The role of diet: Is it a necessity for children with autism?

Something you'll immediately encounter as you wade into the world of autism biomedical treatment is the role of diet. Some people will claim diet is the very first step you need to take. Change everything, take away all of your child's favorite foods and replace them with things you're not even sure they'll eat. 

It might be doable. But it might be daunting. 

Now, don't get me wrong, diet can be transformative on its own. For some people, it's THE thing that made a difference. 

And if someone is allergic to a food, even mildly, of course it will make a positive impact to avoid it, at least temporarily. Even minor allergies can cause behavioral issues. 

But here's my confession. For someone who isn't allergic or sensitive, I don't think diet is a non-negotiable. 

My son used to have many mild food allergies. We avoided them for a good several months, which reduced the skin rashes and related meltdowns. He was on a gut healing protocol at the time (different from gut balancing). 

We were also avoiding gluten and dairy for longer than that, about a year total. After several months of gut healing, we tested his allergies again and they were gone. 

The thing is, during the time he was on his strict "autism diet" that everyone is supposed to follow, there was barely any change. Very slight. Maybe a little less aggression, a little more affection. Though I didn't measure it at the time, probably no more than a few ATEC points of difference. 

Nearly all of the lasting improvement we've seen in my son has been in the past year, when he WASN'T on a restricted diet.

When it comes to gut health, diversity of foods is a good thing. So while it can be useful to remove trigger foods if they're actually causing problems, simply removing the foods doesn't mean you've fixed the problem, which is really a gut in need of healing. 

But I could also see the rationale of certain food addictions. So for example if you allow gluten, then your child might want nothing but food containing gluten. Restricting it could, paradoxically, make the diet more diverse—think of how many different grains and vegetables end up replacing gluten. 

Basically, I don't think permanently avoiding whole categories of foods (beyond actual junk foods) is a goal we should be aiming for. 

However, gut balancing does not focus on diet. The minimum requirement is being able to take herbs (some people with very damaged guts may be too sensitive to herbs) and some supplements that may contain dairy (galactooligosaccharides, a type of prebiotic derived from dairy, and colostrum). Many people who otherwise avoid dairy have been able to make this exception without issue. 

In general, the ultimate goal should be a diet high in a variety of fibers and phytonutrients from vegetables, fruits, grains, legumes, nuts or seeds which are good for the beneficial bacteria in the microbiome, and animal foods which contain great bioavailable nutrition. 

But even if your child is a long way from getting to this point, gut balancing can still be beneficial. As I said, all the lasting improvements my son has made were while not on any particular diet—the caveat being that he isn't allergic or sensitive. 

So if your child is somewhat picky, don't fret. As long as you're able to get supplements into them, changes in the gut can take place. And when that happens, people often find that their child starts becoming interested in a wider variety of food anyway.