Thanks for posting that, it was really encouraging to see people standing up to the "we can fix you" nonsense.
How Dietary Intervention Can Save Autistic Spectrum Kids
What about adults?
If you read the whole thread on that site, the poster admits that it doesn't save, or cure anyone at all. She feels that it can help.
If someone has food allergies, regardless of whether they are AS or whatever, it could affect their behaviour.
I have really bad allergies, asthma, and chemical sensitivites. I just don't act the same when I have constant headaches, nosebleeds, shortness of breath, pain in my limbs. Of course I am going to be cranky and have a shorter attention span when I am exhausted and feeling ill. I don't think telling someone to take antihistamines constantly is good either. I would rather try to avoid what I am allergic or sensitive to.
Parents could try to get their children tested and treated for allergy problems. Allergies are not the cause of AS. Most likely if the parents are trying to cut out processed foods they are spending more time preparing them and cooking at home. That might be better for their kids than rushing them around and getting them stressed out at McDonalds.
I think too much sugar has a bad effect on all children. Some parents just need to learn some good nutrition and how to cook.
I clicked on the link, and it says that the post doesn't exist. Has it been moved or deleted?
As far as I know it has been archived I think. It may be possible to access it through internet archives.
If diet will help then it's worth trying, but it won't cure autism. :smile:
It's interesting to note that a number of parents of aspie kids in my area are heavily into dietary interventions. I'm not sure if they might sometimes be going a little bit overboard about it though.
It's interesting to note that a number of parents of aspie kids in my area are heavily into dietary interventions. I'm not sure if they might sometimes be going a little bit overboard about it though.
Getting the proper nutrients is always going to be a good thing, whether a person is on the spectrum or not. Everybody functions better when they are not also dealing with nutrient deficiencies or food intolerances. It is, however, troubling the number of parents who seem to think that autism will 'go away' if they can just get the right diet in place ... and how many go about attempting that without medical testing. For example, I know at least one young man whose mother has decided that he shouldn't have any wheat even though he has never been tested for such an intolerance. It's been nearly a year and there is no difference in this now-wheat-free child, yet the mother continues to insist that he must not have a speck of wheat in his diet. Whatev. People can live a long, healthy lifetime without eating wheat, so it isn't a big deal for him physiologically. Meanwhile, he can't have pizza with the other kids, can't have that slice of birthday cake at the party, etc. Why?
You can go too far with dietary control. Research orthorexia.
Very interesting. Never heard of it. Enjoyed looking at this blog about it:
http://everywomanhasaneatingdisorder .blogspot.com/2008/03/orthorexia.html
It seems to me, however, that even if the effects of restricted eating are psychological, this is significant when the person is regulating his or her own diet. What a persons believes is very important to how that person feels. If the person believes that eating or not eating certain foods will help, then they will probably experience an improvement in how they feel. This benefit becomes insignificant or totally absent if the person is having another's healthy-diet beliefs imposed upon them, such as a parent believing there is benefit and instituting food regimens for the child. Unless the child shares the parents' belief that there is a benefit, then there will be little benefit absent a true physiological need for dietary intervention.
I weighed 3 stone at 6 years of age and was about 3'6" tall and was continually teased and called "skinny legs" and "bones" so a child of the same height and age who is 2 1/2 stone would be extremely thin indeed.
I think this anti-obesity propaganda is going just a bit too far when kids are starving themselves after being at perfectly okay weight for their height.
What is stone as a unit of mass or weight translated into pounds or grams/kilograms?