GF/CF diet update!

It's been about three months since we started our journey on the gluten-free, casein-free train. I thought this would be a great time to update because we have already seen so many wonderful improvements with Jacob.

First off, his eating habits have improved dramatically! I can only assume that the gluten was making him feel like crap, and that's why we had to fight him to even get him to eat. He is so much better about trying new foods, and the switch wasn't nearly as difficult as I thought it would be. He does miss goldfish crackers, and while I've found a few replacement recipes, I have yet to try them. We've found enough snacks elsewhere that I can usually distract him.

Other than the wonderful changes with eating habits, Jacob's language is blossoming. He is using full sentences almost regularly now and his vocabulary has majorly improved. He also seems to be more patient and his repetitive behaviors have decreased. Socially, he seems more aware of his surroundings and is even playing with his sister sometimes. It's mostly rough housing, but it's playing nonetheless! He isn't "fixed" by any means, but we are definitely noticing some very good changes.

My biggest trouble with the diet is that I am not a cook. I feel as though I should be better about this as a SAHM, but it's not my strong point. I don't like doing it, and my kind of recipe is the kind where you throw everything in the pot and stir. I've found so many yummy ideas...but they all need 18 different types of flour and several ingredients I've never heard of. I'm doing my best to expand my repertoire, but it's a process. I've failed miserably at many recipes and found some small successes. If anyone knows a great place to find CF/CF recipes for the non-cook, let me know!

Mr. Jacob doing his first 100 piece puzzle

Starting our GFCF Journey

I have been putting a lot of energy into better ways to help Jacob lately. It seems as though things have been lagging with his progress, and quite frankly I've been exhausted and frustrated with him at home. His parent teacher conference was no help, I felt like I was being told the whole time that my child is hopeless. Now I know that's not true. With the little experience I have, I know there are many children who are a lot worse than he is. Most of the time I think he is an extra troublesome case because he is so close to being a typcial child, but so far away at the same time. While he remains undiagnosed at this time, it is clear that he fits onto the autism spectrum at least in some regards. We have been working with doctors to figure out what is going on with him and we hope to have some answers soon. I can't stress enough how little we care about labeling him. Our only concern is helping him and how to do that better.

Austin and I went to a support group meeting last night for parents of children with high functioning autism and related disorders. It was our second time attending and I think it's safe to say we will be returning. Not only do we get to mingle with other parents who are struggling with the same problems we are, but Jacob gets the chance to socialize as well. The really great thing about this group is the guest speakers they invite. Both meetings we went to had great speakers who were very informative on intervention techniques. Last night, we heard from a physician that specializes in naturopathic medicine to help children who are on the autism spectrum. What we learned was invaluable. I mean, I've heard before about the gluten-free casein-free diet helping children with autism, but no one has explained to me why or how that happens. That's exactly what this guy did. The whole meeting felt like a bio chem lecture, but it was such good information that made everything make sense.

I'm not going into the science of everything because that would be exhausting and I would surely not explain it well, but I will say that Austin and I had a long talk after the meeting and decided that we should give it a go. That resolution only magnified as I got to doing my own research and found so many success stories from parents of children just like Jacob. Some of them even achieved normal functioning after a few months of being on the diet.

Today I started off by asking Jacob if he would like to be able to talk to us better and make friends at school. He got teary eyed as he answered me with an affirmative "Yes". (This just about broke my heart, we don't have talks that go so well very often). I explained to him that we were going to start eating some different foods that might help with that and asked if he was willing to try. I know this isn't going to be easy. Jacob is a very food-driven child and he is already as picky as humanly possible. I am worried about the struggles we will face in the coming weeks with such a drastic change, but if there's a chance it will help him, I'd do just about anything.

So here starts our journey. I have been researching (and getting overwhelmed) all day long and tonight I'm going to brave a few health food stores to see what I can find. Excuse me as I fill up your Pinterest homepage with a ton of GFCF recipes.

If you would like more information on the GFCF diet, I strongly encourage you to visit this website- http://www.tacanow.org/tag/gfcf/

I also want to give thanks-in-advance to all our family and friends for supporting us in this endeavor!