While mainstream doctors are unlikely to recommend special diets for children with autism, alternative doctors and practitioners may suggest gluten-free, casein-free and other diets

Since gastrointestinal (GI) problems do impact a large percentage of people with autism, monitor your autistic child's GI health. He may be suffering from constipation, bloating, reflux or related issues. Misbehavior may be his only way to communicate his discomfort. If you do suspect a GI problem, ask for a referral to a pediatric gastroenterologist. Also, consult your doctor about a GFCF diet for your child with autism.

This diet is the most popular diet currently being used with great success for many kids on the spectrum. Many people have found that almost every child with a spectrum disorder benefits from it. Many parents have reported that their child’s chronic diarrhea stopped, especially when any current yeast infection was treated at the same time. Other parents report that potty training was finally achieved within a few weeks after beginning the GF/CF diet.

As well, many parents claim that their children are better able to concentrate, and show improvements in their learning abilities, as a result of this diet. They also report significant improvements in sleep patterns, behavior patterns, language, focus, eye contact, and a decrease in “stimming” in their children.

How to Implement the GFCF Diet

It is recommended that parents start the process of a gluten/casein free diet slowly. Most often, parents find that removing casein, or milk products, from the diet is easier than the removal of grains. Many parents report seeing physical, emotional and even cognitive changes within a few days after removing dairy from the diet.
Urine tests reveal that casein can be removed from the body within 3 days after the diet, but gluten can stay in the body for months longer. Hence it is recommended that the diet be followed for a minimum of 3 – 6 months before determining whether it has been successful.

Most parents wonder what they are going to feed their children if they are eliminating dairy products and most grains from their children’s diet. The majority of spectrum disorder children have very limited diets, and often they seem to be addicted to the very foods they need to stay away from.

GFCF diets are expensive. Gluten- and cassein-free foods are hard to find and are often available only at specialty stores and high-end online sources. GFCF diets can be difficult to follow, since they eliminate many "typical" American foods.

GFCF (gluten free - Casein free) Product Guide

Casein/Dairy Caution:

Any dairy from any animals, Casein, Butter, Cheese, Yogurt, Lactose, Whey,
Curds, Cream, Milk Solids, Caseinates.

Gluten Caution:

Wheat, oats, Barley, Rye, Semolina, Spelt, Triticale, Kamu, Bulgar, Durum, White
Flour, Couscous, Wheat Pasta, Baking Powder (unless specified GF), Soy Sauce (unless specified
GF), Bouillon Cubes or powder, Malt, Barley Malt, Sauce Mixes (read labels carefully, often
contain wheat), Starch, Vegetable Starch (need to determine if Corn or Wheat based), Modified
Food Starch, Rice Syrup (unless specified GF it contains barley enzymes), Spices and Herbs (buy
only those specified free of wheat fillers), Sprouted Flour, Carmel Color (mayor may not contain
gluten and! or Milk protein). When reading labels make sure the ingredients do not contain any of the above ingredients

Most of the following grocery list can be found at your local Natural Food Store (Wild Oats,
Whole Foods, Trader Joes arid some can even be found at your local grocery store, Stop and
Shop ..) If you can not find them in the store you may want to check the internet.

*Dairy Alternatives

365 Organic Every Day Value: Rice Beverage Original, Vanilla Soy Beverage Original, Vanilla Soy MilkLundberg Farms: Original Organic Drink Rice
White Waves: Vanilla Silk Soy Beverage
Blue Diamond: Almond Breeze Original, Vanilla, Chocolate
Organic Edensoy: Unsweetened Soymilk
Edenblend: Rice and Soy Beverage
Pacific Foods: Hazelnut Beverage, Almond Original, Vanilla Rice Milk
Nature's Promise: Rice and Soymilk
Potato milk: (Carried byKirkman Lab)
Soy cheese: various (Soymage (Galaxy Food), Toffutti)
Yogurt: (Wholesoy)
Margarine: (Earth balance )
Ice cream: (Tiffutti (chocolate),Berkat)
Alpine Ice:Border Berty Sorbet, Green Tea Verbena Sorbet, Hibiscus Rose Sorbet, Mango Passion Sorbet

*Meats (protein): Organic- Free Range, No anitibiotics, Nitrate Free
Ground Beef (no fillers)
Whole chicken or turkey
Chicken Breast
Chicken Nuggets (Wellshire Kids, Dietary Specialities)
Turkey - deli sliced (Applegate Farms)
Ham - deli sliced (Wellshire Kids)
Hot Dogs (Applegate Fanus)
Duck
Bacon (Applegate Farms)
Pork Chops
Steak - roasts
Sausage - Italian (Shelton's)
Pepperoni (Applegate Farms)
Eggs

*Vegetables: Organic, fresh or frozen, preservative free

Tomatoes
Cucumbers
Carrots
Celery
Potatoes
Broccoli
Peas - frozen
Corn-frozen
Mixed vegetables
Onions
Beans - various
Romaine lettuce
Squash
Cauliflower
Peppers

*Fruits: Organic, fresh
Grapes
Bananas
Apples
Pears
Oranges
Peaches
Plums
Berries
Melon

*Condiments

Kosher salt (Mortons, Diamond Crystal)
Spices (McCormiks-no mixes)
Olive Oil- various (Spectrum)
Vanilla Extract (Frontier)
Ketchup - organic (Muir Glen), Annie's Organic Ketchup
Mustard - organic (Whole Kids)
Mayonnaise - organic (Spectrum), Vegginaise
Coconut oil (Omega Nutrition)
Boullion (Celifiber)
Peanut Butter - organic
Fruit Spread - organic
Applesauce - organic
Pear sauce - organic
Pasta Sauce - organic (Ragu - check labels)
Maple syrup - pure
Honey - pure

*Vinegar
(Apple Cider, White Wine)

*Dressings

Annie's Naturals: Balsamic-OrganiclNatural, Cilantro & Lime, French Organic, Green Garlic-Organic, Lemon & Chive, Low Fat Honey Mustard, Low Fat Raspberry, Oil & Vinegar-Organic, Roasted Garlic-Organic, Roasted Red Pepper, Tuscany Italian.

*BBQ Sauce
Annie's Naturals: Original Recipe-organic, Hot ChipotIe-organic, Smokey Mapleorganic.

*Soy Sauce
San-J, Organic Tamari

*All Natural Bargg

Liquid Aroinos All Purpose Seasoning

*Cereals

Arrowhead Mills - puffed rice, puffed corn.
Health Valley - Rice crunch'ems, com crunch'ems, com flakes.
Pacific Grain Perky's - Nutty rice, Nutty corn.
Envirokids - Peanut Butter Panda puffs, Gorilla Munch, Amazon Frosted flakes, Koala Crisp.
Malt-a-Meal Co. - Puffed rice, Corn bursts, Cocoa Dyno-Bytes, Fruity Dyno-Bytes.
Nature's Path - Honey'd Com Flakes, Mesa Sunrise Flakes, Fruit Juice Cornflakes, Crispy Rice.

*Snacks

Fruits
Cookies - See list
Com chips (Frito-Lay, various)
Potato chips (Lays, Wise)
Potato sticks (Good Health)
Raw seeds/nuts - various
Veggie Booty (Roberts)
Pudding (Zensoy)
Raisins - single only (Dole)
Rice Treats - no chocolate (Envirokids)
Fruit Leather (Stretch Island)
Cones (Berkat)
Popcorn (Newman's Own (microwave), Orville Redenbocker (kernels)
Crackers (Ener-G)

*Flours

Almond Flour (www.luckyskitchenshope.com)

Potato Flakes - fir breading (Barbars's)

Ener-G (www.luckyskitchenshop.com) Brown rice, potato flour, blends, potato starch, rice bran, sweet rice flour, tapioca flour, white rice flour.

Gillian's Foods, Bread Crumbs

Kinnickinnick (www.kinnickinnick.com)Blends. bean flours, white rice flour, brown rice flour, potato starch flour, sweet rice flour, rice bran, com meal, soy flour.

Miss Roben's (wwvv·.missroben.com) Bean mix, garfava flour, mung bean starch, sweet rice, flour, chick pea flour, Bette Hagman's mix, sorghum flour, potato starch, potato flour, arrowroot, flour, brown rice flour; quinoa flour, amaranth flour, buckwheat flour.

Box Mixes:

Miss Roben's (www.missroben.com) Breads, biscuits, muffins, cornbread, cakes, gingerbread, mock graham cracker crust, cookies, brownies, pizza, pie crust, pancake, waffle, breadinglbatter, soup bases, gravies.
Kinnickinnick (www.kinnickinnick.com) Cakes, pancakes, cornbread, muffins, bread, pizza, cookies, soup.
Gluten-Free Pantry: Cakes, cookies, breads, pizza, pie, bagels, muffins.
Cuz' You're Special: Sugar cookies, cake, pizza

*Pasta

Pastariso (rice or potato based) Angel hair, elbows, fettuccine, fussilli, lasagna, spaghetti, penne, spinach varieties, spirals, shells, tomato varieties, five vegetable blend.
Tinkyada (rice based) Spaghetti, spirals, penne, shells, fusilli, elbows, lasagna, vegetable spirals.
Bio-Nature Pasta
Glutano (com based) Animal shapes
Mrs. Leeper (com based) Spaghetti, elbows.
Bi-Aglut (various) Spaghetti, penne, fusilli.
Papadini (lentil based) Rotini, elbows, shells, orzo.
Ener-G (white and brown rice based) Lasagne, macaroni, spaghetti, rotini.
DeBoles (com, rice based) Penne, Angel hair, lasagna.
Ancient Harvest (quinoa, com based) Rotelle, spirals, elbows, shells.

*Bread List: (when using GFCF bread, sometimes it will taste better if you toast it)

Waffles (Vances)
Com tortillas
Kinnickinnick (ALTA label only): Breads, buns, English muffins, bagels, pizza crust Ener-G Breads, buns, english muffins, baquettes, scones, melba toast, rolls, bagels, breadcrumbs.
Gillian's Food: Rolls, loaves, crumbs, pie crust, breadcrumbs
Sterk's Bakery: Breads, bagels
Food for Life: Breads, buns

*Cookie List:

Ener-G (look for Kosher-pareve)
Kinnickinnick (look for ALTA)
Miss Roben's (look for GFCF)
Pamela's (some varieties' contain casein)
Mi-Del (some contain butter)
Frookie
Enjoy Life
Glutafin
Dr. Schaar
Glutano