Should GFCF diet be mandatory?

Post Reply New Topic

I am not on a diet, never have been. But I am just thinking that if I take a theory behind the diet to its logical conclusion it would imply some extreme things. The claim of the theory is that body of aspies can not disjest glutein and caesin appropriately, so these two substances go to blood in a form of morphine-like compounds. In other words, for aspies taking glutein and caesin is the same thing as taking drugs.

Now, we know that drugs like marijwana are illegal. So, if the government is to be consistent, shouldn't glutein and caesin also be illegal? If gluten/caisen is like alcohol, then autistics under 21 should be forbidden from eating it. If it is like marihwana, then all autistics should be forbidden, regardless of age.

No.

Well, for one thing, that idea has been disproven, both scientifically in large-scale controlled studies and in my own life.

The idea that gluten/casein are "morphine" to autistics is just outright nonsense. No, they are not. We can, just like neurotypicals, have intolerances to those things; but they don't make us "high", they cause digestive problems like diarrhea and malabsorption issues in the worst cases. (I spent several years of my childhood without the slightest trace of gluten or milk. There was absolutely no difference; and in fact I had my first episode of major depression halfway through that period--though this was likely unrelated to my diet. I did grow up rather stunted, and am probably going to be more vulnerable to osteoporosis due to lack of calcium...)

It's not like marijuana, and it's not like opium. Wheat and milk are wheat and milk, not drugs; and I'm tired of this stupid persistent urban legend because it's siphoning off research and effort from things that might actually help us.

I tried it, and it made no difference, and actually made me more stressed than usual because shopping was more expensive and more difficult.

Not being allowed toast makes for a terribly sad existence.

The diets are BS.

I'm on a gluten free diet and mostly dairy-free as well, not for AS but for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. I have found that it helps a little. Whenever I eat large amounts of gluten I feel more exhausted and more spaced out.

But no, I don't think it should be "mandatory" for anyone.

Milk and bread and stuff like that are common groceries that contain basic nutritions - if you don't happen to be allergic to that stuff.
Gluten and casein are in so many foods that limiting these out makes grocery shopping much more stresfull and certainly also more expensive.
Why make spending more money mandatory?
Furthermore, how should this work? Do you seriously imply that food that most of the people can eat without problem should be limited for some - which would require to check everybody who buys bread, milk, cheese, etc? Imagine the workload for shop and the time the checking would require.

And then most aspies happen to be very finicky eaters. I personally would starve on this special diet; it rules out almost everything I like and takes in almost everything I dislike/hate.

And then this basic food with basic nutritions happens to not have this effect for everybody on the autistic spectrum...

Where is "This idea is doubtful and highly unpractical" on that poll...?

Exactly. Like vaccinations and other stupid things. Somebody wants money from parents, so makes diets, detoxes etc.

WTF?

What gives anybody the right to tell me what to eat?

Laws regarding what we can eat!! !! !

Thats foolish. Setting aside the abuses that such laws would cause. Autism varies in its manifistation.

I know a girl (also on the Spectrum) and she doesn't feel in good mental control when she eats chocolate. I have little issue with chocolate, I like it but apart from being a comfort food it has little effect on my mental control (or my perception of same). I know that eating white bread can make me feel tired/sick but to my knowledge white bread has little effect on her.

Bearing this in mind, a blanket food rule for all those diagnosed with anything (Autism, ADD, ADHD, etc) would be wrong. It all depends on the person and what works for them.

---

Agree 100%.

I believe that the spectrum is a collection of different conditions. It is wrong that the distinction between different diagnosis is merely functional. An individual can meet criteria for different diagnosis during his/her life but this doesn't help. A child who is delayed in speech is different from a child who is communicative up to 18 months and then loses his speech in a day.
Why does it happen? Should it be dued to an external cause?
Science has not an answer and diet can be a solution for these childs... their parents swear that it works. Of course as far as diagnosis is functional we don't know in wich cases it works because it is related to causes.
As a parent of a boy on the spectrum I asked other parents how diet works and they answered that their children are no more hyperactive.
My boy is not hyperactive and he has a speech delay, but never lost his speech.
It can't be the same problem and all the more reason it can't be the some cause.

It's not just the opiod effect from gluten and casien that's the trouble. Undigested gluten and casien mollecules , called peptides, are leaked through the gut into the bloodstream. These particles are neurotoxic. They cause conditions that mimmick mental illness, causing depression, rage, ADHD type symptoms, and lots of other unpleasant stuff. People told me for years to put my kids on the diet and I thought they were nutso. Then I read the science behind it and was totally floored. i thought it was just a nutrition thing from people who are against medications. Boy was I wrong. I can tell you for a fact since my kids have been on the diet they have been so much happier and healthier. They are thriving and growing socially and emotionally...they're happy again!

Peptides are made of amino acids which are an essential nutrient to sustain life. Opioids cannot be made from gluten or similar substances in the body, the chemistry does not work. This thread is all a load of rubbish!

Some people in the spectrum have this issues. My boy is totally different, he seems to have a different brain but not physical problems. May the cause be different in spite of the same diagnosis?
They won't demonstrate it scientifically as far as they won't identify people in the spectrum that should be helped with the diet.
That people can have different diagnosis.

I've only recently become aware that I probably have Asperger's (all signs are pointing to yes), but I figured out about a year and a half ago that I have gluten and casein intolerance. Considering it took me so long to figure out what was wrong with me--in terms of my diet--I can't say whether my development, personality, etc. would have been affected one way or the other if I'd been on a GFCF diet all along.

In my experience, consuming gluten and/or casein did/does not produce morphine-like effects. They both make me sick, enough so that I am afraid of gluten and never eat it (not on purpose, anyway), and I sometimes eat cheese/consume casein in very small amounts but suffer the consequences pretty much immediately. I have neurological effects from gluten--severe anxiety, peripheral neuropathy, facial numbness, migraines, lightheadedness, and vertigo. All those symptoms went away when I quit eating gluten. They return if I ever accidentally eat it (along with digestive issues, but the neurological problems are far worse).

I've heard that people often crave foods that they can't digest or have an intolerance to...so maybe that's what you mean by morphine-like effects, but I'm not convinced that eating bread is on par with a morphine fix.

But should a GFCF diet be mandatory? Of course not. If it works for you, great. If not, eat what you want. Personally, it saved my life. I can't say how any of this relates to Asperger's, or if it even does (I'm still weird, even on a GFCF diet!), but I know that for me, gluten is like poison and I'll never willingly eat it again.