The result may very well be the same. In the end, it may very well be the death of either the kids or of us. Because it's going to be an epic battle.
And I have to tell you, I honestly never thought this would be our house. I did not see myself spending an obscene amount of money in the organic section of my local grocery store. I am just not that person.
The very early parenting years in our house included three boys born less than 14 months apart. We were in survival mode. I didn't make my own baby food from fresh fruits and vegetables. I didn't buy organic. I bought the jars. Not only that, I bought mostly fruits, especially with the twins. At a certain point, you get tired of seeing liquid vegetables being sprayed across the room, the floor, your kids, and certainly yourself. It was one of those battles, after several months, that I finally gave up. Surely they will eat them sometime.
And the answer is no, no they do not. The twins have not willingly put vegetables in their mouths. Ever. They will tolerate a few things - as babies it was the rather unappealing combination of liquid sweet potatoes and corn, as toddlers it was regular canned green beans and white corn. As little boys, it's white corn only for Xander and nothing at all for Sawyer. French fries don't count as far as I'm concerned. The boys love them from fast food places, but will not touch the homemade french fries (you know, slices of fresh potato fried in canola oil).
When it comes to fruits, the boys do a little better. They have always done really well with the basics. Both will eat pineapple slices and mandarin oranges, and Xander will even eat bananas and red grapes (it used to be only green, but somewhere along the way he switched and now it is only red). Applesauce, though not apples themselves, is also a big favorite. See, much better on the fruit side. Perhaps the baby food did have a lasting impact on their preference. But it still doesn't make me want to go back in time and have more liquid vegetables flying across my house.
But I digress ... I am talking about fruits and vegetables, which is only part of the equation. And this battle, which I am sure you have guessed by now, is going to be mostly with the twins. It is their diet that is about to change.
Anyone in the autism community has heard about the gluten free casein free (GFCF) diet. It can even be controversial. Current research does not support any specific results, but many parents swear by it. We have known about it for a while. And we have even thought about and talked about trying it several different times. But we have never actually tried it.
There are several reasons we always put it off. The first is that the boys already have incredibly limited food sources. They both have serious texture issues, and for many years would not even taste anything that was not familiar to them. Sawyer will now taste just about anything. Xander will do so, but he is less willing and very rarely accepts anything new into his diet.
Beyond their texture issues, Sawyer is a gluten addict. I do not use the term lightly. He LOVES bread. He will beg, borrow or steal every last piece of bread in our house if you let him. Xander's weakness is casein. His obsession is not nearly as obvious as Sawyer's, but his favorite food choices all have it. Milk and yogurt are two of his largest food sources.
Do you begin to see why we have avoided the diet? Each boy will be losing a major source of their current diet.
There is no single reason we are starting on the GFCF diet now. As hard as it will be, and as valid as the reasons we put it off still are, it just seems like the right time. If there is even the smallest chance it might help the boys, we have to try. There are so many more articles and resources, and the food itself is so much more readily available not just at specialty food stores but even at the local grocery store chains.
Some people go cold turkey. We are not those people. I cannot bring myself to throw away perfectly good food in our pantry or refrigerator. Some people go whole household. We are also not those people. For a lot of reasons. Mostly expense. Our grocery bill is already large, will get bigger as we try the diet with the twins, and would be ridiculous if we all were on it. Just as an example. Regular milk is around $3 per gallon in our part of the world. Soy or coconut or almond milk, the acceptable substitutes, are about $4 per half gallon. In any given week, we go through about 7 gallons of milk in our house. That's a lot. And most of the other items have a similar price increase - more money, for about half the quantity.
Right now, we are in the elimination process. We are using up the things we have (particularly things that were for the twins), and simply not replacing items that contain gluten or casein. No yogurt. No goldfish (cheese has casein). No cereals made with flour. And the list goes on and on and on ...
We are also slowly adding in some of the new foods, or attempting to, at least. Soy milk is not a hit. We've been trying that one for about two weeks now, and the boys only get the smallest taste in their mouths before setting the cups back down. Apparently they would rather go thirsty than have that (and honestly it's not that bad, because we tried it, too). The texture is different though, and of course, that matters with Sawyer and Xander. Today I picked up some gluten free flour and pancake mix, as well as some gluten free pasta.
We are still in the very early stages. I am still doing research, still learning what foods are okay and what foods have hidden ingredients that contain gluten and casein. I am looking at the hundreds of recipe books out there, trying to figure out which one, if any, would work for our boys. It's going to be hard. It's going to be time consuming. And it's going to be expensive. But we're going to try.
The good news is that some of the boys' main food sources are actually good for them and are free of gluten and casein. Their favorite juice has always been V8 Fusion, which blends fruits and vegetables in every serving, and they will also drink plain apple juice. Sawyer will even drink water on a regular basis. Fruit is always good, and they have some at every single meal, so it will make up a big component of their diet. Applesauce, which we used to alternate with yogurt at meals, will become a large source of food. We will have to work a little harder with both of them on the vegetable side. Sweet potato french fries are already a no, in case you're wondering. Sawyer also likes meat, so he's not going to go hungry. Xander, on the other hand, does not. He very well may go hungry for a while.
Like I said, it's going to be a battle.
We have given ourselves a few months to make the transition. Summer break is going to be the best time for us to try the diet, when the boys are out of school and I have significantly more control over the boys access to food. I can only imagine how much more quickly Sawyer would steal bread off someone else's tray at school if he were not getting any at home (because he already tries to steal it now, even when he does get bread at home). He will probably try to steal it off of our plates at home if the gluten free bread doesn't go over well.
We may see some benefits, we may not. Not everyone agrees, and like so many things with autism, there are no one-size-fits-all answers. But this is one thing that we can do, that we can try, that might help. Wish us luck. And if you happen to know of any good GFCF resources or recipes, send them our way. Sawyer requests bread. Xander begs for a casein free yogurt.
As always, our journey continues ...