Diet a religious dilemma?

I think at this point I could write an opera script about diets. Or a soap opera. It probably wouldn't get very good ratings, although there would be a fair amount of drama associated. Hm, perhaps reality TV is the way to go on that.

OK, if you follow my blog at all since my passionate post about the GAPS diet and how every parent of an autistic child should immediately do it, you know that although the diet has helped us get our kids eating a greater variety of food and we have healthier options, this diet has not been working for us. Ezra's behavior is getting more and more difficult. I read through all the FAQ on the gaps diet website to find answers, I contacted the clinic of the author to schedule an appointment, and they told me that she's no longer taking patients, and to read the book and the FAQ on the website. GREAT! That was helpful...NOT.

Anyway, I still think the theory about the gut flora being out of balance is a good one, and research definitely shows that the intestinal tracts of autistic children are severely compromised. So clearly something must be done to heal and seal the gut. But I'm starting to doubt, and always have that consuming massive amounts of meat, eggs, and animal fat are really the solution. To be fair, of course Dr. Campbell-Mcbride doesn't recommend "massive" amounts, but still, that's pretty much all the kids will eat. It makes sense that the bad bacteria needs to be starved of it's nutrition source (i.e. complex carbs). But on the other hand if the body is fighting chronic inflammation, how can consuming meat and fat, which are supposedly inflammatory going to make that any better, even if they are organically raised and grass fed?

I guess my real dilemma comes from my religious conviction. I'm a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of latter day Saints. I believe God reveals truths to prophets today just like he did in times of old. In 1833 a prophet called Joseph Smith received a revelation regarding the health and well-being of members. It's a code by which I live, called the word of wisdom. It counsels people to abstain from tobacco, alcohol, coffee, tea (black tea) and drugs (by the way one of the reasons we are counseled to abstain from them is not only because they can cause addiction and are bad for the body, but because of evil conspiring men. How true is that considering drug cartels, tobacco industry etc?) It also counsels people to eat liberally of plants and grains (wheat being especially good for man), use moderation on fruits, and eat meat of animals and fowls sparingly, only in winter and times of famine. This revelation isn't entirely new. The same kind of dietary suggestions can be found throughout the Old and New Testament. Now if you know LDS people at all, you know that they stick pretty well to the "don't" part, but do whatever they like with the "do". In fact, it's fair to say that sugar is the Mormon drug of choice. There is practically no social gathering that doesn't involve food. Anyway, getting off track here. 

SOO, my issue has been, if wheat is supposed to be good for us, then why is my kid allergic to gluten? Or what about all the other allergy sufferers, celiacs, etc? Of course, this revelation was given in 1833 and back then wheat was still soaked, fermented, and ground in a way to make it easily digestible, not like the highly processed stuff they have today. Our environment has changed a lot since then and we have so many more pollutants and toxins our body has to deal with. And who knows that the amount of exercise and fresh air they got back then didn't fortify their immune system in a way to never bring up digestive issues. I do believe God wants us to use common sense, and our brains to figure out what is right for ourselves. After all, the word of wisdom is a guideline. But now I'm really at the point where I just can't get any further. 

There are so many diets out there and they all claim to help, and often they advocate the exact opposite of each other. In fact, I think the one thing they all agree on is that all the chemical additives, food dyes, pesticides, and so on should be avoided at all costs. Which one is the right one? Feingold, GFCF, TCM, HDN, anti-histamine, GAPS, SCD, Body Ecology, Paleo, South Beach, Atkins, Vegan, Vegetarian, Macrobiotics? 

I need a revelation!

Food Fights and Autism

So here is a video of Ezra tonight having a hard time choosing Option number 2 (see below for explanation). Granny made dinner. When you watch the video, just consider that Ezra has eaten and liked beef in all sorts of shapes and preparation methods before, and he likes it...usually.
As most of you know we use the Son-Rise program at our house. Or at least we pretend to. Really, if you do Son-Rise it's like a life philosophy. Anyway, there is one area where I use more ABA and that is in the area of food. Sometimes I regret going this route, because as is the problem with ABA it doesn't really build relationship or teach them how to love and want to do something (i.e. eat food that is good for them).
Ezra was such a picky eater that he wouldn't accept anything at all unless he got some kind of reward or treat for it. One of the tricky things about doing a GAPS diet for both kids is that I can't use different standards for the kids. Not really. And at first it was actually my younger typically developing son who had a harder time and would throw tantrums before trying a new food. Now he pretty much will try a little bit of everything, but it still takes a while. I started using a dry erase board every time they had a tantrum. I drew a line down the middle and explained to them they had two options.

Option 1:
Cry, scream, hit, throw food, yell, not eat! -->Result: hungry, cranky, nothing else to eat, and eat whatever they didn't eat for breakfast, lunch. And they will also have wasted a lot of my time and energy, which means I won't have much left to play with them after dinner.
Option 2:
Just try a bit of everything, eat most of your food, get more yummy food. -->Result: feel full, happy, and we'll have more time to play together afterwards.


For Micah and Ezra writing things down really helps them understand better what they need to do, to arrive at the result they want. I have started applying the practice of drawing up their options into other areas of our life. I want them to learn that our actions determine our results. If I was the ideal mom I would be able to stay calm and supportive during every break down they have, sadly, I fall short of that ideal  multiple times a day. I'm working on it though.

GAPS...so far no luck!

We have been following the full GAPS diet for almost three months now. It seems like my life is all about food these days. I'm not even following the diet anymore myself. It is so much effort and so expensive, that I would rather have my kids eat the special food, than waste it on myself. After all I am a functioning adult, and other than obesity and mood swings, my health is fine. There is always the little mommy fear My-kids-are-going-to-starve in the back of my mind, and so when they ask me for food after finishing theirs, and my serving is all I have, I would rather give it to them, knowing that I can also survive on something else, if I need to (which is what I have been doing, and the scale is showing it). On the other hand I'm also trying to teach them that they can't just throw a tantrum and get what they want. I make it clear that what I put on the table is what they can eat, and otherwise they will be hungry. So often times, they actually end up a bit hungry, because they refuse to eat. They ask me for food non-stop. It's really aggravating. Ezra is especially obsessed with food. There seems to be no off-switch in his brain, when it comes to eating. He craves fruit like a drug addict craves heroine.

I am in the kitchen so much. I get up in the morning and spend about 1.5 hours in the kitchen. The night before I also spend about an hour after dinner making lunches and preparing breakfasts. That's not including the hour I spend in the kitchen making dinner. What on earth takes so long, you might wonder? Well, if you have to warm up the broth in the pan not the microwave, make fresh juice in the juicer, grind the nuts, and the pancake batter in the food processor, you end up having a lot of dishes to clean. Besides all the ingredients have to be homemade, so there is also a fair amount of prep work that goes into having the ingredients for the foods I make. For example nuts need to be soaked for 8-12 hours in salt water, then drained using a sieve, dried for several hours (ideally overnight) in the dehydrator, and ground into flour in the food processor. It takes organization and time to do GAPS. I'm not very organized. Still, all this work would be worth it if it could heal Ezra's stomach, his ADHD and his autism. IF...Sadly, it's not actually working. All the symptoms that should go away with GAPS are still there, and possibly worse than before. In the last two months we have seen in Ezra

• increase in skin rashes
• hyperactivity increase and decrease in focus and attention span
• aggression and decrease in use of language
• painful stomach and undigested food in poop
• increased obsession with food
  

It is sadly possible that we just aren't doing the GAPS diet right. We are on the what is called Full GAPS diet. There is an intro-phase, and technically you shouldn't move past the intro phase until your patient has been symptom free for 6 months. I suspect that if consulted a GAPS practitioner they would point out that Ezra is getting way too much fruit and honey, possibly can't tolerate a lot of eggs, nuts, coconut, and ghee, and that we need to put him on the intro, give him meat broth before every meal, soup once a day, and highly boiled vegetables and meat, until he has sufficiently detoxed, and only then move into full GAPS. I'm also fairly certain they would point out that the non-organic veggies and fruit we feed him are high in pesticides. Dr.Campbell even mentions in her book that GAPS patients can be so sensitive to those pesticides that they really don't improve until it is all out of their diet. And my friend who also has an autistic child would point out that the foods we are giving him are high in salicylates and phenols and can cause all the above reactions. But what can I do? Micah thrives on a high carbohydrate diet. His challenges are helped with more carbs. How can I give him a banana and tell Ezra he may have boiled carrots instead? And how can I watch my child weep, when all the other kids get to have things he can't? It sucks!

Nonetheless I have to admit that in some ways GAPS is simpler than gluten free, casein free, and much healthier. I wouldn't want to go back to GFCF. At least now I know that my kids are getting a wide variety of healthy foods, versus all highly processed carbs. And once you learn about what evil corporations put into food to make it cheap and maximize profit I really don't want to feed my kids that garbage. Ideally my kids could just eat anything. Still, life is more complicated this way. Making nut butter and honey sandwiches for the kids school lunch takes over an hour (with baking the special bread, or 24 hours if you count the time it takes to prepare the nut butter), whereas I can make a sandwich with normal bread and spread in 20 seconds. I don't know what to do, honestly. The science and research behind GAPS makes total sense. It would be so helpful though if we could actually have things confirmed with true practitioners and blood tests or whatever, instead of me having to figure out everything by myself.