Autism and Raw Foods

Autistic kids and raw food don't seem like a very good combination, and at first glance I'd say the same thing. However, after writing an article about Vitamin Therapy and Autism with Associated Content published in January of 2010, I did a bit of research on my own to see what those kids were dealing with regarding autism. One of the things I found out through that research was that these kids were compromised with digestion, and seemed to be deficient with re digestive enzymes

The first thought that came to me was, how can you absorb nutrients without proper enzyme levels? After all, it's enzymes that breakdown food and nutrition for adequate uptake and utilization of nutrients. My next thought was how abundant in enzymes raw foods are, and how much these kids could benefit from them. Those foods so rich in the enzymes that kids with autism lack. Here's the question though. How do you get those kids to eat them? Here's a few suggestions I came up with.

Raw Fruit and Veggie Smoothies

In a high powered blender, mix some yummy fruits that you know your autistic child already likes and don't forget the banana! Bananas always smooth up the smoothie very nicely. You can always add a bit of yogurt to the blended fruit mix to make it even smoother and yummier. Raw fruit is high in it's own enzymes and those enzymes will be helpful in digesting the nutrition in the smoothie.

You can also smoothie up your veggies in that same high powered blender. With the right combo of veggies mixed with perhaps a little frozen berry and apple juice. Combining some romaine and spinach with some banana and berry then thickened with some raw flax meal, makes it smoother, sweeter and more pleasant.

Raw Fruit and Veggie Juices

It wouldn't seem as though your child would readily want some veggie juice. Fruit is never that hard to talk kids into, however those nasty veggies aren't as fun to drink, but guess what? As an Outpost Natural Foods employee, I work the juice bar frequently, and I have watched child after child drinking some veggie juices down that wouldn't seem appealing to kids. Here's the secret. Add some lemon and ginger to carrot and apple juice. Or another nice combo with veggie juices is carrot, beet, celery, lemon and ginger. Or...how about kale, cucumber, and kiwi combined with some lemon and ginger? Something about these combinations with lemon and ginger keep things pleasant and tasty.

There's no doubt that live raw fruit and veggies are a rich source of not only the vitamins and minerals that are so badly needed for autistic kids, but the live enzyme activity in these foods will assist them with digestion of those nutrients. If that particular part of the digestive process doesn't occur, the nutrition in the food is wasted.

Sources:
http://stevens_mom.tripod.com/id42.html
http://autism.healingthresholds.com/therapy/vitamin-c-ascorbic-acid