can diet help or is that idea bull

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Many of us have digestive problems and I have been suffering from heartburn for years.

In the last coupke of weeks I have found a pill that stops the overproduction of digestive acid and I have not had heartburn in almost two weeks now.

Anyway I have read here a couple on times that the right diet can moderate Autism Aspergers symptoms.

The few people that said it has worked I have no issue with and this post is not having a go at them.

Just sticking to the subject can diet help us or not?

My personal opinion at the moment is no but on this subject I would be happy to be wrong.

I don't have any time for homeopathic herbal or mystical remedies.

Having siad the above it would be foolish to ignore something that could possibly help.

Have any of you here ever tried diet to get your gut into balance and if so has it helped with your autism in any way?

If you eat a diet that is proper for your body and you get your body working more efficiently. you will have more energy and less inflammation and your digestive tract will regulate itself. Those three things alone will give you a lot of relief and that will help with your symptoms. It won't cure your Autism but it will give your body and brain more stability and that will help tremendously overall.

Your body is a collective of living organisms that respond to every single thing you put in it or on it. If you are having digestive issues you are having responses to something you are eating or drinking or you have a parasites, which we all have, or you have an imbalance of intestinal flora. Every one of those issues is affected by how we eat. I never take pills for heartburn, I regulate stomach acid by what I eat or drink.

Last edited by skibum on 04 Nov 2014, 2:21 pm, edited 2 times in total.

It's very much an individual thing in my opinion. Don't get me wrong, a reasonable, well-balanced diet and keeping active always made me fee better both physically and mentally, but that's it.

Almost always when I stumble on someone who's diet dramatically changed their life is either someone who has some concrete physiological issues (celiac, gluten intolerance etc) or they had what from my background of fresh, unprocessed, cooked from scratch approach to food looks like an abysmal diet

Skibum I like your post.

That term help tremendously is a vague term I have always misunderstood this is the first time I am admitting it.

Do you think the effects COULD be noticeable to other people apart from the person with autism.

I am just trying to get a more accurate picture of your opinion.

Thank you SA.

Yes, I think others would notice. When you eat well and take good care of your body with exercise and rest as well, you become stronger and your stress decreases. The more stressed we are, the more our Aspie traits come out strong. If you stay as relaxed as possible and your energy levels are good and stable, your Aspie quirks will be less pronounced than if you do not. Aspie quirks are very affected by stress and energy levels. When I am in good health, I can easily pass for NT. When I am not eating and resting well, I can't pass for NT to save my life.

I do not think the right diet really moderates autism/aspergers per say. I do however think there is an abundance of very unhealthy food, which is much of the time cheaper than healthy food therefore people with lower income have more access to unhealthy food than healthy food...and of course lots of unhealthy food is heavily advertised so even people with higher income still eat the crap. I think it is possible autistic people are more sensitive to this, thus causing digestive problems/discomfort and therefore improving diet is likely to alleviate some of those digestive issues. I mean I know I feel better when I eat/drink something healthy than if I eat junk food or fast food...but then much of the time I cannot really afford healthier food which really sucks, much of the time I go hungry longer so I can wait till I have access to something healthier or till I can get back to my house and make something...that is not really healthy either but its like suffer hunger pains for a while or eat crap that will have me on the toilet for hours. As for now though I need to try and figure out what the hell is going on with my food stamps as they have essentially been cut for no real reason.

Last edited by Sweetleaf on 04 Nov 2014, 2:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Skibum your posts makes a lot of sense when you think about it.

Also sorry for grilling you but it was worth it I 100% understood your second post with no margin for misinterpretation left.

A bit of healthy eating and exercise certainly can't do any harm.

Sweetleaf I am very sorry to read about your situation I hope things improve for you.

I watched a documentary just recently on ABC iView that mentioned how people with autism have different intestinal flora. Here's the transcript.

http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/4070977.htm

It's a bit lengthy so I'll put the relevant information here.

NARRATION:
And the possibilities don't stop there. Sarkis has even found that autism can be related to gut bacteria.
Professor Sarkis K Mazmanian:
Small molecules released by gut bacteria can travel through the circulation and potentially enter the brain and affect brain function.
NARRATION:
Intriguingly, people with autism do often have gut problems and have different gut bacteria. And Sarkis' lab is working on a simpler treatment than fecal transplant - a pill developed from good bacteria, probiotics. And they've already treated autistic mice.

Who knew there were autistic mice?
EDIT: btw the documentary is all about diet and health. Forgot to mention that - it's only the topic of this thread - duh.

Fecial transplant

Even if this could make me normal I would still give that procedure a miss.

Diet has definitely helped me. I avoid grains, legumes, processed foods, dairy and refined sugar (for reasons unrelated to autism). When I lapse in my diet everything seems a bit 'off' including my ability to cope which makes my autistic tendencies more noticeable.

Raleigh I am going to get myself back into diet and exercise it can't do any harm.

I was gagging at this point when I watched the program because they were showing the procedure. A lab assistant was putting poo in a blender and whizzing it up to the consistency of poo gravy. Don't think I'll ever look at gravy the same way again.
The pill they mention would be ok but clinical trials were still about 10 years away, I think.

Good for you! It's worth it.
Let food by thy medicine and medicine thy food - said by...someone? Oh, Hippocrates, of course - thank you Google.

Thank you, I hope they do to but yeah I mean it could be worse...but things could certainly be better.