My son achieved success on gfcf in Novemeber 2010. It took time to learn the diet and make the changes we needed to make in our view of food and learning to cook differently. The change once we actually got it right, was HUGE! For the first time in his life my son walks around looking like he has a purpose, instead of looking like he's wandering around in a daze. He says he feels like he "woke up from a dream" and he has only a fuzzy recollection of the past before. It's definitely worth it! The thing is I think way too many people give up too fast. If my son eats Wal-Mart brand salsa which has no gluten or casein in it, simply the cross contamination with other products they make brings the symptoms back, and when it happened we know it, the first time this happened, somebody gave my son a candy bar and he didn't realize he shouldn't eat it. I thought he was having some kind of seizure because he just disappeared from behind his eyes. So the deal is you can't get any success unless you eliminate it completely, then afterwards you have to remain vigilant. It's a huge lifestyle change. And its definitely worth it!

It's worth a try, but please talk to a dietician and do it right, especially if you have a picky eater. My son was GFCF for 18 months (until about 6 months ago)...we saw some improvement on the diet--behavior was a little calmer, less meltdowns, less intense when they did occur. Less hyper overall. His eczema cleared up completely. BUT, he lost a ton of weight on it, and then quit growing, and was diagnosed as "malnourished" b/c he just refused to eat so many of the alternative foods. After about 18 months on the diet we went off of it to allow him to gain some weight back and saw his eczema come back and his behaviors get a little more hyper and the meltdowns are becoming more intense. But he's been off the diet 6 months now and has gained 8 pounds and grown 4 inches in that time! We will probably try it again, but with the proper support this time to make sure he's properly nourished

I agree with you Bornbeth, I don't ask the kids permission to feed them, I just feed them. It's only an issue if you make it one.

@A MyAutismTeam Member I'm just curious but were you using alternative foods from the grocery store, or making your own? I found that some of the alternatives in the store are ok, but most are inedible. They are just awful! We make everything from scratch here, pretty much and some things we just gave up. Like sandwiches for instances. My son says he will never go back and if he can think he doesn't care if he ever has another sandwich. I would think I would feel the same way about eczema. :) For us it was a matter of changing completely the way we think about food.

Mentioned Users

A MyAutis...

My son has done the gfcf diet and it really helps him. it is really expensive though but well worth it. he has had better eye contact and over all better attitude/behavior. it has also really helped him with his digestive system.