GFCF is Gluten Free Casein Free. Many children have food alllergies without us parents knowing. You can have tests run to see if your children have allergies to gluten and casein to see if that is part of the problem.
Gabu posted some very informative information about the gluten casein free diet and testing on the main board. Here is her post.
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Fred, I believe you should have your daughter's allergies tested. If your daughter's are allergic to different food ingredients, then the GF/CF diet is needed.
These 2 sites explain about some of the testing that can be done:
http://www.greatplainslaboratory.com/gluten-casein.html OR http://www.greatplainslaboratory.com/foodallergy.html
However, from what I have read, and seen on the GFCF email lists, testing doesn't really tell you if the diet will be effective. I have always heard that the only way to really know is to try it.
Here is a quote from Jacquelyn McCandless's book, "Children with Starving Brains".
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From the gfcfdiet.com site:
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One method of testing for gluten and casein intolerance is determined by the urine peptide test. This test looks for abnormal peptides in the urine. Some parents implement the diet before lab testing and see proof that the diet works. Other parents may feel the need for testing to substantiate using the GFCF Diet as an intervention. The peptide test has been known to report "false negatives" for the need to eliminate gluten and casein. We feel that because of the successful improvements seen in so many ASD children after strict adherence to the diet, a test is not always necessary. However, keep in mind that lab testing may help some parents make the decision and stick with the GFCF Diet.
In this months men's health magazine (my husbany reads it) published a study from New Zealand showing that when men were unable to lose weight stopped eating gluten (a protein found in wheat, rye, oats, and barley) they immediately began dropping pounds.
[quote]In some people, gluten appears to cause chronically high levels of insulin, a hormone that signals your body to store fat. It showed that within 3 months of adopted gluten free diet the study participants had also reduced their insulin levels by 50%.
Unfortunately, medical tests to determine gluten intolerance are often inconclusive. So the easiest way to find out if you are addlicted is to eliminate this grain protein from your diet for 4-6 weeks and monitor your weight and general health for both positive or negative changes. [/quote]
That was word for word what was in the article.
I will try. My oldest son's thyroid was checked and they said it was fine. I will keep trying though. I'm assuming gf means gluten free....what does the CF mean??I have an 11 year old who is morbidly obese. He went sneaking food to calm his oral sensory issues, but now its a combination with that and the addiction.
My 7 year old is also gaining weight. The fact he takes Risperdal doesn't help either.
Please help if you can.
Kween - My grand daughter had the same problem of gaining weight, she will be 9 next month. One of the things we found out was she has a thyroid problem, also high blood pressure. We also had test done for food allergies, and are starting the GF/CF diet. She has lost some weight already, something to think about. I am not saying that this is the problem with your kids, but if you haven't ck this out, maybe it might be something to ck out. Good luck.One thing also you may want to check on is his cortisol level and take him to a GI TRACT DR and there you can also get a nutritionist.
Wow...thank you very much (you both). I will look into these things.My son with moderate autism also has weight issues. He is 17year old, 5'2 and weighs 173 pounds. It is evenly spread on his body, but mainly in his belly and chest. I am worried about his health, but there is not much we can do: he is an adult in a year, he won't bother changing his diet, exercise- he just doesn't seem to care about his health. I don't know what to do- it seems he gains 10 pounds every 1-2 months. Does anyone have any suggestions of what I can do?[QUOTE=autismmom]Please note that Great Plains Laboratory is not an accredited laboratory.[/QUOTE]
I'm sorry...according to who? My insurance (BCBS) covers labs done from Great Plains. I can guarantee you they wouldn't if it wasn't accredited.
I have UHC, and they have covered labs from Great Plains as well.[QUOTE=autismmom]Please note that Great Plains Laboratory is not an accredited laboratory.[/QUOTE]
Not true, according to their website and the certification they gladly have images of on their site. Unless those are all false documents, they are certified quite nicely.
[QUOTE=autismmom]Please note that Great Plains Laboratory is not an accredited laboratory.[/QUOTE]
Sigh.