited himself to about 5 foods total. Sometimes the specific foods change, but he stays with about 5 choices, period. He screams as if you are trying to poison him if you offer him a food he won't tolerate. He runs from the kitchen if I cook something he doesn't like because of the cooking smells in the room. So I went to several nutritionists early on, and had a feeding study done at the hospital, and we did specialized "feeding therapy" all to no avail. One time a feeding tube was mentioned (another parent called it a "brain bypass.") I mean, therapy helped to at least keep him from starving, but didn't change his basic behavior around food. As he grew older, he didn't grow out of his food issues. As he learned to talk (thank God) he started to say he was a vegetarian to help make his case for not eating what he didn't/couldn't/wouldn't eat. He has to smell everything before eating it, and can taste even tiny "adulterations" we might make to sneak in healthy things. He even has to have certain "Brands" of food, with exactly the right label and packaging before he will eat it. So I thought a diet of any kind was out of the question. So I put it off several years after hearing about it, because I just wasn't up to it. (We were running a 30-40 hour a week therapy program out of our house at the time.)

After many, many small introductions to foods with the help of therapists and family, we got him to eat most vegetables and fruit, because I figured that people seem to do just fine on a vegan diet, which is the most restrictive so-called "normal" diet I could find that would sustain a long life. I figured that if I could get him to at least eat like a vegan, that would be an improvement!!

So introducing this diet wasn't as difficult as it could have been, because a vegan diet has no dairy products already. Every time he ate a new food we would celebrate, and he would get "points" which we use to reward him with his favorite games and kid stuff.

As it stands now, here is a list of the foods he will eat, and also fit the GF/CF yeast-free diet:

potatoes, rice, sweet red pepper, romaine lettuce, apples, pears, grapes, kiwi, sweet peas, cucumber, carrots, celery, peanuts, cashews, almonds, rasperries, strawberries, cherries, black olives, raisins, maple syrup, olive oil, 100% fruit juices, popcorn, corn chips, dairy-free chocolate, grapefruit, cantaloupe, honeydew melon, watermelon, green beans, red cabbage, oranges, bananas, blue potatoes, blue corn chips, cauliflower, broccoli, zuchini, honey, lemon, lime, iodized sea salt, gluten-free ketsup, garlic, onion, blueberries, blackberries, yams, sweet potato, brussels sprouts, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, cherry tomatoes, peaches, nectarines, parsley, gluten-free cookies, gluten-free crackers, Rice Chex, Gluten-free waffles, sorbet, sherbert, home-made popcicles, natural sugar, tapioca flour, certified gluten-free oats, GFCF granola bars called "Luna".

He takes various vitamins and supplements to balance things out, and are also theraputic. I will list these next post.

When we go to McDonald's, he can have: A side salad with french dressing, an order of fries, apple dippers, an orange juice (not orange drink), and I bring a handful of cashews for protein. Right now this minute he is eating organic "Spud Puppies" which are usually called Tater Tots, with ketchup, home-made lemonaid, some slices of sweet red pepper, a couple of leaves of leafy green lettuce, 10 maple coated cashews, and half of a peach. He's normal weight and height for his age, speaks with perfect diction, is mainstreamed in school and working at his grade level, has about 6 friends who call him daily and arrange activities, (one of his friends just called now), loves drawing cartoons, and is a computer whiz.

He still needs to be coaxed into eating some of these foods, for instance, if he was cooking for himself he would still only eat 5 foods. But these are all foods he will eat, with just a little coaxing, which is a big difference from running screaming from the room! His description of his diet is "anything without eyes." Which I guess works.

I am perpetually working on a new food with him, which takes several months to a year for him to tolerate. Right now, we are working on garbanzo beans (chick peas.) This means presenting it to him in tiny amounts very gradually (first he just has to tolerate looking at the food without gagging.) Then we go to touching it, smelling it, and then finally tasting a tiny amount. Most foods I present un-cooked (except for potatoes, rice, waffles, and chicken, which he says has eyes and so this will be harder) un-altered, and with no dips or sauces. I think its easier for him because he can "standardize" in his mind the taste/texture of the food better that way.

The longer we follow the diet, and the more carefully we follow it, the easier it is for him to eat things. I think his system is healing, he is thinking clearer, and he can tolerate more tastes and textures than before we put him on this diet.

Additional References and Supports

Here's an article about this diet written by another mother of an Autistic child who has had good results with it. It describes some of the points in more detail than I have here.

Lisa S. Lewis, Ph.D.

http://members.aol.com/lisas156/gfpak.htm

Here's a great magazine that has a section on this diet every month. It has recipes for baked goods, and also discusses how to live well without other foods like corn, soy, peanuts for those who are allergic to other foods.

"Living Without Magazine"

http://www.livingwithout.com/2008/jj08autism.html

This book explains the gastroenterology research, and explains more why this works specifically for Autism, and the interventions which led to the recovery of Karyn’s son:

"Unraveling the Mystery of Autism and PDD – A Mother’s Story of Research and Recovery" By Karyn Seroussi.

What do coffee shops have "milk" wise that I can have so I don't get any casein?

Most coffee shops offer soy milk, which is what I get.

I am not trying for soy-free because the diet I am on includes no yeast products also (just too many restrictions.) I don't buy a lot of soy for protein because I still eat meats, mostly seafood and organic chicken. I think investing in small bottles to carry Almond, or Rice milk might be your only choice then. I have a cooler in my van all the time, to put stuff from the Farmer's Market. You can get small individual serving size packages of rice milk in packages of 6, and keep that in your car. I have also used coconut milk for replacing part of the milk in a recipe, but it is a high-fat product. Coconut milk is very healthy and just fine if you aren't overweight.

You can also try a product that is dairy free milk in a powder form, made from potato flour. It is slightly sweetened and tastes like milk. The powder might be easier to take with you.

I like this product. You can buy it by the case, and it has a nice mixer-pitcher that helps you mix it to dissolve the powder.

Vance's DariFree 1-800-497-4834
http://www.vancesfoods.com/.
Dari-Free Milk Alternative (now made without honey)
Dari-Free Chocolate Milk Alternative

Because it doesn't dissolve that easily, give it to the Coffee server before they make your coffee to add when they mix it up. I know a lot of people are removing soy from their diets because it might be a problem for people with thyroid issues and because of the phyto-estrogens. But I think these effects are mainly for people who consume large amounts of soy-based products daily, such as newer vegetarians who haven't changed their cooking style yet, and use a lot of processed meat substitutes.The amount of soy you are talking about isn't that much, and if you aren't allergic to soy, it might be fine just for coffee.

Our Family's Favorite GFCF Products

Ok, I am not selling anything.

But for those who are thinking of trying this diet, I would like to recommend my personal favorite products to get you started. (These are simply things my family and I like. I don't work for them, or know them personally.)

I looked in my pantry, and after being on this diet twice, and over a period of years having the whole family on it, this is what we have in the house.

We love:
Van's Gluten-Free Waffles,
Pasta Joy pastas (they come in all different types),
Purely Decadent Dairy Free "Ice Cream", Yum! I am having some right now!
Bob's Red Mill Oats,
Kinnikinnick Foods English Muffins and Gluten Free bread,
San-J organic Tamari, (wheat free soy sauce)
General Mills Rice Chex

A lot of stuff kind of comes and goes, and some things you don't really need to replace, you just start eating and cooking differently. For instance, pouring melted cheese onto Chinese food doesn't realy make it taste any better. Or serving it over bread instead of rice. You could do it, but why? If it tastes good and works, you don't need to.

Improvements Seen With the GFCF Diet

The GF/CF diet has shown to improve these symptoms:

poor language skills
bowel disorders
mood disorders
hyperactive behaviors
skin problems like eczema
insomnia, fatigue
cognitive disorders
metabolic disorders like thyroid dysfunction
reactions to foods like swelling, bloating and food cravings

There are four separate and unique ways that gluten and casein can become a problem.
An individual child can have one or all of these:
--------------------------------------------------------
1. Allergic reaction (IgE or IgG food reactions) to the foods, causing inflammation and swelling in both the body and the brain, causing migranes, congestion, ear infections, etc. IgE allergies are more severe, but less common than IgG allergies.

2. The person is lacking the digestive enzyme essential to digest these proteins, called DPP4.
Lactose intolerance (the person is lacking in the enzyme essential for digesting lactose, called lactase.)
This causes toxins to form during incomplete digestion-- in addition to causing bloating, gas, nausea, muscle pain, restless legs, and IBS type symptoms.

3. Neurological (mood and behavior altering) effects from the opiods produced when gluten and casein aren't digested completely, including an addictive pattern. Causing foggy thinking, hyperactivity, impulsivity, inattentiveness, irritability and moodiness.

4. GI problems (inflammation) cause malabsorption of necessary nutrients that some Autistics are genetically predisposed to be low in, such as Glutathione, and this can result in the child having an inability to detoxify heavy metals from their systems (by methylation.)

A child can have all four problems, so simply supplementing with the deficient enzymes is not enough. There are numerous problems caused by the inflammation from allergic reactions to the foods themselves.

A large percentage of the American population has a deficiency of the particular enzyme that breaks down gluten, DPP4. This enzyme is also involved in the digestion of milk products.

There are lab tests that can indicate whether your child will respond to a gluten-free diet. You can first have them tested for Celiac disease, which is the most extreme form of gluten sensitivity. Then have them tested for IgE and IgG food reactions/reactivity (allergy). However, a child can have damaging neurological effects from the opiod peptides without having celiac disease or food allergies.

The testing can help to provide you with some certainty about the connection between these foods and your child's behavior, but simply going on the diet, and staying on it for a period of about 3 months (after you have the diet completely in place) is acceptable since wheat and dairy are the most common food allergens anyway, and if the child improves on the diet, you will then have your answer. The testing might help with getting insurance coverage for certain things related to your child's care, or can help you to tailor the diet with additional restrictions based on allergic reactions to more foods than are covered by the GF/CF diet.

Taking digestive enzyme supplements can help, but is often not a sufficient solution to the problem of the child's inability to digest gluten and casein.

Substitutes for things with Gluten and Casein in them

GLUTEN-FREE WHEAT SUBSTITUTES
-------------------------------------------------
Rice, rice flour, Rice Chex
Amaranth, combines well with three parts rice flour for baking (buy it and keep it refrigerated)Arrowroot, similar to cornstarch, great for thickening sauces, use one part Arrowroot to three parts other gluten-free flours for baking.
Buckwheat is actually not wheat (related to Rhubarb)
Teff (African grain) is slightly sweet
Tapioca
Potato Starch
Millet, a high-protein grain, not good for baking because it is too crumbly, works in dishes similar to couscous.

CASEIN-FREE DAIRY PRODUCT SUBSTITUTES
------------------------------------------------------------
Goat's Milk has only trace amounts of one specific type of casein, so sometimes is a suitable substitute for cow's milk for some people.
Soy Milk--be careful not to ingest too much soy if you have a thyroid problem.
Rice Milk
Nut Milks (Almond, for example)
Soy Ice Cream
Rice Ice Cream
Sorbet
Sherbert
Fruit Ices--check ingredients, some of these contain small amounts of milk. Avoid those with high fructose corn syrup.
Non-Dairy Margarines--Avoid those with yellow dye, and hydrogenated oils.
Non-Dairy Yogurts, Cheeses, and Sour Cream, such as tofu sour cream, soy cheese and soy yogurt.

Children With Autism are Often Very Picky Eaters

Many parents worry that they will not be able to get their child to change the way they eat, because they are such picky eaters. However, I have found that if the diet is what they are needing, that they seem to take to it pretty quickly, even in a matter of days--and because their minds are clearer, they can accept the change more easily.

Autistics like "rules" and sometimes are the "experts" at diets, because they have been self-limiting on their own already.

I like this quote:

"Food is like a pharmaceutical compound that affects the brain.

Diet, exercise and sleep have the potential to alter our brain health and mental function. This raises the exciting possibility that changes in diet are a viable strategy for enhancing cognitive abilities, protecting the brain from damage and counteracting the effects of aging."

-- Fernando G. Pinilla, a UCLA professor of neurosurgery and physiological science who has spent years studying the effects of food, exercise and sleep on the brain.

What Foods Should Be Avoided?

General list of foods to avoid when starting out:

FOODS WITH BOTH GLUTEN AND CASEIN:*
-------------------------------------------------------
Artificial cream
Artificial sweeteners
Baby foods
Bagels
Bread
Bread crumbs
Bread rolls
CakesCoffee
Creamer
Cookies
Croissants
Custards
Doughnuts
Dry roasted peanuts
Prepared Gravy
Prepared Hot chocolate
Hot dogs (the fillers)
Luncheon meat
Malted milk
Milkshakes
Muffins
Pancakes Pastry
Pates
Pies
Pizza
Puddings
Sandwich spreads
Soups: canned/packet
Spam
Vegetarian Cheeses (have casein as an additive)

* except those labelled Gluten-free

FOODS WITH GLUTEN
---------------------------
Baked Beans
Baking Powder
Barley
Barley Malt
Barley Sugar
Bleached All-Purpose Flour
Boullion Cubes/Powder
Bran (except rice bran)
Bulgur
Wheat
Cereal (except Rice Chex, and cereals labeled gluten-free)
Chicken Nuggets (the breading)
Couscous
Crackers (except those labeled gluten-free)
Croutons
Curry Powder
Durum Wheat
Enriched Flour
Flour Tortillas
Graham Flour
Ice-cream Cones
Ice-cream Syrup
Kamut
Malt
Malt Extract
Malt Flavoring
Malt Syrup
Malt Vinegar
Marzipan
Mincemeat
Muesli
Mustard Powder
Noodles
Nougat
Oat Flour
Oatmeal (except certified gluten-free, Red Mill has one)
Oats
Pasta (except labelled gluten-free, Pasta Joy has some good pastas)
Pearl Barley
Pita Bread
Rice Malt
Rye
Rye Flour
Rye Semolina
Soy Sauce (Tamari is ok)
Spelt
Stuffing Mixes
Teriyaki Sauce
VinegarWaffles (except for Van's Gluten Free)
Wheat
Wheat Bran
Wheat Flour
Wheat Germ
Wheat Malt

FOODS WITH CASEIN*
----------------------------
Bavarian Cream
Butter (except clarified or Ghee)
Butterfat
Buttermilk
Butterscotch
Caseinate
Cheese
Cheese powder
Cheese slices
Cheese spreads
Chocolate
Condensed Milk
Cooking Chocolate
Cottage Cheese
Cream
Cream Cheese
Curd Cheese
Curds
Dried Milk
Evaporated Milk
Fudge
Goat's Milk
Ice Cream
Lactalbumin
Lactalbumin phosphate
Lactate Acid
LactoglobulinLemon Curd
MargarineMayonnaise (except labelled casein free)
Milk
Milk Chocolate
Milk Powder
Milk Solids
Mousses
Nonfat Milk
Rennet
Casein
Shortening
Skimmed milk
Sodium Caseinate
Sour Cream
Sour Cream Solids
Toffee
Whey
Whey Protein
Whey
Sodium Caseinate
Whey Sugar
Whey Syrup
Whipped Cream
Yogurt
* Even vegetarian cheeses often contain casein, so be sure to check the labels

Many of the foods listed here now have gluten-free, casein-free substitutes. Start with these lists, and then used GFCF labeled substitutes to replace things you miss.

What If I Slip Up and Eat The Wrong Thing?

If a person on this diet slips up and eats some gluten or casein, they can take:

Peptidase

Peptidase is a digestive enzyme that breaks down the partial proteins (peptides) that gluten and casein can create.

What Is Acceptable to Eat on The GFCF Diet?

Now that we got that out of the way.....

Here's a general description of what is acceptable to eat on a gluten-free diet:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Several grains and starch sources are considered acceptable for a gluten-free diet. The most frequently used are maize, potatoes, rice, and tapioca (derived from cassava). Other grains and starch sources generally considered suitable for gluten-free diets include amaranth, arrowroot, millet, montina, lupine, quinoa, sorghum (jowar), sweet potato, taro, teff, and yam. Various types of bean, soybean, and nut flours are sometimes used in gluten-free products to add protein and dietary fiber. In spite of its name, buckwheat is not related to wheat; pure buckwheat is considered acceptable for a gluten-free diet, although many commercial buckwheat products are actually mixtures of wheat and buckwheat flours, and thus not acceptable. Gram flour, derived from chickpeas, is also gluten-free.

--Source, Wikipedia

And here's more about eliminating Casein from the diet:
----------------------------------------------------------------
The theory is that eating or drinking milk protein leads to high levels of protein by-products, called casomorphines, in some children with autism. These by-products may then affect behavior like a drug would. In these children, casomorphines could reduce their desire for social interaction, block pain messages, and increase confusion. If milk protein is taken out of the diet, the idea is that this will reduce the level of casomorphines, and behavior will improve as a result.

--Source, healing thresholds dot com

What is Gluten? What is Casein?

Here's a more detailed description of the diet.

It has two parts. Gluten-free, means you don't eat anything with a protein called gluten in it.

What is gluten?
-------------------
Put simply, gluten is a form of protein found in wheat (including spelt, semolina and durum), rye, barley and triticale (a hybrid).To get a little scientific, these grains each have slightly different proteins (gliadin in wheat, secalin in rye and hordein in barley) collectively known as prolamins. These promalins are what cause problems for people who can't tolerate gluten in their diet.

If you mix wheat flour with a little water the result is a sort of stretchy paste. The gluten in the flour is what makes the paste "elastic" and binds it together. In fact "strong" flour, sold for making bread, has extra gluten added. Wheat gluten itself, is a cheap source of protein.

In China and Japan pure gluten is traditionally used as a protein substitute in vegetarian food such as burgers, giving them a "meat like texture." The Japanese call it Fu but it is more commonly known as seitan -- or wheat meat in America -- where it is also sometimes added to breads to increase density or improve the texture. You may even find it in shampoo!
--Source: The Gluten Free Chef dot com

The second part is you don't eat anything with Casein in it.

What is Casein?
-------------------
Casein is a protein that is found in milk and used independently in many foods as a binding agent. Technically, it is part of a group called phosphoproteins, collections of proteins bound to something containing phosphoric acid. Casein may also be called caseinogen, particularly in European foods.

Casein is a salt, meaning it has no net ionic charge, of the element calcium. It has a number of interesting properties that make it useful in foods and cooking.

Many people believe proteins are healthier if consumed when not denatured – one of the major lines of reasoning used in supporting a raw food diet. Denaturing occurs when a protein loses its inherent structure, due to high heat or acid for example, at which point it no longer acts in the ordinary manner. Casein, because of its structure, is not susceptible to denaturing.

Casein can be found in two main types: edible and technical. Edible casein is widely used in both medicine and food, both for nutritional value and as a binder.

Technical casein is used in an enormous range of products, including paints, cosmetics, and many types of adhesives. A not-insubstantial number of people have a casein allergy and may find themselves experiencing negative reactions both to casein-containing food products and to products such as nail polish that contain casein.

Many people who are either allergic to casein and have linked it to milk, or who are vegan and therefore avoid animal products altogether, are not aware of the prevalence of casein in foods. For these people, it is important to note that, although a product may be labeled Lactose Free, it may easily still contain casein for other reasons. Soy cheeses, for example, often contain casein derived from milk, which may stimulate allergic reactions in people who assume that they are dairy free.

Casein has also been linked to negative effects in people with autism. While in most people, casein is easily broken down by the digestive system into peptides known as casomorphins, and then further processed into basic amino acids, some evidence suggests that in autistics, this process does not occur fully. The resulting casomorphins, which fail to break down completely, may have an effect on the body similar to that of morphine or other opiates. For this reason, some experts on autism recommend that people suffering from autism avoid casein in their diets.
--Source, wisegeek dot com

Opioid
--------
Casein has been documented to break down to produce the peptide casomorphin, an opioid that appears to act primarily as a histamine releaser. Casomorphine is suspected by some sources to aggravate the symptoms of autism.Casein has a molecular structure that is quite similar to that of gluten. Thus, most gluten-free diets are combined with casein-free diets and referred to as a gluten-free, casein-free diet.

Casein may also be a trigger of migraines and other types of headaches. Casein may also be linked to the promotion of cancer and other diseases which was discovered in the 1980s by nutrition and health researcher, Dr. T. Colin Campbell, author of The China Study.

Casein is often listed as sodium caseinate, calcium caseinate or milk protein. These are often found in energy bars, drinks as well as packaged goods.

--Source, Wikipedia

GFCF Diet For Treating Autism

Diet and Autism
----------------------
Autism is sometimes seen as a mental health problem, with a physical component, but no one really knows what causes Autism yet so its hard to categorize it.

There is definitely a place for therapy, as in speech therapy, behavioral therapy and relational therapy, and any treatment for Autism should include these to really be successful. However, I am starting this posting specifically to discuss the GF/CF diet because it there is a lot to discuss about this particular therapy lately.

GF/CF is an acronym for Gluten-Free, Casein-Free. In brief, this means no wheat, no dairy.Anyway, my whole family is on this diet. We've done the diet before, but it was difficult to do back then because there were so few resources available on it. This time around has been much easier, and because of putting the whole family on it, we have had a better time following it. After 7 months this time around, I can say that the effort has paid off, and my Autistic son is considerably improved (although it is not a cure.) The rest of the family have never felt better, and because of the many improvements in all of us, my Sister, Mother, a Neice and some others have all gone on it.

Now it seems that about 30% to 50% of Autistics improve on this diet, enough to justify continuing to do it. Many other families I know are following it, including one person with MS who says it helps her with her symptoms.

My question is, Is anyone else on this diet? Is anyone else here considering trying it? If you have, what works for you in following it? Do you have any good recipes that kids like? Have you seen results from it? Are you strict or lenient with following it? Is your child's school helping or not?

I will be posting more about the diet since it helps Webster's brother so much.