Re: Re: food - this long - sorry

[Guest guest]

The foods he craves are exactly the foods that should be eliminated. It is an "addiction". Our son was in a RAGE! when we removed dairy. Screaming, yelling, tantruming, hitting, he even tried to bite me. He had begun to self-limit to an only dairy diet before we began to understand what was really going on with him. But removing all dairy (no matter how difficult it has been for me and him) was the beginning of his healing. It literally altered his personality.

It sounds to me like your son has very HIGH YEAST and he needs the complex carbohydrates and sugars to feed the yeast. Hence the severe cravings. And it makes perfect sense to me that he seems altered emotionally by the binging as there is a brain-gut connection.

You may need the help of a professional counselor and nutritionist to get him off sugar and complex carbohydrates and on to better health and nutrition... but it is worth it.

This has been our experience. We are fortunate that we figured this out early for our son. Your son's age and stage in life makes it more difficult but not impossible. I am happy to talk more with you about our experiences, if you are interested.

Good luck, I know every day brings new challenges.

From: Vickie Boehnlein <baneline1@...>Subject: ( ) Re: food - this long - sorry Date: Wednesday, January 28, 2009, 4:18 PM

My son is 10 and we have delt with similar problems. We started several years ago locking things up. I have soda in the house but it is in a locked bin in the fridge. The only beverages he has access to are milk and water. All snacks (crackers, cookies, chips, ice cream, popsicles) when we have them are in a locked pantry so he has to get us to give him things. What he can get to is bread, apples and oranges, cheese, yogurt. So if he is really hungry he has access to items that I control. As for the money, my son also was taking change from our change jar to buy candy or soda so we now keep that locked also. I have been able to "rig" things so everything has the little 3 digit combination locks (like a bike lock) so it is easy to get into when we want to and we don't have to find a key. The only issue is that we have to make sure he doesn't see the combination but when he does we just reset the

locks to a new combination. For the most part he doesn't even try to get into things now. We also had a problem at school when we would send snacks to school he would eat a bunch of them each day so after a couple days two weeks worth were gone. Now the special ed teacher keeps his snacks in her desk and he has to go get it from her. I don't have a good answer for why he goes overboard on the snacky sweet foods but he isn't starving to death since we locked things up so I am not worried. He has healthy food available and he must eat his dinner if he wants dessert. I control the snacks. So far so good.Vickie>> My son is 13 years old and we are having major food issues with him > and was wondering if

anyone has had similar experiences. He craves > sugar and bread so badly that he smuggles it and eats it. I find > juice boxes/wrappers/ empty containers all over the house. Huge > amounts if it is available. He has tried to get his aides to buy him > soda at school since he doesn't have access. He tries to take cash > from my wallet to buy junk food once he gets to school if we don't > have any here. I have tried to eliminate junk food at home but he > gorges when he goes anywhere else. If I try to have it here and give > him something at lunch and dinner in the hopes it will keep him from > compulsively eating it in between, he just hunts for it in the middle > of the night and eats it all. I understand compulsive behavior but I > don't know how to help him. He reacts very strongly to sugar in his > system - very agitated, moody and as he is

getting older is getting > physically aggressive too. When he hasn't binged, he is calm and > sweet and clear eyed. It is such addictive behavior. My heart > breaks for him most of the time because he leads a very lonely life - > middle school is difficult socially, has very little interest in > anything other than his obsessions, no real friends or hobbies. I am > finding that his homelife is now filled with negativity too since I > am feeling very agitated towards him because I don't know what else > to do. He lies about everything he steals and I don't know how to > handle the dishonesty issue anymore either. He is on zoloft for > anxiety and has been for over a year. He has seen a counselor for > years but really doesn't share anything with her so it doesn't really > help. Has anyone else gone through such a challenging behavior > problem? Any

experience shared would be greatly appreciated.>

[Guest guest]

wanted to share with those who have children with stomach problems, as my son had. I finally got some medication that has taken away his stomach pains, etc. It is Bentyl 20mg, generic name is Dicyclomine. He takes one pill in the morning and one at night. He is no longer on the gluten, casien free diet. It took us many years before we found a doctor that suggested this medication. My son is 18. pj

From: Laurie <Lvandekamp@...> Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2009 7:45:05 AMSubject: ( ) Re: food - this long - sorry

> My son is 13 years old and we are having major food issues with him > and was wondering if anyone has had similar experiences. He craves > sugar and bread so badly that he smuggles it and eats it. I find > juice boxes/wrappers/ empty containers all over the house. Huge > amounts if it is available. I haven't posted here before...newbie. I have a 13 year old son with the same issues regarding food. It's been suggested to me that I take him in to test for the amount of yeast in his system. An overgrowth of yeast in the body can cause them to crave sweets and breads. Just a thought that we're going to check out...Blessings!Laurie

[Guest guest]

My son did the same thing, hiding sugar snacks all over the house and candy OMG we found it everywhere , or the empty wrappers, so we started to give him diet energy bars, satisfied his sweet tooth and right after that he grew 4 inches. I think maybe he was on the verge of a growth spurt. I do however limit his wheat intake, ie; bread, flour, biscuits, things like that, for my son it seems to just add pounds to his frame. Why they crave who knows I sure don't . Any one with answers out there

From: Laurie <Lvandekamp@...>Subject: ( ) Re: food - this long - sorry Date: Thursday, January 29, 2009, 7:45 AM

> My son is 13 years old and we are having major food issues with him > and was wondering if anyone has had similar experiences. He craves > sugar and bread so badly that he smuggles it and eats it. I find > juice boxes/wrappers/ empty containers all over the house. Huge > amounts if it is available. I haven't posted here before...newbie. I have a 13 year old son with the same issues regarding food. It's been suggested to me that I take him in to test for the amount of yeast in his system. An overgrowth of yeast in the body can cause them to crave sweets and breads. Just a thought that we're going to check out...Blessings!Laurie

[Guest guest]

I was really interested to learn they crave wheat and sweets. My son will only eat sweet cereals and sandwhices(plus nachos sometimes)when we happen to go somewhere like McD's they look at me like I am crazy because we order just the bun with mustard.He wont eat meat for anything.

From: Laurie <Lvandekampaol (DOT) com>Subject: ( ) Re: food - this long - sorry Date: Thursday, January 29, 2009, 7:45 AM

> My son is 13 years old and we are having major food issues with him > and was wondering if anyone has had similar experiences. He craves > sugar and bread so badly that he smuggles it and eats it. I find > juice boxes/wrappers/ empty containers all over the house. Huge > amounts if it is available. I haven't posted here before...newbie. I have a 13 year old son with the same issues regarding food. It's been suggested to me that I take him in to test for the amount of yeast in his system. An overgrowth of yeast in the body can cause them to crave sweets and breads. Just a thought that we're going to check out...Blessings!Laurie

[Guest guest]

The best explanation I can't give you, but would suggest you look up the

GFCFKids group - in the files. We all treat our ASD kids with a form of

this diet and they have the good explanations. It has something to do with the

way the gluten forms an opiate-type reaction. With our son, he has major issues

with metabolizing proteins and fats. His villi in his stomach were constantly

inflamed from his allergy reaction to many different foods that he craves. What

he craves, he is allergic to. It is a fact that many of our kids have this

issue and it has made a HUGE difference in our son's thinking, behaviors and

physical health to stop giving him his " drug of choice " . ' book -

Special Diets for Special Kids - also has a great explanation which I just

butchered - LOL!

Marilyn in MO

>

> From: Laurie <Lvandekampaol (DOT) com>

> Subject: ( ) Re: food - this long - sorry

>

> Date: Thursday, January 29, 2009, 7:45 AM

>

>

>

>

> > My son is 13 years old and we are having major food

> issues with him

> > and was wondering if anyone has had similar

> experiences. He craves

> > sugar and bread so badly that he smuggles it and eats

> it. I find

> > juice boxes/wrappers/ empty containers all over the

> house. Huge

> > amounts if it is available.

>

> I haven't posted here before...newbie. I have a 13 year

> old son with

> the same issues regarding food. It's been suggested to

> me that I take

> him in to test for the amount of yeast in his system. An

> overgrowth of

> yeast in the body can cause them to crave sweets and

> breads. Just a

> thought that we're going to check out...

> Blessings!

> Laurie