Dietary Changes for AS Children

Post Reply New Topic

Can anyone point me in a direction with this? The food thing all seems really overwhelming and complicated to me. If there's a good book or website or anything that breaks it down with a fair amount of ease - I have enough complications in my life - I would like to see if diet modifications could possibly help some of the AS symptoms.

I know many report a gluten-free and dairy-free diet alleviate symptoms.

I tried it with my kids but didn't notice any difference. However I know other parents have stated this diet made a huge difference. It can't help to try it.

The school-free diet is the best for my boys.

Helen

http://www.gfcfdiet.com/

http://www.glutenfreeda.com/

http://www.glutenfree.com/

http://upsfordowns.org/nl/my%20family%2 ... pdated.htm

Thanks!

I can't see how dairy-free could be healthy for a child, though I am certain some vegans would beg to differ. I'll try the gluten-free approach and see what happens. Since I started researching what gluten is in (EVERYTHING!) I did notice on days she has less of those items, she behaves better and stims less.

Gluten is nasty stuff. We've been GFCF for three months or so, and I've gotta say I think it makes a big difference. We've had various tests done, though, and our son definitely doesn't digest gluten very well, so this gluten stays in the system and can act as a toxin, affecting behavior. If your daughter digests gluten OK, it might not be an issue for her. There are many great alternatives out there, and you would need to supplement her diet with additional calcium, magnesium, zinc, B vitamins, etc., but kiddos on the spectrum should probably be getting extras of these anyway. There are some very tasty gluten-free products out there, but also watch out for gluten in spelt, barley, and all the families of wheat (semolina, durum, etc.). I also bake a lot of our own gluten-free stuff myself. I've experimented with various flours and have come up with some delicious results. As for casein-free, you can substitute ghee (clarified butter) for butter, and whey isolate is a great source of additional protein. Make sure it's whey ISOLATE. Jay Robb makes an awesome whey product, in many flavors, and it states on his web site that it's casein-free. There are delicious milk alternatives -- rice, oat, almond. The options are endless!

Just a word of caution. This summer I discovered I literally go crazy if I don't get enough sugar in my diet - I'd cut out all sweats, and anything with corn syrup in it, because I wanted to eat healthy. I ended up going nuts, was banned from internet forum (not entirely sure why), cut out most of my friends, and was the closest I've been to being suicidal in a long time. Was fantasizing about jumping off the bridge for a while and I didn't even realize it until I told someone I was chatting with I needed to walk down to the bridge to clear my mind (in the 5 years I've lived near the bridge I've never once walked to it).

Anyways, after two months of that, I couldn't take it any more, and went back to eating candy though not near as much before. Its great to be normal again. My bf's dad thinks I could probably get the sugar content from fruit but I find myself unable to eat fruit on a daily basis (it doesn't help that I'm fatally allergic to my favorite fruit, and get violently ill from my second and third favorites)/

I'm normal now, but I can't remember the bulk of the summer. Heck, I can't even remember which school courses I was enrolled in.

diets are hard. all diets, for everyone.

You can start a food journal for your child if you cant keep up with it internally, and it is said(i believe it from personal experience), that the food they eat the most of their own accord is the culprit, because it acts like a drug. For my daughter it was casein, and removal at first showed no results, but the second time, when i really understood how prolific casein is in food, it went much better....note, she still ate cheese. This was weird to me, that she could handle cheese, but maybe there is a counter agent in cheese from the process.

Our first offender was a dye....red dye of any number. It was by accident we discovered it, but it made her hyper and climbing....everything....she had the most excellent balance back then. But this dye, is still something she will to an extent self control. She began drinking milk entering puberty, and seems fine.

There is evidence to look at food additives, like dyes, preservatives, etc.

Watching your child's diet will give you the best clues as to what exacerbates behaviors. Do this before beginning any diet, and save yourself some trouble.

Because dieting, in any way, is hard.

tygereyes

THere are food sensitivity tests that can be administered, which is different from an allergy test. I had one a number of years ago without which I probably wouldn't have tried cutting out gluten and casein as well as soy.