Posts Tagged ‘PDD-NOS’

Creative Theraphy

Most people, including health care professionals, don’t put much thought into food or nutrition. When they think about food, it’s usually about how it tastes, looks, smells, or feels in their mouths. Typically the focus of family gatherings, holidays, and parties, food gives us a reason to get together and socialize. We don’t often stop to consider what it actually does in our bodies. But when you have a child with autism or a related disorder, it’s critical to understand that food is more than just something that brings us pleasure. What your child eats can have a major positive or negative impact on his brain and bodily functions. Therefore, it’s important for you to know exactly how food impacts your child. Both you and your child’s health care team need to recognize that without proper nutrition, your child will not function at his full potential and will not fully benefit from his therapy sessions. Following are just a few examples how a poor diet can negatively affect your child:

Brain development and function. Your child’s brain is highly dependent on the vitamins, minerals, amino acids, essential fatty acids, and calories found in food. For instance, if your child is not getting enough of certain key nutrients, it compromises his neurotransmitter production, the synthesis of his brain’s myelin sheath, glucose oxidation, and his visual and cognitive processing. If he’s consuming too much sugar and artificial additives, it can compromise his brain function and contribute to behavior and learning problems.

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