In So Many Words

Special Diets for Special Kids
Volumes 1 and 2 Combined

by Lisa Lewis, Ph.D.
Future Horizons, 2011
375 pages

About the Book

Praised as a modern-day classic by celebrities and readers all over the world, the first edition of Special Diets for Special Kids has been helping children and adults with autism, ADHD, celiac disease, and other disorders since 1998. Special Diets for Special Kids Two followed up in 2001 by providing more recipes and updated research.

Now, this revised and expanded edition offers both books in one, complete with the latest research, revised recipes, and color photos throughout!

The first part of the book describes dietary intervention in detail, from both a scientific and a personal approach (the author’s son has autism and has been on a GFCF diet for many years). In a nutshell, certain enzymes are required to break down gluten and casein. If those enzymes don’t function well, or are not present at sufficient levels, serious neurological problems can result. Studies have shown that children with autism have a marked deficiency of these enzymes, which may explain why GFCF diets have yielded positive results for many children.

Among many other helpful topics, Dr. Lewis explains:

• The Biology behind Dietary Interventions
• “Leaky Gut”
• Allergies, Sensitivities, and Intolerances
• Antibiotics and Probiotics
• Vitamins and Minerals
• Testing and Nutritional Support
• Other Diets and Interventions
• How to Go GFCF

The second part of the book is an easy-to-follow cookbook. This section contains nearly 200 recipes, including many you would have never thought possible on a GFCF diet, such as:

• Banana-Nut Pancakes
• Blueberry Muffins
• Tortillas/Wraps
• Chicken Nuggets
• Shepherd’s Pie
• Mock Mac and Cheese
• Chili
• Turkey Dressing
• Cakes and Cookies
• And many, many more!

Best of all, this book comes with a FREE CD of printable recipes, so you can easily print out recipes as you use them and keep the book away from counter spills and drips!

My Thoughts

As anyone who has been involved with the GFCF diet knows, there is often much more involved than just eliminating gluten and casein. Other food sensitivities and digestive issues often exist and require specific types of adjustments with diet and supplements to see improvement in a child’s health. In the first fifty-plus pages of this book, Lewis gives an overview of many of the related issues and provides a solid foundation for both the why and how of a special diet.

The rest of the book is a colorful explosion of recipes, ranging from the three main meals a day to holiday treats and desserts with lots of other stuff in between. Everyone should find something to tempt their child’s taste buds and/or texture requirements!

Discount Opportunity: If you order Special Diets for Special Kids directly from Future Horizons, you can use the code INTERRUPTED to receive 15% off and free shipping in the continental US.

Note: I received a review copy of this book for free, but all opinions are my own. I am an affiliate of Future Horizons and receive a small amount of compensation for any sales made using the promotional code provided. You can use the code INTERRUPTED when ordering books or other materials – or even conference registrations – to receive 15% off plus free shipping in the continental US.

For those of you with kids who are picky eaters, you know how hard it can be to introduce new foods (or even new brands of a food they like) into their diet. And if the child has food intolerances to ingredients such as gluten and casein, the task becomes doubly hard as you search for items that will pass inspection for dietary restrictions and the taste/texture test.

So I was a tiny bit apprehensive when I was contacted by NuLife Foods about trying out a sample pack of their frozen food items with my son. I was very intrigued, however, by the fact that all of their foods are not only free of any gluten, casein or soy, but also do not contain preservatives, artificial colors or flavors and are high in protein and omega-3 fatty acids.

We received sample sizes of six different products from NuLife: chicken nuggets, chicken burgers, beefy veggy meatballs, ultimate “cheese” pizza, cinnamon french toast and chocolate chip cookies. My son was only willing to try the items that were similar to things he already eats, so I ended up dividing the tasting duties between him and my husband.

My son tried and loved the chicken nuggets, french toast and especially the chocolate chip cookies. With the nuggets and cookies, I had enough to split them into two separate meals.

This is important because it allowed me to answer the all-important question, “Will he like it again the second time he eats it?” (I have gotten burned several times in the past when he tried something and said he liked it, but then wouldn’t eat more than one bite the next time.) The answer for both foods was yes, he did like them the second time, and even wanted more.

My husband gave an enthusiastic thumbs up to both the chicken burgers and the meatballs. The only thing we didn’t try yet is the pizza, so I don’t have an opinion on that product yet, but everything else was a definite home run in our house. (I didn’t participate in the taste testing because my esophagitis has been acting up and I have been limited on what and how much I can eat.)

The prices are certainly a bit higher than you would pay for similar items locally, but of course the catch with that is whether you can find them locally and whether they will taste as good. Also, many GFCF products that may be obtainable in a grocery store with a specialty section will not be soy free as well, so that is another consideration.

The quality of what we received from NuLife Foods was extremely good, and I would consider keeping some on hand for a special occasion such as a holiday meal where I know in advance my son won’t have as many options of what to eat as everyone else.

If you are interested in trying out some of their products, you can actually order the same trial pack we received from their website. At the time of this writing, you can get one trial pack for just $10.00 plus shipping (one time offer). This is a nice way to try out the products with your own test subjects before ordering a larger amount.

I’ve been too busy with a psychiatric evaluation and an annual IEP meeting to keep up with email, let alone blog, but there have still been a number of great articles that caught my eye this week.

My Crystal Ball and My Checkmark Chart at Welcome to Normal – My last token economy system for home had kind of fallen by the wayside with the recent difficulties in school, especially since I wasn’t letting him play the Wii or computer if he was aggressive that day. It kind of makes it hard to earn privileges at home when you aren’t allowed to redeem them.

But after reading this and seeing how Caitlin is converting the checkmarks to money, I thought that might work for Michael at this point in time. I am making them equal to a dime, which is the same amount he gets at school (although theirs go towards school dollars and not real ones, of course!). Michael has been highly motivated by it for the last few days, so hopefully that will continue.

Interview With Taylor Morris — An Exceptional Teenage Girl with Aspergers at Hartley’s Life with 3 Boys – A fascinating interview with a young lady who shares about her experiences with sensory processing disorder and Aspergers.

In Honor of Dr. Stanley Greenspan at 5 Minutes for Special Needs – Dr. Greenspan, who among many other things started the D.I.R./Floortime therapy, died on April 27th following a stroke. He will be greatly missed.

Eating for Autism at autism community – This is a review of a book by Elizabeth Strickland regarding the GFCF Diet and having a healthier diet overall. I’m wondering if any of you have read or used this book at all and whether you like it. One of the things I need to focus on with Michael is improving the quality of his diet, which has been difficult due to his sensory issues and the number of different foods and textures that he avoids.

Well, that’s is for this week. I’m clearing out the GReader and starting fresh in the morning!

We’re in the mainstream now, baby! I just saw this clip on Age of Autism and felt like I was in the twilight zone (in a good way).

Listen to this short clip where Dr. Oz discusses inflammation of the brain as contributing to autism and how simple dietary changes can help.

Here’s a link to the Dr. Oz on Autism video if you can’t see it here.

For more information on treating children with autism through dietary changes and other biomedical interventions, visit www.autism.com.

Thanks to everyone who entered to win the copy of Nourishing Hope for Autism. Skipping over the one commentor who did not want to be entered in the drawing, there were 10 entries, and here is the result from Random.org:

So, the winner is Janet, who left the following comment:

Janet September 29, 2009 at 9:57 am

Wow — this sounds like a great read.

Don’t ASD and crinkley pages go hand-in-hand? After all, don’t all cats have asperger’s?!

I’ve sent you an email, Janet, and I’ll send out the book as soon as I have your address.

Despite my desire to limit outside obligations and time commitments, I jumped at the chance to receive a review copy of Nourishing Hope for Autism: Nutrition Intervention for Healing Our Children by Julie Matthews.

Written for parents, this book provides both scientific explanations of how and why autism diets work, as well as how to implement them into your cooking and your lifestyle.

This book is not a light read by any means, but the time and effort spent digesting the information will be of great benefit as you are faced with the complex task of implementing a special diet with your child.

The Breakdown

Ms. Matthews begins with a discussion of the genetic, environmental and biochemical factors at work in the various body systems of an affected individual.

She then moves on to a detailed explanation of the different vitamins, minerals, amino acids and other supplements commonly used. This is followed by discussion of over a dozen different diets. She also addresses picky eaters and sensory issues.

One of my favorite sections of this book is Part Three, where she leads us through a holistic approach to nutrition that goes beyond simply becoming GFCF or SCD compliant. Ms. Matthews discusses cleaning up both the diet and the home, and then addresses how to choose the appropriate autism diet, implement it and refine it. Other areas covered in this section of the book include supplements, immune function and detoxification.

The Giveaway

I have been given an additional copy of this book to give away. In the interest of full disclosure, I must tell you that it has been slightly water-damaged when one of our cats knocked over a glass of water onto it. It is completely intact, just a bit crinkly in spots.

This giveaway is open to anyone with a US address. To enter, simply leave a comment below and make sure you leave a valid email address so I can contact you in the event that you win. I would be interested to hear what aspect of the book interests you the most, but it is not required to win.

Entries will be open through Sunday, October 3rd, and the randomly chosen winner will be announced on Monday, October 4th.

It may sound weird, but it was so good to get back to work yesterday!  I did not work at all after Tuesday last week, so this pay period had no hours on it until I got back in the office.  Luckily, the team that is working on updating pricing is awesome, and we are going to finish the main spreadsheet by today.  Then I just have to focus the rest of the week on the other miscellaneous things that need to be updated.  Plus, I get to train someone on one of my other responsibilities and then shift it over to her – woohoo!

Michael had a great first day back to school, which was a relief.  He has been talking about school like a game and saying that each day is another level, which means that it is harder and harder to do well.  I am trying to help him look at it another way so he doesn’t make failure a self-fulfilling prophecy. 

We bought a responsibility/goal chart the other day (yes I know we could make one for free but he has Christmas money left and sometimes you need the shiny motivators).  He loves it!  He is racing around the house to get dressed and put his toys away and asking me constantly if he is showing respect and not whining (those are some of the goals on it right now – you can switch between 20 or so premade ones or make your own).  Of course, he wants to colored magnets put on the chart in rainbow order, but that’s okay, at least he is doing the things I am asking.  I haven’t had to count past 1 for the last couple of days, which is good.

I think we may be getting “real” cell phones one of these days (we have Tracfones now).  Bob just wants a basic phone, but I want something that will replace my Palm so I don’t have to carry it around anymore.  I also want it to play music so I don’t need to get an iPod, which is what Bob thought I should spend my Christmas money on.  He loves his, and it was a great purchase for him because he is such a music buff, but I am happy just borrowing his when he leaves it at home – like today it is coming to work with me since he left it on the charger!

Well, I better finish up and make lunch for Michael.  Poor little guy, he is alternating between hot dogs and waffles right now because the Camp Hill Giant stopped carrying his GFCF chicken nuggets and fish sticks.  Bob thinks the Karns out in Hershey has them, and I know the gluten free store in Dillsburg has the dinosaur shaped ones, but they are even more expensive than the Ian’s brand.  Healthy Grocer only carries Bell & Evans the last time I checked, and they are more like chicken tenders, which are too much like real chicken for Michael, not kid-friendly at all.  I have not been successful making ones he will eat either.  At least he has his ANDI bars for breakfast, so I know he is started the day off with a decent amount of protein.

Anyway, I would say sorry for rambling, but since that is the purpose for this blog, I won’t!  I hope everyone is having a wonderful day.

After posting about the Sleep Number Sleep-In Challenge the other day, I started thinking about the sleep problems we have experienced with our son and how grateful we are to have regular sleep now.

From the time our Little Guy was a baby, he would often have trouble sleeping unless I was holding him in an upright position against my chest.  He also spent many nights with me rocking him in his infant car seat.  When he did sleep in his crib, and later his toddler bed, he would often wake up crying and require a lot of effort on our part to help him get back to sleep.  I later realized that he was experiencing a lot of gas and bloating and possibly some reflux.

Shortly after his diagnosis of autism at 33 months old, I heard about the gluten-free casein-free (GFCF) diet and became convinced that we should give it a trial run.  We started by removing all dairy and within a few weeks realized that he was no longer waking up in pain during the night.

In addition to the better sleep he was getting, we also noticed the complete absence of the cold-like symptoms he had shown most of the time since he was about 2 weeks old and the reduction of some sensory-seeking activities, such as spinning around for long periods of time.  He also began looking at both people and objects more directly rather than by getting up close to them, squinting and looking at them out of the corner of his eye, which he had often done with his toys, the TV and even our faces.

Of course, the highlight of starting the diet for us was hearing him put two words together for the first time (and in a sentence to boot!) within 24 hours of going casein-free.  It was a wonderful feeling to have a back-and-forth connection in a way we had not experienced before.

Since then, we have had other sleep issues, which I’ll share about more tomorrow, but if you are interested in more information on the GFCF Diet, check out my Autism Resources post on that topic.  I also read a wonderful “getting started” article recently at type-a mom called GFCF 101: How To Transition to the GFCF Diet and Remain Sane While Doing It.  If you try it, I’d love to hear how it works for you!

There are several special diets commonly used in autism. Some are very broad and others focus on a specific issue that may affect a subset of children; often people use more than one in combination. It is best not to start a trial of a special diet until you have read enough to know why you are doing it, how to do it properly and what to expect from it.

Gluten-Free, Casein-Free Diet (GFCF Diet)
Unraveling the Mystery of Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorder: A Mother’s Story of Research and Recovery by Karyn Seroussi – this book really delves into why and how the diet works as well as what you need to do. A great place to start!
Special Diets for Special Kids and Special Diets for Special Kids Two by Lisa Lewis, Ph.D. – fantastic resources for the practical aspects of doing the diet and lots of recipes.
Autism Network for Dietary Intervention (ANDI) – website formed by Seroussi and Lewis, has tons of information including parent contacts and an online message board. They also have a new book due out in June 2008 called The Encyclopedia of Dietary Interventions.
Another great online resource is the GFCF Diet Section of the TACA (Talk About Curing Autism) website. It has tons of information about getting started, including doing GFCF on a budget.

Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD)
Breaking the Vicious Cycle: Intestinal Health Through Diet by Elaine Gottschall, B.A., M.Sc. – this diet is often used to treat conditions such as ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease and has also been found to help individuals with autism who have similar symptoms.
A great website for help implementing this diet and connecting with other parents is pecanbread.com. Another good place for more information is the BTVC site itself. Although this diet does allow some dairy products, many people do it casein-free for at least the first few months.

Feingold Diet
Why Can’t My Child Behave?: Why Can’t She Cope? Why Can’t He Learn? by Jane Hersey and Robert C. Lawlor – this book is a comprehensive guide to the Feingold Program, which basically eliminates artifical colors, flavors and preservatives from the diet and environment, as well as a certain type of food called salicylates.
Feingold Association of the United States – contains many resources, including their Bluebook, which can be read online or ordered for free (voluntary donations accepted), and their program materials, which can be purchased through the website.

Low Oxalate Diet
This diet, which has been used for many years in some other conditions, is now being explored as helping some individuals with autism. It involves removing foods with a particular structure – more information can be found as the Low Oxalate Diet website.

This is by no means a comprehensive list, but these resources will definitely get you on the right path if you are interested in learning more about dietary intervention.

In my humble opinion, dietary and biomedical intervention is really about helping kids with gastrointestinal or immune system issues that are interfering with their ability to function, communicate and learn. Some symptoms that are commonly considered part of autism, such as challenging behaviors, sensory dysregulation and medical issues like GI pain or sleep dysfunction, are not actually part of the diagnostic criteria listed in the DSM-IV for autism and, as such, may sometimes be related to other causes. I think that this needs to be considered for each child as an individual to determine the best course of action.

I know this area has a lot of controversy surrounding it and want to say that I am not at all trying to change who my son is, but simply trying to help him not be in pain and to be given every opportunity to experience and enjoy life however he chooses to do so. (Of course, he doesn’t get to make all the choices because he is only 6 years old, after all!) Anyway, it frustrates me greatly that so many children have medical issues that would be promptly treated by their doctors if they were typically developing and able to communicate more clearly how they feel, but instead these concerns are often dismissed as being part of autism.

Well, this got too long to just be an introduction to the list of resources for special diets, so I am going to now climb down off my soapbox and post those separately.