Current Venture

• Log Book (2008)
• Grocery List (2008)

"The Great Experiment" (2002)

• Log Book (2002)
• Grocery List (2002)

Introduction
I work with autistic children, and have done so since August 1999. I am active in various online autism communities and discussion groups. I myself was diagnosed with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder at the ripe old age of 28 years. That was in 2005 (you do the math if you care how old I am).

While I am certainly something of a skeptic regarding "cures" for neurological conditions like AD/HD and ASD, I am also not afraid to try things out myself, if only to see what it's like. My primary caveat has to do with safety, as I don't want to endanger my health or my safety if it isn't necessary. So you probably won't ever see me trying out things like chelation or mega-doses of vitamins, but you might find me doing training in Facilitated Communication, sensory integration therapy, Floortime, or even Applied Behaviour Analysis (I actually started out as an ABA therapist).

A number of years ago, I attempted the GF/CF diet. I did this because I was tired of hearing how expensive it was, how difficult it was to follow through on, etc. So, I tracked all kinds of things and cut out gluten and casein completely for a number of months. It wasn't as easy as I'd thought it would be, but it wasn't as difficult as a lot of people said it was, either. The main thing was locating gluten free baked goods, which at the time were primarily supplied by specialty shops and (depending on where you lived) might need to be special-ordered (which I couldn't afford, so I had to make do).

A couple of years later, I decided I'd better try an elimination diet to check whether or not I was allergic to any foods. I cut out wheat and dairy once more, then challenged them in a specific progression. It took several months, but when I was finished, I was able to say definitively that I was merely lactose intolerant - something I'd been suspecting all along.

For the ninth anniversary of my start in the field of autism treatment, I thought I would revisit the concept of dietary modification. My reasons for this are varied, ranging from a desire to lose weight to a desire to improve my health to curiosity about the GF/CF diet now that diet-compliant products are easily found in many grocery stores.

The Hypotheses
The hypotheses I am testing have to do with health, difficulty, and expense.

1. The GF/CF diet, the Feingold diet, and Dr Amen's supplemental regime are safe and effective methods that can be used to manage or eliminate symptoms of autism and/or AD/HD.
2. The GF/CF diet, the Feingold diet, and Dr Amen's supplemental regime can be difficult to implement properly due to rarity of necessary ingredients, proliferation of unnatural substances in food, and lack of understanding by the general public.
3. The GF/CF diet, the Feingold diet, and Dr Amen's supplemental regime are very expensive to implement, due to rarity of necessary ingredients and the cost of purchasing natural and organic food.

I do not necessarily adhere to any one of these hypotheses. I am seeking merely to either prove or disprove them, depending on the results of this experiment.

The Plan
I will follow the basic outline given at http://gfcfdiet.com/Beginningthediet.htm. Since I'm not a child and am doing this of my own free will, I won't bother gradually cutting things out and adding things in; I'll just go whole-hog right from day one. Obviously if you're trying this with a child, you want to go slow. The recommendation given on the page (under the heading "Important Suggestions") is to gradually introduce your replacement foods prior to elimination. Then only eliminate for one meal a day for a week. Then eliminate for two meals a day for a week. And so on - I'm sure you get the picture. Me, I'm going to jump in with "Stage One" right away and see how I do.

In all fairness, I should definitely let people know that I will not be pushing to keep things "safe". While the food that I purchase at the store will certainly be diet-compliant, I can't guarantee that food I eat while at others' homes or at a restaurant will be. When this happens, I will indicate which items are not "safe", and I will also give reasons why I did not bother to push for the diet-compliant food.

Of course, there are definitely ways to keep from eating foods I should avoid, and I'll be availing myself of these methods whenever possible. Things like ordering a salad, telling the server I'm allergic to wheat (I did that at a Tim Horton's once during my elimination diet; the manager was really careful about my food), and simply not taking something from a buffet that could be non-compliant are not difficult. At the same time, I'll be attending a wedding on August 8, and that could be a problem depending on what is served at the reception. It's all about using your head and carefully tracking what you're ingesting.

Now, here's the overview of the elimination phase:



What I'm most interested in is Stage 4, which adds the Feingold Diet (http://www.feingold.org/) to the mix. Since the Feingold Diet is supposedly a "good thing" for AD/HD, maybe it'll help me focus more & better. Stage 6 will also be interesting, as Dr Amen's supplements are supposed to help manage AD/HD symptoms without medical assistance.

Once I've been doing the full diet for four weeks, I will begin a challenge phase, where I'll add back one form of food that has been eliminated at one meal each day, to see what (if any) reactions occur. If there is a reaction, I will have to take one full week on the full diet before attempting another form of food in that category. This is most important with dairy products, as there are many different forms of food within that category - yogurt and cheese (many types), as well as milk and ice cream. I will also have to take one full week on the full diet to recover my system's stability after each challenge week, even if there is no reaction noted, before beginning the next stage of challenge. For weeks wherein I added items to my diet, I will remove those items and see what the result is.

As such, the dates in the following table are expectations only, assuming no reactions to any food items:



Following the final challenge week, I will continue with four more weeks of the full diet. Following this period, I will begin to gradually add back or remove those items which did not produce a reaction during the challenge period. I will add one category of food or remove one type of supplement in a week, and then I will allow my body one full week to stabilize before I begin to add or remove the next category. Depending on how many items I am able to reintroduce or remove, this could take several weeks.

Overall, I expect to be finished this experiment by mid-April. The longest I expect this to take is one full year, as a lot depends on the challenge phase.

Precautions and Medications
I will not be consulting with a doctor initially, primarily because I have not had much luck with the medical establishment when it comes to my particular brand of food sensitivities and psychological state. I will, however, be seeing my doctor prior to the start of each phase of this experiment, to be certain that I am healthy. Any tests requested by the doctor will be noted in my data, along with any results that could be cause for concern.

I have been free of stimulant medication since October 2007. I have been free of antidepressant medication since June 2008. The only medication I will be taking during this experiment will be an antihistamine (for environmental allergies) and acetaminophen (for headaches and muscle pain). If it becomes necessary to add a prescription medication to this list, I will inform my doctor of any and all supplements and over the counter medication that I am currently taking, and I will allow an extra full week for my body to get used to the new medication before I move on to the next stage of the experiment. All medication will be noted in my data, along with purpose and time of day it was taken.

Data Collection
Of course, what would any experiment be without data? I'll be posting daily updates and tracking a few different things that I figure people might find useful.

What I'll be tracking, and why:



The main problem with this is that most of it is going to be subjective. While my weight is quantifiable and the amount of sleep I'm getting is also quantifiable, my mood and quality of sleep are not. This is, however, a single-case study design, so it is arguably not as important that it be quantifiable/reproducible. (Though if anyone out there is interested in attempting a reproduction, do let me know - it would be great to have comparisons!)