The Autism Society Event and Education Recordings Archive

Nourishing the body through food and essential nutrients is an important first step toward healing and recovery from autism. The presenter will provide an overview of the respective “autism diets”—GFCF, SCD, Body Ecology, Feingold, and low oxalate—and explain how to choose the best option. She will provide the scientific rationale for dietary intervention and present client stories to help inspire the audience. This session presents the foundations of a nourishing diet, strategies for picky eaters, and tips for successful implementation. This session will present information on the essentials of diet and nutrition intervention for autism.  Julie’s presentation will pull from the latest autism research studies and biomedical findings, as well as her years of clinical experience working with hundreds of families and the comprehensive content from her book, Nourishing Hope for Autism. 
Julie Matthews is a dynamic and inspiring speaker.  She will speak about the common autism diets used by parents and practitioners in the field of biomedical autism intervention including GFCF (gluten-free casein-free), Specific Carbohydrate Diet, Feingold Diet, Body Ecology Diet, and the low oxalate diet.  She will explain each of these diets and help audience members learn to choose the diet most suited for an individual, and how to customize a diet over time.  She will include brief client stories to illustrate the benefits and uses of the various diet options and to inspire hope.
As in her book, Julie’s live presentations combine information for practitioners and parents.  Julie is skilled at presenting complex information in ways that are easy to understand and apply at home, while at the same time providing scientific information for “advanced parents” and practitioners who want to better understand diet and nutrition intervention for their patients.
This presentation will include background information regarding the biochemistry of the body, the gut-brain connection, and autism as a whole body disorder.  She will particularly explain how diet affects the physical symptoms of autism, and the strong need to address gut-related digestive issues. This will help conference attendees connect the information they learn from other biomedical clinicians and researchers at the conference to further explain why diet helps with autism.
Autism diets involve more than food restriction.  In addition to removing offending foods such as gluten or casein, and autism diet should include good nutrition. Julie will discuss nutrient dense foods and how to make them most digestible including the concepts of: broths, vegetables, grass-fed animal protein and fats, soaking grains and seeds, and fermented and probiotic-rich foods.
From her clinical experience, Julie understands that many children with autism are very finicky eaters and she will spend time providing food and meal ideas that are nutrient dense and kid-friendly. Julie will discuss many reasons why children may be picky and how to work with them to increase their food intake based on her experience with many parents.  She will include some client examples that help illustrate how children have expanded their diet.
Julie intends for professionals to leave this session with an understanding of how nutrition and diet relate to biomedical concepts, underlying biochemistry, and the gut-brain connection.  They will have a better understanding of the various autism diets and when to consider recommending the respective options.  She expects that practitioners will gain a more complete understanding of diets that their patients may be using, beyond GFCF, in order to support them better.
Julie intends that parents will leave inspired and ready to make changes to diet as soon as they return home.  She will provide practical information for a range of parents—from things that parents new to diet can change right away, such as removing artificial ingredients, choosing and starting a diet, to detailed dietary suggestions for parents that have been applying diet for years.  She will make sure that parents of picky eaters know they are not alone and that they too can pursue autism recovery beginning with successful autism diet intervention.

Learning Objectives: