The Coate Life: WHEN STARTING A GLUTEN FREE DIET....

1. Be realistic.

Use up what you have in your cupboards or at least save it for the transition process. I am giving you permission to do that. Some parents feel that once they’ve learned that they need to start this diet that it is being a bad parent to continue giving their child those foods. When Christian first started, Brian and I threw away everything and ended up having to re-buy things later to help us transition: Learn from our mistakes. Throwing away everything that isn’t gluten and dairy free is wasteful and going cold turkey, though it might work for some families, isn’t always the best way to go. It is very alarming for your child’s body, routine, comfort level and mind to completely turn his eating habits upside down. You are more likely to make this a long term life change if you take it step by step.

2. Determine your biggest obstacle.

Most books say that you should take away dairy or gluten first but I would recommend breaking it down even further and starting with one particular item. We knew that milk was going to be the most difficult hurtle for us so we started there. We found all of the different milk alternatives; almond, rice, coconut and potato. We started by doing half almond, half cow’s milk; Christian threw his bottle across the room. Then we moved on to half rice milk, half cow’s milk; he again, threw his bottle across the room. Coconut milk he wouldn’t even come close to tasting and when we tried half potato milk, half cow’s milk…..he didn’t throw it across the room. So, from there, we kept on decreasing the amount of cow’s milk and increasing the amount of potato milk (this could take days or weeks) and eventually he was completely weaned off of cow’s milk. Once you’ve made that first change I encourage you to let yourself be successful for a while. This is not a race. Wait a week or two before you start your next food. If you are a list maker like me, you can write down your plan. Don’t put a timeline on it but make a list of the foods that you need to fade out and find alternatives for. Also, write down what ended up working for you and maybe you can pass those ideas on to the next parent.

3. Journaling and pictures.

There is nothing more powerful than looking back on what you’ve written and witnessing the progression through words and through pictures. For journaling, there are many ways to do this; you just have to find the best routine for you, which can also be a trial and error process. I found that if I put the kids to bed and sat down at the computer for 5 minutes, I could type out the day pretty efficiently. I premade a chart with 4 columns. They were what he ate for breakfast, lunch, dinner and the fourth column was for behavior and poop. If you have started giving your child any vitamins and supplements then you can add those to this chart. These are so convenient to have for when you are trying to figure out a new behavior, whether it’s positive or negative. You can look back and see what he ate three days prior or if you started a new supplement then you can link that up with the behavior. These are also great to take to appointments. If you have GI specialist, this can be very informative. At first, it might not seem like much but when you look back three years from now and see what day to day was like for you, it is very rewarding to see how far your child has come. This example below is the format that I used but you can do whatever works for you. You can handwrite it in a journal or write things down on a regular calendar. You will discover what’s most convenient for your lifestyle. When I got the hang of journaling every night, I started to color code the behavior column. My notes were getting more and more extensive so if I were typing out a negative behavior it would be red and all the positive progression would be green. It made it easier when the journal got longer to flip through and see what was going on that way instead of reading every single entry.

Date	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner	Behavior/poop
Ex. 09/12	Almond pancakes w/ agave * b12 shot/probiotic	Grilled chicken w/ applesauce and carrots *glutathione	GF pizza with spinach *probiotic	Didn’t sleep well. Rigid. Loose stool. LOTS of meltdowns.
Ex. 09/13	Bacon and fruit *probiotic	Grilled chicken w/ applesauce and carrots *multivitamin	Hamburger patty w/ French fries and beans *probiotic	Better day. Got more sleep and was less rigid. Stool was still pretty loose. Only 3 meltdowns

When Christian had rashes or any physical sign of anything, I took a picture. It so much easier to take a picture to a doctor’s appointment then it is to try to explain a rash in detail. Yes, I am the mother that has poop pictures but in my defense, again, it is easier to show a GI doctor a picture of crazy poop than it is to describe it in detail. I keep those pictures out of plain view; they are not pretty but very informative. Also, poop is a part of autism. We have to get comfortable and familiar with it. I can tell by looking (and smelling…yuck) if my child is having trouble digesting their food, or has yeast inflammation. When it’s burning their skin then it’s most likely pretty acidic. Take pictures and don’t forget to journal about the poop; very important.

4. Strategies and charts.

Your child is not going to eat any new food on the first try. It might take days or weeks. For a child that is a visual learner and food chart might help. My son’s first ABA therapist taught me this and we worked on this for months.

You take a piece of paper and draw or print anywhere from 2-10 squares and label them 1-10. In the first box you place a tiny piece of the “new food” (i.e. Carrot/broccoli/chicken) and in box number 2 you place a large piece of the desired food (cookie or fruit leather)

Here is an example of the chart.

*small piece of carrot

*big cookie!

*small piece of carrot

*big cookie!

*small piece of carrot

*big cookie!

*small piece of carrot

*big cookie

Each week you can both increase the size of the carrot and decrease the size of the cookie or you can just switch the “new food” and keep the desired food at the same size.

In the end we are trying to open our child’s pallet and better their health and nutrition. Once you can have success with one new food and your child realizes it isn’t as bad as they had suspected-you have now gained their trust, you have introduced a new food and taken the first step towards a successful diet. As a parent with a child with autism who has struggled with oral motor and sensory my opinion (which many might not agree with) is that we need to show them that it will be ok. A lot of the time my son had serious anxiety about a food and if I got down to his level and stuck with the chart and showed him that there is a beginning and an end and in between there are rewards and we can do this together…it got easier. I like to push them through the rigid and anxious behavior and each time they will realize more and more that their world really isn’t ending. The key here is to be consistent. If the 8 square chart is too much then start with a 2 square chart and work from there, increasing the amount of spaces with each week. You can also make a chart for yourself and do it along with them, which I would encourage.

Once you’ve introduced a few new items I would then start to remove some of the foods that you want to eliminate. Let’s say you’ve introduced chicken so maybe you can take away cheese? I am a huge fan of whole food diets but it’s close to impossible to start there so make your self a plan. Start with replacing your gluten and casein items with gluten and casein free alternatives; for example, replace your white bread with rice bread and your dairy cheese with Daiya cheese.

5. Excuses.

I don’t want to sound insensitive but there can’t be excuses. Write them down, find a way to vent but say goodbye to excuses. This process is not easy and it’s not going to be any easier if you’re not on board. Your child picks up on your feelings. If you don’t have a positive attitude about this then why should they. If you don’t think this diet is going to work then it probably won’t. I understand that anything that has to do with autism is exhausting but you have to put in the work and it will pay off in the long run. Don’t take no for an answer. If your child is fighting you on a food, try a different strategy. If that doesn’t work then try another one. I want to list some of MY OWN EXCUSES J and solutions that I came up with over the years (Sorry Denise, you had to hear my excuses when I first started this) J

Excuse A: My child has issues with texture

Solution: There are a few things that you can do here. You can absolutely start slow when you are dealing with sensory issues. Decide what food you’re going to begin with and take it back a few steps. Instead of eating that foods maybe just use HUGE positive reinforcement for touching the food item with their finger, then move on to placing it near the mouth, then on the tongue, then putting it in their mouth and holding it there, and when the time is right-chewing and swallowing. This entire process might take days or weeks but at the end of this first food introduction you will have accomplished trust from your child and they will be motivated with all of that praise and reinforcement. You can use a reward chart, a token system, a social story or just verbal praise; whatever your child responds to the best. Also, choose a time of day that is easiest for you and time that you think will be the most successful. You don’t want to rush through this process.

Excuse B: My child doesn’t like vegetables

Solution: Make it fun! Hide them! Eat vegetables yourself! There is so much that you can do with this. You can shred vegetables and put them in soups, stews, pancakes etc. You can puree them and put them in smoothies or soups. I used to cut vegetables up into different shapes and let my kids drizzle honey on them. Find colorful vegetables and let your child help you prepare them. Use positive reinforcement and reward charts. The solutions are endless.

Excuse C: I don’t know how to cook.

Solution: Buy gluten and casein free packaged food. There are so many options out there these days. There are alternatives for everything. The TACA website has SO much information on everything that has to do with diet and how to make your life easier www.tacanow.org

Breakfast: Frozen waffles with fruit and syrup

Lunch: Frozen macaroni and cheese with applesauce and carrots

Dinner: GF chicken nuggets, French fries and green beans.

Excuse D: I tried the diet, it didn’t work (yes, I went through this-I thought Christian would magically get better in a day).

Solution: How can a healthy organic diet “not work”? So, a couple things come to mind with this one. First, maybe you had certain expectations that didn’t get met when you started the diet. Certain kids make huge progress in the beginning stages and other kids might take months before you see anything and that’s ok. You just have to be patient and remind yourself that this life change can only help your child’s health. Second, your child is most likely “addicted” to gluten and casein. So when you take those things away their body experiences a form of “withdrawal” and that can present in some extreme behavior. They might show more rigid behavior, self stimulatory behavior, lack of sleep, rashes, sweats, etc. If you can make past the ten day mark then these withdrawal symptoms should subside. Third, a common mistake that parents make is to replace all dairy with soy. The soy protein is very similar to the dairy protein and if your child isn’t digesting the dairy protein then they most likely are not going to be able to digest the soy protein. Fourth, keep that journal that I talk about in the beginning. You might not realize the subtle changes in your child until you look back on your journaling. Even if it is that your child is sleeping one more hour every night or that your child only had five melt downs instead of seven. Those little successes are HUGE in our world. It is a blessing having a child with autism because we don’t take for granted the small things.

Excuse E: But how will my child get calcium without milk?

Solution: We are led to believe that our children have to have milk to be healthy. I’m going to tell you that your child will survive without milk. Here are some foods with calcium. Try to make it a point to introduce or hide some of these foods in your child’s meals.

Bok Choy            1,055 mg
Turnip greens        921 mg
Collard greens        559 mg
Kale                      455 mg
Romaine lettuce    257 mg
Broccoli                182 mg
Sesame seeds 170 mg
Cucumber            108 mg
Cauliflower            88 mg
Carrots                  63 mg
Fish                      38 mg
Eggs                     32 mg
t-bone steak           5 mg
pork chop               2 mg

Excuse F: My child refuses to eat and will starve.

Solution: Your child will not starve. Try a new strategy with huge reinforcement. Take it back and start with just rewarding them by sitting at the table and looking at the food. I discussed this earlier with having a child with sensory issues. Don’t take no for an answer just find a different strategy that offers success. Again, your child will not starve (of course if there is an extreme case call a doctor).

List of common foods with gluten and casein free alternatives

Pancakes Bob’s Red Mill GF Pancake Mix

Syrup Honey or agave nectar

Bread Homemade or EnerG brand

Noodles Quinoa or rice noodles

Cheese Daiya cheese-mozzarella or cheddar

Yogurt So Delicious coconut yogurt

Pizza EnerG premade pizza crust or Bob’s Red Mill mix

Bacon Organic Valley bacon

Crackers Rice crackers-vegetable flavoring

Macaroni and cheese Amy’s organic GF/CF/SF frozen macaroni

Helpful websites