Resources for elimination type diets (for behavior)

[mykdsmomy]

I'm familiar with different diets/programs out there ie: Feingold, SCD, GFCF, etc.....but I would like a starting point.

 

Ds8 has FASD and becasue of that, he has some pretty severe behavioral challenges as well as severe ADHD and learning challenges.

 

We are at our wits end. He is on several medications and yet we still struggle daily. I'm planning on going GF/CF but I'd like to start with eliminating dyes/preservatives from our diets. We tend to eat a lot of junk (typical American diet).

 

How do we start? Books? Cookbooks? Websites? I hate to cook, I have no recipe database and I have limited time....but I'm committed to doing this once and for all. I want to believe that changing ds's diet will bring positive changes to his mood/behavior.

 

Thanks everyone :)

 

ps Any stories of inspiration are welcome!!

[SKL]

Just wanted to say good luck, and I'll be checking in for ideas as well.

 

The first thing I did was to change breakfast. Used to be cereal every day. I started giving them eggs every day and eventually dropped all the grains (at breakfast). They also get whole fruit and a fruity yogurt drink (all is organic) - so there is still sugar, but it's natural. I also use thin-sliced whole grain bread for their lunches and added in a cheese stick (in addition to the milk they get) for extra protein. These changes seem to have helped some. As of yesterday, we are also off all sweet treats, candy, etc.

 

And, I just got an email from my kid's teacher, saying she had a good day today. So hopefully this is the first of many!

[celticmom]

I recently took my dd to an allergist and he placed her on a 5 day elimination diet for wheat and dairy. He also placed her on a 2 day rotation diet. We reintroduced dairy first and the improvements that had occured continued. Then a couple of days we let her have some wheat. Her behavior took a dramatic turn for the worse so she will remain off wheat.

[edeemarie]

I recently did this elimination diet for myself http://www.nourishingmeals.com/2010/01/elimination-and-detoxification-diet-its.html. I think they recommend not doing the first 2 days of only green smoothies if you are doing it with children, but I was able to find a lot of sensitivities in my diet. It does take about a month and you have to be very careful about not cheating so depending on your holiday schedule you may want to wait until January. I would definitely recommend it to anyone- they have a cookbook to go with it that has a lot of great recipes.

[Cynful]

This may totally not help but we are in the same boat for my 2 year old. He has major behavorial issues, definitely with dairy but other foods too that we are trying to figure out. He's still on a special amino acid formula and very little food. Anyway, my first thing we are trying are Houston's TriEnza Enzymes. It may not be enough; it may not do anything, but we are going to test it. He claims on his website that he feels it may work just as well as a GFCF diet - I cannot vouch for this of course, but we are going to test it. I'm also testing it on myself as I've developed a pretty bad case of psoriatic arthritis and I need help besides prednisone. If it doesn't work for us, I'll be checking in with you to see what you are doing. :)

 

Good luck,

[mykdsmomy]

Thank you for the responses :) We've thought about enzymes but I think ds's gut is severely damaged from prenatal drug exposure and it's never had a chance to heal.

 

I noticed that his issues really seemed to escalate after he'd been on solids for a while. He was around 12-15 months when his severe tantrums began. (he's 8 now).

 

Little frog is starting to show some of the same behaviors and sensory issues as ds did. He's a year now and has been on solids for a while. He defintely has food issues because he is on a special formula (Elecare) and cannot seem to tolerate dairy.. I know there has to be a connection between diet and behavior in these kiddos that were prentally exposed to drugs/alcohol. I just hope that the connection with ds8 can be fixed with dietary changes :(

[Cynful]

Elecare is what my 2 year old is on also. We have to be very careful about dairy because it causes complete meltdowns and just plain mean, violent behavior in him. We're still navigating this road also. Mine was born early (5 wks) but only drug exposure was what I was prescribed for blood pressure. Hope you find something that works for you. And to think I used to think Moms who avoided dairy, red dye #4, preservatives, etc. were crazy. Now here I am.

[walkermamaof4]

We have this issue too with ds. About 2 months ago I read False Fat Diet. Then I read the Nourishing Meals book. Then I heard about (and just finished) Gut and Psychological Syndrome. I should back up and say that first we had done an IgG test and eliminated everything it said was an issue. That said, ds had a 6 week period of the absolute worst behavior ever when we first removed all of the items on his IgG. Then he began to have some great days. Then some bad times mixed in. We found that two problems seemed to be happening. First, he was sneaking things on the list from neighbors or anywhere he could sneak them. We ran in Chick Fila on a trip just to use the bathroom and he took mints and ate them. Every time, we knew something had been eaten and then had to have him in time out until he told us about the forbidden fruit. It was happening about once a week and taking about 3 days for him to get past every time. It was so hard. So, fast forward again. I read these books. Fad Free Diet had things in the beginning of the diet that he totally can't eat. I felt it was poorly done and not well-backed with facts. Move on to Nourishing Meals. This is great, but it doesn't offer the true solution as much as avoidance once you learned the foods they are allergic to. Plus, I read on this forum that then you really have to use a rotation diet in order not to develop new allergies. Umm, I cannot live that life. Then I heard about GAPS on here I think. I ordered the book. It offers true hope for healing permanently and fabulous explanations for why we develop these allergies to begin with. It is a great book. We have altered ours and ds's diets already but plan to do the GAPS intro after the holidays in hopes of full healing. There is a GAPS fb page that I found encouraging as well. HTH!

[walkermamaof4]

also wanted to add that I recently read that eggs are a major problem for at least 50% of the kids with dairy issues. For our ds, he tested severely sensitive to dairy and medium to eggs. He's been off both since May, so I fed him eggs this week and his behavior was so much worse. Off eggs again until he does GAPS and heals his gut I think.

[Marcia]

Start with the Feingold website: www.feingold.org and watch the video. It will give you a good overview. Then join the org. so that you have the right materials. The support you will get is really great and so important.