Aspergers, overweight picky eater

[Night Elf]

I am nearly at the end of my rope with this one issue. My ds11 has horrible eating habits. He was on Miralax for 6 years and we finally weaned him off. His bowel movements are atrocious. They are so large that the toilet is clogged for half a day. I really want to snap down and find a solution but am clueless on what to do. The info I found on picky eating is seen as damaging in an AS child. But most of the eating issues I'm finding for AS children are from children underweight. My son is definitely overweight. He'll go without food until there is something he likes and then he gorges on it.

 

These are his food choices: fried rice, fried chicken, chicken tenders, pork chops or roast, roast beef, french fries, applesauce, Chef Boyardee pasta with meatballs, cheese pizza, Lucky Charms cereal (right now a store brand of the chocolate flavored lucky charms), vanilla yogurt, bananas, instant mashed potatos (refuses real potatos), milk, soda (both diet and regular), apple juice, boxed pasta (one brand only).

 

He's not a big candy eater. He'll eat cookies or cake if they are around but he doesn't beg for them and he hasn't missed them since I stopped buying them.

 

If I don't have something in the house he likes to eat, he waits until dinner which is usually something out because I don't cook a whole lot. So no matter where we go and if they offer healthy foods, he will only choose from the foods I've listed above. For example, he'll order an adult sized plate of chicken tenders and eat them all and ask for more. It's way more than what I would consider a normal portion. If I try to limit him, he feels hungry and complains.

 

Ugh! I have NO clue what to do. I've tried taking him to his pedi at Kaiser. As nice as he is, he isn't much of a help. He tells Jeffrey to eat whatever I give to him and not make a fuss. That does *not* translate well to the reality of home. Any suggestions on what I should do? Where to begin? I'm about to go through the kitchen and throw out everything!

[MicheleB]

My son (as of yet undiagnosed) sounds much like yours. So I can only offer what's worked (on occasion.. you know how *that* goes!) for us.

 

I've just put a very small amount of the avoided food in his plate, not touching anything else, and said You don't have to eat it but we're just going to get used to looking at it. Sometimes he really balks and throws a fit, sometimes he lets it there. If he lets it there I consider it one step toward "de-sensitizing" him in that food. Sometimes after it's on his plate awhile, he tries it. He often realizes it's not so bad after all. But I don't make a big deal out of it: IOW, no rewards for eating other than praise and no punishments for not eating it.

 

One thing I was "mean" about was bread. I just quit buying white bread. He eventually started eating the whole grain bread I did buy. There's just some things I won't buy no matter what.

 

I have to run... I'll check in later.

[happygrrl]

Not many answers here, but a lot of sympathy!!! :grouphug:

 

Often hungry feelings are really thirsty feelings misinterpreted. When my aspie ds is well hydrated his eating evens out (might help with the BM's too). I had to really work to get him used to drinking water all the time but it has really made a difference.

[Claire]

I have not dealt with Asperger's, so forgive me if I am missing the big picture here.

 

What I see is that he has the ability to ignore healthy foods all day because he knows he will have the opportunity to eat unhealthy food at dinnertime. It seems to me that eating out almost every day (or ordering prepared food in) will subvert *any* type of change you try to make at home. Nothing you will do will work unless you eliminate his ability to eat unhealthy foods.

 

IMO, you must start cooking. The meals don't need to be elaborate. I myself am not a "good" cook. I have a few tried-and-true easy recipes that are healthy. (If you like, I can post my favorites and maybe others can too. I could use a few new recipes!) Over the years I have found that if there is something unhealthy that we shouldn't be eating (potato chips come to mind), I *cannot* have it in the house. If it's in the house, one of us will eat it.

 

Basically your son is binge-eating what he likes once a day. This is almost a guaranteed path to being overweight and is likely a contributing cause to the large BMs. It's much easier on the body to eat several smaller meals spread out through the day.

 

If you eliminate his ability to binge on the foods he likes and limit his choices to healthy foods, believe me, he will eventually eat a real potato and a piece of roast chicken. If he continues to have the option of "going without" all day and then bingeing in the evening, he will continue to do it.

[Oakblossoms]

Our 11 year old Aspie would eat bread and cheese all day.

 

Have you thought about the GF/CF diet? We definitely see a difference with dairy. We tried GF as well, but it got too expensive at this point and I didn't necessarily see a difference in him (I did for me though).

 

We eat vegetarian at home. It's helped for him to learn about nutrition (he is very science minded). He has tried so many new things since he read a book on Vegetarian Kids and nutrition.

[happygrrl]

Our 11 year old Aspie would eat bread and cheese all day.

 

Have you thought about the GF/CF diet? We definitely see a difference with dairy. We tried GF as well, but it got too expensive at this point and I didn't necessarily see a difference in him (I did for me though).

 

We eat vegetarian at home. It's helped for him to learn about nutrition (he is very science minded). He has tried so many new things since he read a book on Vegetarian Kids and nutrition.

 

I just watched my ds finish his 5th piece of toast. It's sprouted wheat, but still!!!! I am really thinking about allergies here... what are your favorite resources for learning about GF/CF diets?

[happygrrl]

 

IMO, you must start cooking. The meals don't need to be elaborate. I myself am not a "good" cook. I have a few tried-and-true easy recipes that are healthy. (If you like, I can post my favorites and maybe others can too. I could use a few new recipes!) Over the years I have found that if there is something unhealthy that we shouldn't be eating (potato chips come to mind), I *cannot* have it in the house. If it's in the house, one of us will eat it.

 

 

 

Thanks, Claire- even though I do this your post was a good check-in moment for me. It's easy to slip! With an aspie one is dealing with so many issues daily that one feels like if one more thing has to be dealt with one will just fall apart. (Can I add any more 'one's' in that sentence??)

 

I *know* that the food arena is a priority; I just get lazy. OK.... re-thinking my menu for the week...

[Mandamom]

on this but I"m going to post it anyway. My nephew (on my dh's side) was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease at a young age and as a result they HAD to modify his diet. Several years later he was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome.

 

That being said, the change in diet that they had to make was HARD but his aunt and uncle, with whom he lives, got him through it. Over the years, he lost a lot of weight and looks really good. At age 16, he'll still cheat on his diet when he can get away with it, but he still makes much better choices than he did when he was younger.

 

I just wanted to share a success story.

[Night Elf]

Yes, I fully recognize and admit that I am enabling his eating patterns. It seems like everything is such a big deal that I really like dinner being easy.

 

We used to have a meal plan and I was just talking to the kids earlier today about putting together another one. The problem we encountered was that we all got so bored with the 4 weeks of rotated menus. And you have no idea how much we had to stretch just to fill in 4 weeks! There are so many foods I can't fix because no one likes them except DH and myself. Everything I cook must be plain and simple. None of the children really enjoy mixed foods so that means soups, stews, and casseroles are out. I can fix meatloaf once a month but we listen to the kids freaking out. And that's us fixing the simplest version of meatloaf we know! None of our children like hamburger meat or seafood of any kind either. Boy will I rue the day I tried to make meatloaf with ground turkey! It was a mutiny! LOL

 

I don't consider my girls picky eaters because they'll eat lots of different fruits and veggies and salads if those things are available.

 

Tonight I'm making baked chicken, homestyle fries, and frozen peas. I told them I plan on cooking more and if they don't like what's on the menu (after we make the menu that is) they can decide for themselves what to have for dinner. Their choices will be restricted to what is in the house.

 

We do love to eat out though. It gives me a chance to have the foods I can't have at home like lasagna, seafood (I'm afraid to cook seafood at home because I constantly worry it's underdone and will make me sick), and lovely seafood pastas.

 

Off to start dinner and begin working on our new meal plan.

[Sandra314]

Our 8 year old son with Aspergers used to eat much of the same way. He had problems in the past with constipation and he had large bowel movements that clogged the toilet.

 

About a year and half ago, I tossed out the junk food, white bread, tortillas and started all of us on whole wheat products. I limited his dairy intake as well.

 

I read about the GF/CF diet. There are some books that might help you. Here's a list that I'm reading.

 

"The Complete Food Allergy Cookbook" by Marilyn Gioannini

 

"The Feingold Cookbook for Hyperactive Children and Others with Problems Associated with Food Additives and Salicylates" by Ben F. Feingold, MD, and Helene S. Feingold

 

"The Complete Book of Natural Foods: a Sane and Sensible Guide to Improve the Quality of the Food you Eat" by David Carroll (author of "The Complete Book of Natural Medicines" )

 

"Living Well Without Wheat: The Gluten-Free Gourmet" (revised edition) by Bette Hagman

 

The Gradual Vegetarian by Lisa Tracey

 

"Special Diets for Special Kids: Understanding and Implementing Special Diets to Aid in the Treatment of Autism and Related Developmental Disorders" by Lisa Lewis, PhD

 

I have some recipes that my friend Jennifer passed on to me. PM me if you're interested.

[Oakblossoms]

I forgot to mention smoothies. You can stick a lot of good fiber in there. Oatmeal, ground flax, lettuce leaves...these really keep my guy regular.

[juls]

Over the last four years I have made some big changes in our diets. I am no where near where I hope to end up but I am headed in the right direction slowly but surely. I believe that many kids on the spectrum do well on a GFCF diet, but that may be an unrealistic jump for your family right now. Aim for making those simple dinners each night. As a treat sometimes, maybe you and your hubbie can get take out after the kid are in bed, but still aim to sit down for a family dinner each night.

 

Once I was in the routine of making simple meals, I then tackled once a month cooking- I could unusually dedicate a half day to cooking and get about three weeks of meals. Buying an indoor grill helped a lot too. Then a meal could be as simple as frozen chicken breasts thrown right on the grill and some veggies. It wasn't too much to plan for once I got used to it.

 

All the while I was also making little changes. Buying more organic, adding finely chopped veggies to taco meat, storing bread in the freezer so they wouldn't binge on in, buying little junk food and trying new things like almonds and pumpkin seeds and fruit smoothies which they love.

 

But its been a slow process. I could have never done all of this at once. And I'm still not done. Our diets still need some tweaking (more veggies). My kids, even my picky, overweight kid on the spectrum eats better now.

 

Take it slow but set out in a deliberate direction. In the long run, you may find that you've come a long way!

 

Juls

[kRenee]

Other people have given you lots of good advice on food and diets, but in the meantime get some powdered Vitamin C ( I use NOW Ester C). Put a 1/4 tsp in his apple juice for about 4 days and adjust from there, up or down as needed. I really helps with the constipation and boosts immune system at the same time.

 

Vit C is non-toxic and water soluable. There is no danger in taking alot.

[Mom0012]

My son has been a very picky eater in the past and is still not very relaxed about trying new foods, but so much better. I had read somewhere that children who are picky eaters may be low in zinc. I started giving my son zinc supplements and I noticed a big difference in his eating habits.

 

If he does not have the zinc for a while, he will begin to complain about everything placed before him. If I ask him what he would like to eat, he doesn't even know. When he is taking the zinc, he's not exactly an eager beaver about trying new things, but he will happily eat all the regular foods I serve and will be much more likely to actually like something new if he's encouraged to try it.

 

If you decide to try it, just be careful not to overdo it with the zinc. It's not something you want to get too much of either.

 

Lisa

[Night Elf]

You guys have lots of great advice! I'll look into those books too. I'm also on a mission to read more about Aspergers in general now that all my curriculum decisions are finalized. The vitamin C is the easiest thing to add right now. I'll even look into the zinc. Hopefully I can find some in pill form for him to swallow, a skill he acquired about a month ago. :)

 

It's really difficult to hide things in his foods because he's such a simple eater. The miralax was easy because it stirred into milk. He doesn't do smoothies of any kind. He doesn't like blended anything. He's also not a big bread eater. It's crackers and cereal (lucky charms only) that he eats in large amounts.

 

He's been making an effort. He's drinking more water and he's having yogurt or applesauce for snacks instead of crackers and cereal. It's a step in the right direction I think.