Gluten-Free, Casein-Free, does it help?

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I see a lot of information online suggesting those on the spectrum eat gluten-free and casein-free diets. I've considered it but it seems like a lot of work and money and I'm not sure if the benefits would be substantial.
Does anyone here eat GF/CF? If so, does it seem to affect your condition? How?

It helps some people, and not others.

I'm pretty sure the numbers I've heard are significant improvements for 25% of people with ASDs.

Tori, I'm on a totally casein-free, modified anti-inflammatory diet, with very limited gluten consumption, and it has helped me more than anything else I've been able to find. I also limit my carb intake, though not severely. Most of what I eat now is produce and lean meat, along with lots of fish. I must also say that most of what I eat is fried, though only in healthy oils, which to me tastes good, and doesn't seem to detract at all from the diet's efficacy.

I've also seen research suggesting that the autistic don't have a proper balance of micro-flora in our guts. I think this is also true in my case. Since the best food for this purpose is natural yogurt, and I can't have that, I eat the second best food, which is NATURAL sauerkraut (i.e., nothing but fermented cabbage and salt). While I'm not fond of the taste, it too helps, especially when my inflammation is bad, which aggravates my austism.

Nor have I had much desire to cheat, and have managed not to do so quite easily. It's because I do feel so much better that those rich desserts and such just don't tempt me that much. Not only did I lose about fifty pounds, but I feel much better both physically and mentally. Having said this, it is not a panacea.

A diet regimen such as I describe is extra work, especially considering before I ate most of my meals at restaurants (i.e., it means you have to cook). But it's not really any more expensive than gorging on junk food, which is what I was doing before I went on this diet.

As another poster noted, it doesn't help everybody, and therefore it may not help you. But I would say you don't know until you do try it.

Good luck!

YES! Once I got over missing/craving dairy and gluten I was able to appreciate how much better I feel without them. It took about 2 months for me to completely comply but its been about a year now and the difference is amazing. All it takes are the effects of one day of "cheating" to remind me how much it helps.

Of course, I can only speak for myself and I am an aspie for whom most of my physiological troubles manifest in the gut. However, I also suffer from migraines and being GFCF has even helped with them. It also has helped a lot of my sleep issues.

I say its worth a try.

for me, the benefits have outweighed the difficulty of changing my diet. the most important for me is that my anxiety has decreased. i seem to have more energy, more stable mood, and fewer physical issues. however, all of those issues may be influenced by a decrease in anxiety. it hasn't made me less quirky. i still can't recognize or read faces. i still hate social stuff. i'm just less anxious about it. it's worth it to me.

I know it is reported to help some people, especially those with more severe autism, but I don't think it has helped me.
I have seen it help some people.

My partner has coeliac disesase, and our household has been gluten free for the last 15 years.

What has helped me most is the diagnosis of aspergers early this year.

its pretty funny that despite here being a specialist autism residential facility we are not able to access the GFCF diet because the org gets so little funding from social services for the food shopping,we only get sent asda smart price which is the cheapest level possible, its all processed additive filled stuff.

G&C does have a big effect on self its visibly and behavioraly recogiseable to others, but it isnt possible to do the diet.
to be fair am limited as it is in diet anyway.

I know this diet helps my asthma symptoms...I have ASD, not "mild".

im mostly casein free not as a special diet or anything Im just not a fan of milk I also eat little gluten because im not a fan of things that have it

maybe its just my body telling me not to eat it

I definitely think this is an issue for me. I've had digestive issues my whole life, long before I ever suspected I had AS. I haven't tried natural sauerkraut, only probiotic supplements (I tend to forget to take stuff and then I stop taking them altogether).

I actually went gluten-free for 6 months last year and I really didn't notice a difference. I probably should try going casein-free but I know I'd really miss dairy products, particularly cheese. I tried the rice cheese and the only similarity between that and cheese is that it looks like cheese.

I'd also like to try my 5 year old on a GF/CF diet because he had an issue with cow's milk as an infant so he may still to a degree and I suspect he may also have AS. The problem is pretty much all he will eat is gluten and casein. Macaroni and cheese, grilled cheese, cheeseburger, yogurt, etc. so he will fight me on it, and it may not be any benefit to him anyway.

Maybe I should try switching myself over and see if it helps and if it does then work on him.

I'm schizophrenic, and if I eat gluten the voices come roaring back. When I stop eating gluten, they go away. Also, I've been allergic to cow milk since I was born. My mom had to feed me soy formula. Once I went gluten free, my antipsychotic dosage was actually decreased by my psych. Since schizophrenics are notoriously hard to treat, and many take so much dope that they suffer horrible side effects, I see a GF diet as the key to my sanity.

Tori, since I've never met another aspie face-to-face, all of this is a learning experience for me. I'm finding out that while we all have a lot in common, we also have our differences.

I'm fifty and never realized I had digestive issues. I always thought I had a cast-iron gut so to speak, even though it turns out that my diet was making me sick even if I never had gut problems. But in recent years that has changed; I too am experiencing increasing digestive issues.

I actually discovered the benefits to the diet I described serendipitously. When I went on this diet in March 2010, I was putting on a lot of weight and eating out (junk food) just about every day. My clothes had become so tight that when I went to the Chinese buffet, instead of loading up on dumplings and lo mein as I normally did, I decided to eat just meat and vegetables. Since I had been feeling like death warmed over for several years at this point, I was stunned when I better than I had in years after lunch at work. For me, the change was that quick.

I understand about the dairy; I practically used to live on cheese and such. Before I gave up the dairy, I felt just awful almost all the time. Whenever I tried to walk even a short distance, my leg muscles would develop a strong burning sensation, and I would have to stop and rest the way an eighty-year-old would. And I always loved to walk. I also started developing terrible hand tremors that became uncontrollable. Under these circumstances, dairy and junk food are things I've had little trouble avoiding.

As far as your child goes, I too tried the probiotic approach for my gut problems, and quercetin supplements for my serious allergies. I'm not sure why, but what I've found is that despite the quantities of these substances present in the natural foods, as opposed to the supplements, the natural foods are far more efficacious. Maybe that's just me though.

As far as your child and dairy, even if your child pitches a fit, you may want to think seriously about putting him on that dairy-free diet. I live out in the boonies in world-class hunting country. People out here eat lots of wild game while I can't stand the taste of it. I think the difference is that I'm originally a city boy, and hence didn't grow up eating that kind of thing. What I'm getting at is that perhaps if your child gets on the right track when he's young, he may develop good eating habits during his most formative years, and a good diet will become what he is used to.

But these are just my thoughts. Good luck.

It's funny how I had him on the right track until he met other children. Now he wants to eat Poptarts and Doritos like them.

Tory, this is just a guess, but he may not be aspie. Monkey see, monkey do seems more of an NT trait--though it is also the case that that kind of food tastes good.

Yeah. My mom had me on that kind of diet... no milk, no wheat, no preservatives or colorings or flavorings or for that matter any flavor... I did not like that kind of food because it did not taste good. In my house, "gray goo" was not just the result of runaway nanotechnology; it was also what we had for dinner.

It didn't do me any good. I didn't feel any better. In fact, I think it stunted my growth, because I grew three inches after I left my parents' house--as a young adult. You're supposed to be finished growing at that age, especially if you're a girl. But without milk, without very much meat, generally low calories, I think my body pretty much said, "Yeah, there's not much here to work with. We'll stay small until we have enough to eat."

If you're autistic and you are lactose-intolerant, have celiac disease, or are allergic to milk or wheat, then yes, don't eat those things, and it will likely help you a great deal. Similarly, if you are not eating a nutritious diet, improving your diet will help you feel better. However, these things will not affect your autism directly. They will simply make you healthier in general.

And a diet does have drawbacks and side effects. It is a medical treatment and it is not 100% safe. In this case, you risk not getting enough of the right nutrients, as I did. You also lose all the time that you spend preparing and planning meals, which you could have used for other purposes. If your diet isolates you socially, you also lose opportunities for some kinds of social contact. Your food becomes more expensive, and you will lose the extra money you spend on it. And, if you become obsessed with the diet--as people sometimes do--you run the risk of it turning into an actual eating disorder. So this is not a "can't hurt, so I'll try it" treatment. It has risks and should not be applied willy-nilly.

Both his father and I have AS so I figure it's likely he does. He also had delayed speech and is in therapy. I can't tell for sure yet as I think all 5 year-olds are probably a little quirky.

Callista- I'm only thinking of substituting gluten and dairy not removing calories or nutritional elements. I am definitely not a vegetarian. I know those types though. The whole family abnormally thin, like refugees.