Quote:
Originally Posted by VEGANGELICA
The reason it might be relevant, Burning Down, is that if it were true that wheat (and related grains) resulted in higher risk of certain illnesses or developmental issues, and since so many vegetarians eat a lot of grains, then this could be used as an argument against vegetarianism. My counter-argument would be that vegetarians can avoid gluten and casein (dairy protein).
I hope your brother is doing okay and enjoying himself. The nephew of someone I once dated was diagnosed with autism, and over time he has been able to make more eye contact, which I hear is a good sign, but it is hard to get the proper help he needs through the public school system.
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Oh he's fine! He turns 12 in September. He is a high-functioning autistic, which basically means he doesn't show many physical signs of having autism. He does have some tics though, but if you met him for the first time without knowing about his autism you'd never suspect a thing. It's more of a learning disability in his case. Autism is just an umbrella term that covers so many different conditions.
My parents took him off the gluten-free diet about a year ago after they went to see a pediatric dietician. My brother is a very picky eater, probably the pickiest eater on the planet. A lot of autistic people have issues with food texture and taste, for example my brother will not eat something if it is burned, crunchy, or has a crusty layer. He is really underweight for a boy of his height, so the dietician has put him on a high fat diet of the foods that he likes to eat (basically the only ones he will eat) - dairy products, meat, peanuts and other legumes, and fruits. Within those categories he only eats certain things though. He drinks milk but he won't eat yogurt and he likes peanuts but not peanut butter. He doesn't eat vegetables, no matter what my parents try to do to get him to eat one. And he takes daily vitamin supplements, of course. Oh, he also won't eat something if it jiggles, like Jello (which none of us eat because of the gelatin).
I'm not a big meat eater myself. I'm not a religious Jew (neither are my parents) but I grew up with and respect the culture and traditions so I don't eat pork or shellfish. I don't eat red meat because I think it's gross. I just eat chicken and once in a while fish (because it's expensive). And I have an allergy to most dairy products but I get my calcium and other essential nutrients through supplements.