Seen a very interesting video on the net today. Featured on an American TV channel it features a doctor who has put forward the theory that there is a close link between the food eaten by and the behaviour of Autistics. His research is not actually the first of it's kind but it is good to know that it has been on going. What I also liked was the fact that he out right said that his diet suggestions might not work for all autistics. This is a good thing because I know from my own experiences that the foods he suggests being removed from the diet would not work on me. He suggests the removal of cows milk and gluten from the diet because in some autistics the chemicals continued within these foods can have an adverse effect on how the brain reacts to stimulus. I am perfectly fine with both these foods.
In my case it was an American Health Worker who provided my Mother with the information of what to remove from my diet. My Mother had known within a few weeks of my birth that I was not a normal child, the major sign being that I would start shrieking when ever anyone picked me up for a cuddle. However, when she tried to talk to the doctors about it the response was a barely veiled 'you're a first time Mother who doesn't know the first thing about bringing up children, go home and stop being so hysterical'.
It was an American Health Worker who was over here on exchange that actually listened to her and really looked at me but she said herself that she wasn't trained to diagnose and as a visitor to Great Britain she wasn't allowed to refer. However, there had been a study of the condition in America and she had a huge long list of things to take out of my diet. Top of the list was citrus fruit or anything that had been contaminated with citrus fruit (e.g. upside down cake). Even now I have to read every packet of cake because if there is pineapple in it I must not eat it for the safety of those around me.
If I do eat pineapple it is like something shoves me into the passenger seat of my own body and this violent savage thing takes control. I can watch what it is doing but I can't control it. It's almost like being possessed. In fact one of my friends has said that he's no longer worried about the possibility of a zombie apocalypse. If it ever happens he's going to find me a couple of axes, pour a pint of pineapple juice down my neck, push me out to deal with them and wait for the sounds of dismemberment to die down. It sounds funny but it's not very pleasant for me when I have something else controlling how I act.
Second on the list of foods I must avoid is e-numbers, in particular flavour enhancers. I've never understood the use of them any way. If your food tasted good enough it wouldn't need a flavour enhancer.
There are a couple of other things on the list and some of them, like chocolate, I seemed to have built a tolerance for (lucky me!). Others have been added on.
One such one has been Aspartame. This sweetener has the immediate reaction of throwing my into hyperactivity so I imagine it isn't to good for other Autistics. It is also a carcinogenic (i.e. causes cancer) because when it is digested by the human body it turns into formaldehyde. Come off it, would you want to drink the stuff Snape uses to pickle all those little animals in his office? No? Then why are you willing to drink it when it is disguised as Aspartame?
Aspartame is used in CokeCola, 'no added sugar' drinks and children's medicines for a start. Why is it that I get penalised because I have a glitch in my brain?
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