***Coming Soon****
The tales of the our recent accelerated life and the joys therein.
Stay tuned.
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Tuesday, July 13, 2010
GFCF Update
July 2010
OK, we have this GFCF thing down. John Mark is an excellent self-regulating kid, too. I know this would be such a pain if he were a "food sneaker." So, thank the Lord he's not.
We have tweaked things and I've got things pretty fine tuned now to fit our particular needs. First off, it feels sorta like detective work to find GFCF foods that are yummy AND affordable. And then, after reading the aforementioned book (see last post: Going GFCF), we gradually pulled out of his diet all of these things, too:
A pretty good rule of thumb is if it's hard to pronounce, put it back on the shelf. Or if it's a string of initials (e.g., BHT, EDTA), put it back because it was such a long word of chemical soup that it's a preservative or some other artificial something we don't need. I've also traded out his toiletries for friendlier options, as well as our cleaners, etc. I'm trying to incorporate more organic foods into our diet, too. Yes, it's all more expensive, but I don't care if I see improvements in my kids. I'll cut a different corner elsewhere.
So, I'm an avid label reader now. It's amazing what good things we become and will do when we're fighting for our kids.
And John Mark continues to make improvements. He even notices and has verbalized the differences and improvements. For example, he told me one day that the thing he noticed was that all those noises that his brother and sister used to make when he was trying to concentrate on school, well, he "just can turn that sound off now in [his] head." And I understand what he means. Tom and I know that John Mark just seemed to [previously] have an "open mic" that sent any sound directly to his head and he was pretty hyper-sensitive to even quieter noises that most everybody else wouldn't even be aware of. He'd get more and more frustrated and distracted by those noises. Now, not so much.
So, thank you Lord, for all the improvements we're seeing and how our sweet boy's personality is emerging!
OK, we have this GFCF thing down. John Mark is an excellent self-regulating kid, too. I know this would be such a pain if he were a "food sneaker." So, thank the Lord he's not.
We have tweaked things and I've got things pretty fine tuned now to fit our particular needs. First off, it feels sorta like detective work to find GFCF foods that are yummy AND affordable. And then, after reading the aforementioned book (see last post: Going GFCF), we gradually pulled out of his diet all of these things, too:
- HFCS (high fructose corn syrup)
- artificial food colors
- artificial flavorings
- preservatives
A pretty good rule of thumb is if it's hard to pronounce, put it back on the shelf. Or if it's a string of initials (e.g., BHT, EDTA), put it back because it was such a long word of chemical soup that it's a preservative or some other artificial something we don't need. I've also traded out his toiletries for friendlier options, as well as our cleaners, etc. I'm trying to incorporate more organic foods into our diet, too. Yes, it's all more expensive, but I don't care if I see improvements in my kids. I'll cut a different corner elsewhere.
So, I'm an avid label reader now. It's amazing what good things we become and will do when we're fighting for our kids.
And John Mark continues to make improvements. He even notices and has verbalized the differences and improvements. For example, he told me one day that the thing he noticed was that all those noises that his brother and sister used to make when he was trying to concentrate on school, well, he "just can turn that sound off now in [his] head." And I understand what he means. Tom and I know that John Mark just seemed to [previously] have an "open mic" that sent any sound directly to his head and he was pretty hyper-sensitive to even quieter noises that most everybody else wouldn't even be aware of. He'd get more and more frustrated and distracted by those noises. Now, not so much.
So, thank you Lord, for all the improvements we're seeing and how our sweet boy's personality is emerging!
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Going GFCF
1/12/10
Okay, newest developments: I started John Mark who has Asperger's Syndrome on the GFCF (gluten-free, casein free) diet about six months ago. The GFCF diet is thought to help with autistic like symptoms. Gluten is found in breads, crackers, cakes, grains like wheat, rye, etc. Casein is in all dairy products like milk, cheese, yogurts, etc. The short of it is that it is theorized that gluten and casein act like little opinoids (think "opiate-like") in their bodies and cause all kinds of havoc. So, you remove the gluten and casein, give the gut time to heal, and autistic symptoms lessen. That's a MAJOR oversimplification of things, but you have Google just like I do. Look at http://www.gfcfdiet.com/ or other sites and you'll get the jist of it.
All that to say, WOW! This is really, really making a difference with our sweet boy. We've removed gluten and casein from his diet and he is becoming a different boy! I am so pleased with the results we're seeing. He has much better eye contact, he is funny ON PURPOSE, he is more "with it" and engaged in conversations, he is just sorta "waking up." He's always been very high functioning, so I'd poo-pooed on the idea of going GFCF thinking that the benefits wouldn't outweigh the hassle and expense. Well, my humble pie is going down much easier to see my wonderful boy and his personality come out.
We've been doing this for about six months (since the start of the 2009-2010 school year). We have also added in giving enzymes too to help with digestion. I'm learning how to be a decent GFCF cook. We're making headway for sure. And it is worth it. I've been told that it can take 8 months to a year to see results. Well, we started seeing results just a couple of months into it. So, we are staying the course.
One of my main resources has been the book by Barrie Silberberg entitled: The Autism & ADHD Diet. (see her website at www.puttingyourkidsfirst.com for more info).
Good info. Will post an update.
Okay, newest developments: I started John Mark who has Asperger's Syndrome on the GFCF (gluten-free, casein free) diet about six months ago. The GFCF diet is thought to help with autistic like symptoms. Gluten is found in breads, crackers, cakes, grains like wheat, rye, etc. Casein is in all dairy products like milk, cheese, yogurts, etc. The short of it is that it is theorized that gluten and casein act like little opinoids (think "opiate-like") in their bodies and cause all kinds of havoc. So, you remove the gluten and casein, give the gut time to heal, and autistic symptoms lessen. That's a MAJOR oversimplification of things, but you have Google just like I do. Look at http://www.gfcfdiet.com/ or other sites and you'll get the jist of it.
All that to say, WOW! This is really, really making a difference with our sweet boy. We've removed gluten and casein from his diet and he is becoming a different boy! I am so pleased with the results we're seeing. He has much better eye contact, he is funny ON PURPOSE, he is more "with it" and engaged in conversations, he is just sorta "waking up." He's always been very high functioning, so I'd poo-pooed on the idea of going GFCF thinking that the benefits wouldn't outweigh the hassle and expense. Well, my humble pie is going down much easier to see my wonderful boy and his personality come out.
We've been doing this for about six months (since the start of the 2009-2010 school year). We have also added in giving enzymes too to help with digestion. I'm learning how to be a decent GFCF cook. We're making headway for sure. And it is worth it. I've been told that it can take 8 months to a year to see results. Well, we started seeing results just a couple of months into it. So, we are staying the course.
One of my main resources has been the book by Barrie Silberberg entitled: The Autism & ADHD Diet. (see her website at www.puttingyourkidsfirst.com for more info).
Good info. Will post an update.
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