In addition to eliminating gluten and casein, many autistic children benefit from identification and elimination from their diet of other foods, which may include hydrogenated and chemically extracted oils and fats, artificial flavors, sweeteners and colors, and foods containing high amounts of phenols (such as apples).

Autism Coach offers two cooking oils which are both therapeutic for autistic children and may be used in gluten and casein free recipes, such as the recipe on the left for pancake and muffin batter.    

The remainder of this page discusses Autism Coach's recommendations for diet.

Diet is an important part of a well-rounded autism treatment program. Most autistic children benefit from a diet completely free of gluten the casein proteins commonly found in wheat and milk.  There are many parents who can attest to the benefits of the gluten and casein free diet.   For information how gluten and casein harm autistic children, see Biology of Autism.

Keep your child strictly on this diet for at least six months before you decide whether or not it is helping, because it can take this long for gluten and casein to leave the body. Enzymes such as Peptizyde can help to more quickly eliminate gluten and casein from the body.

The only gluten-free grains Autism Coach recommends are brown rice, quinoa, and amaranth. These grains are available as flour from health food stores. (It is best to avoid other grains and flours such as spelt, kamut, oats, corn, soy and millet, because they can also be problematic.)

Once your child is on the gluten and casein free diet for a month, you may improve the effectiveness of this diet by eliminating additional food products that adversely affect your child. Determining which additional foods are a problem may be accomplished by a keeping a daily journal and recording foods eaten and behaviors observed to determine if there is a link between particular foods and regressive behaviors.

Another, less well-known, but significant source of dietary problems for many of these kids, is artificially created and chemically extracted fats and oils.

Hydrogenated fats (such as margarine and shortening) are harmful to autistic children because they cannot break down the long-chain molecules of these artificial fats and because they are hydrogenated (thickened) with nickel which poses a threat of heavy-metal toxicity.  Autism Coach recommends using only organic, cold-pressed oils, free of harsh solvents used to extract the oils, such as hexane.

After we removed the hydrogenated and non-organic oils from my son’s diet, he gradually became more alert over the course of a few weeks.

Autism Coach recommends two tasty natural oils for cooking: Rice Bran Oil and Coconut Butter.

The Rice Bran Oil is highly therapeutic because it actually elevates the levels of the major neurotransmitters in the brain: norephinephrine, serotonin, and melatonin. It also lowers cholesterol in the body more than any other commercial oil and is a great oil for use by the entire family. I use it in my basic batter recipe on the left. For more information, see Rice Bran Oil.

The coconut butter is a healthy naturally saturated vegetable product, containing “good” fat—50% Lauric Acid. It is made up mostly of medium chain fatty acids which the body metabolizes efficiently and converts into energy, rather than storing as fat. It does not elevate your “bad” cholesterol levels. It is great for frying up French fries and pancakes. It can also be used as a substitute for shortening in recipes. For more information, see Coconut Butter.

The basic recipe on the left can be used to make pancakes and muffins. This recipe has been the main-stay of our son’s baked goods for the past three years. You may substitute amaranth flour for quinoa in the recipes. The gluten-free flours and the natural sugar in the recipe are available in many health food stores. We use natural maple syrup on pancakes.

Sources of protein in my son’s diet include hamburgers, raw nuts, hummous (a middle-eastern vegetable dip with chick peas, garlic, lemon juice, and olive oil), and nitrite free bacon from the health food store. I can sometimes get him to eat other meats if I prepare them as a burger (such as ground-up chicken, turkey or lamb) and now chicken nuggets with manioc.

My son eats lots of raw fruits and vegetables every day: carrots, broccolli, red pepper, bananas, lemons (for home-made lemonade), cantaloupe, watermelon, pineapple, and occasional berries (especially blueberries).  Apples, grapes, oranges, peppers, berries, tomatoes, and chocolate contain phenols -  we are currently not phenol-free but low-phenol (my son never has grapes or apples because these were especially problematic for him).  If your child reacts to phenol containing foods, you may wish to consider a low-phenol or phenol-free diet.

For sweeteners, we use raw unrefined sugar and maple syrup - although you shouldn't go overboard and use these excessively.  

To save time, I make batches of pancakes and freeze them to be micro-waved for quick breakfasts. I also microwave and freeze batches of muffins.

I even fry up a week’s worth of hamburgers enhanced with the salty E-lyte Electrolyte Concentrate and freeze them for quick meals during the week!

As a final note, my son’s diet is free of artificial colors, flavors, and sweeteners, because he has a strong adverse reaction to these substances.*