By Sueson Vess

Parents’ Tool Kit

A quick guide to rehabbing your child’s diet

Food can trigger a multitude of medical concerns, even in healthy individuals. When the body is compromised due to autism spectrum disorders, certain foods can aggravate an already stressed immune system and manifest new challenges, including food intolerances, pH imbalance, yeast overgrowth, bacteria and autoimmune disorders. In addition, gluten and casein may prompt an “opioid effect,” a condition that occurs when morphine-like peptides cross the blood/brain barrier. Symptoms can include hyperactivity, moodiness, inappropriate giggling, poor memory, sleep problems, constant hunger, lack of urine/stool control, craving for only gluten- and casein-containing foods and extreme “picky eating.”