hmmm....interesting

I met with a nutritional educator the other evening.  Josey has been gluten free for about a year now.  With all the concerns about Brady and his development and speech and the possibility of him being on the autistic spectrum I decided to start feeding him gluten free as well.  Since that would mean I would be feeding two kids gf then I decided to just go all gf in the house basically.  I wanted to meet with someone who could help me to make sure that while eliminating gluten and dairy I was still feeding us as balanced as we would need.  I also wanted to gather some more information on supplements and learn more information about the autism "diet".

Typically an autism/ADHD diet also includes the exclusion of casein which is a protien found in dairy products.  Now I am not going to try to educate anyone on this because I am just learning it all myself.  The NE I met with explained some of it but I really need to read more before I start trying to share too much on the subject.  Basically what I can tell you though was that I thought I would just take the gluten free step.  I was not too sure I could cut out dairy.  That scared the hell outta me.  We eat a lot of cheese and yogurt.  I love to add sour cream to recipes and tacos are a staple around here.  Who eats a taco with no sour cream?  Well I guess we will be. 

According the NE 65% of kids will respond positively to a gf/cf diet.  Unfortunately leaving the casein is going to leave us with a somewhat inconclusive result.  She suggested a 4 week elimination period.  I meet with her again next Wednesday night and she will give me our meal plan.  I am looking forward to seeing what she has put together.  I love to cook but have been too timid when it comes to GF cooking.  I am ready to start to learn more and try new things. 

Tomorrow I have it on good authority that the Easter Bunny will be bringing the children some beach towels, swimsuits and that type of thing.  I think that we will be avoiding candy...maybe all candy this year.  I may look at some stuff but honestly trying to eliminate dyes, HFCS, dairy and gluten means that there is not too much to choose from and sometimes I make exceptions but I think that we need to really consider how often we make exceptions you know?  yeah...I am a hard ass and my kids may hate me for it but I an just doing what I think is best for them. 

You know overall I am proud of the improvements Brady is making.  His new words are awesome, check out the blog about the kids.  I am still struggling some days with being positive and praising anything as a word.  Having the ST here helps me to remember.  She is always praising him with "good talking Brady", and "I hear your voice.  Good job."  that type of thing.  So I try to mimic that when she is gone.  and it is good.  he just needs to work on moving his mouth, using his tongue and lips and whole mouth when talking.  I will try to get more video of him talking.  He just does not move his mouth hardly at all. 

On with our Saturday...Take care everyone!