What a great story this is. RobbWolf.com is carrying a testimonial from Paleo devotee Rachel, whose daughter Scarlet experienced an amazing turnaround in her autism after her mother put her on a Paleo diet to help her overcome that issue. Rachel also blogs at PaleoFreedom, and shared her story there as well with more detail that will be familiar to parents of autistic children.
Scarlet was diagnosed fairly early, at 20 months, and was speaking at only an 8-month old level. She had lots of stimming type behavior and displayed a number of sensory-triggered apprehensive traits as well.
Her mother put her on a Gluten-Free/Casein-Free (GFCF) diet to begin with, and there was a fair amount of improvement there with her vocabulary improving to about five words. But she was having problems with family members sneaking her cookies and the like, which was undoing or at least interfering with the progress she'd made.
Finally, Rachel put Scarlet on a full Paleo diet - grain/dairy/legume free. The turnaround was on. I encourage you to read the rest for yourself and see just what sorts of gains were made.
And I highly encourage you not to stop reading when Mat Lalonde's comments start. Lalonde, a well-known researcher in the Paleo community, who Wolf frequently refers to as the Kraken (hence that title in the blog post), mentions how successful dietary interventions like the Specific Carbohydrate Diet can be improved upon:
What a great story, with some interesting looks by Lalonde at the success of GFCF diets and how much further their limited success could be taken if people would give the Paleo lifestyle a try with their children.
Scarlet was diagnosed fairly early, at 20 months, and was speaking at only an 8-month old level. She had lots of stimming type behavior and displayed a number of sensory-triggered apprehensive traits as well.
Her mother put her on a Gluten-Free/Casein-Free (GFCF) diet to begin with, and there was a fair amount of improvement there with her vocabulary improving to about five words. But she was having problems with family members sneaking her cookies and the like, which was undoing or at least interfering with the progress she'd made.
Finally, Rachel put Scarlet on a full Paleo diet - grain/dairy/legume free. The turnaround was on. I encourage you to read the rest for yourself and see just what sorts of gains were made.
And I highly encourage you not to stop reading when Mat Lalonde's comments start. Lalonde, a well-known researcher in the Paleo community, who Wolf frequently refers to as the Kraken (hence that title in the blog post), mentions how successful dietary interventions like the Specific Carbohydrate Diet can be improved upon:
[Elaine Gottschall, a biochemist who implemented the specific carbohydrate diet created by Dr. Sidney V. Haas in order to help her autistic daughter] studied the specific carbohydrate diet (SCD) and popularized it by publishing a book entitled “Breaking the Vicious Cycle: Intestinal Health Through Diet”. As a result of her relationship with Elaine and her experience working with autistic children (including her own), Pamela was well informed on the topics of digestion, dysbiosis, and intestinal permeability. She mentioned that dysbiosis and the presence of parasites in the gut, which results in chronic bouts of diarrhea, are common in autistic children. After reading up on the specific carbohydrate diet, it became clear that some of the information contained in my presentation regarding the effect of seed consumption (grains, legumes, nuts, edible seeds) on intestinal permeability could be used to complement the SCD and improve the already impressive results observed with autistic children.
...people are starting to take the autism-gut health connection seriously. This is mainly thanks to folks on the front line, such as Pamela and brave individuals like Rachel who are willing to take a risk and give an unconventional approach a serious try.
What a great story, with some interesting looks by Lalonde at the success of GFCF diets and how much further their limited success could be taken if people would give the Paleo lifestyle a try with their children.
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ReplyDeleteHi to all @ PaleoMental...Yes great story and further proof to the power of Paleo, I personally lost all the unhealthy body fat, was at 31% now 15% body fat and down from 14% to 6% visceral fat or in weight terms..49lbs lighter. And the wife and other half to PaleoWorks is 52lbs lighter and looking very well on it if I do say so myself. This is not to mention the increased energy and new lease of life it has given all as a result. Yes after discovering the amazing benefits of a Paleo style diet we decided to dig a little deeper with some extended research and nutritional training what we have learned has empowered and driven us to help others. To this end we created a small company to promote and educate others...and what better name than - Paleoworks.
ReplyDelete[...] diet with lots of coconut oil seems to do wonders for ASD. See this post about Rachael and Scarlet Paleo Works for Autistic Child – RobbWolf.com | PaleoMental Regarding you, yes it is a lot to get your head wrapped around. Just trust Squiggly knows what she [...]
ReplyDelete[...] of this calls to mind the story of Scarlett and the effects of the Paleo lifestyle on her autism. And it also goes along with Mat Lalonde’s comments in the same story on Robb’s site [...]
ReplyDelete[...] it lends a lot of support to the connection between leaky gut and autism, as we discussed back in the article with Scarlett and her success with a Paleo regimen. Something different is going on with the intestines of autistic kids, and in many cases a simple [...]
ReplyDelete