glutenfree diet!?

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stumach also hurts when eating apples how come?

Because apples, like pears contain more fructose in comparison to sucrose. Some people have an inability to break down fructose due to being deficient in the enzyme fructase. Sucrose actually aids in the digestion of fructose, but it can't do it as efficiently when the fructose/sucrose ratio is uneven (favouring fructose).

So if you are fructose intolerant (like I am) apples cause gas. Safer fruits where the sucrose/fructose ratio is even are oranges, strawberries, kiwi fruit and pineapple.

oh crapp anyway apples hurts even waaaaay more much then all other foods toghether really

That is really interesting/almost weird about apple, UndercoverAlien, because I had exactly the same reaction shortly after I first ever removed gluten from my diet. And I agree that it hurts!

I discovered that I could eat peeled apple without problem though. I eat apple often, and it is fine, so long as I peel it. ( Same thing with grapes, so now I pop a handful in my mouth at a time, and after "pressing"/chewing/sucking, spit out the skins).

I did find that unpeeled organic apple was less of a problem, which suggests that it is something about the pesticides, or other chemical treatments, which causes the reaction, but it gets expensive, so I just get normal ones and peel.

With ref: fruit/veg skins; my son, who is coeliac, reacts to tomato skins, though he tolerates them more now. I wonder what it is in skins which irritates the guts so much, if it isn't just the chemicals of intensive agriculture that is.

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Just found a useful site at:

http://www.plantpoisonsandrottenstuff.i ... rence.aspx

"What am I Reacting to? "

which specifically mentions reactions to apple peel, about half way down the page.

It is a common reaction, but so far to an unknown factor.

Plenty of other fun/potentially useful/overwhelming info too! ( you could get seriously paranoid reading the lists of offending foods on this site, so stick to excluding one or two main groups at a time, like gluten, to see if it helps ) .

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dont tell me they contain something wich you can possibly be alergic to
i cant wait till monday (its sunday over here now) not that its school but then where finely able to test my alergies and buy those sort of foods

Do you mean that you have been excluding gluten for the 5-7 days minimum necessary to eliminate it from your guts and you are going to test with gluten tomorrow, or do you mean that you mean to look for more gluten-free foods and carry on excluding for a while? I'm sorry; couldn't quite make out what you meant.

I was reading through the site I posted the link to, and am struck again by the huge variety of foods which can cause problems in sensitive individuals or certain individuals.

It seems that, as they specifically point out, each of us is different, reacts to different things, because variety is evolutionarily useful. It means that there will always be some who "survive"/flourish in whatever food-circumstances humans find themselves in. Which makes it very complicated, trying to work out what sets oneself off in particular. I know that at times I have found this very discouraging.

The site does mention autism and aspergers, amongst many other things/conditions which may be caused by food intolerances, as cases of our genetic make-up reacting to certain foods leading to certain behaviours, but I am not convinced that it is possible to eliminate it, just significantly relieve the often associated problems.

Finding out about AS/Aspergers, over a year ago now, has definitely helped me understand my food intolerances/sensitivity, because I have realised that I am sensitive generally. That's the way it is, and I just need to make sure I don't expose to myself to so much that the "stress" on my body overflows.

Good luck with the next stage in your exclusion/testing, UndercoverAlien, and please keep posting about how it goes.

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I thought I would add a few words, as I have just embarked upon a "gluten free" life by the back door.

I only realised I was celiac because I had been on a gluten free "total meal replacement" for most of the past 7 months (with a week off, here and there, on strict no carbs, which also tends to be gluten free).

Went to a buffet, ate 2 sandwiches - and gained 9 pounds in 9 hours while feeling extremelly unwell, and it took days to lose that "water weight". Tried it a few times more with similar, or worse, effects. I began to just accept that bread was NOT a good thing for me to eat - ever. Same with peanuts.

For a few weeks my life was a seesaw of FRANTICALLY CRAVING white toast and butter (and swelling up like a very sick water balloon) and avoiding it. I think I have come to recognise potential food sensitivities by the perverse craving for them.

I started to learn about celiac sprue, the more I learned, the more I realised that I have had this, without realising, for decades. The accumulated autoimmunine reaction destroys the stomach lining and impairs your ability to absorb, not only nutrients, but anything else too, including things to which you would otherwise be sensitive. It also causes a wide range of serious, otherwise fairly inexplicable, digestive, and other, problems I have had and "lived with" all my life.

So, as I go gluten free I am discovering new food sensitivities...or even rediscovering old ones...

It isn't expensive, or even difficult to go gluten free...you just need to think outside the box (like Auties have a problem with that? )

Brekfast is easily solved, for all religious diets too, with a (milk free if necessary) omelette (though not for me, I am intolerant of eggs, though I can eat them in small quantities). You can also make sweet omelettes, with sugar and vanilla (or other) flavoring.

Soy milk alone CAN be a little weird (I am not, at this time, lactose intolerant, and do drink milk, I stuck to soy milk for years because of the lower carb content), BUT sweetened soy milk makes truly amazing milkshakes, imho.

With the exception of a few "cooking bars", chocolate is almost always gluten free, plain chocolate is often lactose free too.

You can cook superb cakes and pancakes with cornflour, it's lighter than wheatflour, but can be drier and more expensive. Not sure about pastry...I have never tried it.

Above all, if you are celiac, or wheat sensitive, going gluten free is SO WORTH IT.

NOTHING would make me eat gluten again, it makes me so ill now, even in tiny quantities, with bloating, indigestion and water retention.

Also, I never realised what a "junkie type" mentality I had where food was concerned, my damage stomach was starving me, so that I was constantly hungry and craving food in huge quantities...that has just STOPPED.

Obviously, craving that way bends the head in other ways too, and I am starting to feel like a whole new person mentally (same thing happened when I quit smoking 7 years ago)...

BUT

I am just as Aspie as ever...thank heavens...

M

Last edited by mechanima on 14 Sep 2008, 12:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I so get that.

It was almost like finding a different "me", excavating/uncovering something of my childhood "me". The first time I went on an exclusion diet, and after a couple of months of experimenting, testing, taking it up again etc, a long time friend said to me "You seem like your sister!", which did not go down too well then because to me she ( my sister) had always seemed like the "nerdy"/"square" one, and me the whacky adventurous one.

What I began to realise on an exclusion diet was how much that "whacky"/manic ( when I wasn't desperately depressed! ) me had been fuelled by stimulants of all kinds, ( including dairy, sugar, gluten, and the jet-propelled version of cereals and sugar, which is alcohol ) , on which I was deeply dependent.

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Though the majority of celiacs just go off eating, at least 30%, like me, develop huge appetites to try and compensate...while the sense of "starvation" slows their metabolism down as if they were starving. Which can cause obesity, even on a fairly restricted diet (it got to the point where I couldn't eat normally AT ALL without gaining weight, hence the "total food replacement").

The weirdest thing, for me, is the way that the possibility of having to give up other things, like eggs or milk, is suddenly "no big deal" - before I went gluten free the idea would have driven me nuts...I even look forward to trying to live without dairy when my digestion is more stable, to see if it makes me "better yet".

I am, no longer, a "slave to food".

Also, I suspect that until I went GF I was digesting some things better than others, and just how that works may be an individual thing...but certainly some medications must be digested better than others.

I got a lovely bottle of wine last night, half price, as a treat (Australian...European wines, which have never agreed with me, can be a bad idea as flour is often used to seal the casks), and it was WEIRD to realise I had honestly, happily, had enough halfway through the bottle and wanted to save some for tonight instead of just drinking it. Usually the craving for more fructose alone would have had me sweating for the whole bottle "and then some".

I must stress though, that I have been, mostly, gluten free since January, and only slightly less gluten free for 18 months before that, so my small intestine must have been pretty well healed. Going totally gluten free has just stood down the most immediate, and dramatic, autoimmune reactions even to very small quantities of gluten...like the gluten in regular soy sauce (the dieter's friend) or the occasional sandwich away from home.

I found an excellent information page about gluten and gluten-intolerance.

Interesting stuff too about breadmaking-processes, old and new, and the history of wheat.

http://www.westonaprice.org/moderndisea ... rance.html
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day one without milk (i cannot give up wheat now...)
I feel sad.

I am probably not the first person to state this on here, but there is absolutely, positively no empirical support for this diet as a means to treat any of the Autism Spectrum Disorders. Sorry, it is a waste of time and effort. I know, some people have seen differences in their children with it. The truth is that studies have shown it is the increased attention from the parents rather than the diet.

Bearing in mind roughly 3% of the population are at the very least intolerant to gluten, and that GI problems are a known co-morbid to autistic spectrum disorders, that's a pretty stupid statement to make. Gluten-containing grain is not a good foodstuff for humans, period. We've only been eating them for about 10,000 years and our bodies are not made to process gluten. It triggers insulin/blood sugar problems and is strongly linked to obesity... I could go on... there's no harm in trying a gluten-free diet - in fact, most people would be better off on it - and a lot of people with ASD have found great improvements on it.

Not sure on your statement about increased attention from parents either, is that implying that the 'refrigerator Mom' thing is a partial cause of ASD?

^^I understood that people with autism spectrum disorders were perhaps more likely to have symptoms of food intolerance. I don't know if there is any empirical evidence to support this thought -- but if there is a lack of such evidence - the reason is likely to be related to a lack of solid research to assess this hypothesis. Autism seems to impact on body systems, most strongly the neurological system, but I wouldn't find it surprising to know that it also impacts on the digestive system.

It never occurred to me - that food intolerances could cause autism - and I don't for one moment presume for this to be the case.

That sounds like a first stage withdrawal symptom; I have had that too, almost every time I started excluding. It can feel very difficult. Life can seem very grim/grey. It might take a few days to get over that. Are you experiencing a kind of inner tension or irritability? That is common too. Good luck!

How is the exclusion diet/gluten-free diet going, UndercoverAlien?

I am wondering whether recent and almost excruciating boredom; a hunger for new experiences, more stimulation, more in general, a feeling that my life is too quiet, too peaceful, might have something to do with a year of no gluten, and almost no casein. It is as if there is suddenly a lot more empty/available time and space in my life.

I have the impression that there is a lot less inner "noise", less continual inner mental activity, and am wondering whether this might be because my body is generally more "at peace", my auto-immune system less constantly on red-alert, and perhaps because no longer exposed daily to the food opioids of gluten and casein.

If so, could this be what NT's feel like a lot of the time, a need for "real life"/flesh and blood activity, for "input", and why they talk so much, switch on TVs and radios, seek out events etc? Maybe I have reset my level of brain-activity-at-rest, and now I want more to happen. Books, thoughts and ideas, and the internet, though still interesting, are no longer enough.

I started wearing colours again this summer, for the first time in years, and actually enjoyed the socialising with german family on holiday this year.

Could it be that much of the disabling syndrome/"disorder", that we know as AS/Aspergers, is the result, for many/some of us, of chronic overload ( on the genetically sensitive, and especially creative/inventive/perceptive) in an increasingly industrialised and noisy, chemically saturated, gluten and casein rich, society?

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PS: Amitiel, it is a fact that people on the autism spectrum suffer from more auto-immune disorders than the population at large.

PPS: Good point, LeKiwi, about what is implied by any suggestion that it was not dietary changes but increased parental attention that led to any observed improvement.

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