NEW BLOG: RECIPE BONANZA!
Friday, January 29, 2010
Esther Russ has started a blog with many delicious SCD recipes. Her mother founded the SCD Shop Digestive Wellness, which Esther has helped run for many years.
There is a new SCD book in the works and some of the blog recipes may be in it. As Esther describes, the new book will be much more than a cookbook:
My mom is working full time now revising her cookbook "SCD w/ Taste & Tradition". She's planning on publishing not just a SCD cookbook, but rather a complete guide for intestinal sufferers including stress management, exercise guide, cooking tips, and much much more, not to mention the most mouthwatering recipes. We spent all day last Thursday at the photographer taking magnificent photos. I'm excited to share some of them for your review. more
SOME SCD THANKSGIVING DISHES
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Hi,I'm always late with posting Thanksgiving dishes. Below are links to two sites with SCD-specific Thanksgiving recipes. (At least there will be recipes for next year. Cheers:)
Fern Pixel's blog
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Several recipes and also a video about the struggles of "fitting in" on the holidays.
Sandra Ramachar's flog
.
Downloadable Thankgiving day recipes!
FRONT PAGE NEWS: PARENTS OF AUTISTIC CHILDREN ENVISION A SOUTHCOAST CARE CENTER
Friday, October 9, 2009
Earlier this week, The Herald News, a newspaper covering the Massachusetts South Coast, made the Gottschall Seminar its front page news story.
Read the story online:
Parents of autistic children envision a SouthCoast care center
(The text below is from the Herald Story. More photos/information are available through the link above.)
Herald News Staff Reporter
Last update Oct 05, 2009 @ 02:33 AM
DARTMOUTH, MA
Cheryl Gaudino wants what every mother wants for her child, but for her, it’s more difficult. Her 13-year-old son Ryan was diagnosed with autism at age 3.
“I want my son to be productive and to enjoy his life,” said Gaudino, treasurer of the board of directors of the Gottschall Autism Center.
Autism is a developmental disorder that can affect communication and social interaction. Symptoms may include repetitive behaviors, little or no eye contact with others, a lack of interest in playing or making friends, fixation on certain objects, and a delay in or lack of speaking, according to the Autism Society.
But the causes of autism are poorly understood, leaving many unanswered questions for families dealing with the disorder.
“You become a detective,” Gaudino said.
She and a group of parents have been working for the past two years to establish a brick-and-mortar Gottschall Autism Center somewhere in southeastern Massachusetts. The group currently meets with parents of autistic children, offering help and support, but is trying to do much more.
The group envisions a center where parents could learn about autism and how to treat it, where conferences could be held, and where autistic children could get job training and learn about daily living. It would also offer campus housing on an organic farm where autistic children could learn about healthy eating.
“We’re hoping to become a national model,” Gaudino said.
Gaudino and a growing number of parents and caregivers in the autism community are learning more about the role food plays in autism. More than 50 percent of children with autism have gastrointestinal symptoms and allergies. They’re using the specific carbohydrate diet, which they say has helped their children tremendously.
The diet isn't low in carbs but restricts the proteins gluten and casein. Gluten is found in all wheat, rye, barley and some oat products, while casein is found in dairy products. The two proteins have been found to “drug” autistic children like a “morphine drip,” acting as opiates would in the system.
Gaudino can attest to these findings with her own son, though the diet is not yet a recognized medical treatment for autistic children.
“He’s been on the diet since diagnosis,” she said.
Before Ryan was diagnosed, he went from being a healthy toddler who was walking and talking to a child that could do neither. He was sick, had constant diarrhea and basically stopped developing.
Gaudino said his problems started after he received his vaccinations and had to undergo several courses of antibiotics. He had a fever of 107 degrees.
“It was horrific,” Gaudino said. “We almost lost him.”
Ryan began the specific carbohydrate diet, which substitutes ingredients like white flour and sugar for almond flour and honey, and regained much of what he lost. The diarrhea stopped and he was potty trained within a month.
On Friday, Gaudino and other members of Gottschall presented “When the Belly is the Beast: How Intestinal Health Impacts Brain and Behavior,” at Rachel’s Lakeside on Route 6. It featured lectures and a luncheon of specific carbohydrate foods.
Pamela Ferro, president of Gottschall and co-founder of Hopewell Autism Associates in Mattapoisett, offered hope to the crowded room of attendees in her lecture about the specific carbohydrate diet.
“There have been more treatments in the past three years than in the past three decades,” Ferro said.
She said there is a brain-stomach connection at work that is making autistic children sick and exacerbating their symptoms. She celebrated the emergence of “strong, scientific support” to back those beliefs.
Children with autism cannot break down certain foods, which leads to malnutrition and the inability to absorb nutrients. Processed foods like snack cakes, cereals, potato chips, and other ready-made foods are not digested and cause gastrointestinal toxins that affect the body and the brain.
Ferro, the mother of an 18-year-old autistic child, said the diet has made a huge difference in her son’s life.
“We know that what we eat can affect our health,” Ferro said.
Attendees were given recipes and a cooking video about the specific carbohydrate diet.
The rate of autism diagnosis has grown from one in 100,000 children about a decade ago to one in about 100 today. More boys are afflicted than girls.
Some parents and physicians of autistic children attribute this to the growing number of toxins ingested today. Some also suspect certain vaccinations can contribute to autism.
The Gottschall Autism Center is named for the late Elaine Gottschall, who worked with people suffering from digestive diseases. For more details, visit www.gottschallcenter.com, call Ferro at 508-941-4791 or phone Gaudino at 774-282-0293.
The group is currently accepting donations at P.O. Box 979, Mattapoisett, MA, 02739. They are also looking for a land donation to build the center.
E-mail Deborah Allard at dallard@heraldnews.com.
GOTTSCHALL CENTER: SCD AND AUTISM
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Note: This post is a pre-cursor to last week's SCD seminar.
Pam Ferro's voice mail will not accept any more calls. Emails bounce back, saying her in-box is full. Currently, her active patients number over 200. The wait list continues to grow, but she cannot work longer hours. Treatments take patience and cannot go faster. Despite Ferro's requests for assistance, little help has emerged from the mainstream medical community. Ferro, a nurse based in Mattapoisett, Mass., treats autism spectrum disorder by using diet.
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) now affects 1 out of every 150 children in the U.S., according to the Center for Disease Control. Children with ASD exhibit symptoms that vary greatly, from delays in learning language and lack of social range interaction to becoming withdrawn and self-abusive. Within mainstream medicine, there is no known cure. The only well-studied treatment consists of teaching behavioral skills.
Many parents run out of conventional options. One of them, Desiree Winterhalter, was given Ferro's contact information after a chance conversation in a health food store.
At age 18 months, Winterhalter's son Max stopped remembering his numbers and colors. He suffered from diarrhea and vomiting. At age two, his cognitive development halted; he also stopped growing. His doctors labeled Max "FTT": failure to thrive. None were able to help.
Winterhalter says, "I was desperate. Something was changing with Max. He was a mild-mannered toddler but he began having tantrums, picking up toys and throwing them. Max has two older brothers and I knew this wasn't normal behavior."
In Ferro's experience, Max's loss of skills, changes in manner, and digestive problems fit the profile of a child beginning to show symptoms of autism spectrum disorder.
Ferro showed Winterhalter how to change Max's diet. Within a month of feeding Max specific foods, he woke one morning and said, "Mommy, I don't have a tummy ache." Max soon re-learned his colors and numbers. Now, at age eight, Max is back on the normal development schedule, and above average in his class.
Desiree says, "I attribute Max's recovery completely to diet."
However, for mainstream medicine, dietary treatment of ASD is fraught with controversy. Doctors and researchers disagree on whether people with ASD have gastrointestinal issues. In addition, the medical community labels ASD as a neurological disorder--not something that diet can help.
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Yet Ferro notes that her ASD patients have some type of digestive issue, ranging from constipation to colitis. To treat these problems, she uses the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, or SCD. Originally created for celiac disease and inflammatory bowel disease, the SCD eliminates most complex carbohydrates and processed foods.
Ferro says, "On the SCD everyone does better: we are even seeing a response in teenagers and adults. We see improvements in language, cognition, behavior, mood, sleep, and of course bowel function."
According to Breaking the Vicious Cycle, Elaine Gottschall's book about the SCD, specific carbohydrates are not digested properly, leading to bacterial overgrowth and in turn the production of acids and gas. As Ferro explains, "These intestinal conditions result in a leaky gut and contribute to intestinal damage and behavioral changes."
However, without definitive studies, doctors will not accept the idea of diet influencing autism. Autism Speaks, an advocacy group that funded $36.6 million in autism research in 2008, has started to studies to address the issue.
Marianne Toedtman, the Assistant National Director of Outreach and Resources for Autism Speaks, says, "Parents for many years have been saying of their children: 'He has diarrhea.' 'He doesn't have bowel movements.' 'He holds his stomach all the time'. Doctors have never been able to diagnose the situation. There is a concerted effort to understand this more and validate it."
But Ferro will be waiting a long time for validation of the SCD. Study results will not be available for years. In addition, dietary studies are focusing on the gluten-free/casein-free diet (GFCF), a diet well known in the autism community through advocates such as Jenny McCarthy. The SCD used by Ferro is more restrictive than the GFCF--removing more carbohydrates as well as all additives. No one currently has plans to study the SCD.
Dr. Martha Herbert, a pediatric neurologist and assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, agrees with Ferro's approach. She says, "I've seen the SCD working for kids with autism and other diets too. I'm not ready to weigh in on one diet being 'the one.’ However, we're missing a very big boat in terms of what can help people because of a dismissive attitude toward dietary intervention."
Ferro doesn't want others to miss that boat. Her own son, 17-year-old Isaiah was diagnosed with regressive autism as a toddler. He lost eye contact and the ability to verbally communicate. He suffered from diarrhea and constipation. One year he missed 50 days of school due to severe abdominal pain.
After he started the SCD in 2002, Isaiah's digestive issues cleared up within one week. As the months progressed, Isaiah became calmer, happier, and able to participate socially in school. This year, Isaiah's seventh on the SCD, he gained entrance to a competitive music special program for autistic children, playing piano at the Boston Music Conservatory.
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Despite success, Ferro cannot handle any more patients because the SCD diet takes time to introduce. Autistic children are notoriously picky eaters. Their diets consist of few foods. They may avoid certain foods due to color, texture, or both. Many parents lack confidence to even attempt dietary changes.
Ferro says, "Having one child with autism is like having six children. Parents usually have to oversee their school programs and therapy while trying to manage their minute-by-minute care. These families are struggling on every front and we tell them, 'Change the way you eat'--and these are kids who don't eat."
To introduce the SCD, Ferro has long conversations with family members on how to transition. She helps parents read through Breaking the Vicious Cycle, the book that explains the diet. They take time to look at recipes, buy the ingredients, and finally spend a day cooking. In addition to the diet, she may include supplements for conditions such as clostridia, yeast overgrowth, or vitamin deficiencies.
Ferro says, "Introducing the SCD may take weeks if not months. But the children respond so beautifully that parents see it is worth the effort."
Despite lack of mainstream support, Ferro remains determined to share her clinical knowledge. She has prepared educational materials for other nurses and taught at autism conferences. Ferro says, "I just did a program for nurses at New Hampshire's Saint Anselm College."
Locally, Ferro has enlisted parents of former patients to assist families new to the diet. Jill Rainville, whose son was helped by the SCD, visited the kitchens of several local families to demonstrate cooking.
In 2006, to help with SCD outreach, Pam Ferro founded a non-profit, the Gottschall Autism Center. The board members of the Gottschall Autism Center include three doctors, two nurses, and two lawyers, all of whom have been touched by autism through a child or relative. All of them have been helped by Ferro.
In May, the Ronald McDonald House Charity awarded the Gottschall Autism Center a $10,000 grant to prepare a seminar for parents of autistic children. Scheduled for October 2, Pam and eight volunteers will host the seminar at Rachel's Lakeside, a banquet facility located in Dartmouth, Mass. Ferro hopes to teach over 100 people how to use the SCD.
To accomplish this, the seminar organizers will be taking over the kitchen at the facility. All of the food, from soups and chicken to banana breads and snacks, will follow SCD guidelines. Part of the presentation will be a movie of four local families using the SCD: going into their homes, seeing them cooking for their kids, listening to their suggestions.
Pam says, "Our goal is that when they leave the seminar, they will understand the diet. We want them to smell it, touch it, and taste it. We'll show them how to be organized so they can use it at home." Pam's group wants the families to leave armed with information and to feel confident that they can use the diet.
Until a few years ago, few methods existed to treat autism. Now, though, diet can help. Pam says, "The nice thing about SCD is that parents don't need intense treatment where they give their kids IVs and drugs and frequent lab work ups. It is just food. You can get your kid 90 percent better just by changing his or her diet."
SCD INTERVIEW: ERIN, CREATOR OF NOMORECROHNS.COM AND THRIVE MAGAZINE
Sunday, October 4, 2009
This fall, Erin B., the creator of www.nomorecrohns.com launched the 5th issue of Thrive--a recipe-packed magazine for people using the specific carbohydrate diet.
Below, she shares some of her experiences with the SCD.
After a month or two, I felt so much better. Then I didn't question whether or not to keep going.
It was neat to get that big of a goal accomplished. To complete the internship, to be on the SCD, and to be perfectly healthy.
At first, I told some people about it. Soon we had a packet of information we would mail to people. If someone had a friend of a friend with digestive issues, we would mail it.
Later we started the website as a way to give people many resources. It makes starting the diet easier.
Every week, between 400 to 1,000 people visit the website.
Often people ask, "I'm having symptoms, what do you think I'm doing wrong?"
I'll ask them to send a list of everything they are eating. Almost always there's something illegal that they didn't catch. There are so many little things that you have to know. So many people give up because they don't know something was illegal.
I encourage them to be 100% on the diet and that it's really worth it to make your own food. You don't want to get the illegals in there and mess up all the work that you've done--that's the biggest problem people have.
I recommended she take it out--and that it was easy to make their own tomato sauce. She wrote back and said that within 2 weeks of taking out the tomato sauce he was totally better.
In her recent email, she reported that he gained 12 inches in a year. That was exciting, to help them out.
When I was having my 1st baby I was concerned about getting the right nutrition. After I explained the diet to my ob/gyn, he said:
"Good girl. That's the way we should be eating anyway. You're probably eating better than everyone else is."
I felt relieved hearing that.
INTESTINAL HEALTH CONFERENCE IS THIS FRIDAY!
Monday, September 28, 2009
A quick reminder: Pediatric neurologist Martha Herbert and Pam Ferro will be speaking at a conference this
Friday in Dartmouth, MA.
Visit the Gottschall Autism Center website for registration details.
When the Belly is the BeastHow Intestinal Health Impacts Brain and Behavior
Friday, October 2, 2009
9:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Rachel's Lakeside
950 State Road, Dartmouth, MA
featuring
Martha Herbert, M.D., Ph.D.
Renowned researcher, speaker, author, and expert on the genetics of neurology and autism
Assistant Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School
Pediatric Neurologist, Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston
Director of the TRANSCEND Research Program
Pamela Ferro, RN
President, Gottschall Autism Center
Hopwell Autism Associates
hosted by
Wendy Fournier
President, National Autism Association
$30 per person. Includes lunch DVD and conference syllabus.
CONFERENCE OCT 2ND! INTESTINAL HEALTH AND THE BRAIN (AUTISM)
Friday, August 28, 2009
 |
The SCD community is at a tipping point. After a rigorous application process, the Ronald McDonald House Charities have awarded the Gottschall Autism Center a grant which will be used to teach families how to implement the specific carbohydrate diet—particularly for autistic children. Click the picture at left or read below for details of the conference: |
How Intestinal Health Impacts Brain and Behavior
Friday, October 2, 2009
9:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Rachel's Lakeside
950 State Road, Dartmouth, MA
featuring
Martha Herbert, M.D., Ph.D.
Renowned researcher, speaker, author, and expert on the genetics of neurology and autism
Assistant Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School
Pediatric Neurologist, Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston
Director of the TRANSCEND Research Program
Pamela Ferro, RN
President, Gottschall Autism Center
Hopwell Autism Associates
hosted by
Wendy Fournier
President, National Autism Association
$30 per person. Includes lunch DVD and conference syllabus.
MRS. ED'S SCD BLOG
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
"Mrs. Ed" send an email about her Specific Carbohydrate Diet blog which is titled "Mrs Ed's Research and Recipes". Below is a quick note about the blog:
AUTISM: DR. MARTHA HERBERT SPEAKS THURSDAY NIGHT
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Pediatric neurologist Dr. Martha Herbert, an autism researcher will be speaking Thursday night in Worcester, MA.
Dr. Herbert is familiar with the use of diet to treat digestive issues problems with autism. She is also the author of the Clinical Neuropsychiatry paper titled Autism: A Brain disorder or a disorder that affects the brain?
Details of her appearance are below:Understanding Autism And How Research Can Help: An Overview Of A Whole-Body Approach To Autism
Martha Herbert, M.D., Ph.D.
Pediatric Neurologist, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School
Director of the TRANSCEND Research Program.
Thursday, August 13, 2009,
7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. - Talk by Dr. Herbert
8:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. — Question & Answer Discussion
Location: Summit Academy, 15 Jamesbury Drive, Worcester, MA
This talk will address: A whole-body approach to autism; Applying a whole-body approach to treatment and research; Linking brain, body and behavior to other autism features such as: - Seizures - Sensory Problems - Sleep Problems - GI and Immune Issues - Studying a whole-body approach to autism development starting from infancy.
HILTON HEAD PRE-SCHOOL SERVES UP THE SPECIFIC CARBOHYDRATE DIET
Monday, June 22, 2009
In response to the requests of a parent with autistic twins, the program director of a Hilton Head Island preschool added Specific Carbohydrate Diet dishes to the school's daily menu. The May 26th article in the Beaufort Gazette goes into more detail:
"Their rocking and beating their heads against the wall ended," Rous said of Emily and Cole. "They were head-bangers."
Rous asked the school's program director Sandy Bass if they could incorporate the diet into the preschool menu for all the children. Bass said she was immediately on board and the menu now includes natural foods that the children enjoy such as pizza, fruit smoothies, fresh fruit and sugar-free fruit juices.
"Now I'm sold," said Bass of the diet. "I told her I'd try the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, and initially it was a struggle. But now the children enjoy it, they desire it."
