We share with you what Karyn Seroussi wrote in her book,
"Some cases of autism are treatable with dietary intervention, and the sooner, the better".
l Only one hundred of those receive an early diagnosis;
l Only ten of those have parents who find out about the diet soon after;
l Only five of those have parents who decide to try the diet;
l Only three of those have parents able to understand how to do it properly
l Only one of those children is in the subgroup that will respond
"It appears that there is a window of opportunity after the onset of the behaviors during which certain children are still able to regain functional use of the enzymes that breakdown the neuropeptides."
Effects of the diet
Dietary research has shown the following improvements, though vary according to individuals:
l Increased level of attention and concentration
l More calm and settled
l Decreases in aggression
l Improvements in sleeping patterns
l Improvements in communications
l Improvements in physical coordination
l Improved eating habits
l Improved eye contact
Watch out for dairy
Ingredients that contains dairy : milk, skim milk, butter, yogurt, lactose, powdered milk, goat¡¦s milk,cheese, casein, caseinate, whey. Do not worry. Apart from milk, you should be able to find soy cheese, dairy free live yogurt as substitute.
Know about gluten
There are four groups of foods you should pay attention to: (1) Grains, (2) seasoning & condiments (3) bread and cake and biscuits (4) hidden gluten in convenience & canned foods.
(1)Common grains that contain gluten : wheat, oat, spelt, kamut, rye, barley, semolina. It is suggested to replace them with rice, millet, potato, soy, quinoa, topicoa.
(2) Many seasonings and spread such as soy sauce, vinegar, rice syrup, sauce, salad dressing, jam, cube, gravy actually contains gluten. Look for wheat free tamari,gluten free condiments, gluten free/dairy free chocolate spread.
(3) Unless you get the biscuits/bread/cake from a specialty store, you can safely assume all bakery goods and biscuits available from ordinary bakery contain wheat and gluten. You can make your own bread, pancake, waffle, cake, muffins¡K¡Kusing gluten free flour and mixes. Add tapioca flour, potato flour, xanthum gum (remotely derived from corn) and guar gum( from the seed of a plant of legume family), egg or egg replacer to create the best texture. Toast your bread will give a better taste. As for cookies, you need not worry. There are quite a lot of substitutes of different flavours: chocolate (made from cocoa), digestive, bourbon, custard cream, ginger, crispbread, rice cake, crackers, tea biscuits.
(4) Many canned foods and convenience foods also contain gluten such as chips, French fries, chocolates, candy. Vitamins, supplements, toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, lotion, glue, playdough, crayon may also contain gluten. So, be sure you avoid gluten in all situations.
A brief guide to diet management
Don't rush into it
After making up their mind, some parents are so eager to try out the diet that they simply rush into it without sufficient preparation. This is counter-productive and will likely create a lot of stress and disappointment for the child and the whole family. Allow yourself at least 2 weeks to prepare for it. Here are the things you should do during these two weeks:
Get support from hubby and granny
Discuss the diet with your spouse and other key members of the family such as grandparents and obtain his/their full support as much as possible. We can¡¦t afford to have a diet on one hand and the other parent/grandparent keep feeding the child forbidden food on the other hand.
Seek cooperation from nanny
Brief your child’s caregiver and nanny fully what is this all about. You may be surprised that they may turn out to be very sympathetic and willing to work with you. Win their heart and not bulldoze it. You need their full cooperation.
Separate cooking utensils
Separate all the cooking utensils (including toaster) for your child,unless you have decided to apply the diet to all family members. While your other family members may still want to eat foods containing gluten and dairy (e.g. cartons of fresh cow¡¦s milk and wheat spaghetti), it is advisable to ensure all essential cooking ingredients (soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, seasonings are entirely replaced by gluten and casein free ones to avoid the confusion and cross contamination).
Reserve kitchen space for GFCF foods
Clear some space in your kitchen cabinet for the new food items. It is better to reserve a compartment solely for your child¡¦s food and snack. There are two advantages: avoid confusion and secondly, your child will learn gradually where to find his food at home.
Write a new food plan
Make a list of food that your child likes to eat and make another list of substitute food. See if you can replace the forbidden food fully. For example, if your child drinks milk every morning and eat cereal. You should replace it with rice milk and quinoa meal or gluten free bread with gluten free/dairy fee jam and chocolate spread for breakfast.
Check out health grocery
Go and check out health grocery and supermarkets what food items they have. Learn to read the labels and ingredient list. If in doubt, ask store operator for further information.
Create a daily journal
Set aside a diet journal for your child. This can be a notebook or you can create a file in your PC. The daily journal should consist of three sections. The first section is a record clearly stated what food the child eat during breakfast, lunch, snack, dinner ,etc. The second section is what supplements does he/she take or being added/or being taken away during that day. The third section is to a description of the child¡¦s overall conditions, mood, eye contact, responsiveness, school performance,toileting, bowel movement or any other things you think it worthwhile for evaluating the diet. Since you need to input data onto this journal everyday, our subjective opinion is that you should just use the most simple method ----- a notebook ---- which (1) you can bring it anywhere you like (e.g. to the clinic if you had an appointment with your child¡¦s doctor, bring it with you during holiday trip) ;(2) you can ask your nanny or husband to fill it in for you if you are not free on that day. The idea is to share out the responsibility a bit.
Inform the school
Make sure you talk to the teacher about the new diet before you start. It is better to make an appointment with the teacher rather than telling her causally while you pick up your kid from school. To prepare for the meeting, you should have the following with you (1) a short note explaining why a new diet is needed (2) A list of common forbidden food (3) a box of snacks suitable for your child for keeping by the teacher to deal with unforeseeable situations. In order not to confuse the teacher, you can simply tell them that your child is allergic to milk and gluten, and they should refrain from giving him food without consulting you.
Set a start date
It is important that you choose the best time to start the diet. Avoid major festival or upcoming birthday when your child will crave for festive and party foods that he/she can have. Avoid starting it when you are having an overseas holiday because mealtime and availability of foods is much less predictable. School holiday (if no overseas vacation is involved) is a good time to start as you can have full control over what food your child eat. Understandably, you should avoid periods when your child is particularly moody and weak such as falling sick. Once you feel that your preparation is ready, you should go for it.
Remove dairy first
When you are ready, remove dairy from the diet in the first place. It should not be very difficult. Replace the cow¡¦s milk with rice, soy, quinoa, almond, tapioca, potato milk. Be sure that they are also gluten free so as to avoid changes in the near future. Some rice milk may contain traces of barley, malt and are not gluten free. If in doubt, always check directly with the manufacturers or your store operator.
Remove gluten is the next step
After you have removed dairy, you can consider removing gluten in about two to three weeks¡¦ time, if not earlier. It may take a few attempts to find out the foods that your child will happily eat. Be optimistic and keep trying.
Create your own recipe
If your child will not switch to non dairy drinks right away, try and mix it with cereals first. Or add a little bit sugar (organic cane sugar or unrefined sugar) to enrich the taste. Or dilute the milk with a little bit of water as sometimes the taste of soy is quite strong. Just be creative. As the memory of milk fade, the taste may gain more acceptance.
Regression is normal
The initial one to three weeks is critical and most children will show regressions in behaviour such as anxiety, crying, moody, clinginess. This is similar to the withdrawal symptoms of opioid addicts trying to stop the drugs and regression is not abnormal. In most cases, the stronger the reaction of the child, the more likely that he/she will benefit from the diet.
All or nothing is the key
Your child must stick to the diet rigidly. There is no middle ground. Half hearted-attempt is worse than not doing it at all, taking into account all the trouble in implementing the diet.
This is not a quick fix
Be patient and it is advisable to stick to the diet for at least six months. This is because the body takes time to reorganize its biological system and there is a belief that some of the products derived from gluten may be stored in the body, and this means that even when the foods are removed the child may still have a reserve of them.
More home-cooked food, less processed food
Eat home cooked food is always the safest and most healthiest approach. The more food is processed, the more nutrient depleted and chemically altered it becomes. Many of the chemicals added to food (flavour enhancers, colours, various additives and preservatives have been conclusively shown to contribute to hyperactivity, learning disabilities,psychiatric disorders and many other health problems.Natural foods subject to extreme heat,pressure, enzymes, solvents and countless number of various other chemicals ,fats get hydrogenated and proteins get denatured. So, aside from the diet, if you need to eat processed foods at times, try to switch to those with no chemicals and artificial colouring, organics, no genetically modified ingredients.
Rotate the foods in your diet
Your child may be a picky-eater but you must try to rotate the foods in his diet so that he will not be too dependent upon one food. For example, he should rotate fish, pork, beef, lamb¡K. And the same applies to vegetables as well as non-dairy substitutes. A bit of everything is always better than focusing on a few food. For people prone to food intolerance, it is ironical that the more he craves for one food, the more likely that he is intolerant of that and the more he eats, the more he will react to it.
在做出決定之後，一些父母很渴望早日展開新的飲食計畫，所以他們沒有經過深思熟慮和好好的準備。這將產生反效果並且有可能給患病的孩子和家庭帶來很多的壓力及失望。所以最少應該要給自己兩個星期的時間去做一些準備工作。以下是你在這兩個星期應該做的一些事情。
要和你的配偶以及家中的其他關鍵成員例如祖父母討論這個飲食計畫，還要盡可能的獲得他們的全力支持。我們不可以一邊實施控制飲食計畫另一邊其他的家長又給患兒吃一些禁止吃的食物
要單獨為你的孩子準備一套煮食器具（包括杯子），除非你打算讓全家人都照這個方案來吃。當你的其他家庭成員可能還是想吃含有穀膠和酪蛋白的食物（例 如：紙盒包裝的新鮮牛奶和義大利面），最好還要確保所有烹飪用的調料沒問題（醬油、糖、醋等調味品完全可以由不含穀膠和酪蛋白的來替代，這樣可以防止交叉 污染）。
把廚櫃中清理出一塊乾淨的地方來放置這些新的食品。最好可以闢出一塊地方來放置孩子的食物和零食。這樣做有兩個好處：避免混亂，還有你的孩子可以逐漸明白應該在哪里找自己的食物。
列出一張孩子愛吃食物的清單，然後再列明替代食品。看看你能否把禁止食用的食品都替換掉。假設你的孩子每天早上都喝牛奶吃穀類食品，你可用米糊和昆諾阿藜、不含穀膠的麵包或不含奶品的果醬和巧克力醬代替。
為你孩子建立一本食物記錄。可以記在記事本上或者在電腦裏建立一個檔案。每天的記錄都應該包括3個部分。第一部分清楚列明孩子早餐、午餐、零食和晚餐都吃 了什麼食物。第二部分是他每天食用的副食品。第三部分是對孩子身體狀況、精神狀況、眼神的交流、反應速度、在校表現、排泄、腸蠕動以及其他所有你認為值得 關注的地方進行全面的描述。從你需要每天開始錄入資料算起，我們認為你需要用最簡單的辦法—記事本—因為：（1）你可以隨身攜帶。（例如：你和孩子去醫院 看病的時候，週末出去度假的時候）；（2）如果你沒空的話你可以讓你的保姆或者丈夫來進行記錄，可以讓別人也分擔一點責任。
在你開始使用新的飲食計畫之前一定要告訴學校裏的老師。跟他約好一個時間好好的談一下，會比你去接孩子下課時見到老師要好很多。為了這次會面，你應該準備 以下的事情：（1）一個簡短的記錄表明為什麼需要這個新的飲食計畫。（2）給一般容易見到的不能吃的食物列張表。（3）給老師一盒適合你孩子吃的零食用來 處理不可預知的特殊情況。為了不讓老師感到糊塗，你可以簡單地跟他們說你孩子對牛奶和穀膠過敏即可，這樣他們就會未跟你確定之前不給孩子亂吃東西。
你如果可以挑選一個最合適的時間開始這飲食計畫是非常重要的。要避免一些主要的節慶日子或者即將到來的生日，因為在這些日子裏你的孩子會很渴望吃那些節日 裏吃的食物。要避免你即將開始一趟出國旅行的時候，因為在那段日子你所接觸的食物是很難預測的。學校假期（如果不涉及出國的度假）是一個很好的時機來開始 這個飲食計畫，因為你可以對你孩子的食物進行全面的控制。當然你要避免在你孩子喜怒無常或得病很虛弱的時候。當你覺得經已準備好了，你就應該開始行動。
當你準備好以後，你首先應該不再使用乳製品。這並不太難。用米、大豆、昆諾阿藜、杏仁、木薯、馬鈴薯汁來代替牛奶。一定要確認它們不含穀膠以避免短時間內要替代它們。有些米湯可能含有極少量的大麥、麥芽含有穀膠。如果你有疑問，要經常直接詢問製造廠商或售貨員。
如果你的孩子不能立即適應不含乳製品的飲食，可以先混合點穀類食品給他一起喝。也可以加點糖（有機的蔗糖或粗糖）來加點味道。或者加點水沖淡牛奶的味道，讓它嘗起來像大豆汁一樣。要多加點創意，當孩子對牛奶的記憶越來越淡了以後，他就更容易接受新的味道了。
開始的一到三個星期很難熬，大部分的孩子都會表現出焦慮、哭鬧、喜怒無常、固執之類的狀況。這和戒除鴉片上癮的狀況很像，所以這並不是不正常的舉動。大多數情況下，孩子的反應越大，他就會從這個飲食計畫中得到更多的好處。
一定要有耐心並且最少堅持這個飲食計畫六個月以上。因為人體需要時間去接受生態系統，而且有個說法穀膠可能在身體中儲存一段時間。這意味著即使孩子不吃含穀膠的食品後身體內可能還儲存著一些。
吃自己家裏烹煮的食物是最安全和最健康的方法。食物加工的過程愈多，營養流失的也就愈多，化學添加劑也愈多。有許多的化學添加劑（增加香味的、增加色彩 的、還有各式各樣的防腐劑）都被證明會讓人過度興奮、無力學習、精神失調以及許多的其他健康問題。天然食品過度受熱、壓力、酵素、溶劑以及數不盡的其他化 學產品的影響，油脂會被氫化，蛋白質也會失去自然特性。所以如果當你要食用已經加工過的食物時，儘量要吃那些不含化學添加劑和人造色素以及沒有經過基因改 良的品種。
你的孩子可能偏食，但你必須不時的變化他的食物，這樣可以讓他不會過度依賴單一的一種食物。比如，他可以換著吃魚、豬肉、牛肉、羊肉，同樣也可以換著吃蔬 菜和其他不含牛奶的替代品。每樣都吃一點肯定是比只吃幾樣的食物是要好的。諷刺地，對於對食物有過敏反應的人而言，他愈是渴望的食物，通常就是會令他過敏 的食物，所以吃得愈多，過敏反應便愈嚴重。
胺