Helping Families Affected by Autism from a Functional Medicine Perspective
NUTEREL Guided Nutritional Autism Program
We outline specific suggestions of food choices, dietary supplements and functional medicine labs that your physician can order to determine areas of dysfunction in the body of patients with autism.
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Functional medicine testing to get a complete picture of the severity of autism for each patient
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Customized intervention plan specific for each patient which outlines foods to eat and foods to avoid that are beneficial for health, especially the brain and gut function
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Create a plan to introduce fruits and vegetables into the patients daily diet
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Determine the best way to utilize therapists (occupational, behavior, physical, etc.) to help introduce healthy foods to the patient
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Ongoing clinical reviews and progress reports to continually monitor patient health
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Direction as to which dietary supplements may improve patient autism symptoms
Learn more about improving brain function in kids with autism using Nutrition and a Functional Medicine Approach
Why We Are Passionate About Fighting Autism
Our mission to combat autism is personal. Not only does autism affect families all across the world it also has impacted our family. Our son (David Jonathan) was diagnosed with severe autism as a young child. His symptoms were extreme and included aggression, self-injury to him and others, biting other people, hyperactivity, diarrhea, lack of eye contact, and no verbal communication. As a couple, we were devastated by this diagnosis. We knew that we don't have many options available for the treatment of our son's condition. I was constantly researching clinical journals to see ways to improve the symptoms of autism. I found a physician and researcher who was able to treat my son.
After doing some laboratory testing, I found that my son had an infection (dysbiosis) in his gut. He had an imbalance of beneficial and harmful bacteria in his gut that was producing toxins and those toxins were directly affecting the brain. Also, he had a problem with his mitochondria or mitochondrial dysfunction. Mitochondria are the organelles inside the cells that are responsible for producing energy and are crucial for brain function. We started him with a couple of antibiotics (Vancomycin and Flagyl) to get rid of the harmful bacteria and a high dose probiotic formula to replenish the good bacteria.
Also, we started with dietary supplements that are beneficial for the mitochondria and we improved his diet. After a few days of therapy, his diarrhea stopped. In two weeks, his hyperactivity went down dramatically. He was calm and made better eye contact. He was not having any episodes of aggression, self-injury behavior or biting other people. We were in shock because we witnessed the relationship between the gut and the brain. If the gut is not healthy, the brain is not going to be working well. Now, my son is doing well in school. He improves every year. He loves math, music and going to theme parks and we love watching him grow healthier each day.
