The Autism Recovery Diet PLUS...and successful recoveries
As the group founder of Autismontariobiomedical@yahoo.com , I am more than happy to share with others the success our families of had with The Autism Recovery Diet PLUS. Many of the parents on our group have used the diet so successfully and their children are well on their way to recovery. One mom used it with her 13 year old daughter that is now only one year later, in regular High school. Her progress is amazing and her mother's dedication to this diet with her 8 children has been life changing. I am the mother of now 6 year old twins that have gone from severely autistic to high fuctioning little boys that live life to its fullest. This diet has been key to their recovery. It is the same science of the SCDiet but eliminates the use of nuts or goat yogurt. It also advises parents on a complete toxic clean up of their child's environment and some early supplementation for the child. This is just a beginning for most parents and we always advise getting a DAN doctor, however, most of us confess, that this diet has done more for our kids than any other intervention. Doing the diet 100 percent is what got us where we are today. If you would like to join our group, we can be found at
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/autismontariobiomedical/
If your child is "almost there" and is not on this diet, I challenge you to try it. Even after years of GFCF, kids that have plateaued have made dramatic improvements.
You can begin to recover you child mostly on your own. Feed your child only
fruit, vegetables and meat from the list below, all well cooked and peeled at
first. Puree if you have to. Eat only organic, free range and grass fed meat.
Google for a farmer or supplier near you. Many local farmers are willing to help out
when they know your are trying to help your child.
Chicken, turkey, veal, heritage pork and wild salmon are best. Give only water
or diluted grape juice that is organic and NOT from concentrate. You must use
reverse osmosis water too for drinking and cooking. You can buy the water or get
a system put under the sink. You can purchase one for about $300 at Home Depot. Do not use tap or remineralized water. NO CANNED OR
PREPACKAGED FOODS including baby food.
This will get your child improving quite a bit with a few other things involved.
Start epsom salt baths every night. Work up to two cups per night. Don't let
your child drink the bath water. Do NOT use any soaps, shampoos, toothpastes on
your child. YOUR CHILD DOES NOT NEED ANY SOAPS OR SHAMPOOS TO GET CLEAN, and
using them will just add to the toxic burden on your child, even the "organic"
versions. (Most also contain wheat proteins.)Just water or baking soda for teeth
brushing.(Use only Bob Mills brand from the grocery store as others contain
toxic anti caking agents.) For hand washing at home and at school we use just
pure glycerin soap purchased from the Bulk Barn. Use only earth friendly
detergent for his clothes and no bleach or stain removers. Homemade stain
removers work well and vinegar works to get out any odors.
Stop using all toxic cleaners in your home. Use only vinegar, water, glycerin
soap, peroxide, olive oil, coconut oil, and baking soda to clean your home.
Wash all new clothing in vinegar before wearing and eliminate the use of pjs
with flame retardants. (Long john style or tight fitting pjs do not contain
flame retardants). Cover matresses or buy ikea matresses or other organic
matresses that are not treated with flame retardants or other chemicals. Wash infant and child car seat covers in vinegar and hot water to help remove harmful chemicals. Do not swim in chlorinated pools. If you do swim in chlorinated pools, give epsom salt baths before and after swimming but do not swim in them on a regular basis or during early recovery stages.
FOODS TO START
*Chicken (free range)
*Turkey(free range)
*WILD Salmon (not canned or perserved)
*Veal (grass fed)
*Beef (grass fed and ground)
*Zuchinni (well cooked)
*Squash
*Carrots (WELL COOKED..two hours)
*Pears (cooked and peeled)
*Avacado ( give raw, puree, mash or cube with a little squeeze of lemon to
prevent browning)
*Honey (not pasteurized, but clear or filtered)
*VERY RIPE BANANA..only one half per day
*Diluted organic grape juice NOT from concentrate,
*Prune Nectar (sugar free) for constipation
*Diluted organic pear juice (sugar free)
*Himalayn salt (pink salt from the health food store) DO NOT USE REGULAR TABLE
SALT...it has sugar (or dextrose) in it.
*Olive oil or pure cold pressed coconut oil for cooking or adding to foods for
extra fat.
YOUR CHILD WILL GET BETTER....but what may surprise you is that diet will be a
big part of your child's recovery...BUT..it MUST be done 100% this way to start.
DO NOT ADD IN ANY OTHER FOODS!!!! Other foods will be added in as soon as some
healing has began. Don't let the diet scare you off if your child is a picky
eater...most of the kids on this diet were EXTREMELY picky eaters before the
diet. The kids that I work with that are recovering quickly did this diet. It is
never too late. One mom on this board did the diet with her 13 year old and now
she is in regular high school and doing very well considering how low
functioning she was and how bad her anxiety was to deal with daily.
If you are doing just GFCF (gluten free, casein free diet) your child will most
likely be on the slow boat to recovery even if you are doing all homemade foods.
This diet will expand and eventually fermented foods, and even potato will be
added back into the diet.
Please post for help with the diet or email me. Communication daily about your
child's behaviour, and condition is a must. Most kids get flu like symptoms in
the beginning. Keeping up the juice intake and giving the child lots of broth
from the cooked meats will help. Keep the meat limited compared to the
vegetables, and fruit. Initially your child will most likely consume a ton of
food. Some kids eat enough for a grown man. Eggs are not on the list in the
beginning but can be added in during the second week unless there is known egg
allergy.
You must get the diet in place for a week before adding any supplements. I can
help you with some basic supplements and basic probiotics to start, but you will
need to get to a DAN doctor for some additional help for your child. There are
some MD's that are DAN trained (Stands for DEFEAT AUTISM NOW) in Ontario Canada
and around the world that will be best able to further help your child.
Please post any questions at http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/autismontariobiomedical/
Wait one week on this diet to start supplements.
..........
Well that is the diet PLUS in a nutshell. Please visit us for daily support and great stories of success.
All the best to you in the new year.
Cindy Nickerson
glad this worked for your kids
Cindy, I'm so glad your boys have made so much progress. We are making a few dietary changes for the new year too. We did remove potatoes like we talked about in Toronto. I'm I'm really going to make an effort to move to organic and grass-fed meats. We're already there with the environmental stuff - I'm out of epsom salts, but easy enough to fix that too. We have seen speech pouring out this week, so hoping this is a great start to a new year.
IT's working for so many..
Great news about the speech "pouring out"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Eileen's daughter had a "massive outpouring" of speech only a few months into the diet and her daughter was 13 years old when she intervened with the diet. Lisa Duffins little girl went from a 9 month old in speech to a typical level after one year. I introduced you to them at the conference but I am certain you were introduced to so many people and may not remember them.
Your son will continue to improve as you improve the diet and the removal of all di and polysacharides is only temporary. Potatoes and rice can be added back in and some kids are able to tolerate wheat again in the sourdough form eventually as recovery is stablized.
Recently, we had a "mini" diet conference to help parents start it with their kids. In the near future we will be hosting "diet retreats', where parents can bring their child for four (or more) days and start the diet with some help. We are now looking for a location (probably a house) that we will "autism proof" so parents can come with their child and feel safe. I am hoping our first "retreat" will be in early April. We have had so many requests to travel abroad to help families start the diet but we declined as we have our own families that still need help but maybe someday that will be an option. The "diet retreats" will be helpful for now.
In the last year we did the diet change with our "typical" 13 year old too. He has had some difficulties in school as he has some short term memory issues. This past term he has had the best report card ever!! They even dropped his IEP for the term. He was diagnosed with stomach migraines a year ago and the doctor suggested he go on some steriods so he could eat a typical diet, but my son declined. He told the doctor..I am never eating wheat again...my head doesn't feel foggy anymore. I couldn't believe that this boy had a brain fog all those years!
I really enjoyed talking with Dr. McFabe on our drive to the train station after the conference. He confirmed the issues our children have with the carbohydrates.(di and polysachride ones) One of the mom's in our group has been in close contact with him since to give him the results of our kids after the strict diet changes. Every child in the group has made HUGE changes with the implentations of the diet 100% and following a simple supplement protocol. It is not the only thing our children need but we have all found it to be fundamental to recovery.
Some of us have added back some of the potatoe and rice without any negative consequences. At this stage we are also using lots of fermented foods too. This has had a huge impact. We make our own now....I can't believe that I actually do this..LOL. I was a totaly "drive thru" cook 3 years ago! My then 2 year old stove was only used to set things on..LOL...now I think I have wore it out!
Recently my mother passed away. She was a huge advocate for diet recovery. When my eldest was 9 months old (14 years ago) and was extremely sick (could not stand anymore, open his eyes, vomitted all foods and was prepped for a feeding tube) she came to my home and made him well within two days. She made him a vegetable broth from boiling fresh green vegetables, carrots, dikon radish, and massive amounts of fresh pressed garlic. Before she fed it too him, she mixed miso in it (fermented soy). He recovered so quickly. For the next year he drank that broth three times per day and ate whole foods only. He reaked of garlic but the healthiest little guy ever and still is til this day. My mom had used this broth because when she was a little girl, her great grandmother (in the 1930's)would make a similar one for babies that were not thriving. My mom said that the garlic was the key and something fermented.
I may seem die hard about the diet, but that does not come from only seeing my kids improve dramatically. It comes from seeing EVERY child that I have known personally, improve from this diet along with the clean up of their water (reverse osmosis), clean up of the environment, use of epsom salts and the use of some supplements. (fatty acids, carnitine, epsom salts, chloraphyll, etc) Personally, we have not stopped here either. We use a hyperbaric chamber now ( with 95% oxygen through a non-rebreather mask) and ABA too! The boys gone from a dx at four years old of severe autism non verbal to pretty high fuctioning verbal guys at six. Don't get me wrong, we still have lots more room for healing and we manage daily the recovery they have made.
Food, water, air, sun and sleep are the supplements of life. We have to make sure what our kids (and ourselves)get of these supplements are quality in order to function and to recover from injury.
All the best to you and your family in the new year!!!! I look forward to hearing more about your son's gains.
Kind Regards,
Cindy Nickerson