Book Review - The Autism and ADHD Diet: A Step-by-step Guide to Hope and Healing by Living Gluten Free and Casein Free (GFCF) and other Interventions

The Autism and ADHD Diet: A Step-by-step Guide to Hope and Healing by Living Gluten Free and Casein Free (GFCF) and other Interventions

by Barrie Silberberg

Rating: ** (2 stars)

 

 

I did not go into reading this book neutral. See, I wanted to love this book. I was excited to read it. While getting my Master's degree I searched for research on the GFCF diet for children with Autism. I was not very successful in my search. I could not see many empirical studies looking at the GFCF diet. Yet, I knew that L is as functioning today because I removed gluten early in her life. I know her behaviors are better now that it is out. I also know that S responds very badly to sugar. I know, with my own antidotal evidence, that diet can affect behavior. Surly this book would help point me to the research that is out there.

 

 

The book starts out strong. There is the author's own success story, followed by fact after fact after fact. Yet, there is one thing missing. There is no information to back up any claim that the author has made. There is no references, footnotes, or any scientific resource included in the book. Sure there are tons of web address - half of them are message boards.

 

Add to that the actual diet that is proposed. What is the point of removing gluten to replace it with high carb/low glycemic flours such as rice or potato flour? This is how we first approached the GFCF diet many years ago. My children ate processed GFCF food which was still junk. S went crazy with all the sugar in her body. The result is we went off the diet. This potential is mentioned in the book briefly near the end.

 

The book also includes testimonials of the diet by other families. I was not very moved by this. I wanted evidence not other people's opinions. The author then went on to fill a lot of the book with information on other therapies. Once again I was not impressed. I purchased the book for information on the GFCF diet not occupational therapy. My kids have been in that for years. In fact the only therapies mentioned that my children have not been in is the more controversial biomedical approaches such as chelation or the hypobaric chamber.

 

I really wish that there was some golden gem hidden in this book making it worth reading. Instead what I found was a collection of half truths with greater truths hidden in the text.