Gluten-free and milk-free diet ebook
Help with a gluten-free and milk-free diet for autism and other disorders is a 64 page book written by Zoe Connor, dietitian and nutrition consultant, to supplement advice given by your dietitian.  It was published in September 2008. Buy this book for comprehensive advice on how to cut gluten (a protein found in wheat, rye an barley), and milk out of you or your child's diet.  Simply click Add to Cart below, and then View Cart, and  follow the instructions.  Your payment will be processed safely and securely through PayPal.  As soon as your payment is cleared, this book will be emailed to you as a PDF document. Warning - the file that will be emailed to you is nearly 1 GB in size, so may be slow to download on non-broadband connections. Not sure whether to buy? View the book's contents and some excerpts below, and if after buying then you are not happy with this book for any reason, we will be happy to issue you with a refund.
£14.99

 

 

More information about our our ebook - Help with a gluten-free and milk-free diet for autism and other disorders:

Following a gluten-free and milk-free diet is a therapy for autism and autistic spectrum disorders that is very commonly trialled by parents, despite there being little evidence for its use.  This book is a useful guide to following this diet, not only for autism, but for people with gluten and milk allergy, or Coeliac disease and milk allergy. This book is a comprehensive guide to following the diet, but is not a substitute for personalised advice given in one-to-one consultations by a dietitian.

Contents: 11 chapters and 4 appendices 

Chapter 1: Introducing gluten and milk;
Chapter 2: Food allergies, allergy tests and the gluten free, milk free diet for autism;
Chapter 3: GFMF diet basics;
Chapter 4: Tips for starting off with a GFMF diet;
Chapter 5: Foods to choose, foods to avoid;
Chapter 6: 60 Meal and snack ideas;
Chapter 7: Shopping tips;
Chapter 8: Getting started with GFCF cooking and baking;
Chapter 9: Enjoying eating out;
Chapter 10: Nutrition essentials - how to avoid common pitfalls;
Chapter 11: Child-friendly GFMF tips;
Chapter 12: Some useful contacts;
Appendix 1: An A to Z of grains and flours;
Appendix 2: Handy list of companies that make or stock GFMF products;
Appendix 3: Eating out information sheet for a gluten free, and milk free diet;
Appendix 4: 27 basic GFMF recipes - breads, cakes, deserts, pizza, pastry, biscuits and chocolate crispy cakes.

Sample content:

Excerpt 1: Foreword 

The first time I came across the gluten-free and milk-free (GFMF) diet (or gluten-free and casein-free diet as it is often known) was while I was at university, studying for my first degree in biochemistry, a few years before I had decided to train in nutrition and dietetics. At this time I was a ‘befriender’ for a lovely 9 year old boy with autism in Cardiff.

Years later, after qualifying as a dietitian and specialising in paediatric nutrition, I started to see children with autism in my clinics. Most came to see me for help with faddy eating – something very common in children on the autistic spectrum. A few parents also sought advice on following not only a GFMF diet but for other dietary exclusions and vitamin and mineral supplementation as ‘treatments’ for autism. Although sceptical about whether these non-evidence-based treatments were useful or indeed ethical, I began to read up about them, and became involved with a local autism support group to learn more. It became clear to me that these diets did help some children, and these diets were certainly very popular.

I continue to approach these diets with scepticism, but have realised that families that make the decision to try out these diets need professional support to follow them safely and sensibly. I often argue (to families and other health professionals), that, like any other children, a small proportion of children with autism are likely to have allergies or intolerances to gluten and / or milk, and we know that allergies and intolerances can cause gut problems, headaches and behavioural problems. When gluten and /or milk are cut out of their diets, it is then common sense that their symptoms improve. There are theories that children with autism have some sort of metabolic reaction to these foods, distinct to common allergies or intolerances, but in the absence of good evidence to support these theories, I remain unconvinced. To read more about the evidence for and against dietary therapies for autism, read the autism pages on my website www.nutritionnutrition.com or the excellent evidence reviews on www.researchautism.co.uk (which I also contribute to).

This book aims to support not only families of children with autism, but anyone who needs to follow a GFMF diet – whether they have life-threatening allergies, Coeliac disease, or more subtle intolerances. It is aimed as a supplement to individualised advice from a dietitian, not as a replacement for it.

In writing this book I have aimed to pull together all of the information I would provide in a consultation, answering all the common questions and queries that I have come up against. This is the first edition of this book, and I welcome feedback on its contents – anything that needs clarifying or expanding, and it is also great to hear from you if you have found it useful. To contact me email zoe@nutritionnutrition.com.

Excerpt 2: Chapter 2: Food allergies, allergy tests and the gluten free, milk free diet for autism

A food allergy is a response to a food protein that involves changes in our immune system.  Food allergies can cause reactions within minutes of eating a food, or delayed reactions up to 24 hours after eating. Reactions can vary from breathing problems, face, lip or throat swelling, gut pain, constipation, skin rashes, eczema, headaches, and diarrhoea.  Anaphylaxis is a severe, life-threatening allergic reaction, and is very rare.

A food intolerance is a response to a food that doesn’t involve proteins, or can’t be explained by an immune response, for example, lactose intolerance is a reaction to milk sugar, which causes wind and diarrhoea when an affected person drinks milk or eats dairy products. 

Two conditions which can be classed as food intolerances, but are usually thought of as separate diagnoses are Coeliac disease (CD) and dermatitis herpetiformis (DH).  CD affects around 1 in 100 people (in Europe) and for those people, eating foods containing gluten damages the lining of their small intestine, causing symptoms like bloating, diarrhoea or constipation, wind, tiredness, mouth ulcers, and weight loss.  DH is rarer (it affects 1 in 10 000 in the UK), and if sufferers eat gluten, they have itchy, blistering skin, and sometimes gut problems like in CD.  Avoiding eating gluten successfully removes all these unpleasant symptoms.  CD can be diagnosed by a blood test and / or a gut biopsy, and DH by a skin biopsy. 

There are, unfortunately, no reliable medical tests for food allergies and intolerances other than CD and DH.  A strict 2 to 4 week trial avoidance of gluten or milk from you or your child’s diet is the best indicator of a food-related reaction. It is better to trial one avoidance at a time, and keep a diary of symptoms before, during and after the avoidance. If you or your child’s gut, skin or behaviour problems get better on a GF or MF diet, and get worse again on eating gluten or milk again, it is likely that there is an allergy or intolerance.  Trying to eat gluten or milk again is important – to show that the improvement wasn’t coincidental to starting the diet.  It is advisable to ask your doctor to consider a blood test or gut biopsy to rule out Coeliac disease before trialling a GF diet, and certainly if cutting out gluten does result in improvement to gut or other symptoms.