Many people are touting the gluten-free diet for children with autism. I am going to explain why the diet does not work for all children with autism, what the dangers are, and how to improve the diet to truly make gains for your child with autism.
The Danger of a Strict Gluten-Free Diet
There are many people swearing by the gluten-free diet and that it does help their child with autism. There are inherent dangers in providing a child with a gluten-free only diet. Don't get me wrong. I do believe in these diets. However you need to be able to replace minerals and vitamins lost when a diet becomes strictly gluten-free.
I believe that we do not get proper minerals and vitamins in our diet anyway. Our soils have been depleted of the minerals our plants need to process the vitamins we need. This makes it necessary for all of us to supplement with minerals and vitamins.
Not all vitamins are equal. Don't think that you can just pop a cheap multivitamin and be on your way. Many of these cheap supplements are inexpensive for a reason. Many have fillers added to them for bulk so they can sell many of them on the cheap. In fact, these cheapies have been found to just pass through the body providing no nutrition at all!
What to Add to the Gluten-Free Diet
In order to avoid hundreds of nutritional deficiency diseases, we need 90 essential nutrients. I know of only a few companies that are able to effectively provide that in a quality supplement. Quality is essential over quantity.
Now, the biggest culprit in autism. Sugar. Yes, start with the gluten-free diet. Supplement. The biggest change is to take sugar out of your child's diet. Treat your child like a diabetic.
I want you to think of what happens to a child when it is weened from its mother in our society. Young children jump from their mother's milk to sweetened everything. Sweet cereal, sweet juices, sugary toasted snacks/meals, and so on. Those young brains need all of the nutrients we can give them, yet in Western society we give them sugar and processed foods.
What Can My Child With Autism Eat?
The question I get asked at this point is," What can my child eat?" Before answering that, I want to mention another category of foods to avoid. They are fried foods and nitrates and nitrites. Everything from processed meats to chicken nuggets fit these categories.
You can now have the privilege of exploring foods you may not know about. Millet, flax, buckwheat. You can provide your child with eggs, not hard cooked, but scrambled or poached. Eggs are great brain food. Rice is a good food. Sweet potatoes. Add butter and milk if your child is not allergic to milk products. There are also food supplements which help improve the taste. Margarines and cooking oils need to be avoided. These have trans fats, the biggest danger to our heart health today.
The Healthiest Autism Diet
If it were my child, I would have him or her tested for allergies. I would give my child a gluten-free, trans-fat-free diet. I would provide my child with the 60 Minerals, 16 Vitamins, 12 Amino Acids, and 3 Essential Fatty Acids (Omega 3 & 6 are essential). I would eliminate all sugar from their diet as if they had juvenile diabetes.
Dr. Joel Wallach, a pioneer in nutritional medicine, has stated that the 85% to 90% of children who have used this diet and nutrition program have changed from autistic to normal behavior. Children with true autism have benefitted from this program.
The theory of nutritional medicine is that when you provide your body what it needs, it fixes itself. Many are enjoying the benefits of good health today because of this approach.
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