What Do You Think About GAPS Diet For Autistic Children?

[StrongMom]

One of my twin boys is just diagnosed With autism. I know the Gaps diet quite well as I tried to do it for them in the first 1.25 years of their lives. As I started to know Ray Peat more I moved away from that diet as it emphasizes fats as the main energy source. Now that he is diagnosed, what should I do? Also I am quite lost as I tried to follows that diet for the initial stages of their lives even without a diagnosis and apperantly it didn't work. My understanding is those type of diets are trying to reduce serotonin to treat, but my guess is that at the same time they are reducing the metabolism. Maybe they cure autism in the short term but in the long run, problems might show up in other forms.

Any suggestions? Advise? I feel quite confused and hopeful as I already implemented that diet and besides I do not believe that anymore.

 

[answersfound]

Cyproheptadine has been shown to fix autism. Google Cyproheptadine alldaychemist or look here:

Practin 30 Weight Gain Pills https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00I46WUAA/re ... nwbGJM1CEE

 

[StrongMom]

Thanks answersfound. do you know how long does he need to take? I very much appreciate your quick response.

 

[charlie]

edit:

I have organized all the Autism studies in their own forum.

Ray Peat Topics>Scientific Studies>Autism

 

[answersfound]

post 107070 Thanks answersfound. do you know how long does he need to take? I very much appreciate your quick response.

Idk probably for a while until symptoms resolve. Maybe a couple months? but I wouldn't give him more than .5 milligrams. That would mean you split each pill into 8 pieces. Cypro is powerful stuff.

 

[Sea]

The gaps diet certainly is not going to help autism as it will further slow down the metabolism. Autism is just caused by the metabolism being to slow.

Try to feed them a lot of calories from simple sugars(fruit juice, fruit, honey, white sugar, candy), and easily digested sources of protien. Since they are young they will probably do better on milk but this is something you will have to determine. Otherwise, low fat cheeses, cottage cheese, greek yogurt, lean seafood or other lean meats will work. If you feed any starches then make sure it is a white potato or a refined starch like white rice or white flour, not a whole grain. And of course they should avoid pufa, and it should help to feed them small amounts of refined coconut oil throughout the day. And don't forget salt since they might not know how to use salt you may be in charge of making sure they get enough.

I am not sure what supplements or drugs are advisable for children, but I wouldn't give any without doing a lot of research. Younger people should be able to more easily repair their metabolisms solely with food and probably don't need drugs or supplements as much. Antibiotics are often given to kids so that is the first drug I would consider.

 

[Giraffe]

post 107135 I am not sure what supplements or drugs are advisable for children, but I wouldn't give any without doing a lot of research.

:1

 

[Derek]

Serotonin causes autism; blocking it may treat autism

[moderator edit: posts moved]

post 108481
One of my twins was recently diagnosed with autism. At this stage, I do not want to experiment with hard core drugs, but considering some supplements in the first stage. What do you think?

How old is he? What does his current diet look like?

 

[StrongMom]

Serotonin causes autism; blocking it may treat autism

He is a little over 2 year old. For the last year or so I would say it is quite a Peat diet. For about five months he has been going to day care where they provide the snacks. Dietwise i think i have been doing my best. However, since his birth he had a lot of digestive issues, eczema, etc... Whatever i tried, i couldn't solve them.

 

[Derek]

Serotonin causes autism; blocking it may treat autism

post 108517 He is a little over 2 year old. For the last year or so I would say it is quite a Peat diet. For about five months he has been going to day care where they provide the snacks. Dietwise i think i have been doing my best. However, since his birth he had a lot of digestive issues, eczema, etc... Whatever i tried, i couldn't solve them.

Can you be more specific on diet? "Peat Diet" can mean a lot of things, depending on how you interpret Peat's work. How is the other twin's health? Do they have the same diet?

 

[StrongMom]

Serotonin causes autism; blocking it may treat autism

First of all, their temparature are in 97s, so it looks like a thyroid problem to me.

Diet: eggs, different kinds of meat, milk, yogurt, friuts, honey, gelatin , masa harina, sometimes sourdough bread at home. Unfortunately at the day care, they get pufa, crackers, some friuts, milk, and yogurt.

His brother is doing better but the doctor thinks that he is developmentally delayed as well. He is a very picky eater. They were born prematurely at 32 weeks and stayed quite sime time in the nicu.

 

[Derek]

Serotonin causes autism; blocking it may treat autism

post 108520 First of all, their temparature are in 97s, so it looks like a thyroid problem to me.

Diet: eggs, different kinds of meat, milk, yogurt, friuts, honey, gelatin , masa harina, sometimes sourdough bread at home. Unfortunately at the day care, they get pufa, crackers, some friuts, milk, and yogurt.

His brother is doing better but the doctor thinks that he is developmentally delayed as well. He is a very picky eater. They were born prematurely at 32 weeks and stayed quite sime time in the nicu.

It's very difficult to give advice on a forum because it's difficult to understand the whole picture. I can only give general advice based on the information I have. If you believe the serotonin/endotoxin connection, then it may benefit him if you remove the yogurt, honey, fruit and gelatin. Lactate producing bacteria have been highly implicated in causing many degenerative brain diseases. Gelatin increases endotoxin, especially if you have digestive issues. Fruit if not perfect quality can raise serotonin because of how irritating it is to the intestine. There's actually a toxin in honey that can cause brain damage, if I can find the study I'll post it here. So you can be giving him "good foods" but really they are doing more harm than good. Are you forcing him to eat these foods or is he choosing to eat these foods?

This is just a suggestion but maybe it would be better to narrow his diet a little bit to things like milk, sugar, meat, and maybe a well refined starch he can handle well. Mashed potatoes would be best, but white rice or white bread are pretty benign.

Also, have you tried emailing Peat about this, maybe he could help?

 

[StrongMom]

Serotonin causes autism; blocking it may treat autism

post 108522

It's very difficult to give advice on a forum because it's difficult to understand the whole picture. I can only give general advice based on the information I have. If you believe the serotonin/endotoxin connection, then it may benefit him if you remove the yogurt, honey, fruit and gelatin. Lactate producing bacteria have been highly implicated in causing many degenerative brain diseases. Gelatin increases endotoxin, especially if you have digestive issues. Fruit if not perfect quality can raise serotonin because of how irritating it is to the intestine. There's actually a toxin in honey that can cause brain damage, if I can find the study I'll post it here. So you can be giving him "good foods" but really they are doing more harm than good. Are you forcing him to eat these foods or is he choosing to eat these foods?

This is just a suggestion but maybe it would be better to narrow his diet a little bit to things like milk, sugar, meat, and maybe a well refined starch he can handle well. Mashed potatoes would be best, but white rice or white bread are pretty benign.

Also, have you tried emailing Peat about this, maybe he could help?

viewtopic.php?f=182&t=8331

I thought it would be useful to link to the topic above as I feel like repeating myself. And I think I agree with Sea that raising their metabolism should be the way to go. I have just not been successful yet and it is quite stressful as I feel like time is running out. Doctors keep saying that brain development from 2 to 3 year old is crucial.

 

[Derek]

Serotonin causes autism; blocking it may treat autism

post 108763

post 108522

It's very difficult to give advice on a forum because it's difficult to understand the whole picture. I can only give general advice based on the information I have. If you believe the serotonin/endotoxin connection, then it may benefit him if you remove the yogurt, honey, fruit and gelatin. Lactate producing bacteria have been highly implicated in causing many degenerative brain diseases. Gelatin increases endotoxin, especially if you have digestive issues. Fruit if not perfect quality can raise serotonin because of how irritating it is to the intestine. There's actually a toxin in honey that can cause brain damage, if I can find the study I'll post it here. So you can be giving him "good foods" but really they are doing more harm than good. Are you forcing him to eat these foods or is he choosing to eat these foods?

This is just a suggestion but maybe it would be better to narrow his diet a little bit to things like milk, sugar, meat, and maybe a well refined starch he can handle well. Mashed potatoes would be best, but white rice or white bread are pretty benign.

Also, have you tried emailing Peat about this, maybe he could help?

viewtopic.php?f=182&t=8331

I thought it would be useful to link to the topic above as I feel like repeating myself. And I think I agree with Sea that raising their metabolism should be the way to go. I have just not been successful yet and it is quite stressful as I feel like time is running out. Doctors keep saying that brain development from 2 to 3 year old is crucial.

Thanks for linking that post mom. I am new to this forum so I never saw that post. Well it looks like sea gave very similar advice to what I gave above. I said limit his diet to milk, sugar, meat, and refined white starch. Pretty much what sea wrote. It's interesting you tried the GAPS diet for him. I tried that diet and it made my digestion 10x worse. I was constipated, sick, headache, etc... I also agree with sea that you should not try hard drugs.

As far as antibiotics go, bacterial overgrowth is just a symptom of low energy metabolism. So antibiotics are a band aid, similar to GAPS. It never addresses the real issue and when you stop the antibiotics the bacteria come right back, usually worse than before. Maybe a low dose, like 30-50mg tetracycline may help (but I would try other things first). L-Lysine would even be safer. It's antibiotic and anti serotonin. Some people here benefit from it in both of those areas. When I got SIBO after the GAPS diet what really helped was ceylon cinnamon. Like you said you want natural non-drug options. Here is a recipe that should help his digestion. 10-12oz warmed low fat milk, 1/4 tsp ceylon cinnamon, 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg, white sugar to taste, 1-2 tsp refined coconut or palm kernel oil, maybe add a little L-lysine (like 150mg).

And one more thought. If you ever decided that milk may not be serving him well. Two other really good, easily digested protein sources would be: Liquid pasteurized egg whites and string cheese. Most kids like string cheese and you could mix the egg whites in juice or apple sauce.

 

[StrongMom]

I would like to link to the topic I have been discussing the same issue:

viewtopic.php?f=183&t=7978

I agree with you guys in terms of diet, but I feel that I have not accomplished much in the last year or so. I am just nervous as doctors keep saying that the brain development from 2 to 3 year old is very important and I feel like time is running out.

Does anyone know any research about the link between autism and hypothyroidism? That is my guess, too, but I would like to understand more.

 

[StrongMom]

Serotonin causes autism; blocking it may treat autism

post 108522

It's very difficult to give advice on a forum because it's difficult to understand the whole picture. I can only give general advice based on the information I have. If you believe the serotonin/endotoxin connection, then it may benefit him if you remove the yogurt, honey, fruit and gelatin. Lactate producing bacteria have been highly implicated in causing many degenerative brain diseases. Gelatin increases endotoxin, especially if you have digestive issues. Fruit if not perfect quality can raise serotonin because of how irritating it is to the intestine. There's actually a toxin in honey that can cause brain damage, if I can find the study I'll post it here. So you can be giving him "good foods" but really they are doing more harm than good. Are you forcing him to eat these foods or is he choosing to eat these foods?

This is just a suggestion but maybe it would be better to narrow his diet a little bit to things like milk, sugar, meat, and maybe a well refined starch he can handle well. Mashed potatoes would be best, but white rice or white bread are pretty benign.

Also, have you tried emailing Peat about this, maybe he could help?

Hi Derek,

I have a few questions to you. It is the first time I hear that gelatin increasing endotoxin. I thought that gelatin repairs the digestive system and, if anything, reduces the endotoxin absorption. Can you elaborate on that?

Also, if you have any links to the relevant research, that would be great. i am fighting with my family against the mainstream treatments and I need to show some evidence.

I do not know Peat's email. I wish I knew. If anyone knows and would like to share, I really appreciate that.

 

[Derek]

Serotonin causes autism; blocking it may treat autism

post 109361

post 108522

It's very difficult to give advice on a forum because it's difficult to understand the whole picture. I can only give general advice based on the information I have. If you believe the serotonin/endotoxin connection, then it may benefit him if you remove the yogurt, honey, fruit and gelatin. Lactate producing bacteria have been highly implicated in causing many degenerative brain diseases. Gelatin increases endotoxin, especially if you have digestive issues. Fruit if not perfect quality can raise serotonin because of how irritating it is to the intestine. There's actually a toxin in honey that can cause brain damage, if I can find the study I'll post it here. So you can be giving him "good foods" but really they are doing more harm than good. Are you forcing him to eat these foods or is he choosing to eat these foods?

This is just a suggestion but maybe it would be better to narrow his diet a little bit to things like milk, sugar, meat, and maybe a well refined starch he can handle well. Mashed potatoes would be best, but white rice or white bread are pretty benign.

Also, have you tried emailing Peat about this, maybe he could help?

Hi Derek,

I have a few questions to you. It is the first time I hear that gelatin increasing endotoxin. I thought that gelatin repairs the digestive system and, if anything, reduces the endotoxin absorption. Can you elaborate on that?

Also, if you have any links to the relevant research, that would be great. i am fighting with my family against the mainstream treatments and I need to show some evidence.

I do not know Peat's email. I wish I knew. If anyone knows and would like to share, I really appreciate that.

Gelatin only repairs the digestive system if it is digested properly. People who have poor digestion (which people with autism certainly do) do not digest gelatin properly, it goes through undigested feeding bacteria. In the laboratory setting gelatin is used as the primary medium to grow bacteria. And I don't know if the gelatin you are giving him is powder or food, but the powder usually contains endotoxin as it is coming from rotten animal tissues.

I don't have any links to relevant autism research, as I said initially I am no expert on autism. I was just trying to give some dietary advice. The original post was about autism being caused by serotonin. So I was just trying to give dietary advice to lower serotonin as well as endotoxin.

 

[StrongMom]

Serotonin causes autism; blocking it may treat autism

post 109373
Gelatin only repairs the digestive system if it is digested properly. People who have poor digestion (which people with autism certainly do) do not digest gelatin properly, it goes through undigested feeding bacteria. In the laboratory setting gelatin is used as the primary medium to grow bacteria. And I don't know if the gelatin you are giving him is powder or food, but the powder usually contains endotoxin as it is coming from rotten animal tissues.

I don't have any links to relevant autism research, as I said initially I am no expert on autism. I was just trying to give some dietary advice. The original post was about autism being caused by serotonin. So I was just trying to give dietary advice to lower serotonin as well as endotoxin.

Even hydrolyzed gelatin? I was mixing that into his milk. It is partly predigested, right?

I used to make soups with homemade stock but it is very hard to make a 2-year-old to eat meat stock. And the kids get bored with food very frequently and I have to introduce new "healthy" foods very frequently.

Thanks for the support

 

[Derek]

Serotonin causes autism; blocking it may treat autism

post 109442

post 109373
Gelatin only repairs the digestive system if it is digested properly. People who have poor digestion (which people with autism certainly do) do not digest gelatin properly, it goes through undigested feeding bacteria. In the laboratory setting gelatin is used as the primary medium to grow bacteria. And I don't know if the gelatin you are giving him is powder or food, but the powder usually contains endotoxin as it is coming from rotten animal tissues.

I don't have any links to relevant autism research, as I said initially I am no expert on autism. I was just trying to give some dietary advice. The original post was about autism being caused by serotonin. So I was just trying to give dietary advice to lower serotonin as well as endotoxin.

Even hydrolyzed gelatin? I was mixing that into his milk. It is partly predigested, right?

I used to make soups with homemade stock but it is very hard to make a 2-year-old to eat meat stock. And the kids get bored with food very frequently and I have to introduce new "healthy" foods very frequently.

Thanks for the support

Hydrolyzed may be easier to digest and it may not. It still contains endotoxin. Also, what enzymes do they use to hydrolyze the gelatin? Could that be an issue for an autistic child? Gelatin powders are made from decaying/rotting animal flesh, look it up!

 

[StrongMom]

Serotonin causes autism; blocking it may treat autism

Just an update...
One of the forum members was kind enough to give me RP's email address. So I wrote him a detailed email with my and his health history. He obviously didn't tell me anything about curing autism, but suggested milk, cheese, eggs, shellfish, OJ, and cooked mushrooms for the diet and thyroid and pregnenolone as supplements.