Margie Reichwald and her son Adam

According to the Autism Society of America, 1 out of every 150 children who are born will be diagnosed with autism. This fact warrants autism as the fastest-growing developmental disability. Luckily, autism is treatable with intervention so that people can recover to live full lives. One such treatment is switching to a gluten- /casein-/ soy-free diet, which can be a critical step towards controlling autism, something tried and true for Adam Reichwald.

It was heart-wrenching for Margie to hear the doctor’s diagnosis of her son Adam. Although she knew Adam’s many immune problems and significant speech delays were common symptoms of autism, it wasn’t until she actually heard the news from her doctor that reality set in and the life-changing journey began. While exploring many avenues for answers on how to help their son, Margie and her husband were introduced to the gluten-free/casein-free diet.

“Behind Adam’s big brown eyes there was a gentle little boy that needed to be pulled out,” says Margie. “So that is what I did. I pulled Adam out by changing his diet.”

RESEARCH

The Autism Research Institute states thousands of parents throughout the world have placed their children on this restricted diet and have observed dramatic improvements.

However, it is still not known exactly why removing these foods from an autistic child’s diet helps. Autistic children tend to have gastrointestinal problems (constipation and diarrhea) and permeable intestinal tracts, openings that allow foods and toxins to pass through into the bloodstream. A questionable link has been raised between these issues and brain development.

In August of this year researchers at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston began one of the first double-blind clinical studies to gain serious evidence and establish whether gluten and casein-free diets actually do have a positive effect on autism, as many parents claim. They will study the effects of gluten and casein on the intestinal functions of 38 autistic children ages three to nine. However, for many parents, the proof is already there and as Margie says, “In Adam’s case the link between diet and autism is astounding!”

A NEW BEGINNING

After only two weeks on his new diet, Adam’s speech content tripled. The glazed stare in his eyes faded away and his screaming outbreaks decreased. Aside from his behavioral changes, Adam’s physical health also improved with leaps and bounds. “From a child who was hospitalized weeks at a time for the first two years of his life, from ear infections to pneumonia, he has not had one major immune ailment since,” says Margie.

A diet such as Adam’s can appear a difficult task to accomplish. Many foods most commonly used for cooking contain gluten, such as grains and oats, and casein, which is found in dairy products including milk, cheese, and yogurt as well as some soy products. It may seem as though your meal options have diminished, but there are many recipes that cater to the diet. Margie makes it simple in her gluten-/casein-/soy-free cookbook so that your child can still enjoy fun foods such as pancakes, pastas, and those sweet desserts all kids love: peanut butter cookies and brownies.

In sharing what she has learned, Margie hopes that her book will fall into the hands of other families who are faced with the challenges of autism so that they too can begin their path to recovery…one recipe at a time.

Margie always says, “I’m not a gourmet cook, I’m not an author…I’m just a mom that was told my son has autism.

“I did something that worked. I hope that my success can be translated into thousands of successes throughout the world and especially here in America where it is so prevalent."

Resources

Autism, A Path to Recovery: A Tried & True Gluten-/Casein-/Soy-Free Cookbookby Margie Reichwald can be found in health food stores. visit www.adamspathtorecovery.com to find store locations and to get in touch with Margie.

Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.