Autism and food

[Mia]

Wondering if this is a common occurrence with some individuals with autism? Recently a family member has been quite ill, yet he's hungry all the time. He's now unable to eat certain foods that he liked previously.

He doesn't seem to know or understand what he wants to eat anymore. When he eats something like chicken in this case, if he's hungry, he'll throw it up later. He'll wake up in the middle of the night with an upset stomach, and eat a bowl of plain cheerios now.

He doesn't throw up food that he considers good. Food that he's uncertain about, he'll be physically sick from. His diet at this point consists of cereal, oatmeal, fruit, yoghurt and tea, taco's, burgers and soup. Wondering if this might be psychosomatic? He may be making himself throw up. Know that in his childhood, there were a total of four meals that the family ate, all the time. Any experience with this? Any advice?

 

[Judge]

All I can say from personal experience is how peculiar, yet picky my esophagus can be about what it likes and what it doesn't like.

Definitely grease and the slightest bit of animal fat can kill me in this instance.

Hopefully it isn't gastroesophageal reflux disease he has. Where you can so easily develop a craving for much of anything that you in fact can keep down.

Or as my brother once commented to me, "You seem to be allergic to food."

But whether this is a trait of being on the spectrum, I cannot say for sure. Though it does seem common regarding those of us with some kind of digestive disorder.

What foods can he no longer seem to tolerate ?

 

[WereBear]

It can be stress related. I believe that those of us on the Spectrum run on adrenaline too much due to stress, which upsets the delicate balance of 150+ hormones we need to function properly. In my case, I was producing so much cortisol my cells began resisting it (you've heard of insulin resistant? Can happen with other hormones, too.) So I got symptoms of Addison's Disease:

• Extreme fatigue
• Weight loss and decreased appetite
• Darkening of your skin (hyperpigmentation) - late stage
• Low blood pressure, even fainting
• Salt craving
• Low blood sugar (hypoglycemia)
• Nausea, diarrhea or vomiting
• Abdominal pain
• Muscle or joint pains
• Irritability
• Depression
• Body hair loss or sexual dysfunction in women- late stage

In my case, I was suffering from a raging appetite and at the same time, an inability to face food. For weeks at a time I lived on ice cream and Italian cold cuts.

Also, people with digestive upsets think they are making too much stomach acid. In fact, we are not making enough. We can treat this with Betaine HCL. I did.

 

[Siobhan]

I've always had weird food stuff and it isn't consistient throughout my life either, it changes around every few years. Like I used to love pate and now it makes me nauseous, but I'm super super into pickles right now which I used to hate. I have a rotating cast of foods I can eat.

 

[Full Steam]

It can be stress related. I believe that those of us on the Spectrum run on adrenaline too much due to stress, which upsets the delicate balance of 150+ hormones we need to function properly. In my case, I was producing so much cortisol my cells began resisting it (you've heard of insulin resistant? Can happen with other hormones, too.) So I got symptoms of Addison's Disease:

• Extreme fatigue
• Weight loss and decreased appetite
• Darkening of your skin (hyperpigmentation) - late stage
• Low blood pressure, even fainting
• Salt craving
• Low blood sugar (hypoglycemia)
• Nausea, diarrhea or vomiting
• Abdominal pain
• Muscle or joint pains
• Irritability
• Depression
• Body hair loss or sexual dysfunction in women- late stage

In my case, I was suffering from a raging appetite and at the same time, an inability to face food. For weeks at a time I lived on ice cream and Italian cold cuts.

Also, people with digestive upsets think they are making too much stomach acid. In fact, we are not making enough. We can treat this with Betaine HCL. I did.

Wow.

I have been diagnosed with adrenal fatigue, and I take DHEA everyday (25mg, not the OTC stuff).

I have an undiagnosed as yet, gut issue. If I eat protein, especially fatty protein, I get nausea and extreme lower back ache next day. Doctor is thinking bacterial over growth and or h pylori.

I'm taking betain HCL, which helps a lot, so it's linked to lower stomach acid.

I think maybe low acid allowed an infection to get in, also h pylori lowers stomach acid too.

 

[WereBear]

Have you tried kombucha @Full Steam ?

 

[Chance]

Wow.

I have been diagnosed with adrenal fatigue, and I take DHEA everyday (25mg, not the OTC stuff).

I have an undiagnosed as yet, gut issue. If I eat protein, especially fatty protein, I get nausea and extreme lower back ache next day. Doctor is thinking bacterial over growth and or h pylori.

I'm taking betain HCL, which helps a lot, so it's linked to lower stomach acid.

I think maybe low acid allowed an infection to get in, also h pylori lowers stomach acid too.

At times (pretty often) I get this same thing I get nauseated and my back will hurt really bad (especially at night or early in the morning)... But I have never thought to link it to possibly what I am eating???

I have allergies so bad that they make me pretty miserable at times. I just sort of linked it to that because it always seems to kind of have the same timing, but maybe some foods are setting it off also. Its all so complicated. I try and map out all this stuff and people already think I'm a freak, so lots of times I just try and deal with it very quietly... : )

 

[Joel's Hear]

I am having an almost insane, unquenchable desire for fresh blueberries right now

A blueberry pie would work.

Blueberry cookies.

Blueberry cake.

Blueberry coffee cake.

I'm kind of torturing myself now, having none of these things. Blueberry jam is my favorite jam (just as raspberry is my favorite fruit, along with kiwis, mangos, guavas, and blueberries) but it doesn't sound too appealing right now.

Generally, I like a fairly wide variety of foods, but I feel the utmost desire for blueberries right now. I even just read the wikipedia article on blueberries.

 

[Mia]

His diet varies day to day. But he's hungry all the time. He's eating about half of what is normal for him. Yet all the food he's eaten in the past is an unknown factor. He doesn't seem to know if he likes it anymore.

No more italian food, pizza, pasta, nothing with cooked tomato, yet he can eat raw tomatoes. Most meat and poultry and eggs seem to make him queasy, no cooked vegetables unless they are pureed into soup, only raw.

So it's been perplexing, a focus on food textures has existed in the past, yet somehow, all of it's changed. Fresh fruit and applesauce and yoghurt.

Wondering if anyone has gone through a complete turnaround in diet like this.

 

[Siobhan]

His diet varies day to day. But he's hungry all the time. He's eating about half of what is normal for him. Yet all the food he's eaten in the past is an unknown factor. He doesn't seem to know if he likes it anymore.

No more italian food, pizza, pasta, nothing with cooked tomato, yet he can eat raw tomatoes. Meat and poultry and eggs seem to make him queasy, no cooked vegetables, only raw.

So it's been perplexing, a focus on food textures has existed in the past, yet somehow, all of it's changed. Fresh fruit and applesauce and yoghurt.

Wondering if anyone has gone through a complete turnaround in diet like this.

I do every few years, and have for my entire life. For a year when I was a kid, I couldn't tolerate salty flavors, and my mom had to take my food out before she salted it for the rest of the family, but a couple of years later I became a salt fiend. I mentioned a couple of examples above too, but unusual food stuff definitely seems to be a thing with people on the spectrum.

 

[Siobhan]

I am having an almost insane, unquenchable desire for fresh blueberries right now

A blueberry pie would work.

Blueberry cookies.

Blueberry cake.

Blueberry coffee cake.

I'm kind of torturing myself now, having none of these things. Blueberry jam is my favorite jam (just as raspberry is my favorite fruit, along with kiwis, mangos, guavas, and blueberries) but it doesn't sound too appealing right now.

Generally, I like a fairly wide variety of foods, but I feel the utmost desire for blueberries right now. I even just read the wikipedia article on blueberries.

I literally can't stop eating blueberries. I'll eat a 5lb box without noticing and spend the next two days curled up in a ball. As a result I only eat them twice a year when they're in season and I can u-pick. Damn delicious blueberries.

 

[Gracey]

Not a complete turnaround.
Currently I don't know what I want to eat until I'm really hungry (low blood sugar?)
In contrast to previously knowing in advance (OCD and organised) what I was going to prepare and eat a couple of weeks in advance.

I haven't thrown anything back up because I won't eat what I don't fancy at the time.

My husband will ask what I would like to eat, I don't have an answer.
This is a current thing and I'm guessing it's a phase, ...it won't become permanent.
?

I'm also guessing mine is anxiety related.
I don't have any studies or research to offer Mia, sorry.
I hope you can find your answer

 

[WereBear]

So it's been perplexing, a focus on food textures has existed in the past, yet somehow, all of it's changed. Fresh fruit and applesauce and yoghurt.

Aspirin? Long-time NSAID use can cause leaky gut. This lets food elements into the bloodstream, where they are treated as allergens, and trigger allergy symptoms.

How to Heal a Leaky Gut

I did it and it worked for me.

 

[WereBear]

Just a note about meat:

I respect people who become vegetarians for ethical reasons, and this can work for some.

I tried it and it did not work for me. I got sick. I am a longtime animal rights activist who took the No Fur Pledge at 12 and have been running a cat advice blog for ten years. I care. But I have to eat meat. I can't get protein from plant sources; it's that simple.

There's a lot of what I call "vegan propaganda" which pushes unscientific concepts about a diet without animal products. Humans need amino acids, B vitamins, and bio-available protein, and I have come to believe that those of us on the spectrum might need even more of these than the average. Because our brains are always working extra; to cope, to keep up with our interests, to figure out what for NTs is merely habit and reflex. We can literally run out of brain chemicals and the whole thing grinds to a stop; nothing works without brain chemicals. The base for these vital elements is fat and protein; usable fat and protein.

At one point I was so sick I used smoothies to get my nutrition. My body can tell the difference between pea protein and whey protein. One I can digest and one I cannot.

You may be different. But I learned the hard way that meat is not poison, animal fats are better for my brain than vegetable seed oils, that we should not fear salt, and carbohydrates don't give me energy, they make my blood sugar crash and my mood dark.

Yes, I am doing the opposite of what doctors and nutritionists have told us to do for decades. And it saved my life.

Just FYI.

 

[Buzzerfly]

Meat quality seems to be going down. We are avoiding often. My autistic family members prefer grains/cereals and fruit. I don't feel like this guy is faking throwing up. My little girl pukes often if she eats something she was apprehensive about. Probably because she knew her stomach in particular would be sensitive.

Look at humanity. Aren't they a little off their rockers often? They make the food, ahhh! simpler is better for us lately.

 

[WereBear]

Meat quality seems to be going down.

I avoid factory farmed meat and buy from local farmers as much as I can afford.

 

[Mia]

Aspirin? Long-time NSAID use can cause leaky gut.

He can't take aspirin, but two months of steroid's might be the culprit. Still looking into it. As for meat, he eats meat much more than I do. Just not as much lately.

 

[WereBear]

He can't take aspirin, but two months of steroid's might be the culprit. Still looking into it. As for meat, he eats meat much more than I do. Just not as much lately.

Steroids mess with my digestion something awful.

 

[Judge]

He can't take aspirin, but two months of steroid's might be the culprit. Still looking into it. As for meat, he eats meat much more than I do. Just not as much lately.

Bingo. Look up the relationship between stomach acid and steroid use. Likely potentiated by eating a lot of red meat as well.

Lots out there...

Oral corticosteroids increase esophageal acid contact times in patients with stable asthma. - PubMed - NCBI

 

[Mia]

Really miss seeing him excited about a meal, food is one of his favourite things. And I like to cook different things each day. Seeing his appetite halved and with little interest in food, makes me concerned for him. As long as I've known him, his food intake has been essentially the same.
It's changed minimally over the years as he's aged, but it's remained close to his activity levels and there has been little variance. This sort of rapid change has deviated from the norm. And he rarely deviates from the norm.