Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Hoping for a miracle with the start of the glutein-free casein-free diet

Day 1: Every day provides a fresh new set of possibilities. Basically we never know what direction AS is going to take us. Today I learned about the gluten-free casein-free soy-free (GFCFSF) diet an old college roommate of mine uses for her autistic son. She had so much good information to provide! I was so glad to find someone who had some ideas on how to help Jack and lots of good suggested reading material.

At first I was more than skeptical and my initial reaction was," Well what is left to eat?!". The whole idea seems totally overwhelming but after talking to her I think I definitely want to give it a try. She explained the peptides and proteins react similar to heroine. I can't remember if it's just in autistic individuals or everyone, though. Tomorrow I will do some more research and see where this takes us. But if this diet really can make such a difference for my son as it has for hers, I am all for it!

Day 2: Today has been research day about the GFCFSC diet. I am finding LOTS of posts from various parents who use the diet and rave about the difference it makes. However, I am not seeing a lot of people doing soy-free as well. I think we'll start out with the first two and see what difference it makes first.

There are two approaches you can take here - get your feet wet or dive in head first. We are going with the first. While at the store I decided to see what I could find that was GFCF and was happy to find several of our normal items appeared to be good to use. I also got some brown rice and beans to make rice and bean flour with. I couldn't find Xanthun, though, so hopefully another store has it.

While at the store I also got a container of Soy Silk to try. My in-laws use it and thought it would be a good brand to start with. Better to pick the best tasting so you can stand it and then get used to the non-flavored, right? My plan is to mix it with the regular milk, gradually decreasing the cow's milk, until the kids get used to it. It's actually not too bad. A whole lot better than the nasty rice milk I tried to make for sure! I'm going to save that experiment for cooking with.

For dinner I decided to try a GFCF meal on a whim. I actually had stuff to use and it was very easy, a small miracle considering how much I normally use wheat and dairy. It tasted very good, too! Jack was on an absolute tirade all day until right after dinner. It's amazing what good food can do for that kid.

Day 3:

While Jack didn't wake up a very happy kid he sure changed quick and left as one. I was quite happy to send off a smiling humming boy to school for a change! We also started him back up on his Isagenix Cleanse (1 0z. with 6 oz. tang), too. That always makes a good difference in his behavior for him. I'm not sure if it was the GFCF dinner and breakfast but I'll take any happiness I can get.

I found a few posts today while researching that talked about removing soy as well as it will react similar to milk in the body. I'm going to have to think about that one. I don't know that we can totally give up any kind of milk to drink with four little kids.

Last minute I decided to try another GFCF dinner and hoped nobody would be any the wiser. I used our grain mill to make rice flour and found a GFCF cornbread recipe on the internet. The rice milk also got put to use. It didn't turn out quite the same but sure enough nobody has even noticed the difference. Cool! I skipped the cheese for the garden salad we normally added and no one asked for it so we got to eliminate that, too!

When we got all done eating I asked my husband how he liked dinner. He said he really liked it and then was surprised when I said it was GFCF! We seem to be eating more tastier dinners than normal and nobody is noticing a difference so far. Yeah!

Day 4:

Alright I am starting to get suspicious. The odds of getting a happy AS boy at our house in the morning once I might take but twice in a row is really a phenomenon. Jack was SO happy and agreeable this morning! Was it the Isagenix or the diet? I am suspecting the diet as he's not normally this nice in the morning. No arguments, whining, crying or anything that we can normally get a mix of in the morning. I've noticed that I am feeling much happier, too. Wow!

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