Is a Gluten and Dairy free diet important?
Diet is the first most important thing to clean up in your journey towards healing. Autism is a lifestyle disorder affecting our kids due to the environment they are in and the lifestyle. When we start removing toxins out of our lifestyle most children start getting better. And Diet is an integral part of that lifestyle. The most basic autism diet is Gluten free and Dairy free. Most ASD kids have a leaky gut and the blood brain barrier is leaky too. Leaky gut means the intestinal permeability is increased. The intestine is made of tight junctions that allow only nutrients from digested food to escape into the blood stream. But when the tight junctions become loose they let microbes and undigested food to escape into blood stream its called leaky gut. This loosening is caused by a protein Zonulin. Gluten is high in Zonulin which causes this intestinal permeability. This in turn increases the inflammation in body and creates many other issues. Gluten and Casein have protein structure similar to natural opioids. When you give gluten and casein to a child who has weak digestive enzymes( very common than we think in our kids) then the protein is not digested properly. It leaks through leaky gut and passing the BB attaches to brain opiate receptors acting like opiates. The body asks for more and is intoxicated. That is why many kids have withdrawal syndrome at the start of GFDF diet.
Folate is essential for brain. Dairy has casein protein which is believed to worsen CFD (cerebral folate deficiency). The protein blocks the folate receptors in brain preventing the brain from using the folates in food. Also if using gluten flours, processed foods most of them are enriched with folic acid. Its said 80% of the world has one or other mutation in MTHFR gene and many do not process folic acid (synthetic folate well). So this folate blocks the folate receptors in brain. On top of these, gluten and dairy are highly inflammatory and most common allergens. So they cause mast cell reaction. They are also main sources of glutamate.
I would suggest to first remove the processed foods (anything you open out of a pack), sugars, artificial colors from your food. Many of these are carcinogenic, does not have much nutritional value, toxic for our body and puts burden on it to detox, and are known to cause hyperactivity in kids. Move towards organic foods, more fresh produce and meat cooked at home. Prefer buying produce fresh from farmers markets to avoid the chemicals sprayed even in big box stores and fresh cut meat from local markets and butchers to avoid histamines. The next step would be going dairy and gluten free. Once you are successful at it then slowly transition to the diet that would suit your needs. Many also become soy free along with this because protein structure of soy is similar to gluten and dairy and causes similar issues. Many try GFCF diet for 1-2 months and stop it because they do not see any results. First of all 1-2 months is a very short time span. And even if you do not see gains in 1-2 years instead of completely removing the diet move on to a better diet like the ones below to make sure if diet is helping or not. There cannot be cheat days in these diets. Because the purpose of a diet is to reduce sensitivities and allergies. And reintroducing the sensitives/ allergens will not give the gut time to heal. It is advisable to do any restrictive diet with the guidance of a doctor or nutritionist as they can monitor if the body gets enough nutrients through restricted diets. It has to be also done for a timeframe until which the body heals and gets better.
If your child has many sensitivities / autoimmune diseases- start with a rotation diet eliminating all those foods and slowly add back one at a time after 6 months. Look into Autoimmune paleo diet(AIP).
If your child struggles with yeast and bad gut bacteria or celiac, Crohn’s or IBD – SCD diet. This website has a lot of resources about this diet Pecanbread.com. A book describing this diet – Breaking the vicious cycle book.
If your child has CMS (complex motor stereotypes), glutamate issues – REID diet. They also incorporate lot of herbs in the diet which can be customized to address the vitamin deficiencies, yeast issues, bad bacteria etc. Resources – REID diet face book group. Websites – Nourished blessings, Unblind my mind.
If your child has seizures, epilepsy – high fat low carb diet, keto diet.
Failsafe diet – Diet with no artificial colors, additives, salicylates. Though designed for food sensitivities and allergies it is found to be helpful with ADHD symptoms.
If your child has gut issues, constipation, bloating and bad bacteria. – GAPS diet . ( cautious because some do say bone broth and gelatin has more glutamate).
Low histamine diet and Low oxalate diet – If you are dealing with high histamine or high oxalate issues respectively.
Feingold diet – eliminates artificial food colors, flavorings, sweeteners, preservatives, and some phenols and salicylates, which are naturally occurring compounds in some fruits and vegetables. This helps ADHD, hyperactivity, sleep issues.