To say the dude is eating good is an understatement. He was gluten and dairy free for years. I’m still thankful I chose this path with Owen because within a few days of removing dairy from his diet he was talking. I believe there is a brain/gut connection and this helped him. Over the last year, however, I’ve been slowly introducing more foods into Owen’s diet and allowing him to eat gluten. For the first few months, he wasn’t eating very much but in the last few months he has really been branching out. He still drinks almond milk but I’m letting him have regular cheese and different things like that. I’ve always made him try a bite of new food choices and then let him decide if he likes it. He’s now also fascinated with going out to eat. This is very exciting to me because for years it was a struggle for us to go anywhere. We will pass a restaurant and he says, “let’s go eat”. I’m thankful that food is becoming interesting to him and for him to try more things is an incredible blessing. Some people with autism struggle with food daily. Owen would throw his food across the room if it wasn’t the right texture, temperature, or brand, even though it was something we worked on constantly. One of his therapists suggested to not let him see the containers the food came from and rotate between brands. I put in front of him a new brand of chicken nuggets and walked away. For some reason, I turned around and he had the plate above his head, ready to throw it. I said, put that down, it’s chicken nuggets. Luckily, he did and he ate them, but it has taken years of us working through these moments for him to not throw his food. Today he slept through the night and his teacher told me he had barbecue chicken for lunch. These times are a’changin. Change doesn’t happen overnight, but we are growing and learning together. Each of these steps I’m thankful for. Grow, learn, love and let your light shine. Smiles to all and donut daze!
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