Who's AS child is on sugar-free diet?

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Who's AS child is on sugar-free diet?
6
Mon, 10-24-2005 - 2:12pm

After much reading DH and I both agree that our DS age 7(Asperger's) would be much better off on a sugar-free diet. We notice that he is so much worse after chocolate especially. But how in the world can we do that!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?

How do we tell him he can't have some of his favorite foods? What about his brothers? No sugar for them too...to be fair? I know it certainly wouldn't hurt them. What about school lunches? I guess he would have to pack everyday. There are so many questions swimming around in my mind. I want to do what is best for him, but it sounds so impossible!! Would we notice any differences if we just limit his sugar intake....for example once a week he could have one of his favorite desserts?

Help!!!! Anybody else have any tips or pointers?!?!?!?!?!

Julie and her 3 boys 10, 7 and 2

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-03-2004
Mon, 10-24-2005 - 2:46pm

Dear Julie,

There are many sugar-free dessert choices out there. As our 8-year-old son does not have a particularly bad reaction to sugar, we don't completely restrict him, but he also doesn't actually eat very much sugar by his own choice (he's a salt and crunchy chip boy). We do, however, keep him wheat and dairy free. He loves dairy milk, but we have explained that he pays better attention when he isn't getting any and we give him this way of eating so he will feel better. Also, we all eat this way. There are no wheat or dairy products in our house. It helps that several of his friends also eat this way, some even more restrictively than us, so he isn't alone socially on this. And now after 5 years he is totally used to it as a way of eating.

I think Renee here is sugar-free, and she will know recipes, etc. Others here are also probably sugar-free as well. As a personal trainer, I work with several people who have diabetes and I know there are sugar-free desserts like chocolate made for them. Also health food stores will carry sugar-free treats.

It IS a healthier choice. I would take the whole family off sugar as a supportive measure and add back sugar-free treats. Give as much of healthy food choices that they love as they can stand. Reward the change with other fun activities and fun gifts --- and heaps of praise for making a change that seems punitive, but is actually about well-being! Ask around, you may find other families among their friends that are also sugar-free, or just thinking about it and will use your example to help them do it, too. It helps when they are not the only kids eating this way.

Good luck. We certainly think changing diet for the better is worth it. I suspect you will be amazed how much better you all will feel by making the change, actually...

yours,

Sara
ilovemalcolm

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Mon, 10-24-2005 - 4:45pm

Hey there,

We do it but there are provisions. For instance, there is no sugar at home, but I do let them participate in school parties, etc. They know to limit it. All the kids are on the same diet. I have learned to make lots of goodies sugar free and have learned what I can buy that they enjoy that is sugar free. We also do an organic diet which I think is important. We don't let them have processed empty calories because that will have the same effect. Plus the more nutrients the better. So we are not completely sugar free (90-95%) but every little bit helps.

It is a slow process and honest I would suggest for the whole family a complete change over to low/no sugar and organic foods. You will all feel TONS better.

But I cannot explain the sugar free diet, why and how to do it nearly as well as this lady I know can. Head over to www.asdrendrewolf.org and check out the "healthwise" section.

Also check out the forum. Julie is always there and a wealth of info. She is even starting her own non=profit in her state to help with this stuff. She is the mom of a 21 yo with AS.

Renee

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iVillage Member
Registered: 07-24-2003
Tue, 10-25-2005 - 10:59am

My daughter is only 3, but we have a low sugar household due to my daughter's hyperinsulinism. My sister has also made the switch to low sugar due to behavior problems with her 9 yo (being evaluated for AS).

My recommendation is to start weaning the whole family from sugar. It's a great lifestyle change, and really doesn't affect your enjoyment of food at all. The thing is, the sweetness of food is something humans build a kind of tolerance to. If you start cutting back the ammount of sugar you consume then eventually your perception of the taste changes and a cookie with 1/2 the sugar is as enjoyable as a full sugar cookie. In fact, you'll find after a few months that a soda will taste too sweet.

I wouldn't cut out all sugar right away, just cut back, and make it sound as positive as possible. Get rid of the really bad stuff (sodas, kool-aid, sugary candy, andything with high fructose corn syrup, ect) and start making positive changes in your diets...more whole grains (=fewer refined carbs), more fruit around for snacks, learn to bake low sugar cookies, serve plain yogurt with fruit instead of gogurt, ect. And slowly, week by week, have less of the bad stuff available. A 7 year old doesn't have an independent source of income, so what you have in the house is all he can eat most of the time.

And!!!! I can't stress this enough, don't just substitute artificial sweeteners. They are sweeter than sugar and tend to through off your perception of sweetness in the wrong direction. Besides, there is some evidence that they do cause an insulin reaction that, long term, makes it harder to lose weight and keep it off. They might help your situation short term, but will make it worse long term.

And remember, sugar is sugar. Just because it's fruit juice and not soda doesn't mean there's less sugar.

And...1 more thing...stop giving him anything with red dye. I know that probably sounds all airy-fairy to some, but red dye really has a bad effect on some children.

HTH
Mary

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Tue, 10-25-2005 - 11:25am

Ditto on the red dye.

As for cutting sugar, you are right on fruit juice and such. One thing that is important is the gylcemic index of foods.

However, a natural sweetener that is really low in glycemic index but a great substitute for baking and such is agave nector. It looks like honey and can be used as a replacement in every recipe that I have tried (someone gave me the formula for how to do it). It takes a bit of experimentation but works well.

My kids think it is just as big a treat to have a smoothie as it is to have ice cream now. However, if you are up to the challenge there are homemade ice cream recipes with Agave.

And if you have any trader joes or health food stores nearby there are loads of "choices" that have natural sweeteners rather than sugar. Even for pop tarts and sweetened cereals that are organic and use I believe organic cane juice which while not as good as agave is loads better than refine sugar or artificial sweeteners and it may help with the transition to sugar free life style. We always have no allowed sugar cereals and poptarts as regulars anyway but these use tons less sweeteners and I dont mind nearly as much so my kids think it is a HUGE treat when they get Koala Crisp cereal or waffles.

Renee

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-28-2003
Tue, 10-25-2005 - 1:26pm

I didn't exactly go sugar free, but I did dramatically change my childrens diet so I might be able to share my experience here. I allowed them to have foods sweetened with honey at times and fruits. The didn't get any processed foods. The part I can help you with is the psychological part. I think the whole family should make a commitment together. This helps the kids know you really do believe the foods you are now eating are good (for you). The biggest mistake I felt I made was telling my children we were changing our diet. The potato chips would have simply never made it into the cart again. The Chips Ahoy would have bid a quiet adieu. Fruits would have started to appear available in bowls. I would never shop with them at the grocery store. I would apologize to have forgotten to purchase those Sugar Crunchies once again. I hope cottage cheese will be okay today. I think announcing the changes made them feel like they had no choice. If someone were to suddenly tell me that I can't have things the way I've always had them...my first human reaction is to be resistant. It's so much harder to be mad at someone if they forget to buy the stuff or it just wasn't in the budget. They may or may not realize that their alternatives were in the budget...but we won't point it out to them if they don't make the connection for themselves.

As for feeling guilty, which I did, my husband told me that if they wanted to drink wine or drive a car or do other things we felt weren't in their best interest, then I would feel zero guilt for keeping it from them. This was a good point. Although I can't equate donuts to alcohol, it's pretty fair logic if I truly believed sugar was affecting them adversely.

This also is exactly what people are talking about when you hear how we equate food with love. Because WE feel guilty they can't have Zinger Doodles or because WE feel good when we give Zinger Doodles to them...it essentially becomes about how WE feel when we are giving them the food. Nobody wants to be the bad guy.

Not making any announcements might help not make you the adversary as well as trying to commit as a family. I didn't think I could be eating ice cream while the kids weren't anyway.

LR

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Tue, 10-25-2005 - 4:53pm

We started with diet when we were trying to figure out what was going on with Sam (6.) Oct 03 we started the Feingold program (www.feingold.org) It's a great place to start. They remove all petroleum artificial ingredients (BHT, TBHQ, color, sugar, flavors) and foods that contain a naturally occuring pesticide called salicylate (oranges, berries, apples are very high in salicylates.) High salicylates can be addded back in after a time and tested to see which ones affect your child. If you become a memeber they send you a shopping list for your region that lists approved foods. This program does not limit sugar. Manufacturers fully disclose ingredients to Feingold, if they do not their foods are not approved. In addition the food list will note which items have other additives (MSG, Sodium Benzoate, Nitrates, corn syrup...etc) not officially removed by Feingold, but that many families avoid.

We didn't find much change there so we began removing more foods, corn syrup first then corn altogether. In Feb we decided to start the Specific Carbohydrate diet which removed all grains, sugar other than honey and lactose (it's slightly more complicated, but I won't go into it here check out www.pecanbread.com if you want more info.) We did that for a full year, removing casein for awhile as well to see if any change would occur. I made alot of sugar-free baked items. I was even able to make candy for Halloween with honey and peanut butter. The recipes on pecanbread are great for everyone. And we were also very low salicylate which made it very hard (no berries, oranges...ugh.) Oh did I mention Sam's preK was nut-free and most of the SCD recipes use nuts?!?!

We decided to go back to just Feingold after this diet roller coaster for almost two years with no significant difference. Sam still had periods of aggression related to sensory overstimulation and anxiety (the reason why we started the diet.) Then we got the AS dx and this was all explained to us!

I do not regret doing the diets. I feel like I tried and that wasn't the thing that needed to be done. Now I know that and can move on to other possibilities with out that nagging me in the back of my mind. I still limit his sugar intake and try to push whole grains, fruit, veggies and protein as much as I can. We avoid MSG, corn syrup....etc. Smoothies are still favorites. I don't notice that he reacts to sugar, but he is addicted to chocolate so I have to watch out for that one!!! I learned that seltzer water and pineapple juice is very tasty (waters down the juice without it tasting watered down - add some rum and lime for a yummy adult drink!) I learned that probiotics from yogurt are very powerful and that avocado is my best friend. I learned how to boost protein in baked goods using nut flours and how to make macaroons. Oh and that cheesecake made with yogurt cheese and honey still tastes awesome without a crust or that toxic red cherry topping!!!!! I now have a yogurt maker, ice cream maker and waffle maker and no counter space!!!!

Baby stepping into it by removing foods with obvious addtives is a good and easy place to start. But be aware that some companies do not list MSG or other additives directly on their labels; MSG for example is still a "natural" substance and can be labelled as natural flavoring. Natural flavoring could also be vanilla, salt, spices or sugar too. Manufactureres are not required to list ingredients that make up less than 2% of the product so petroleum based preservatives may not be listed either. Also sometimes BHT is in the packaging.

Good luck!!!

Chrystee

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