Today's Oprah

[River Mom]

Just watched....On nutrition and Autism..
Has anyone had any experience with Raw and Autism?
River Mom

[beppa66]

Shine does. I'm so glad people are finally seeing a connection between diet and disease!

See this post? http://www.rawfoodtalk.com/showthread.php?t=32494

[trinity082482]

Yes. I have. My son was never diagnosed. I dont really think he "had" autism but I think he had some of the characteristics of it, such as never plays with his toys like other kids, he would just make convoys of cars all day long.
He wouldn't look at me when I talked to him, I would tell him "Dylan look at momma" and he would put his face to me but look the other way. He had behavioral patterns that were not going away. He always zoomed around like he just drank a juice pitcher of pure table sugar and I would ask him to have a quiet time and do spelling with me and he couldn't hold his attention.. he had very little attention span.
Today he still has some of these symptoms but changing his diet helped a lot and changed our world. I put more fruit and vegetables in his diet, gave him extra foods like sprouted grain toast instead of white bread because it has 0 sugar! and stuff like that. I'm sure his teacher is pretty impressed with his lunches at school! :D

[currious]

Shine does. I'm so glad people are finally seeing a connection between diet and disease!

See this post? http://www.rawfoodtalk.com/showthread.php?t=32494

The connection between diet and disease is so very important, I think more people should be aware of what they put in their bodies and what exactly it might be doing to them.

http://www.danconference.com/

This website might be of interest, DAN(defeat autism now) is big on the origins and prevention of autism. My PCP is big on diet control, and a something’s she stresses along with members of DAN is no gluten or casein, which is beneficial to many, not just autism. I could name a few, but I don't want to get too technical lol, if you want to know more though I'd be happy to share :p

There are other websites on DAN, and I bet raw food will only help!!

[SmilingRawDancer]

I just finished watching Jenny McCarthy on Oprah: it was so touching, I cried. I truly adore that woman.
I've been fascinated with autism since I learned about it and its links to nutrition and vaccinations, and I really strongly want to learn as much as I can about it.
I loved how Jenny just straight up said: Listen to the moms. My child is my science. She is a good representative for moms everywhere who know that the casein and gluten free diet is helping their kids, despite what other studies have shown. These moms are around their kids all day long, and they see the changes. They are the best researchers.

[beppa66]

YEP. The first thing I would suggest to anyone suffering from a disease like this or an autoimmune disease is to get rid of the wheat, glueten and dairy.
But adding the raw is so beneficial too!!! Why wait for a pill, it's time for us all to take our health seriously and do what works. RAW! RAW! RAW!
I applaud Jenny (and other Moms) for doing this! WOOT!!!

[solarliving]

I just watched the show. Yes, Jenny did say gluten free, casein free diet was the first thing she tried and her son showed an improvement within 2 weeks. She also strongly believes it was the vaccine that caused the Autism. Sunshine has a myspace website now called Rawtism.

For those who are interested, on the oprah site, there is also a chance to chat with Jenny Mcarthy and Holly Robinson.

[shine72]

I have a whole thread on it over here.....

http://www.rawfoodtalk.com/showthread.php?t=25870

Here's the thing, GFCF is great. I had one big issue with it though. Void of nutrients. I know people that are doing that diet and spending upwards of $800/month on supplements that the DAN doctors are having them put into their kids because the diet itself lacks a lot of nutrients. Why do that to your kids (or in the case of mine, you couldn't get the supplements in him to save your life), when you can do raw with all of the beneficial and healing nutrients contained within?

I'm going to get off of my soapbox now. I'm not bashing GFCF or DAN doctors. I have respect for both. However, I do think that raw is FAR SUPERIOR for these kids. The results can be just....... AMAZING!

To visit my site which is about raw and autism, go to www.rawtism.com

You can also check out the myspace page at http://www.myspace.com/rawtism_tm

HTH!

[youraw]

I have a 7 year old nephew with autism and he is on a casein/dairy, gluten free diet and it is amazing the changes and improvements he has made. My sister in law also believes it was the MMR vaccine that caused the autism. I don't know that she had looked into a raw diet though. I would like to see sunshines website.

[SmilingRawDancer]

Well, probably alot of Gluten-free Casein-free leaves little left but fruits and veggies, and probably alot are eaten raw - unless the moms are still stuck in the "processed" mode, where they just buy frozen dinners that are gfcf. But when my mom found out she had celiac and thus had to change her diet, she naturally found 50% raw foods, because the packaged stuff was too hard/too expensive.

So when omitting things, it's probably more likely that one will eat more raw.

[beppa66]

SRD. I wish I had just gone raw, instead I ended up eating a ton of rice pastas and glueten free breads, etc. Which were a good stepping stone, transitioning me to raw. ( :
I felt better but not great on GFCF diet. BUT ON RAW, WOOT...I FEEL AWESOME!!!

[shine72]

Well, probably alot of Gluten-free Casein-free leaves little left but fruits and veggies, and probably alot are eaten raw - unless the moms are still stuck in the "processed" mode, where they just buy frozen dinners that are gfcf. But when my mom found out she had celiac and thus had to change her diet, she naturally found 50% raw foods, because the packaged stuff was too hard/too expensive.

So when omitting things, it's probably more likely that one will eat more raw.

Unfortunately, when we did GFCF, my son wouldn't touch fruit and veggies. And I know SEVERAL other families doing GFCF and it's NOT big on fruits and veggies. More the rice flour, potato flour, potato flake milk, mixes and such. Things void of nutrition once you've processed it all and cooked it to death. Nevermind chicken and meat and such. Raw eliminates all the bad, and leaves in all the good.:D

[River Mom]

[QUOTE=shine72;332975]Unfortunately, when we did GFCF, my son wouldn't touch fruit and veggies.


Good discussion, What is gfcf?

River Mom

[shine72]

GFCF = Gluten-free/Casein-free, and they are in dang near everything in the cooked world. We have been doing that naturally on raw. Without the headaches and time-consumption that preparing GFCF required. HTH!:D

[veganman]

I have a book by the mother of an autistic boy (Karen Defelice) that talks about the importance of enzymes for improving autism which directly correlates with raw food..

[Authenticme]

Children with Starving Brains by Jacquelyn McCandless

[firefaery]

I love Karen DeFelice, and her website is wonderful. She does great work with enzymes, but often at the expense of excellent nutrition.

My oldest two were BOTH on the spectrum. We've been at least 90% for almost 2 years. They aren't anymore :D

[Zaphirah]

My 2 oldest are on the spectrum and GF/CF. Have been for almost 2 years now. when I put them on the diet *everyone* asked what new med i had them on. LOL! Unfortunately after a year and a half the diet just wasn't enough and we also put them on meds. They are in a VERY happy place now. Before the diet I was stressed to the MAX. I mean it. I couldnt' sleep, i wiould shake all the time-they were insanely violent-yes, at 7 years old. They would flip the kitchen table or the couch, throw glasses, kick walls for an hour-if they didn't get their way. Once ds #1 attempted to kick out the van window when I turned the radio on because he didn't want it on. Another time ds#2 shattered the glass front door when I wouldn't comb his hair for him after he kicked me in the stomach.
Then in Dec of '05 the twins got the stomach flu and detoxed all the gluten and casein. After 3 days of not eating ds#2 came out of his room, crawled up on my lap and hugged me and said "I love you." I was SHOCKED. He had never let me hug him before. He always attacked anyone who tried to touch him.

and we have never looked back.

We did go raw for a month or so, but it was such a battle that it just wasn't worth it anymore. Right now, I'm hoping to lead by example.

[garden granny]

Is autism happening mostly to boys? It seems like that's all I'm hearing about are little boys. I have 2 little grandsons, neither have been vacinated, thank goodness. But, I still worry.

[Authenticme]

Yes, primarily to little boys. I've forgotten the ration of affliction to boys to girls.

[RaWonderWoman5]

My co-worker always tells me that, when I have children, I need to be their advocate. I see that in many of the posts here regarding autism and diet. I applaud you, moms!

[shine72]

Yes, primarily to little boys. I've forgotten the ration of affliction to boys to girls.


Here's the numbers. Now it's 1:150 children has autism. When my son was diagnosed in 2000, it was 1:500, in 1990 it was 1:10,000. Crazy, I know. Out of those 1:150, 4 out of 5 are boys. I've been doing research into this for years. In the case of heavy metal toxicity, the most prevalent research points to the testosterone acting synergistically with the metals, which exaccerbates the symptoms and thereby makes it more prevalent in boys.
HTH!:D

[shine72]

My co-worker always tells me that, when I have children, I need to be their advocate. I see that in many of the posts here regarding autism and diet. I applaud you, moms!


Thanks!:D And your co-worker is right. No one will ever fight for your child like you will. Period.

[Ariannah]

I have a book by the mother of an autistic boy (Karen Defelice) that talks about the importance of enzymes for improving autism which directly correlates with raw food..
That was one of the first books I bought and read which made me make the connection to raw food.