Karla Eden’s son Colin was in first grade when he began having problems at school. “It was up and down. First they’d say he was gifted and that we should have him tested, but then he couldn’t finish his work because he couldn’t concentrate,” recalls the Plano mom of three. “Everyone said he had Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and anxiety, so we started down that path.”
For the next 10 years, several different doctors prescribed various medications including Ritalin and Zoloft. His weight ballooned, his self-confidence withered and his personality all but disappeared.
"I thought I was doing the best thing by going the medication route, but Colin was becoming a zombie; he had no emotion,” says Eden. “Certain drugs made him very anxious, giving him twitches, ticks and problems sleeping. At 16, his cholesterol started going up, and I knew we had to try a different approach.”
Frustrated and discouraged at her son’s endless struggles, Eden searched online and found someone who changed the course of her son’s life.
Finding the root cause
Over the past 20 years, special needs nutritionist Faye Elahi has treated more than 1,000 children with autism, ADD/ADHD, severe allergies or celiac disease. Elahi believes many behavioral problems can be resolved with nutritional intervention. She analyzes vitamin and mineral deficiencies, then tailors a diet to a child’s particular needs.
“Our food chain is more deficient than ever before: the American diet is loaded with saturated fats, starchy carbohydrates, sweets and unhealthy fats,” says Elahi, founder of Nutrition Balance for Life. “A child with special needs has an increased need for certain nutrients, like protein and good fats for brain and language development, as well as social and communications skills development. That’s why it’s so important to feed these children a better and more focused diet.”
Elahi, author of the recently published Ready, Set, Eat! Gluten-Free Nutrition Basics, aims to empower parents and children with special needs to take control of their health.
While most parents quickly line up specialists, such as occupational therapists or speech pathologists, they’re rarely advised to seek the complementary expertise of a nutritionist at the same time. Consulting a nutritionist “would lay the foundation for these children’s therapies to hold," explains Elahi. “There’s a direct connection between nutrition and therapies. If your child is deficient in B vitamins, he will develop neurological disorders. Parents will seek the services of a pediatric OT to help with the lack of reflexes or the development of certain muscles, but without proper nutrition, those therapies would hold for only about an hour or two and then they’d reverse back.”
Getting started
When seeing a new patient for the first time, Elahi usually runs a comprehensive urine test. "This Organix test is a non-invasive test for 45 different markers that are linked to some autistic behaviors," she explains. "It’s a question of determining their baseline dysfunction. It costs about $320, but is covered by most insurance plans."
To treat symptoms of ADD/ADHD and autism, Elahi identifies potential food allergens and then eliminates them through dietary modification. Elahi notes that clinical studies have proven that individuals with autism are more sensitive or allergic to grain protein, gluten and casein—a dairy protein. They may lack digestive enzymes, have nutritional deficiencies and food intolerances. A change of diet can improve language and development in as little as 90 days, she says.
Elahi may run a blood test to rule out sugar metabolism malfunction. When combined with a highly refined diet, this condition could lead to hypoglycemia, fatigue, inattention, or irritability. She may also check for toxic metal contamination, which has been linked to symptoms of hyperactivity and difficulty concentrating.
Elahi also prepares a list of foods to avoid. For example, if your child has autism, stay away from apples, almonds and strawberries, which contain naturally occurring salicylates. “These are substances found in Aspirin that act as a painkiller, and they’re not good for autistic children,” she says.
Highly processed foods are another no-no. "Eat fresh fruits and vegetables, meats that are minimally processed, and adopt a diet high in vitamin B sources, such as nuts and seeds. It’s never too early or too late. I’ve had children who were non-verbal, and after the diet’s been correctly implemented, they started improving in drastic ways: they started developing language and have more eye-to-eye contact.”
It turned out that Colin was allergic to several foods, including gluten. “He wasn’t absorbing B-12 (vitamins), which he needed to concentrate,” says Eden. “He wasn’t making his own serotonin to keep his moods level, and he wasn’t absorbing any magnesium. He was having twitches and ticks, and was just a nervous guy. We took him off dairy, egg and wheat and now he’s also gluten-free.”
Elahi created a customized multivitamins and minerals program, which “helped with increased concentration, better gut health, higher energy and better grades at school,” she says.
Eden describes Elahi’s impact on Colin’s life as incredible. “I never would have believed it myself. He smiles a lot more and goes out with friends, which he never did before. He’s getting straight As and got a scholarship to go to college. I had given Faye a picture of Colin right before she met him. Today, at 18, he looks like a completely different kid. He is a different kid."
