Week Three Updates

A word about normal

Over the last week Andy and I have been seeing some improvements in Cade. Here are some examples:

Fine motor skills and attention

We have started having him practice tracing letters and coloring a little bit every day to help with his fine motor skills (which have been a significant challenge for him). He usually hates these "projects" and in the past it's taken quite a bit of carrot-dangling to get him to do it. Yesterday, I pulled out his sheet to work on. He was actually excited about it because it's a new one his dad made using Pokemon characters. He completed two sheets without me asking him to, and then wanted to paint the characters on the sheets. He and his sisters then spent the next hour outside painting. Cade hardly ever attends to anything that long - let alone a fine motor skill activity. Today, he used crayons to color his Pokemon character (several different colors for different parts - not just one color for the whole thing), and after he was done coloring, he asked Andy how to spell the name of the character. Without Andy realizing what Cade was doing, Cade did his best to write each letter at the bottom of the page as Andy said it, so that the character's name was on the picture.

Social awareness leading to trying something new

While swimming at grandma's with his cousins this weekend, Cade saw one of his cousins do a handstand in the pool. He looked at his dad and said "I want to do that, too!". So he hopped back in the pool and began several attempts. He actually did pretty well, too. :)

We realize that these may not seem like huge accomplishments, and we don't really expect that Cade will be a different kid overnight. But, these are encouraging and we've had some "normal" moments with Cade that we haven't had before. It's got Andy and me asking "What will 'normal' look like for Cade, and how will we really know if he 's making progress?". We are working on identifying some concrete measures we can use, which we'll share later. But the point is, things are changing.

After having Cade, and then twin daughters (all three premature and under some "abnormal" circumstances), Andy and I have joked that we wouldn't know "normal" if it bit us on the nose when it comes to having kids. Now that Cade is making some steps in a more "normal" direction, I've realized that "normal" isn't normal for us at all. So while the progress Cade is making is wonderful and encouraging, it is a change that our family has to adjust to.

Although I've know this for a while, I am also now re-experiencing that with any change comes some fear. In this case, it's not necessarily fear of the change itself, but fear of trusting the change. Is this "real"? Is this permanent? Will Cade be able to sustain this type of progress as he grows up? I know that there is research out there to help me find some answers, but I think it's important to recognize the emotional part of this journey and that it often takes quite a bit of time for our emotions to catch up with the facts.

I also know that, no matter what may or may not change for Cade, that there is a Creator who made him and loves him and knows what every day of Cade's life will bring before it ever happens. This, more than any progress seen, or research read, is what gives me peace about whatever our "normal" turns out to be.

Becky

Substitute treats

Hi there! This is Cade's mom (Becky). I haven't introduced myself yet and thought I'd take a quick opportunity to do that. We are excited to share our journey with Cade through this blog and hope that if others find it, it may be helpful to you.

Andy mentioned in his last post that Cade would be at camp again this week and we would hopefully be cupcake free. After talking again with the staff, they were very accomodating in letting me know that there would be a birthday this week (complete with cupcakes), so we made arrangements for Cade to bring a Paleo-approved popsicle with him instead. One thing we're learning is how important comminucating with those who interact with Cade can be. With good comminucation, we're able to stick to the diet and still give Cade options so that he's not left out.

Signing off,
Cade's dad's wife :)

Week Two Update

We made it through the week with no cheats/accidents (as far as we know.) Of course, maybe he's secretly hoarding cupcakes and donuts somewhere in the house, but if he is, I haven't found them/eaten them myself yet!

Here's a couple hightlights:

1. Hot Dogs
Before this diet, Cade only ate meat if it came inside of a piece of ravioli. Once of the first transition foods we used were hot dogs. Hot dogs are more uniform in texture and he was able to eat them better than regular meat like roast beef, chicken, and sasquatch.

However, I had first assumed that, since hot dogs were made of meat, they were okay and didn't contain anything objectionable. Now, of course, we read labels like legal contracts. We found out last week that not all hot dogs are created equal.

Every normal brand of hot dog we could find contained corn syrup. A couple of them had the tagline "Contains: soy" at the bottom of the ingredients list. I've been told corn syrup doesn't contain gluten or any of the gut irritants this diet is supposed to avoid, but we'd rather be safe than sorry. Plus, added sugar is added sugar, whether it comes from sugar cane or chemically treated corn.

I did find a brand of organic hot dogs, which I imagine sounds like an oxymoron. However, these puppies seem full of the good stuff. They are from Applegate Farms, and are made from "Made from 100% organic grass-fed and finished beef." The taste is a little bit different from a normal franken-dog, but Cade eats them fine.

Though I (Andy) am doing the diet with Cade, I haven't tried one because they cost more. About $5 for a pack of ten as opposed to the normal $1-2 for normal ones. I'll brave the corn syrup since I'm not the one with Autism.

2. Ketchup
Cade has come to LOVE ketchup. He likes it with his eggs, his hamburgers, his ham, and his roast beef. He's asked for it with his chicken. This comes with some positives and negatives.

Ketchup helps Cade eat real meat, which he didn't do at all before. He might see meat as a ketchup-delivery-device, but we see ketchup as a meat-delivery-device. I guess we're both getting what we want in this scenario.

The rub comes from the fact that most ketchup is made with added sugar. Most is made with corn syrup, although major brands are now releasing ketchup made with cane sugar. Either way, all the sugar can add up. There are sugar-free versions, but we're also trying to avoid artificial sweeteners.

I think the danger of sugar at this point is more in the hyperactivity sense as opposed to gut irritation. We'll just have to keep an eye on his intake of the condiment and see how he's doing. He only eats it with real food, so that's a plus.

3. Eggs
Cade hadn't eaten an egg in his life before this diet (except for maybe those baked in a cake). We started with eggs for breakfast maybe a month ago, and he's taken to them like he used to take to peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Every morning, he eats three scrambled eggs. I've read that eggs could potentially become a gut irritant, but this was lessened by cooking them thoroughly (scrambled as opposed to fried-with-runny-yolks). I'm not worried about it now, but it's something to think about.

Because he's eating up to 21 eggs a week, and I'm on the same diet, we are buying lots and lots of eggs. I'm wondering if they will be a point where buying laying-hens will actually be something we talk about. I don't plan on it, but IT'S A LOT OF EGGS.

4. Cade's Mom's Husband
Not sure if this bit of clarity can be atrritubed to Cade's diet yet, but I thought I'd mention it. My mom pulled out a picture of me at roughly Cade's age. I was relatively thin back then and had the same thin blond-almost-white hair that Cade has. We showed it to him because, if Cade had longer hair, we'd look like twins.

Earlier, we'd showed the picture to Cade and asked him who it was. He didn't have a guess, so we told him it was his dad when he was a kid. This Saturday, someone showed him the picture again, and he told them this:

"That's my dad when he was a kid. He's my mom's husband."

I was unaware that Cade even knew the word "husband," let alone could figure out who was who's husband. Although, calling me his "mom's husband" makes it sound like I'm not his real father. Becky, do you have anything to tell me?

I think that's it. We're on to week three, which is another day camp week. Becky will explain to them about giving Cade meth cupcakes and Cheerios. Hopefully they'll listen this time.

Week One Update

Last Sunday, July 3, was day 0 of Cade's new diet. It's a big adjustment not just for him, but for most of those he's close with.

Our principles with this diet, at least for the first month, and probably for the first several months are:
1. No grains.
2. No Dairy.
3. No legumes.

The food list for this diet was mainly taken from the shopping list found in Robb Wolf's book The Paleo Solution.  We made a Google doc of the food list to share with family and friends, which you can look at if you're interested.

Eating Updates
1. Eggs
Cade ate two scrambled eggs each morning and has recently begun asking for more. He eats them with a little ketchup, a brand we found without too much sugar and no corn syrup.

2. Meat
Cade doesn't complain when we give him meat to eat. A few months ago, it would have been a chore to even get a single bite into his mouth. He still chews it FOREVER, and it takes him a long time to swallow, but it all ends up in his belly. His digestive system probably doesn't have to do much with it with how much he chews the stuff.

3. Veggies
Pre Paleo diet, Cade received most of his "veggies" from a glass of V8 Fusion, which we eventually discovered was quite the sugar bomb of a drink. The closest thing to a veggie that Cade ate before beginning this diet was a potato, and he still would really only eat instant potatoes.
This week, he's taken a bite of green beans and, at one meal, eaten five whole baby carrots. I boiled the carrots, salted them, and paired them with bites of a hamburger. I think the chewiness of the hamburger hid the carrots pretty well.
A big challenge on this diet in regards to veggies is the lack of dairy. When I was eating low carb, I could put all the butter I wanted on top of my carrots. BUT, I think I came up with a solution: bacon fat!
We cook our bacon on a George Foreman grill, collect the bacon grease, and store it in the fridge. I put a pat of bacon grease, which looked quite a bit like butter, on top of the carrots, and they were AWESOME! I'm not sure if Cade cared, but they helped me eat them!

4. Cupcakes and Cheerios
Cupcakes and Cheerios? Isn't that the opposite of the Paleo diet? You're right, but Cade had both of them this week! Cade attended a pirate themed day camp. We informed them ahead of time that he was on a special diet and should only eat the bag of cashews we sent with him. However, Cade told us that he had shared a friend's Cheerios on Tuesday and on Thursday, he had a cupcake that was brought in for another child's birthday! Needless to say, my wife had to reiterate that he wasn't supposed to have anything the other kids brought in!
It's a bit frustrating because we tried really hard to stick to the diet strictly for this first week and BAM! We're starting from scratch. So, in terms of being fully grain-free, we have to start counting at Thursday.

5. Cashews
Cade likes cashews and since we've removed all the processed snacks he loved so much, we gladly give them to him. They are filling and full of fat. But, while cashews are allowed on this diet, I would imagine the fact that the ones we bought were covered in peanut (AKA legume) oil would be frowned upon! This was another frustration on top of the cupcake revelation, as we were trying our best to follow Cade's diet to the letter!
I simply thought that a cashew was a cashew, but apparently not. My wife looked through the grocery aisle and found very few options of cashews that had no added oils. We found these cashews on Amazon which have no added oils and ordered them. Interestingly enough, Amazon has a subscribe feature for food and pantry items where they'll automatically send however many you want every month or two or three. We ordered two three-packs in order to qualify for free shipping and set the reorder date to every two months. We'll let you know if this system works out.

Cade Updates
1. Swimming
Cade's grandma has a decent-sized kid pool in her backyard. Not sure if this is a result of eating better, but Cade went from very gingerly walking around the pool in swimmies and always staying above the water to jumping off the ladder and going under the water in a few day's time. Today he even started swimming under the water!

2. Language
For a child with autism, Cade is very high functioning. He's the type where people who don't know him well would say, "He can't be autistic!", but he struggles with understanding conversation, as well as expressing himself.
This week, returning from his swimming escapades and coming into the house, Cade said to me, "Daddy, mommy said you'd be so proud of me!" I asked what he thought I'd be proud of and he relayed the story about jumping under the water. This doesn't seem like much, but it sounded odd hearing him say it because he sounded so much like a regular kid.

Okay, I think that's it for week one. Now on to week two! Main priorities are: no Cheerios, no cupcakes, and no peanut-oil soaked cashews!

An Introduction

Its probably best to start this blog off by letting you know who we are and why we decided to take up space in this corner of the Internet. On November 12, 2005, my wife Becky and I were blessed with our first child, whom we named Caedmon (Cade, for short).

Fast forward through a couple of long years to May of 2009, my wife and I sat across a table from a group of professionals who placed our boy on the spectrum of autism disorders. Cade is enthusiastic and full of life, but has trouble with language, social skills, and regulating his emotions, amongs other things.

In February of this year, his father (that’s me) decided to go on a low carb diet after reading Gary Taubes’ Why We Get Fat. The weight quickly began dropping off me and the only effort I had to put in was to not eat things loaded with sugar and starch. As of today, midway into July, I’m down 55 pounds and my bloodwork has come back fantastic.

Continued reading on the subject of carbohydrate restriction, buoyed by my own body’s reaction to the diet, eventually led me to this post on robbwolf.com called “Real Life Testimonial: Scarlet’s Turnaround” which references Paleofreedom.com. While testimonials of how Gluten-free, Casein-free diets had “cured” autism had never impressed me in the past, the intriguing science behind the Paleo Diet did. Since getting rid of processed junk and eating real food seemed to really help out his old man, we thought we had a good chance of it actually helping Cade.

So we decided, “What the hey?” Let’s give this Paleo thing a shot for 30 days and see where it takes us. And that’s the point of this blog, to chronicle our adventures and struggles. It isn’t going to be all rainbows and gum drops, as autism is often characterized by a love of routine and a hatred of change. Hopefully, at the other end of this long journey, some of the fog hanging over our Paleo Boy might be lifted.

So, watch us, join us, and for heaven’s sake, pray for us!