No wheat is good wheat

Okay, so we're starting on Phase One of the GF/CF (gluten free/casein free) diet.

Desperate much?

In my defense, this diet HAS been shown to produce marked turnarounds in autistic spectrum, PDD/PDD-NOS and speech disordered children.

I call it "hopeful". My husband likes to call it "nuts".

Which is appropriate...since nuts are allowed on this diet.

The three of us--Colin, Evan and I (the Three Musekteers; we go everywhere together)--wandered through the aisles of Albertson's today. I was carrying Evan in a sling across my chest, Ubangi*-style. My cart was filled with casein-free items and organic fruit. That's okay. We live in California**. Nobody even blinked an eye. Now if I had had a joint hanging out of my mouth and was calling my children Moonglo and Purity, I would have REALLY blended into the walls.

Wish us luck. This is a last-ditch effort. Anything, oh please anything to get my son to talk...

(On a more serious NOTE: GF/CF is based on the principle that many autistic, PDD and speech-disordered children seem to show "leaky gut syndrome" and a marked inability to digest certain foods and/or produce certain enzymes. It is believed that certain constituents of those foods then go on to "poison" the brain. The foods are most often the ones children seem to gravitate toward, as the poisoning produces a sort of natural opiate effect--similar to the way alcohol, a poison, produces a "high" and at the same time is quite addictive. Casein, found in milk, and gluten, found in most wheats and flours, seem to be the most frequent instigators. Just so's ya know what-all I'm talking about.)

*Link credit: www.lionconservationfund.org
**Link credit: www.fiftiesweb.com