Does Dietary Intervention Really Work? Yep!

Many, perhaps even most, children with autism have some degree of food intolerances and/or allergies.  The offending foods create an immune response in the body, which can wreak havoc in the GI tract, and everywhere else, including the brain.  Kids who don't exhibit any outward GI symptoms (or can't communicate them) may have still have issues with mental acuity, processing, hyperactivity, aggression, sleep issues, and so on.  Many mainstream doctors dismiss dietary intervention in kids with autism, even though there is plenty of evidence out there to show that it can be very effective.

Corey has been on the GFCF (gluten free/casein(dairy) free diet for 3 years now.  In this time, he has made tremendous strides, not only developmentally, but also in his overall health.  He is eating a healthy, well rounded diet, has energy, sleeps well and is all around a happier and healthier kid.  With the addition of Dr. Kendal Stewart's (http://www.drkendalstewart.com/) protocol of antivirals (for a while) and nutritional supplementation, we are seeing even more changes for the better.  Last year, we did a fresh, more comprehensive allergy panel on Corey and found that he had a number of additional food allergies/intolerances that needed addressing.  It wasn't easy, but we cut out a bunch of offending foods for a solid year - soy, yeast, eggs, berries, citrus, turkey, peanut and many more...  Baking was tricky, but I worked through it, reinventing many recipes.  I am thrilled to report that we just did a new comprehensive allergy panel and got the results back today - and they show HUGE progress.  Corey's body is healing and along with his healthier, stronger body, comes his developmental progress.  We are now able to add a bunch of things back in, and can see that others will come along in time, as their reactive levels are coming way down.  It is really amazing.  When the body is working better, the brain can function better, too, thus leading to more and more developmental progress.

We still have a long road ahead of us with Corey and his autism, but we are on our way.