I am so excited to be sharing this real life story of Robyn, a Mum with 3 boys with Aspergers. This is her story of discovery of food, labels and childhood behaviour. When I met Robyn last month, I was so in awe of her determination as a mother to leave no stone unturned to help her three sons. She is inspirational and I was delighted when she agreed to share her story with you. Robyn blogs over at mythreeaspies.com, be sure to visit her over there.
Introducing Robyn Campbell
Robyn Campbell is the busy mother of three fantastic boys who are all on the Autism Spectrum. As well as being a Mum and a writer, she runs two photography business’ with her husband. She is the current AIPP Victorian Illustrative Photographer of the Year. In her spare time she Pastors to kids, runs an entertaining playgroup and is a mad woman on skates whilst playing roller derby.
Robyn’s Real Life Story
If there’s one thing that having three out of control children has taught me, it’s that people love to judge. Usually the first comment is something along the lines of “those children need more boundaries.” The second assumption that they’ve had too much sugar for breakfast, or lollies for lunch, or even worse, “Did your children have red cordial for dinner?”
My children have labels such as Autism Spectrum Disorder, Aspergers and ADHD. There was even mention of an Oppositional Defiance Disorder label at one stage, thankfully that didn’t stick.
Does food effect their behaviour, oh my gosh yes! But not in ways that people assume. There’s been some serious WHAT THE moments in my children’s food vs behaviour diaries and here’s what I’ve learnt.
Day 1 – Sugar causes cavities.
If you child is allergic to dairy, don’t give them rice milk, it’s full of sugar and will give you a massive pediatric dental bill. Sugar comes in many forms, with many names. Learn them all. Some kids are sensitive to sugar, if possible, avoid it; Not just for the dental bills.
Day 2 – Pineapple juice turns my son into a raging devil.
As does any juice that contains salicylates. Recent research showed that 90% of kids with behaviour problems were sensitive to salicylates. My kids eat very little fruit, golden delicious apples, bananas and pears are okay. But you can imagine the reactions at show and tell when my child’s list of naughty foods includes apricots, plums and rock melon!
Day 3 – For all three of my children, wheat is the enemy.
From constipation to oppositional behaviour to extreme cravings, I’ve seen some intense reactions to wheat in our diets. The best one though? Seeing my son’s IQ go from 96 to 160 within three months of removing wheat from his diet! I’ve got the paperwork if you’d like to see it but trust me, he’s gone from foggy and communication challenged to physicist, in a matter of months!
Day 4 – Dairy is not for everyone.
Some would say dairy isn’t for anyone, unless you’re mother is a cow, (literally not figuratively). For those sensitive to dairy it can create an over production of mucus and when you’re asthmatic, mucus is bad.
If you have an Autism Spectrum diagnosis chances are that you may also have a cerebral allergy to milk. If you crave milk like a drug, it’s because it is. In some people, their body breaks down milk protein into peptides that behave like opiates. Addictive drugs. Not everyone can digest milk, for two of my kids; dairy is on the naughty list.
Day 5 – GMOs.
All right, don’t sue me for this one, and don’t get all judgy judgy either. I love science and I love progress but engineering food so that it’s resistant to toxic weed killer and then drowning that food in weed killer and feeding it to your children? Not really a great idea!
GMOs are resistant to glyphosate (said weed killer) but unfortunately our stomach bacteria aren’t. Consuming food that has been heavily treated with glyphosate will kill the good bacteria in your gut that’s needed to break down food. Probiotics (putting some good bacterial back) have been proven to reduce allergic response, but wouldn’t it just be easier not to kill the good bacteria in the first place?
In Australia, soy, corn and canola as our biggest GMO crops. If possible avoid them, or buy organic. Antibiotics, which kill off good and bad bacteria, may be unavoidable but GMOs aren’t. No GMOs in our house. They’ve been replaced with daily probiotics, which make a huge difference to everyone’s mental health.
Day 6 – Some times food doesn’t matter.
Sometimes we all just have a bad day. It’s called life. Go to bed early and start a new day again tomorrow. If however, you have lots of bad days, in a row, and it’s not getting easier. It’s time for change.
Day 7 – Change is hard.
Like really hard, especially if you have three kids with autism who love routine and resist change; when making a change, do it slowly. The first time I removed dairy and wheat from the house I did it overnight and it lasted two agonizing weeks. The second time, I took three months and slowly replaced one item at a time with an expectable alternative. It was hard work but boy, it was worth it.
This is our food diary, seven days, which in reality reflect seven years and all I have learnt since receiving that first label of Autism Spectrum Disorder and the beginnings of years of judgment and criticism for my unique children. The past twelve months though have been another story, as I have taken all that I have learnt and put it into practice.
Although they now do occasionally have lollies for lunch, they’re the Penta-vite brand, full of vitamins, minerals and zinc.
If your child has behavioural issues, look at their diet because like removing and learning to read the labels on food, your children’s labels could possibly be removed too.
My Actions For You
Remember this, where-ever you are at is totally perfect. It’s not what you’ve been doing, but what you do with new information you learn. Information is knowledge, with knowledge comes choice, and with choice comes power. Empower yourself to be a stand for your children’s health by gathering more information and knowledge.
If you have a child(ren) on the spectrum or suspect you may.
I’d urge you to read ALL of Robyn’s posts on her blog. She has done a MASSIVE amount of research over the past 7 or so years, and she shares it freely on her blog mythreeaspies.com. This information may help you in more ways than you imagine, if not at least letting you know you’re not alone.
Even if you don’t have a child(ren) on the spectrum.
Really start paying attention to how food makes you feel and how your complexion looks, particularly the colour of the skin around your eyes.
Just because things are the way they are, doesn’t mean they are normal or have to be that way. So many of us accept life is ‘normal’ – you know, those annoying little temper tantrums, asthma, skin conditions, lack of focus, anxiety, etc and it’s not until you test changing foods do you discover normal is by no way normal. It was just all that you knew.
When you make a change, over a relatively short period of time (sometimes days, other times weeks, sometimes months), you may well see a difference which makes this new way so much better than what you’ve accepted as normal.
For us, this real life example came in changing what we were eating when Israel was diagnosed with post natal depression. When we removed gluten from the foods we ate, not only did Israel feel like a “fog had been lifted”, but our then 5 year old daughter stopped having her ‘beautiful one minute, psychotic the next’ meltdowns. Her temperament totally mellowed out. The blue rings she had under her eyes disappeared. If we hadn’t made this change, we may well be still dealing with her behaviour and appearance as being normal, when today, this new normal is so much better. We happily go without gluten for how much better our life is now.
I am not saying everyone is affected by the food they eat, but many of us are but until you change what you eat, you don’t know. What have you got to lose if you try something different?
Choose one food to change and observe how you feel after a few of weeks. At the start, record how you feel and look now, then keep a record of the same things every few days for a few of weeks. Compare the start to now and make a choice about the change you made.
Of course, I think you’d also learn a lot from what Robyn has researched and written about on her blog. There is so much information about how our brains work and how food plays a role in that. This applies to everyone. Read her research at mythreeaspies.com.
Other reading
Salicylates – the best starting place to learn about salicylates is to head to fedup.com