AUTISM AND DIET
Metabolic syndrome
Liver congestion
Thyroid imbalance
Adrenal stress
Candida
Leptin resistance
Brain support
Metabolic Syndrome
Metabolic syndrome is an imbalance in your metabolism. Blood sugar levels cannot stabilize and this
causes a myriad of other problems in the body. This
imbalance can lead to Type II diabetes. Metabolic
syndrome is usually caused by a diet high in sugar and bad fats (corn, safflower, sunflower, peanut,
canola, and soybean oils). This can also be inherited
in utero from the mother’s eating habits. It should
be noted that monosodium glutamate or MSG, a flavor enhancer that is added to many foods, is toxic to
the brain and contributes to obesity. The same is true
for the artificial sweetener aspartame found in many
food and beverage items labeled as “diet.” Additionally, when the body has multiple toxins to remove,
the liver becomes congested.
The omega 3 fatty acid docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)
reduces the risk of metabolic syndrome. DHA reverses insulin resistance, is known to reduce stomach fat,
decreases inflammation, and is a necessary component of brain health.
Liver Congestion
Most children on the autism spectrum are born with
a congested liver, and most adults have one as well.
If the liver cannot remove toxins quickly enough, it
cannot do its job of helping to remove excess hormones and keep hormones in balance. Hormone levels are balanced by the liver. The amount of hormone
issues a person has often correlates to the health of
their liver.
Insulin is a hormone. Insulin allows our body’s cells
to absorb glucose, or sugar, from our blood. Glucose
stops the body from using fat as energy. A congested liver and fat deposits around this organ cause
the liver to become insulin resistant. This causes the
body to produce more glucose, raises blood sugar
levels and further increases insulin resistance. To further aggravate the situation, once all sugar stores are
used up from the liver, your cells will begin to break
down protein from your muscles and bones to burn
as sugar. In this case, you must reverse this process
and re-train your body to burn fat.
Adrenal Stress and Thyroid Imbalance
This vicious glucose cycle triggers the stress response
on the adrenal glands. The adrenal glands release
the two stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol. A
release of these hormones triggers a spike in blood
sugar and eventually trains your body to continue
burning sugar instead of fat. This constant stress
response overworks the adrenal glands and causes
extreme fatigue. Eating sugar also triggers the stress
response. Weak adrenals lead to a poor functioning
thyroid gland, which also reduces the body’s ability
to lose weight.
The Right Fat
Today’s modern diet and general medical opinion is
that eating less fat and eating more carbohydrates
has caused an epidemic in obesity and diabetes. Our
bodies need fat, but it must be the right kind of fat.
Some good, healthy fats are olive oil, avocado, and
coconut oil. Remember that carbohydrates turn to
sugar in your body. This is often seen as belly fat or
fat around the waist or midline. The real health problem in that case is that there is fat depositing itself
around your internal organs and arteries that go to
your heart.
Candida Issues
Candida albicans, commonly known as yeast, can
become overgrown in the gut. When this happens
it not only effects the health of our gut, immune
system, and brain but our blood sugar, as well. We
will crave carbohydrates and sugar because Candida uses it as its food supply. Candida also causes the
gut to leak and allows for undigested food particles
to enter the bloodstream causing inflammation and
food allergies. Enzyme production decreases and
bloating increases. This all triggers an immune response that alerts the adrenals to affect their own
stress response. Worse, because the lining of the gut
Autism Parenting Magazine | Issue 44
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