Feingold diet | Autism PDD
My daughter has been dairy free for about 2 months, and gluten free for about 3 weeks. Over the last 2 months I have seen improvements in her eye contact, engagement, etc. I'm not too sure if it is from the diet, or us contstantly trying to engage with her. She never seemed to have any allergies before, has never been underweight. She is a very picky eater though. I'm thinking about trying to give her some gluten to see if she regresses at all. I just want to know if I shoud be stressing over every little thing that goes into her body or not! She seemed to eat more foods when she wasn't on the diet . I'll let you know how it goes! Has anyone ever seen regression from stopping the diet? If so, did your child have major allergies/underweight etc to begin with?
It's not really controversial, it's just one of the many autism treatments (and you'll hear about plenty more) that is supported by a lot of anecdotes but very little science. There have been clinical trials conducted studying the impact of dietery interventions on autism and none that I'm aware of have shown any benefit above placebo (limiting this to indexed studies published in reputable journals).
Now, that's not saying that these diets definitely do not work for anyone, it's just that they have not been proven as effective treatments for autism.
A good diet will benefit anyone, and if modifying a diet leads to a healthier diet overall (and many autistic kids have severely self limited diets and any forced change is bound to be beneficial), then overall health, energy, mood, etc. will improve and one could expect that some autistic behaviors, many which are exascerbated by stress and discomfort, will fade somewhat - especially if the dietery changes remove or reduce a food or group of foods that caused digestive problems for the child - and milk is notorious for being hard on some kids.
It's important to keep things in perspective, though - while a good diet will certainly help, especially if it's replacing a diet of chicken nuggets, french fries and milk, it will not cure autism. if the child is autistic.
I put diet in the can't hurt, might help column, personally. I've gone a week here and there on GF/CF and haven't detected much of a difference, but my children have unusually varied and healthy diets for autistic children, so it's not surprising to me that they haven't responded to deitery interventions. Our pediatric neurologist has told me that she personally has never seen a huge response to dietery interventions and told me that most parents who try the diet do not maintain it for very long. Our tutor, who works with dozens of kids in her day job at a private autism school, knows a lot of kids on the diet (according to her, everyone at her school is on the diet!), and she also has not seen any dramatic improvements due to dietery interventions, although she does know one child who has some unusual food allergies and that his behavior greatly improved once the offending foods were removed from his diet.
If both parents are eager to try it, I wouldn't discourage it, but it's nothing I would pressure them to try if they think that it will be difficult to maintain or if they're resistent to the idea in general. Life with an autistic child can be a lot of work and stress, and obsessing about food all the time doesn't help ease the burden - unless it's something that they either want to do or feel is greatly beneficial.
http://interverbal.blogspot.com/2007/07/im-gonna-buy-me-one- of-bens-t-shirts.html
I have decided against the diet for my son and only limit his milk consumption because I have lactose intolerance and figure he may also. I will just be happy if I can get a vegetable into the kid besides french fries and hope with time and more exposure he will over come some of his textural problems with certain foods.
Good-luck.
Since being on the gluten and casein free diet with moderate attention to msg, aspartame, artificial colourings and flavourings (the Feingold)
PLUS using a lot of supplements (won't even list all of those) via a DAN doctor
We started a year ago
Our son is the healthiest (in fact our whole family is) that he has ever been. He has more energy, less digestive problems, no continual snotty nose and the physical signs of his autism have virtually disappeared. His speech and language blows us away regularly and at this very minute, he is trying to rollerskate around our lounge- he embraces new experiences
We have an obesity epidemic in this country and I hear America is the same so I do not subscribe to junk food being needed. I salt my kids food for iodine and I use a deep fryer when we need 'takeaways' but our new healthy lifestyle is fantastic for our son's autism.
There are a number of yahoo health groups concentrating on the diet plus a google search of feingold and autism is around.
We think my son had dairy the other day and we saw no regression - he used to be dairy intolerant and he tested gluten intolerant. I do use digestive enzymes too. I will back off the diet a little when all the hardwiring is done around 6 or 7 but the only thing being hurt at present is our wallets and we can survive that if we are giving our family good health and our son is getting the chance to flourish when he goes to school.
[QUOTE=spectrummum]the people who swear by the diet do so because there child is to weak and lathargic to do any of the behaviours they did before....
behaviours are not cured because of the diet ,behaviours are starved of there fuel....
but i believe long term diets do more harm than good.
[/QUOTE]
Sorry, but call a spade a spade. You vehemently disapprove of these diets but don't mean to make attacks on anyone? You are free to disagree with the efficacy and even the morality of the diets, but let's be honest - you disapprove! In a big way!
as someone who gave up sugar and i LOVE candy...
no- our kids dont need junk food.
i am sorry. i miss the junk food, but nope- i don't feel my body needs it.
Jer has never been on any of these special diets....but- our bodies DONT need certain junk food to survive.
and I have never followed any diets for Jer.
[QUOTE=littlebopeep][QUOTE=spectrummum]
the people who swear by the diet do so because there child is to weak and lathargic to do any of the behaviours they did before....
behaviours are not cured because of the diet ,behaviours are starved of there fuel....
but i believe long term diets do more harm than good.
[/QUOTE]
Sorry, but call a spade a spade. You vehemently disapprove of these diets but don't mean to make attacks on anyone? You are free to disagree with the efficacy and even the morality of the diets, but let's be honest - you disapprove! In a big way!
[/QUOTE]Isn't it so nice when someone else tells us how we feel?
Well that was my point of course i disagree with the diet
was it not obvious
so what was your point that i have an opinion about the diet and what
im sorry im lost the message did make any sense
i spelled it out i was against the diet
i did not question anyone elses choice
if you want to do the diett thats is up to you but it is not some miracle cure like many claim it to be
i have a gf/cf diet section on my group for the people who do want to do it
shell
I don't know much about it. I think it's about avoiding phenol in the diet. It was not easy to find information on it. When I looked it up on the internet, the only website that had information wanted my credit card info. That made me weary so I dismssed the diet. I figured if it was any good It would be more easier to find out it and know people who have done it. I would like to know more about it, just a little tired of paying for stuff that gives no guarantee!
Concernedpa.
please dont rush into any diet be it feingold gf/cf whatever
this is my opinion no offence to anyone intended
if your child is not intolerant he does not need it
i am a mum of 6 four on the specrum i have also worked with children with asd
all of the children that i know and have worked with who are on diets are usually
sickly underweight low immune system and withdrawn
our kids need junk food our human bodies need certain juk food to survive
please ask your gp to refer you to someone who can test and advice you on the diets
love shell
ps
no offence to anyone just my voice
some links for you to look at
http://www.springboard4health.com/notebook/diet_feingold.htm l
http://diet-studies.com/rimland.html
http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/feingold.h tml
My brother was on this diet growing up. it was created in the late 60's early 70's i believe. In my house growing up we ate only foods that didin't contain artificial coloring flavoring or preservatives. Back then it was mostly suggested for children with hyperactivity.
My mother always thought it worked, I'm skeptical though, my kids tend to be hyper no matter what they eat.
I found this - hope it helps. I've never heard of it before.
http://www.feingold.org/pg-overview.html
I'm very new to this. My grandson was just recently diagnosed with PPD-NOS, and I have been reading everything I can. My family doctor mentioned to me yesterday about the Feingold diet. I know that the results are controversial apparently, but it seems to help certain kids. Does anyone know anything about it. My grandson and family are on vacation this week, and I would like to have some "good" information for them when they return. Kindergarten last year was horrible, and I sure would like to see 1st grade be better. He also has extremely poor vision and no depth perception which doesn't help. Any info would be terrific.
The gluten-free casein-free diet is more commonly implemented for ASD kids. You can probably find books about it at your larger local bookstore or through your library, especially if your library is part of a larger system that lets you request books from other locations. I've borrowed tons of autism books that way, including 3-4 cookbooks (even though I'm still undecided about starting the GFCF diet for my son.) I liked the following book for explaining the why's of that diet, the Feinstein diet, and others: The Kid-Friendly ADHD and Autism Cookbook: The Ultimate Guide to the Gluten-Free, Casein-Free Diet by Pamela Compart and Dana Laake.
But if your grandson was recently diagnosed, you might not want to rush into any diet unless he has obvious signs of digestive problems or allergies, like frequent constipation or diarhea, gas, bloating, rashes, etc. You might want to start with some of the other common interventions, like fish oil, B-12 shots, vitamins, probiotics (that restore good bacteria.) Try one thing at a time so you'll know what's helping. And you'll want to have a good plan for going GFCF if you do, and good supplementation in place to replace the calcium from milk, etc. Lots of people recommend cutting out soy and dairy first, then gluten.
This board is a great resource!
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SOme people swear by the GFCF diet - ( a lot like the Feingold diet )
I dont think there is any harm in these diets but its a royal pain - I did it for 3 months and did not see any regression after I stopped
the people who swear by the diet do so because there child is to weak and lathargic to do any of the behaviours they did before
behaviours are not cured because of the diet ,behaviours are starved of there fuel
and eventually there will be a snapping point
many of the kids i know who do the diet also have problems with constipation wind and stomach cramps.but did not have these problems before the diet.
it is just my opinion and by no means an attack on anybody
but i believe long term diets do more harm than good.
shell
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