DAN diet, has anyone tried it?

[RooMama]

I've been hearing a lot on my PWS yahoo groups about the DAN diet. Phillip is about to start his first solids and I want to set him up well for the future.

 

[sreno7]

What is it? All I know is that is is important to follow the nutritionists time table for introducing solids.

 

[kayd1966]

The DAN (Defeat Autism Now) diet boils down to a GFCF (Gluten Free Casein Free) diet.

I tried it with DS and found that the huge effort provided very little to zero results.

The biggest change I've done in his diet is to make sure its packed with enough protien. His behaviors dropped to almost zero when I made sure he started the day with at least 1/2 of his protien requirements.

I would introduce his foods as normal, watch for allergies, and behaviors. The usual. Make sure the food is proper food not package food.

If you want more information on the DAN diet, let me know and I'll pull my stuff together for you.

 

[sreno7]

I have heard of similar treatment for ADD, make sure that there is protein with every meal and that the child especially eats protein for breakfast.

 

[StephieLuv]

I have problems with the ethics of this diet. maybe it's the acceptance advocate in me speaking for the little man but, wouldn't taking out wheat and dairy from a child's diet mean you're basically cutting off access to his/her daily dose of vitamins and minarals to grow and stay healthy?

 

[asdtmr12]

It really depends on the child. My 6 year old had tremendous results from the diet. We tried it at 18 months because we were desperate and that seemed like the only thing we hadn't tried at the time. He is in the autistic spectrum, although we didn't know that at the time.

He went from taking one 20 min nap during the day to taking 1-3 hr naps. His crying reduced dramatically. There are so many great options for food out there now that he gets great protein and vitamins/minerals. I have a lot of great recipes that we all like. There are many blogs about the diet with recipes.

I also discovered so many new grains I didn't even know existed. I was so used to using wheat. He eats meat, black beans, re-fried beans, chipeas, etc for protein. We use Hemp milk to make homemade ice cream. It has all the essential amino acids and great omega 3, 6.

If your child is struggling, you may want to try it. But I wouldn't necessarily try it if they aren't struggling. If your child responds, it is totally worth the effort. If they don't, then you know you can quit.

 

[toLiJC]

there is a movie made on a true story about a similar diet, here is it: ...First Do No Harm (TV 1997) - IMDb

the naturopathic medicine is very powerful way

Blessings

 

[StephieLuv]

It really depends on the child. My 6 year old had tremendous results from the diet. We tried it at 18 months because we were desperate and that seemed like the only thing we hadn't tried at the time. He is in the autistic spectrum, although we didn't know that at the time.

He went from taking one 20 min nap during the day to taking 1-3 hr naps. His crying reduced dramatically. There are so many great options for food out there now that he gets great protein and vitamins/minerals. I have a lot of great recipes that we all like. There are many blogs about the diet with recipes.

I also discovered so many new grains I didn't even know existed. I was so used to using wheat. He eats meat, black beans, re-fried beans, chipeas, etc for protein. We use Hemp milk to make homemade ice cream. It has all the essential amino acids and great omega 3, 6.

If your child is struggling, you may want to try it. But I wouldn't necessarily try it if they aren't struggling. If your child responds, it is totally worth the effort. If they don't, then you know you can quit.

Oh u thought No I don't have children (not yet anyway. sheesh I'm not even married!) I'm the one who's on the spectrum. I was just giving my point of view on this subject that it may not work for some people. Sorry u thought that.