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

Update on what we are doing

Years ago, while searching for products to use for our GF/CF diet, I discovered that we have a place in Wisconsin, in the City of Grafton called Slow Poke's.

Slow Poke's is run by a mother who had a son with ADD and some other health and emotional issues.
She did a ton of research and changed the way the family ate.
This worked and her son is now off to college and his health is much better. She opened a store to provide information and products she had trouble finding when transitioning to this style of eating.

Its part of the Slow Foods movement, cooking from scratch, and going back to some traditional cooking and eating methods that went out of favor when people wanted the convenience of fast foods and using packaged foods. Our culture changed our diets when newer methods of preserving foods came into common usage, and even though they were improvements in food preservation and distribution, not all of them were improvements for our health. Certainly we had fewer germs, but we also lost some of our natural ability to harbor good organisms that are essential for our digestion and assimilation of nutrients from food.

The GF/CF diet which helps some people with Autism, is also part of this larger eating/cooking style.
We have been on the GF/CF diet for almost three years, and did the diet with my son about 10 years ago, but it was much more difficult for us to do back then, and so we didn't try again for a while. Now there are so many more GF/CF products available, and more support and community awareness, and that makes it so much easier this time. Who knew just trying to eat a certain way would be so difficult in life?

I have tried years ago to follow some of the additional guidelines recommended at Slow Poke's, but until my son got somewhat better it was very difficult to implement any changes, and too much change all at once was difficult. Plus, I had only so much energy myself, because I was also not feeling well at the time, and I have another child with a very different disability to care for also.

Well, we are all doing much better. I implemented the GF/CF diet for the whole family 3 years ago and within 2 weeks, my own long-standing health symptoms improved. This gave me more energy to work on refining things better for my Autistic son. My Autistic son is doing really well. His grades in high school are good, and he has friends.

So I went back to Slow Poke's, the store I mentioned above, and picked up the book that she recommends and designed her store around. I have been doing parts of it's recommendations already, but I am ready to try more of them.

The method is called Body Ecology, and it focuses on the intestinal flora and fauna that help us digest our food, along with other methods for maximizing digestion and assimilation of nutrients from food.

I decided to post what I am doing and putting updates on it. Is anyone else trying the Body Ecology method/life style? It fits well with GF/CF.

^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v

So after talking with some people who have been doing this for a while, reading one of the books on it, and doing some on-line research, I have implemented these things:

* Rinsing, soaking, rinsing and soaking some more all seeds, beans and nuts before cooking/eating them.
There is a chemical that is released by any seed, nut that is meant to start growing after being planted and watered to keep fungus and from degrading too much before sprouting. This chemical can inhibit the enzymes we need to digest them.

This was the best suggestion! I have found that doing this has made all these things much easier to digest for myself, but I still can't get my son to eat beans. It certainly makes almonds much nicer to eat. I buy raw, organic almonds, and soak them in the refrigerator. You can slip off the brown "jackets" and end up with a creamy white nut that is easy to chew and tastes better than the plain raw almond.

* Individualizing for Blood Type
I was pleased to see that the Body Ecology diet recommends individualizing diet for each person, particularly based on blood type, which I have done. The hardest part of this change was getting our blood types, because Doctors don't seem to keep this information on file for anyone any more. However, it was worth doing, because I found some foods I had never tried before that were recommended for my blood type, that I now eat on a regular basis because I really like them, and I feel really good after eating them (In particular, for me this has been making black-eyed peas and turnip greens, yum! I have never tried them before.) Its like someone just knew what would give me extra energy and taste good. Because I follow the GF/CF restrictions already, it seems like its hard enough to figure out what to make for meals, and so being able to add these new foods was very helpful. (GF/CF is recommended for my blood type, so no conflict there.)

* Using Fermented and Active Culture Foods
In the past, I used acidolphus-bifidus supplements, and yogurt. But many yogurts have modified food starch added, which is often made with wheat starch. And there is casein in the dairy. I am told that one breed of cattle produce dairy that has much lower casein in it, but I haven't been able to go that far...as to finding the right cows!

* Raw Dairy
Our state is currently battling out whether to allow raw milk to be sold to consumers. The Body Ecology diet recommends raw milk products and particularly cultured products and butter made from raw milk. This is tricky to do, because if you go to a farmer in our state, (we are a big dairy producing state) you have to ask for "milk for my pet" or give some such excuse. I know of an elderly woman in my area who lost her son to a disease he got from drinking raw milk, so I know there is some risk involved. You have to know the farmer and that the cows and milk are being handled properly.

So I have tried various forms of Kefir that are available at our local co-op, and a home-made version made at Slow Poke's. I don't like the artificial sweetener they use in some of them. I like the version made from coconut milk the best so far. The raw milk ones taste the best, but probably because of all the milk fat. I noticed I gained a pound after drinking a lot of this, so I am going to cut back a little. My son likes the Kefir strawberry flavour.

Once I find a type of Kefir I like the best, I am going to try making it myself with a starter available from Body Ecology.

* Food Combining
I started doing food-combining, but this has been tricky to implement for the whole family, because right now I make one son's lunch and he loves this gluten-free bread for sandwiches (made by "Against The Grain -- The Gluten-Free Gourmet." Against the Grain's recipe is really excellent, but has a small amount of dairy.) Most sandwiches combine a starch with a protein, which is not recommended.

* Sea Vegetables
Because I was a vegan macrobiotic for a year a long time ago (before kids), I learned to use sea vegetables in cooking and so I have already been doing that, but I have increased my use again. I am going to try using them as snacks sometimes.

* Sauerkraut
I have been reading about how to make living sauerkraut, or fermented vegetables, but I just can't picture it. I have a reluctance to let anything ferment, probably my ultra-clean upbringing. (My Mother could have been Martha Stewart.) Has anyone else tried to make sauerkraut?

* 80/20
This one is tougher if you have a really tasty meal in front of you. The idea is to stop eating after you are 80% full, leaving 20% of your "room" for digestion. It helps to wait 20 minutes before even thinking about getting seconds, because that's how long it takes for the hormone that signals your brain that you are full to get to your brain.

80/20 also refers to having about 80% of your plate be vegetables, and 20% proteins.

* Cooking some things and not others
Some vegetables (and even meats, like Sushi) are best eaten raw, particularly in the summer when they are fresh and in-season. Others are best eaten cooked because they have things in them that need to be neutralized. For instance, I need to always cook cauliflower because it can interfere with my thyroid, and I am already on thyroid medication for an underactive thyroid. Fermentation helps this, too. For one thing, as far as I know, all forms of non-fermented soy suppresses thyroid function. I'm still trying to memorize the lists of foods to eat raw versus cooked.

None of these changes is as dramatic as the change to GF/CF was. The results are pretty good. I find that cooking this way so far is helping me, and my kids are still getting used to it, but haven't complained about anything so far.

Slow Poke's Local Food, Grafton, WI
http://www.slowpokeslocalfood.com/

Body Ecology Diet
http://www.bodyecology.com/

Warning about High Fructose Corn Syrup

Warning:

High Fructose Corn Syrup has been found to be contaminated with mercury.

Another reason to avoid this food additive....

"many foods sweetened with HFCS contain mercury, left as a residue in the production of caustic soda, a key ingredient in HFCS. The FDA and the industry have known about this potential toxin and has continued serving it up since at least 2005.

The HFCS industry has been shrouded in mystery since it began in the 1970s, essentially the result of “get big or get out” record corn harvests and subsequent plummeting commodity prices for farmers. What to do with all that excess corn? The answer was not to decrease yields, but to find a way to get that corn into our stomachs. This has led to the proliferation of HFCS in nearly all processed foods you find in the grocery store. The industry has lacked transparency, and our government has refused to mediate our current health crisis — an upswing in diabetes and obesity resulting from cheap calories like HFCS — with regulation. So its not surprising that it took so long for the news to reach the public eye.

The initial study led by Renee Dufault, a now-retired Environmental Health Officer-cum-whistleblower, was published yesterday in Environmental Health, and found that nearly half the samples of HFCS tested contained mercury residue. The impetus for the study was to find approximately 58 tons of mercury that was reported missing in 2000 (and it is assumed yearly) from the chlor-alkali plants (makers of chlorine and caustic soda) in operation in the U.S.

Where has it gone? apparently some of it has gone into our veins and tissues.

Before now, our greatest threat for mercury exposure was through fish, followed by mercury amalgam in dentistry and through vaccines, as it is sometimes used as a preservative. But Dufault’s study estimates that exposure via HFCS could be up to 50 times that of mercury amalgam exposure in children age 3-19, as this age group is the largest consumers of HFCS.

Of course we know that mercury is a cumulative toxin, especially dangerous to pregnant women and children, and that those with high exposure (Jeremy Piven among them, from eating too much sushi) show signs of sensory impairment, sensation loss and lack of coordination. This disorder was formerly referred to as Mad Hatter’s Syndrome, because haberdashers who produced felt hats in the 18th and 19th centuries used a mercury compound in their process.

We too have had a potential day to day exposure to the heavy metal, just by choosing our food from the boxes and bottles in the center aisles of the grocery store. Aside from the case against us for improper nutrition, we could be slowly poisoning ourselves.

A second study, by David Wallinga, M.D. and his co-authors entitled “Not So Sweet: Missing Mercury and High Fructose Corn Syrup,” tested products directly from the supermarket. One in three tested positive for mercury residue. These included products like Smucker’s Strawberry Jelly, Hunt’s Tomato Ketchup, Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup, Nutra Grain Strawberry Cereal Bars, Pop-Tarts Frosted Blueberry and Coca-Cola Classic.

The reason Wallinga cited for his extension of the original study was that:Many of these products are specifically marketed to groups vulnerable to mercury. Soft drinks, fruit juices, and other junk food are successfully marketed to children not only through Internet and television advertising, but also in school vending machine and cafeteria options. People who rely on food stamps or who live in lower socioeconomic neighborhoods are also a special target for junk food manufacturers, because they offer the most accessible and often least expensive calories in the grocery store.

He went on to criticize the FDA for not doing its job, and urged for mercury, which is not required to produce HFCS, to be taken out of the process. I agree, but I would like to see our government push the corn refining industry further: They should be shouldering responsibility for our declining health in this country, and as such, should be more adequately regulated. If it were up to food justice advocates, the substance would be banned outright. But corn refiners should at least be held accountable for misleading advertising, and consumers should be aware of what they are buying, through better transparency on labels.

So the question is, what will the FDA do with this new found information? Dufault urges the creation of a mercury surveillance program, that monitors foods besides fish, along with additional public health evaluation of the exposure to mercury through HFCS. But can we really keep avoiding the deeper problem, that HFCS, as a product of the human imagination, could possibly be a failed experiment? For the sake of our health, it might be time for the government to finally intervene."

~Paula Crossfield is the managing editor of Civil Eats.

Original source:

http://civileats.com/2009/01/27/is-high-fructose-corn-syrup-turning-us-into-mad-hatters/

There is no safe level of mercury in our bodies.

Mercury poisoning has been implicated in the high incidence of cases of Autism.

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.

Opinion on Cow's Milk and Milk Products

If you are comparing health, and strength eating dairy products and not eating dairy products, you might consider that many dairy products are not just a combination of different nutrients like calcium and proteins.

Dairy products have hormones from the mother cow in them because she had to be pregnant to begin lactation. There are many hormones designed to help a calf to grow, and any mammal's milk is a primary way to pass on immunity to various things. Yet these immune factors might be to things our human system does not get exposed to or is not susceptible to.

A calf grows to nearly a full-size cow in one year. Cow's milk is designed to do that. If you are wanting to grow, perhaps drinking a very large mammal's milk is a way to do it! However, I suspect that we humans as adults are finished growing upward, and end up growing outward!

Milk products might assist someone in regaining lost muscle mass, but I think is unnecessary to maintain it, particularly after adulthood. Our human bodies stop producing the enzymes needed to process milk proteins in adulthood, making milk increasingly harder to digest, and causing other problems.

Milk has residual medicines such as various antibiotics, anti-fungals, and pesticides from "cow dips" that they are dunked into to kill fleas and parasites. These might not be approved for human consumption, yet can be in the milk in residual form.

Milk has residuals of growth hormones and other things given to the cow to make her produce more milk. Also, the cow was bread to be physically capable of producing massive amounts of milk, consuming many extra calories to do this. It is possible that her lactation hormones are very strong and abundant, and could be present in her milk. There are some theories that breast cancer in humans is linked to these factors that milk producers have been using to increase milk production in cows.

Also, if the cow has an infection or inflammation of some kind, there is all of her body's responses to that in the milk. If the cow is stressed, there can be elevated stress hormones such as cortisol and andrenalin. There are many good sources of calcium and vitamin D that don't have all of these "biological additives." After all, we wean the calves from the cows very early so we can take the cow's milk. The calf then grows just fine without it. (Perhaps missing its mother, though.)

The Anti-Candida Diet and Autism

I recommend taking a further step with regard to yeast problems with Autism.

We implemented this for several years with our son who improved remarkably during this time, while also receiving other therapy.

Yeast is also called Candida Albicans. Autistic persons can have an impaired immune response to yeast as mentioned in an earlier posting. Enormous amounts of yeast can be in a child's system at a given time. And the threadlike hyphae of the mycelium from the yeast can penetrate the mucous membranes and the lining of the intestine and cause permeability there, which causes further problems with immunity.

Besides simply eliminating yeast from the child's diet, a Doctor can prescribe an ingestible anti-fungal called Nystatin, in a powder form, a drinkable liquid, and a cream for topical application. Keep Nystatin in the refrigerator but do not freeze it.

Nystatin is a polyene antifungal drug to which many molds and yeast infections are sensitive, including Candida. Nystatin has some toxicity associated with it when given intravenously, but it is not absorbed across intact skin or mucous membranes. It is considered a relatively safe drug for treating oral or gastrointestinal fungal infections.

Skin, vaginal, mucosal and esophageal Candida infections usually respond well to treatment with nystatin. Cryptococcus is also sensitive to nystatin. It is used for treating oral thrush. Nystatin is often used as prophylaxis in patients who are at risk for fungal infections, such as AIDS patients with a low CD4+ count and patients receiving chemotherapy. It is prescribed in units, with doses varying from 100,000 (for oral infections) to 1 million (for intestinal ones).

As it is not absorbed from the gut, it is safe for oral use and does not have problems of drug interactions.

The lotion can be applied to the skin, and the powder can be mixed with honey in very small doses at first, and given to the child. The taste is quite bitter, but many Autistic persons like a bitter taste, or don't seem to mind it. Perhaps because it helps them to feel better. It is important to begin with very tiny amounts of the powder, as small as 1/16th of a teaspoon, and work gradually up to a theraputic dose. This is because the yeast will have a "die-off" and the dead yeast and yeast by-products are toxic to the system if all of it dies off at once.

A guide to the diets recommended for Autism is found in this book and several others:

"Feast Without Yeast: 4 Stages to Better Health: A Complete Guide to Implementing Yeast Free, Wheat (Gluten) Free and Milk (Casein) Free Living"
-- by Bruce Semon, Lori Kornblum, and Bernard Rimland (Paperback - Nov 1999)

To go this further step sounds like more work, but I think that killing off a yeast infection that might be irritating the entire sensitive digestive tract of an Autistic child can only help them. Nystatin does not work like an antibiotic. It doesn't kill off the "good bactiera" in the GI tract, only the fungal infection. Nystatin doesn't get absorbed into the bloodstream of the child, so it causes no side effects other than that caused by the dead yeast itself passing out of the child's system.

Its a non-invasive treatment, the drug is not habit-forming, causes no harm to the child, and even if the yeast isn't a very big problem for a particular child, you have nothing to loose by trying this, and everything to gain.

More about Diet and Autism

Some more about Autism and diets.

The things in the last post are not exactly foods themselves, but things added to foods to change them in some way. You are not really eliminating any true foods if all of these are gone from your child's diet. It may seem like there is "nothing left to eat" when you go to the store. But really everything "left" is the actual food itself. You still have all the foods your Grandparents ate and enjoyed and thrived on. All of civilization before 100 years ago, lived just fine on foods that contained no preservatives (other than salt, vinegar and some spices), no high-fructose corn syrup, no artificial dyes (they had beet juice, turmeric, blueberry and some others), and no nitrates. They had "slow-acting" yeast, which worked just fine for making breads and beers. They had refrigeration, freezing, canning, root cellars, drying and heating. All non-chemical ways to keep foods safe to eat.

They had fermentation as a preservative, which is the only thing that is not available on this diet at this point. Fermentation often produced alcohol, which works to preserve the food, or creates acidity which also inhibits bacteria. For a good replacement for vinegar, substitute lemon or lime juice. Alcohol is actually ok on this diet, of course not for youngsters.

So what to eat, and how? Just shop around the outside of the grocery. Buy produce, fresh meats that aren't processed, canned, frozen and dried goods that have no artificial preservatives or dyes. Shop more often, buy smaller amounts and cook them fresher, and more often from scratch. You don't have to cook "fancy" recipes to cook from scratch. In fact, some meals are great without any cooking at all. Try serving a fresh fruit, like grapes, with a bowl of mixed nuts, and some celery, carrot and red pepper sticks on a plate. A baked potato with olive oil and salt is a nice filler.

Good preservative substitutes are:
-------------------------------------------------
citric acid, available as a powder in bulk form,

vitamin E. (Buy as a liquid or empty a capsule into a preparation.)

Alcohol is fine, although not for children, or if used let the alcohol cook off or evaporate.*

Salt is fine. As are garlic and herbs that inhibit bacterial growth.

Also, as mentioned above, freezing, refrigeration, canning, drying, boiling.*

Avoid using rubbing alcohol for external things (obviously not to drink) use Vodka instead. Rubbing alcohol has been seen by some as a cancer-causing agent.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next things to try to eliminate, as part of an elimination diet that works for Autism about 30% - 50% of the time is the GF/CF diet. This is where we actually eliminate foods that can cause problems for specific types of people. The GFCF diet is not a weight loss diet, although some current weight loss diets have this as a component. Oprah's current 21-Day Cleanse eliminates both gluten and casein, but also eliminates meat. GF/CF stands for gluten-free/casein-free. Gluten is a protein in wheat and some other grains. Casein comes from milk and milk products. (Eggs are ok.)

The gluten-free part of the diet is almost exactly like the diet recommended for celiac patients. Even extremely tiny amounts of gluten can cause a problem, so following a celiac-type diet is going to cover this.

The casein-free part of the diet is similar to what you might do if you are lactose-intolerant, but it is not the lactose that is the real problem here (although lactose might be an additional problem--its not what causes the Autistic-like symptoms.) In other words, choosing lactose-free milk means that you still will have all the casein in the milk. And adding Lactaid to a dairy product only "fixes" the lactose-intolerance, not the casein problem.

So you have to eliminate all milk, and milk products, like cheese, yogurt, buttermilk, ice cream made from milk or cream, butter (unless it is clarified butter, sometimes called "Ghee".)*

In addition, casein is a very common food additive. Read all the labels on the foods that are processed to look for anything that uses casein. You also might have to check your personal care products like shampoo, and makeup for wheat and casein additives. And sometimes, even the gluten-free candies have been made using flour on the preparation boards to keep them from sticking together. So at this point you will have to call manufacturers to be sure they aren't using either gluten or casein in the preparation, even though it is not a listed ingredient. This is where buying whole unprocessed foods comes in very handy. A sack of potatoes is just a sack of potatoes (hopefully) unless, of course it has been sprayed with a chemical at the farm or in the warehouse. This is where organic foods are helpful, but not essential to this diet.

Many people start by eliminating the dairy products first. There are now many good substitutes for milk. Not-so for cheese. Many vegetarian cheeses have casein added to them. Substitute non-hydrogenated oils, nuts and nut-butters for cheeses. Butter can be clarified, but I highly recommend substituting it with organic, extra-virgin olive oil.

Gluten-free products are available now more than ever. There are many places you can find them, and many regular grocery stores carry a line of gluten-free products. Generally, for starches, we use potatoes and rice. Corn starch can be used to thicken things, instead of flour. Tapioca is OK. Oatmeal is ok, but check to see that it is certified gluten-free (oats are often grown in fields next to wheat and can be combined accidentally.) Popcorn is OK, Corn chips are OK. Salza is OK.

Give this diet about 6 months to see results. Nobody is going to starve. The whole family is on this diet and after an initial adjustment there is no problem finding things to eat and enough to eat. It is more a mind adjustment than a body adjustment. And if you do a little cooking, you don't have to spend any more money than you already do.

Entire cultures of our world live practically gluten free and casein free (until recently if they have become "Westernized".) For example, your local Chinese restaurant has many gluten free, casein free dishes--almost all of the traditional ones are.**

Traditional Mexican food was based mostly on corn flours, and had very little cheese and dairy. Cheese is almost an afterthought, added as a topping, and so it is easy to request dishes to be served without it.

* To make clarified butter, or Ghee, simply warm it until it melts, and then skim off the milk solids that float to the top. What is left looks "clear," hence the name.

** Watch out for "soy sauce" most soy sauces are made from wheat in this country. Buy some Tamari (soy sauce which is actually made from soy) which is labeled gluten-free and bring it with you.

Discussion on Diets and Autism

I know Autistic person's often are very picky eaters, sometimes to the point of it being like an eating disorder. It has been speculated that a small percentage of Anorexics have a form of Autism. However, given this, certain things aggravate the Autism, and if you eliminate them and their brain function improves, it is much easier to get them to stick with the changes because they themselves feel better and think clearer. So give any dietary change some time to work, at least 2 weeks. You can try making any changes gradually over a period of time, so that it doesn't become an "issue" (i.e., the focus of a tantrum.)

People hate diets, I know. And the thought of putting someone already suffering onto any kind of further restriction sounds horrible at first. But if you consider that these suggestions have worked for others, when nothing else has, this might help. Also, eliminating something is cost-free. And if that something is possibly poisonous to your child, even when others can tolerate it, then you are only removing an irritant to their system, like removing an allergen from someone who is allergic. If your child is allergic to cats, it is an easy (but sad) choice to find the cat another home, and it costs nothing to you. Try eliminating one of these things at a time, waiting two weeks, then eliminating another, and keep notes to see how things are going. Don't forget to notify the school or day-care, and enlist your extended family in helping you "test" this, so everyone is on the same page when you start.

List of things to eliminate that might be making the Autistic symptoms worse:
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Aspartame; an artificial sweetener in sodas and diet foods. This is a neurotransmitter that exictes the brain and that is why it tastes sweet. It has been shown to cause brain swelling in pilots, migrane headaches and, paradoxically, weight gain.

Nitrates; a preservative which is essentially Salt Peter. Salt peter is a chemical that once was used to keep soldiers from doing you-know-what. Of course it didn't seem to really work, but has been mythologized as some kind of conspiracy additive that soldiers discuss even now. Nitrate is found in almost all processed meats. It keeps the meat pink and changes the flavor. You can find nitrate-free meats in organic food stores.

Yeast and yeast by-products; yeast today is not the same as yeast 100 years ago. Now we have Super Yeast (fast-acting yeast) that has been bread to grow extremely rapidly and virulently. Even though it is baked and cooked, this yeast can proliferate if even a tiny amount remains uncooked. And if the child reacts to the yeast, the yeast by-products (the yeast "poop" and the yeast gas) can irritate the child's digestive tract and make it harder for the child to absorb the vitamins from foods he/she eats. Some people have switched to naturaly made soda breads, and sour dough breads. However, find out how they are made. You don't want a fake sourdough bread made with fast-acting yeast but with a little vinegar or some other additive to add a sour taste. Things to avoid include anything with yeast, but also most fermented things, like vinegar, pickles, etc.

High Fructose Corn Syrup;This sweetener is hard to get rid of since it is in just about everything that comes packaged. It is much sweeter than plain sugar. Try finding things that have plain sugar in them. There are some locally made sodas that do this still. The sugar feeds the yeast and can cause cravings and nutritional deficiencies because of this. Its a vicious circle--the sugar feeds the yeast, and the yeast grows extremely fast, causing sugar cravings. At this point, regular sugar is better because it is less sweet, and is less likely to be allergenic (corn is a very common allergen.)

Food Dyes and Preservatives;My son can actually taste the preservatives that the manufacturers claim to be tasteless. (He was tested in a college research program.) I guess about 10% of people can taste them. Artificial food colorings and preservatives (nitrates are one of them, so you have a good start already) can affect a child's behavior. Preservatives can be fine in very small amounts, but if you eat them with every meal for years at a time, they become irritants to the system, and become allergenic. The allergic response (histamines) can affect the brain of autistic persons.

If this sounds difficult, here is a way to think of it to help motivate you:Preserved food is OLD FOOD. With packaged, preserved food, you are paying extra for old food. Part of the food might look fine, but many vitamins, enzymes and other parts of the food have evaporated, degraded, or been purposely removed to keep the food from looking old when it really is old. With food colorings to "air-brush" the food to make it look like it is new, you don't really even know what it is you are really eating--chemically altered food that would have spoiled long ago.*

Sometimes there is a "withdrawal" effect from eliminating things cold-turkey, and this can happen particularly with Aspartame. So if your child is drinking 5 diet sodas per day, reduce it to 4 diet and offer one regular soda for a few days, then 3 diet and 2 regular, etc. Although, the added sugar might be a problem, the sugar is not your biggest concern at the moment. You can try substituting seltzer water mixed with juice as one of the drinks.

*I am not saying here that all forms of preservation are "bad." I feel refrigeration, freezing, canning (without vinegar), heating, salting, and root-cellar type storage don't pose the same problems.

Food Colorings and Hyperactivity

Here's some of the current rationale for why food colorings cause hyperactivity for some children:

Hyperactive children appear to be deficient in an enzyme known as phenolsulphotransferase-P or PST-P.
This enzyme detoxifies various compounds, including a substance called p-cresol that is produced by bacteria in the gut. P-cresol is a phenol.

Phenols can be toxic. Food colorings inhibit this enzyme (make the PST-P enzyme stop working.) When this is the case, some Autistic persons respond well to a low-phenol diet.
This diet eliminates the phenols gallic acid and malvin.

Here is a sample low-phenol diet used by an Autistic person who showed improvment:
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Grains:
millet, buckwheat, oats, rice 100% rye
Meats:
Pork, Rabbit, Duck, Fish (not tuna, salmon or halibut)
Vegetables:
Broccoli, Turnip, Cauliflower, Asparagus, Artichoke, Sweet Potato
Fruit:
Papaya
Oils:
Sesame, Sunflower, Safflower
Crackers:
Sesame (Ryvitas), Rice Cakes, Oat Cakes, Rice Crackers
Tea:
Nettle, Dandelion, Chamomile

--Diet based on the work of Dr. Abram Ber of Phoenix, AZ

Try This Diet First

The Elimination Diet

This is where you eliminate the most common allergenic foods from a child's diet, then wait a while, and add them back one at a time to see if they get an obvious reaction to them. This "catches" food allergies, mainly, but won't be the definitive answer if more than one food combined together causes the problem. When I tried to do an elimination diet, it didn't demonstrate to me the gluten/casein problem.

The most allergenic foods are:
------------------------------------------------
Wheat, Dairy, Eggs, Peanuts, Corn, Soy

The next most allergenic foods are:
-------------------------------------------------------
Chocolate, Yeast, Tree Nuts

After that, are:
--------------------------
Citrus, Tomatoes, Aspartame and MSG, Vinegar, Shellfish

And these are occasionally reactive:
--------------------------------------------------------
Bacon and pork, Cinnamon, Mustard, Bananas, Grapes/raisins, Coconut, Onions, Berries (Strawberries mainly), Peas, Celery, Spices like turmeric, cloves, curry, Kidney beans, Melon, Pineapple, Mushrooms, Peppers, Plums, Barley, Beef, Chicken.

To begin this process, sometimes Doctors recommend the "Lamb and Pears" diet, where you only eat the least reactive foods for a week or two (not easy, but doable), then add back the ones from the above lists one at a time, to see how you react to them, spacing this out by going back to the non-reactive list for a few days in-between.

Least Reactive Foods (Generally), or "Lamb and Pears" Diet
----------------------------------------------------------------
Lamb, Pears, Rice, Carrots, Beets, Cauliflower, Kale, Squash, Salmon, Halibut, Sole, Cranberries, Trout, Apricots, Turkey, Broccoli, Olives, Olive Oil, Rabbit, Cabbage, Sweet Potatoes, Tapioca.

Don't take any anti-histamines during this process, since you are looking for allergic reactions. (An allergic reaction is most often a histamine response.)

Don't eat any processed foods during this time, since they often mix foods together and some have traces of foods not on your list (if its a small enough amount, they don't have to put it on the label.) Also, you might be reacting to a preservative or food additive. If you include the preservatives as part of the re-introduction of foods, you might be able to isolate the one which is giving you problems.

List of Food Additives to Avoid
--------------------------------------------------
Dyes, Nitrites, Nitrates, Sulfites, Sorbic acid, Parabens, Benzoic acid, MSG, EDTA, Aspartame, Propyl Gallate, Alginate, Bromates.

I also try to eliminate:
------------------------------------
- Anticaking Agents- Artificial Sweetening Substances- Color Retention Agents- Emulsifiers- Flavor Enhancers- Flavorings- Flour Treatment Agents, dough conditioners- Food Acids- Glazing Agents- Humectants- Mineral Salts- Other Preservatives- Propellants- Stabilisers- Thickeners & Vegetable Gums

In particular, I react to dough conditioners.

I think that because of the problem I have with gluten, the dough conditioners make it worse, (I wonder if it could be the other way around--the dough conditioners triggered my reaction to wheat gluten.) Anyway, I can eat some breads and not others without a histamine reaction. However, the other brain symptoms are still a problem from the gluten.

Some chemical exposures can make allergies of any kind worse since they can trigger the allergy, or cause someone to react to something they weren't allergic to before.

Petrochemicals like car exhaust, oil furnaces, Formaldehyde, Chlorine, Phenol, Ethanol, Flouride, Benzyl Alcohol, Glycerine.

Avoiding exposure to these can reduce the total load on the child's immune system.

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:
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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
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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
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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.