Gluten Free Casein Free Diet For Autism

A GFCF diet is gaining recognition for helping children with autism. Removing gluten and casein from a diet can prove to be challenging as gluten and casein are found in many foods we eat. A GFCF diet for autism is considered an alternative treatment and is based on the belief that many with autism have allergies to gluten and casein.

Many believe autistic children may have an allergy or high sensitivity to both gluten and casein and choose to have allergy testing done. However, there are those that claim, even with no shown allergies to gluten or casein, that their child improved considerably with a GFCF diet. The belief is that children with autism process the gluten and casein differently and as a result their symptoms are exacerbated.

Some parents, as well as Doctors, believe that removing gluten from an autistic child's diet can be beneficial. Gluten is a protein found in the seeds of barley, oats, rye and wheat. When on a gf diet most breads and crackers are avoided, unless of course they are gluten free and reading nutrition labels becomes a way of life. Gluten can be found in many foods such as soy sauce, BBQ sauces and many times is a hidden additive so it is important to become familiar with safe gluten free foods.

Removing casein can prove to be just as challenging because casein is in many foods as well. Casein, a milk protein, is contained in dairy products and other foods containing dairy. Casein can also be found in dairy and lactose free foods and is often times a hidden additive, just as gluten is.

Beginning a GFCF diet is becoming easier than in the past because of the wide availability of gluten and casein free foods. Many companies are making it easier to identify GFCF foods with marketing and labeling and health food stores have begun to carry GFCF foods as well. Mainstream stores are jumping on board and making it easier for the consumer to identify and purchase GFCF foods.

The elimination of gluten and casein is gaining recognition and support in the world of autism. If your child suffers from autism this may be an alternative approach worth educating yourself on.

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The Gluten Free Casein Free Diet and Autism

The gluten free casein free diet is one that is very widely used on children with autism. Many people who had their children on the diet witnessed positive changes in their behavior. The diet is based on a hypothesis that because children with autism digest gluten and casein poorly, the gluten and casein form peptides, which affect his/her behavior, perceptions of and responses to the world around them.

What are gluten and casein? Gluten and casein are proteins. Gluten is found in wheat products, and casein is found in dairy products. Caseinate is derived from casein and is sometimes hidden in other products.

Gluten Free Casein Free Foods
Removing gluten and casein from your child's diet might seem difficult, considering a majority of foods in the United States are made with gluten and/or casein. When choosing what to buy for your child, look at the ingredient label. Keep an eye out for ingredients like caseinate, lactose, curds or bran. Sometimes if vinegar is used, it will be a type that contains gluten, so look out for that as well. Check your local health food store, sometimes they will have gluten free casein free foods. Or maybe there is a co-op in your area that sells gluten free casein free foods.

Before you start the diet, consult your pediatrician to see if the diet is right for you.

When starting out on the diet, remove the casein first. The body has an easier time adapting to a no-casein diet.

About Me

I am a thirteen-year-old on the autism spectrum. I was diagnosed with autism when I was six years old. Currently I maintain a Website all about autism at http://www.myautismrecovery.com To this date, My Autism Recovery has helped hundreds of people.

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Gluten Free Diet - Autism Still A Mystery

We know that scientists still don't know what causes autism, but research has found that with a gluten free diet autism characteristics or behaviour is lessened. With need for children to have a gluten free diet autism traits are more controlled too. Unfortunately it does not seem easy just to remove the basic foodstuffs such as the starches and dairy products from every household or only have a specific diet for one child who may suffer from autism.

Autism is a malfunction of the brain, and since there is no cure for it yet, other ways of handling the situation so to speak have to be implemented. It is not easy for a parent who has no idea that their child has autism, finding the reasons and what can be done for them is also another major issue that needs to be discussed when parents find out this information.

Gluten And Casein Removed Helps Autistic People

When it comes to the dietary needs of the autistic child it is recommended that the gluten intake and the casein intake, or gluten free diet autism is lessened. Somehow these ingredients have been found to cause a gastric problem, which seems more evident in autistic children too. By eliminating the daily usage of bread and milk which does sound harsh, and replacing it with something just as useful could sometimes prove quite difficult if it is done for the whole family in one shot. If you are changing your food sources over to be gluten free, you can easily find a gluten free diet recipe those suites your whole family's dietary needs.

With the gluten free diet, autism cannot be totally eliminated or remedied, as this is a malfunction of the brain. However, it has been proven that by using the gluten free diet autism gastric intestinal problems are totally eliminated or reduced radically, thereby also not putting the child in such a tense mode continually and therefore more relaxed and happier.

Don't Judge A Book By It's Cover

If you do come about a child with autism, you will find that the child is tense continually. This is also part of their own nature to be this way, and for some to be taken out of their usual environment causes their stress and panic levels to increase immensely. Some autistic children may seem out of the ordinary by their actions, but a lot are actually geniuses in their own right. It is important that "normal" children learn not to tease others with so-called disabilities, as it also has been proven that abilities that are lacking in one category are heightened in another.

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Why Doesn't Gluten-Free Work for Autism?

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.

Brian Sater provides information on solving health problems with nutritional approaches. Discover how to improve your health at http://healthpromotionandwellness.blogspot.com or contact Brian for answers about specific health information at bsate@youngevityonline.com