GF/CF = Gluten Free / Casein Free. Basically, that means avoiding all dairy products as well as certain grains: wheat, barley, rye, kamut, spelt, and possibly oats. Thankfully, the oats avoidance is easily remedied by the use of gluten-free oats.
Given that a large majority of autism moms have their own health (often auto-immune) problems, I should really expect to benefit from the GF/CF diet. And I do see that I am benefiting! Since starting on Monday, I am already seeing a great improvement in my nasal allergy condition :)
I have FOUGHT hard against doing this diet - for years! Our oldest son has spent a good number of years on the GF/CF diet. I've done so much special diet cooking, yet I have really, REALLY not wanted to be on a special diet for *me*.
Our son's first DAN! (Defeat Autism Now!) doc said, based on my testing, I needed to go gluten-free. At that time, I was way too wound up in being overwhelmed with major behavior problems of a 4-year-old on the autism spectrum. I just could not and would not address my own health problems. Since then, I've been to other practitioners who have repeated the same advice - go gluten-free. So, I just decided to finally do it. And why not make it more fun by going CF as well, you know?
So far, it really isn't too bad. Since I am not on the Feingold Diet as well, GF/CF is easier for me than for our oldest son. I've not delved into lots of baking yet, but I've found the Pamela's GF/CF baking mixes to be quite excellent as well as the Van's GF/CF frozen waffles. For dairy substitutes, I've used Almond Breeze milk and Earth Balance margarine. I bought all of this at our local Whole Foods Market, but many large supermakets also have an impressive GF/CF inventory.
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