Autistic Lessons · 17 April 06

Shopping at Whole Foods makes sense when your are feeling rich and have the time to drive across town; but what happens when your life depends on it? Last night I spent the evening with my younger brother whose life was turned upside-down when his second child was diagnosed with autism. Only a couple of years ago they were an all-American fast food, beer drinking, chip eating family until two-year old Max stopped looking at other people, didn’ t talk, and had horrendous bouts of severe intestinal pain. Since then they have been on a roller coaster ride of hospitals, alternative care, disbelieving childcare providers, and a slew of tests and doctors.

In the two years of intensive attention paid to Max’s condition, only three things are known for sure:

  1. Autism is a complex condition that spans a wide range of behaviors.
  2. After years of research there are many theories but no one has come close to solving the puzzle.
  3. The food Max eats has a direct, immediate and long lasting affect on his condition.

In fact, food is the main focus of Max’s therapy. A number of foods have been taken out of his diet: dairy and wheat are the most prevalent, but they also avoid all refined sugars, addtives, preservatives and anything artificial. When they follow the diet (the whole family follows it) Max is calm, cooperative and loves his preschool. When they got lazy over the Christmas holidays, thinking a piece of candy here, a chunk of cheese there wouldn’t hurt, Max regressed to screeching and withdrew into his own world. The effects lasted for weeks, as the toxins that affect Max stay in his body for much longer than the energy from the food.

The study of Autism is an extreme example of the controversy over the foods available to us. Conventional doctors balk at the idea of food and the mercury in immunizations (which I won’t go into) having anything to do with Autism, yet they have no better theories. Meanwhile, families dealing with it everyday have seen dramatic results coorelating with both of the above.

If I were to vote someone least likely to follow the organic trends, it would be my brother, Brian. Althought he was forced by necessity to change his way of life, today he can’t imagine doing anything different. The thought of McDonalds and Taco Bell causes him to shake, and he rants about the list of ingredients on a bag of Doritos. While I have studied the subject and have more a philisophical approach, he has come to the same conclusions through necessity. What we both know for sure is:

  • It comes down to common sense. We can’t wait for the “experts” to tell us what is good and bad. It will be too late.
  • If you can’t pronounce the ingredients, they probably aren’t good for you (or if the list of ingredients spans more than one inch on the box). Brian quotes Jack LeLane bg.”If man made it, don’t eat it.”
  • There’s more to food than how it affects our weight. Everything we put into our bodies has a lasting chemical affect on us.

The problem is, most of us don’t have quite as an acute sense of this as the autistic child. From them we have a lot to learn.

Comments (1)

Thanks to Sue for speaking out about autism and its connection to nutrition. Despite her veiled shot at my former eating habits I appreciate the venue to tell people about my sons experience battling autism.

It is important to realize that autism is NOT a disease; it is a “spectrum” of symptoms, which are affecting more and more children in our modern society. According to the FDA and The American Medical Association there is no known cause or cure – DON’T BELIEVE IT! When our son Maximo was diagnosed shortly after his second birthday the doctors told us his condition was probably due to genetics and we could look forward to years of intensive behavioral therapy, and that we would probably choose to institutionalize him. I am very happy to say we refused to accept this diagnosis and began trying to find out as much about autism as possible. What follows is what we found – I trust this will provide hope and help to parents like us that find themselves fighting this epidemic, which now afflicts ONE OUT OF EVERY 166 NEWBORNS.

First, the symptoms of autism CAN be alleviated; my son Maximo is living proof. As I said, at age two Max lived in his own world, made no eye contact, had no social interaction with his sisters, did not respond to his name, had no language skills to speak of and doctors were suggesting we put him in a home. One year later he is learning to speak, loves playing with his sisters, attends a mainstream preschool and is truly turning into a regular kid.

I am going to try and keep this short & sweet – If your child has been diagnosed with autism here is what to do:

1) Take Casein (dairy) and Wheat (Gluten) out of their diet IMMEDIATELY. A great resource to explain and help with this gluten/casein free diet can be found at www.gfcfdiet.com It does not matter if they are 2 years old or 20 years old. This WILL help them; if it does not you have simply fed them a healthier diet. A full three months is required to remove all the wheat and dairy from their system, which, because their intestine does not break down the wheat and milk proteins properly, passes the blood brain barrier and acts like a drug. Be prepared, your child may get worse before they get better, stay the course for AT LEAST 1 month. Because the undigested wheat and milk proteins act like drugs (one is called casamorphine) your child is “addicted” to these substances and can show signs of withdrawal. I do not want to scare anyone because the first few weeks are NOT that bad & you will be VERY happy with the end result.

2) Remove all processed foods from their diet – Additives, food coloring, MSG, etc. can all have negative effects on an autistic (or any) child. We fill our children with toxic additives and wonder why they are hyper/aggressive or misbehaved. I have convinced ADHD, attention deficit syndrome, etc., which we treat with dangerous psychoactive drugs can be dealt with by giving a child a healthier diet – Put yourself on the same diet, you will be amazed how much healthier you feel. 7 of the last 10 child multiple murderers (Colombine) have been on psychoactive drugs – Reject this route at all costs.

3) Visit a website called Defeat Autism Now (DAN!) at http://www.autismwebsite.com/ari/index.htm – This is a group of progressive health professionals and researchers on the leading edge of autism treatment. The website contains the most up to date info on new treatment techniques including eliminating yeast overgrowth from the small intestine, repairing a “leaky” gut and chelating, a method of removing mercury and other toxic heavy metals from the body. I won’t even go into why the AMA, the FDA and the pharmaceutical companies have been poisoning our children with mercury. There is a list of DAN! doctors on the website – Find one in your area and make an appointment. They will help guide you through the rest of the treatment.

Here is a link to a good web-book written by a father with similar experiences to my own – http://www.freewebs.com/swid441/3.htm

On a final note I want to say there is no magic bullet – Our son is not “cured” and probably never will be… But he is BETTER, a world apart from where he was 1 1/2 years ago. We love him immensely and will continue to do everything we can to help him lead a normal life. If anyone would like to talk to me about my experiences I am happy to help – My number is in the Denver Colorado phone book.

Brian Muncaster    May 8, 03:49 PM #

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