Autism and Obesity

My daughter Morgan is overweight. Like her mom and her dad. I am having surgery in July. I hope that as I loose weight she will loose some too. She is 10 and weights 150 pounds. She is almost 5ft tall. She has a real obsession for food. She tries to eat all of the time, and I know that she is not hungry. Some of it is my fault, sometimes I will give it to her just so she will be quiet. Morgan is verbal, very verbal, and will get right in my face and ask for food for 30min to and hour, until I give in. I try not to buy bad stuff anymore, but sometimes her dad brings stuff in. I buy low carb stuff for her and she is not allowed to eat pasta at all. Pasta for her is like heroine. She could eat the stuff all damn day. I hope that with in the summer I can get her to drop 10 pounds. I am going to buy her a swimming pool so she can sit in that some throughout the day. So with the pool, her movies, and puzzles I hope she will not beg for food too much this summer. If the food is not in the house she will also beg to go to restaurants. But I have to be strong and help her loose weight as I loose. I have wondered about her having the surgery when she get older. Hopefully we will not have to seriously consider this. Well enough of this. We parents of children with Autism, and having WLS need to form a close knit group. We need to encourage each other in both of our struggles. Thank You, Susan

Susan. I work with Autistic students. They all seem to be greatly motivated by FOOD, although I do have one student in particular that I can barely get to eat ANYTHING. I honestly don't know how he survives. His parents says that his medication keeps him from getting hungry and that he eats well at home. He is 13 years ago and weight 52 pounds. This concerns me greatly. I am attending a new autism workshop next week in hopes of learning something new. I wish you the best of luck with your daughter and your upcoming surgery. Elle

My son is 9 and has aspergers. He weighs 134lbs. He is constantly saying he is hungry. I know there is no way he can be. He will go on and on forever until I give in. I know some of his weight was brought on by medicines. I hate to see him overweight. I tried to watch everything he ate so this would not happen. I also put in a pool this week to help him try to lose some weight. I am very concerned about his weight problem. I hope that you find a solution to your problem. Pam

It sounds like your daughter is addicted to gluten. Autistic kids can have huge problems digesting gluten, casein(dairy protein) and sometimes soy or other food items. The gluten protein gets into the bloodstream too soon, and it is picked up by the opiate receptors in the brain, so she is always craving her next "fix". The only way to break the cycle is to go gluten-free. I know it's hard, but when we took my son off, it was like a heroin junkie on detox. He vomited, got the shakes, and then slept on and off for 3 days. When he "woke up" he was ready to learn, not so quick to tantrum and scream. He has come so far, and boy do we see a difference if he gets something with gluten or casein in it! We know we're in for several difficult days. Check out gfcfkids.com Heather

I agree with Heather, it does sound like your daughter is self-limiting her food consumption to gluten-containing foods for the "buzz." When we removed gluten and casein from my son's diet, he immediately came out of his "fog" and was more open to learning and less oppositional. We went cold turkey with him and the first three weeks were sheer hell with his withdrawals. A good book about this is Karyn Seroussi's "Unraveling the Mystery of Autism and PDD." -BJ