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Come talk to me about food and Autism

17 replies

lisad123 · 20/03/2012 20:12

I have never really been too fussed about looking at the food side of Asd mainly because dd diet was so limited.
However, she is now worrying me. We noticed behavioural changes in the girls if they had sugars ect do now have no sweets in the house at all and we only buy one lot on a Friday after school.
However, she has now started binge eating bread. I try very hard to limit the amount but she really does try it on, I never back down. I know it's not hunger as she would eat a full dinner and then binge on bread.
Help!

OP posts:
moosemama · 20/03/2012 21:11

Is she bingeing often on carby stuff like bread, toast etc Lisa?

I know a lot of children with ASD do seem to crave carbs and of course by reducing the amount of sugar in her diet, you will have reduced the amount of carbs she's getting, so maybe she's craving it in other ways.

We are the same with restricting sugar and we do try to avoid all sweeteners where at all possible. Ds1 will however eat four helpings of pasta based meals such as macaroni, lasagne etc if we will let him and can eat a seemingly endless supply of toast. He is gluten free, but still craves the carbs from rice based flour products such as gf pasta.

You can in theory, counter the craving for 'bad' carbs by feeding good quality unrefined carbs, wholegrains etc with a decent helping of good quality protein. Although obviously not if your child is gf.

A couple of interesting links are this and this.

I would love to find out more about it and have even considered attempting a distance learning or OU course on nutrition/dietetics to help me get my head around it all.

EllenJaneisnotmyname · 20/03/2012 21:14

Or is she trying to binge on gluten, rather than just carbs?

lisad123 · 20/03/2012 21:37

how will i know if shes craving the gluten or the carbs?
I have a few friends that are wheat and gluten free who i could talk though the whole gluten and wheat free diet.
Now im thinking, it def linked with ban on sweets. But also shes very depressed too :(

OP posts:
EllenJaneisnotmyname · 20/03/2012 21:45

Sorry, I don't know, Lisa, but I have heard of DC who crave gluten. It tends to be those who crave it who have the best effect when going GF, apparently. But if it has coincided with the sweet ban, maybe it's more likely to be the carbs as moose suggested. I tried GF/CF for DS2 but it didn't have any effect. I have friends who swear by it, however.

Grockle · 20/03/2012 22:03

I wondered about gluten too. How old is DD?

lisad123 · 20/03/2012 22:12

She's 9

OP posts:
moosemama · 20/03/2012 22:18

If she wasn't craving wheaty type carbs before, then there's a good chance its related to the reduction in sugar rather than a craving for gluten.

I know as someone who has suffered from depression myself, I definitely crave simple carbs and sugar as a form of self-medication - it could well be that your dd is doing similar.

In my own experience - which admittedly is limited to just ds1 - he was craving gluten first and foremost, but also had an underlying sugar/carb addiction shown by his continued cravings even for gf foods. When we removed gluten from his diet at the age of 7 he started producing solid stools for the first time in his life and suddenly started to grow. The rash he had always had on both cheeks also disappeared.

Prior to removing gluten, he wouldn't need a new pair of school shoes or uniform for a whole school year. The term we removed gluten, he went up two shoe sizes and whole uniform size. So that was a pretty clear indicator for us. He didn't test positive for coeliacs, but was ill with winter vomiting virus just before the test and didn't eat much of anything for over a week, so may not have had enough gluten in his system at the time of the test. The paed and dietician both agreed he should be kept gf based on the weight/growth improvement and resolution of his dietary distress.

Other than weight and growth, we did notice an improvement in ds1 when he first went gf. Hard to describe, but since being gf, its like he is more with us - more in this world, iyswim. We can tell pretty much straight away if he has been glutened these days as he looks poorly very quickly, gets a bad stomach almost straight away and the rash reappears on his cheeks.

He suffers from severe anxiety and has a tendency towards depression and I do believe he still craves carbs as a form of self-medication. We allow him a small carefully chosen snack/cake at lunch time and another when he gets home from school, but sweets are a rare treat.

Could you perhaps try introducing home baked 'sweet treats' and see if that helps to diminish the cravings?

You could try using honey or agave syrup as an alternative to refined sugars and see if that helps - flapjacks and fruit bars are always good and you can add loads of dried fruit to them, upping the natural sugar content even more. Other alternatives are banana loaf made with wholemeal flour, tea loaf/brack with lots of dried fruit soaked in fruit juice rather than tea. Fruit of course provides another form of sugar, so will go some way to mitigating the cravings. Especially fruit like banana and grapes. There are natural sugars in natural yoghurt as well - mine love natural yoghurt with added berries - another good source of natural sugar.

Sugar is sugar at the end of the day, but its the refined white sugar that's the worst. Not to mention the sheer quanitity of it in modern sweets and commercial cakes.

moosemama · 20/03/2012 22:20

Whoa - that was longer than I expected it to be - sorry. Blush

Despite the length of my post I forgot to ask. Does she have any digestive problems at all Lisa?

If she doesn't I would try the natural sugars route first and if it makes no difference then perhaps go for a short gf trial and see how that goes. Imho, its much easier to do that way round if you aren't sure if she's craving carbs or gluten and you aren't having to exclude any food groups in the process.

lisad123 · 20/03/2012 22:27

She's always had bowel problems since she was a baby, spent years trying to sort it. In the end a good dose of yachult made a huge difference. She still gets stomach aches though Sad
We have cut out most sugars from main meals because I'm on a diet, but she will eat huge amounts of cheerios in the morning too so will look at sugars in that. We have brown bread.
In her lunch is always 3-4 portions of fruit, a sandwich and yoghurt.
Will do research linked, thanks for advice. It really seems like its binge eating which is what worries me most.

OP posts:
moosemama · 20/03/2012 22:37

Ah - then there is more of a possibility it could be gluten.

Its always a really hard decision whether or not to try gf though - its not easy for either the parent organising the food or the child having their diet changed so dramatically. Ds1 took it quite well, but we allowed a lot of commercial gf alternatives early on and then gradually weaned him off them to make it less stressful. He does get down about it sometimes though, especially if the other children at school are having something he can't.

If it does really seem like bingeing, of course it could just be emotional eating. Which I guess is also what you're concerned about?

The only other thing I can think of is reflux. I know when I have it, it makes me feel hungry - moreso when I'm full than when I haven't eaten, but then if I eat it makes it worse and it becomes a viscious cycle. Obviously I know this now, but before I knew I had GORD I could never work it out. Blush So, if she eats a big meal and then gets acid reflux, it could be that that's making her think she's hungry. I'm clutching at straws a bit in your dd's case with that one though really.

Grockle · 20/03/2012 22:37

I read a good book that explained about gluten addictions and ASD. Will see if I can find a link.

Disclaimer: I don't have, but work with, ASD children.

moosemama · 20/03/2012 22:40

Oh - I did just think of something else - again! Blush

You said Yakult helped? What about trying a course of really good high-quality probiotics and see if that helps at all? I'm not great with remembering the best brands - but there are lots of other people on here in the know if you put a shout out. It could be something as simple as her gut flora being disrupted and in need of rebalancing.

Might be worth trying before you start doing any drastic diet changes.

moosemama · 20/03/2012 22:42

Grockle - was it Natasha Campbell-McBridge - Gut and Psychology Syndrome?

There are quite a few threads on here about it and people have had good outcomes, but you have to be quite dedicated to it to get the full effect and its pretty full on. Its called the GAPs diet.

moosemama · 20/03/2012 22:47

If you are interested in the GAPs diet - Nightcat and Indigobell are great people to talk to - there is a support thread here but its not very current and there was a lot of fighting on it iirc.

cozzie · 22/03/2012 21:08

You might like to check out Radiant Recovery It's all about sugar sensitivity and there is a special section on sugar addiction for children.

Taking sugar out of your dc's diet will turn them into one grumpy puppy as I have learned. It is possible to wean them off it gently.Really!

DS1 who has AS is now almost 100% gluten-free and all his gastrointestinal problems have cleared up. He is more empathetic and engaged as well.

Triggles · 22/03/2012 22:24

This is quite interesting to read. DS2 does eat a lot of carbs (bread in particular - white or wheat, makes no difference to him). But doesn't eat much refined sugar foods - more fruit really. But he's always been that way. But I also think for him it plays into his need for finger foods as he has difficulty using cutlery sometimes (hands get tired holding it and coordination can be poor).

But he has absolutely no bowel problems that we are aware of. Formed, regular (practically like clockwork every day), and no discomfort. But a lot of the food he DOES eat is fiber or roughage, so I suppose that keeps him healthy in that respect. Grin

IndigoBell · 23/03/2012 10:04

Lisa - I think the bowel problems are a clear sign of gluten intolerance.

I'd cut out all gluten for 2 weeks - and also up her protein.

Try her on protein at every meal. Start the day with a cooked breakfast. Baked beans or eggs or bacon or sausages.

Going GF isn't as hard as it sounds. Big supermarkets will sell GF everything - pasta, bread, cereal, fish fingers, sausages, chicken nuggets.

So to start with you should be able to keep a very similar diet. Then if it works gradually cut out the GF stuff and just eat less carbs.

The more protien you eat the less carbs you need - and more importantly the more stable your blood sugars will be.

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