The Diet of a "Spectrummy" Kid

When Michael was a toddler he lived on oatmeal and bananas.  I recall it was hard getting him to eat much of anything else.  As he got a little older we affectionately called him "Carb Boy".  He would stick to bread, bagels, donuts and other various forms of carbohydrates and sugar.

We are big gardeners and really do try to eat healthy.  He have grown a garden for the last 8-9 years.  Some years mostly weeds grew.  All in all, we tried very hard to give the twins fresh veggies and fresh fruits.  We lived on a farm for a while with another family and we had our own egg laying and meat chickens.  Still, Michael's choice of food tended to be bread-like in nature.  Cereal became a main staple, just like his older brother Dale (Aspergers).  Then one day when Michael was staring at the TV without it actually being "on", we discovered something terrible.  The horrible, awful, no-good, very bad thing was HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP.

This stuff was in everything!  It was in ketchup, in cereals in most of the breads that you buy.  It was in all of the stuff that Michael craved...that Michael had been eating.  We did an experiment and eliminated HFCS out of his diet.  Many of his "spectrummy" behaviors subsided.  We were looking at labels on everything.  Every once in a while when we weren't being careful, or when we would forget, he'd eat something with HFCS and be staring off into Neverland.  Uh oh, what did he eat?  Quick check the label!  Sure enough it was loaded with high fructose corn syrup.

Now like most parents of autistic children, I had read loads of information about strict diets for autistic children.  I always took this with a grain of salt.  Surely my child is not affected by this or that!  So when we started eliminating the HFCS I was indeed skeptical.

Making cookies with twin sister Mikayla and big brother Dale.

I have seen a big change in Michael's behaviors, big changes for the good.  He is now checking for high fructose in all things.  He even says, "It makes my head feel funny mommy."  He will ask me, "Does it have high fructose corn syrup mommy?"  I will tell him, "No Michael, it doesn't."  He will often pick up the item and check for himself.  What a smart little cookie he is!  (store bought cookies are often loaded with HFCS)

So our household does not have any food items with high fructose corn syrup.  Things cost more money, but we know that Michael is safer and more "with it" if he doesn't have those things.  If you have an autistic son or daughter, you can try it.  It might help.  The only risk you take is that if it doesn't work, you are just back to where you started.  I do believe now that a controlled diet does help, but it does not solve all of the behavior problems with an autistic child. 

There have been studies done on this stuff.  Here are a few links that might help. http://www.foodwhistleblower.org/blog/23-2012/362-study-high-fructose-corn-syrups-role-in-autism
http://grist.org/scary-food/new-study-links-autism-to-high-fructose-corn-syrup/