Day 1

After spending the past two weeks reading three different books (Healing the New Childhood Epidemics by Dr. Bock, Mother Warriers by Jenny McCarthy, and The Autism & ADHD Diet by Barrie Silberg, we decided to change Ryan's diet. We are aiming for 100% gluten-free and casein-free (no dairy proteins) for at least 3 months. We also want to reduce the additives/preservatives, chemicals, and dyes that his body is exposed to. We're novices, and Ryan is only 3, so this should be an adventure!

I spent almost 2 hours in the grocery store (Hannaford's) and came out with a half a dozen shopping bags. My wallet was $152 lighter, and I was frustrated. My purchases ranged from pastas to cereal to hand soap. There were several items to choose from, which almost made it difficult to figure out what to buy. There were several bread options, flour options, and "milk" options; I ended up buying three different types of milk and two different types of breads. We were excited to try the new diet and I could hardly wait to find out if we would see any noticeable changes and how long it would take for us to see them.

For the remainder of the day we introduced a few of the foods as a test. He didn't like the light soy milk vanilla flavored nor chocolate flavored when by themselves, but he readily had it with cereal. Granted the cereal was not gluten-free (my dad didn't realize we purchased GF cereal and gave him the Cocoa Puffs.) We didn't bother opening up the rice milk.

I went online and ordered new sunscreen, soap, and shampoo for Ryan. There went another $150 but the we're hoping these new products will help his skin clear up. There are days that he scratches himself until he bleeds. We've always been told it is eczema and doctors give us all sorts of advice as to which products to use but nothing has ever helped.

DC