As you can see, I’m not a professional photographer, and I’m definitely not a professional cook. I’m just a mom who got thrown into the deep end when we decided to put my autistic son on the GFCF diet. I found myself not only having to memorize reams of information about safe and unsafe ingredients, but having to learn a lot of the basics of cooking at the same time.
Years ago, I made fun of an epicurian friend of mine who had made his own mayonnaise. “What on Earth would possess someone to do that,” I scoffed, “when you can buy a jar of Hellman’s for less than $2.00?” So far I’ve still never had to make my own mayonnaise (update: yes, yes I have,) but by now I’ve done a lot more cooking-from-scratch than was ever in my plan, let me tell you. And it frustrated me to no end that I couldn’t find even one kid-friendly, instructional, dedicated GFCF cooking blog to help me up that steep, steep learning curve. So here I am, nowhere near the top, but further up along it than I was, and I’m eager to hold out a hand to anyone who may be starting from the very bottom just like I was.
If you want to see why I’m so passionate about this diet, just look at our home video evidence:
2 WEEKS after starting the diet
2 MONTHS after starting the diet
4 MONTHS (additional biomedical treatments begin as well*)
*The GFCF diet is one part of a larger collection of biomedical treatments for autism, pioneered by the Autism Research Institute. Visit www.autism.com for information on specific medical therapies, scientific research, videos of fully-recovered children, and help finding an ARI doctor in your area.
.
Will it work as well for your family? I can’t say for sure, but research indicates that as many as 91% of autistic children can improve significantly on this diet. I do know that the older the child, the longer it will take before you may see results. (Casein clears the body within a week at most, but gluten can take weeks, months, or even years to be fully eliminated.) I also know that there is no such thing as “just a little” casein or gluten. You have to be vigilant, all-or-nothing. Even now, a single goldfish cracker can make my son a total nutball for a full day or more. You absolutely cannot cheat on this diet, or all your hard work will be for nothing. The good news is, you can do it! And after awhile, it will become second nature to you, and you will start to wonder how you ever thought this was hard in the first place. In the meantime, I’m here to help.
.
