44. 3 Reasons Why Nutrition For Autism Really Matters
Description
Grab your FREE guide here: 6 Things to Know About Nutrition After an Autism Diagnosis
In this highly anticipated second season of the Nourishing Autism Podcast, Brittyn dives deep into the essential role of nutrition for autism. Brittyn explores the intricate link between nutrition and autism, emphasizing the significant impact diet has on gut health and, consequently, on neurological function. The discussion sheds light on common challenges like limited diets and sensory processing disorders, providing parents with the understanding and tools to navigate these hurdles. By focusing on the importance of specific nutrients and a sensory-oriented approach to eating, this episode is a must-listen for any parent seeking to enhance their child's dietary habits, ensuring they receive the essential nutrients for optimal health and development.
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TRANSCRIPT
Brittyn: [00:00:00] Hello. Hello. Welcome to season two of the Nourishing Autism Podcast. I am so excited for this season. I cannot wait to tell you everything that we have in store. It has been a hot second. if you regularly listen to this podcast when we were in season one. You know that I took a little bit of a break, and that happened around the time I had my son, Sam.
So I had him in November, 2022 and decided to take a little break from podcasting back in October of 2022. And I even titled the episode just a quick break, and here we are 15 months later and I am starting season two. So everyone who's here, who's a mom also understands that. the free time that you thought you were gonna have after you have kids, that is not the reality at all.
I wanna tell you the amazing season two that we have lined up, and then we will get on into this episode.
So I cannot wait to share this with you because I have so many amazing guests. We have Rob Gorski, who's the autism dad. That is going to be next week's [00:01:00] episode. I also have Molly Johnson, the autism consultant. the amazing Carrie Carello came on as well.
I also have some fantastic interviews with IEP experts, autism psychologists, feeding therapists, occupational therapists who will be talking about sensory diets and speech therapists, all of these amazing experts that are going to be coming in because I think what's really important is that we look at this with a holistic lens.
Now, nutrition is an incredibly important piece to this. It's the groundwork. We wanna make sure that we're laying that groundwork so that kids can feel their best, they can focus better, they can do better in school therapy and in life. And so what I'm here to do is teach you more about nutrition, how to expand their diet, because a lot of parents who are listening in, have children with extremely limited diets.
And I'll tell you why that is in just a second. But when we can do this all in a sensory friendly way, then we're able to see progress in all these other areas of life and see it trickle down as well. So I want us to [00:02:00] be able to look at all these different aspects, hear from all these different experts, and be able to understand different areas that may really benefit your child, or maybe it doesn't and you send it to a friend and you just learn something new.
I think that's great too. So if you're new here, know that all of my episodes will be less than 30 minutes. Typically, my solo episodes are between 10 and 15 minutes, and then my guest episodes will usually be closer to 20, 30 minutes. The reason that I do this is because I know that you're a busy parent.
I know that you're going from therapy to therapy to school. You have so much that you're doing and these hour long episodes. Ain't nobody got time for that, am I right? So I want to have these digestible episodes so that you can listen to them and really get the information that you need to go home and apply it.
Let's dive on into this episode, 'cause I'm so excited to talk to you about the three reasons why nutrition is actually important for autism. I think it's [00:03:00] easy to really get distracted by all of the different pieces, but I wanna break down for you three big ones.
So we're gonna dive on in right now.
Brittyn: So whether you've just received your diagnosis or maybe you received your child's diagnosis a few years ago or a long time ago, nutrition can be really overwhelming. I. Wherever you are in that process.
And then it can also be something that after you're a few years in, that you decide to start and you're overwhelmed all over again. So the reason why this can be so overwhelming. Is that there are a lot of people online, unfortunately, who are not credentialed sharing all of this nutrition information about autism, and it kind of muddies the water for all of us that are credentialed who do know the research when it comes to nutrition and autism.
Unfortunately, we see these people who are sharing either false information or maybe sharing like a very particular thing that worked for their child. That is certainly not a one size fits all approach, but they treat [00:04:00] it like it is. And so unfortunately it kind of discredits a lot of what we do.
So if this is you and you've seen that online, you're feeling really confused. Believe me, it is not you. It is the internet. And I encourage you any information that you find online, I encourage you to really. Research who it is, who's giving you that information so that you can credit or discredit them if they're a healthcare provider or if they're just someone who has learned something about nutrition and decided to share it online.
You just never know. So I am protective of that for you because I wanna make sure that we're taking in the right information. So let's break this down. We're gonna talk about the three reasons why nutrition for autism really matters. So number one, nutrition heavily impacts our gut, and the gut is a key player in autism.
Now we have basically a. Direct tunnel from our mouth to our gut. Our diet is the number one influence of [00:05:00] how healthy our gut is. Now, what some people don't realize is that our gut is full of trillions, trillions of bacteria. Now, when I'm talking about our gut, I'm talking about our small intestine and our large intestine.
So all of these bacteria that are living inside of our gut, there's good bacteria and there's not so good bacteria. Now, the good guys, they help us digest our food. They help us even nourish our gut lining, which is really important. We want that to.
Be super, super strong. If it's not strong and it becomes weak, we can develop something called leaky gut, which is something that we can see in children on the autism spectrum, and I'm getting a little ahead of myself, but that can also affect their neurological function. So our good bacteria, again, support the health of our gut.
They also create certain vitamins like vitamin K for example, is made in our gut. They can also create certain neurotransmitters, and a lot of people don't realize that because we think of [00:06:00] neurotransmitters in our brain, we don't think of them in our gut. So when we have gut issues and we have lots of imbalance and we don't have the right bacteria in there, it can affect our mood.
Sleep, our behavior and so much more. And those are a lot of the things that people are focusing in on for autism. They say, my child really struggles with sleep. My child really struggles with behavior or with their mood. And while yes, you know, we see that those are common symptoms in autism. It's important that we don't just write it off because your child can have autism, but they can also have an imbalance of neurotransmitters.
They can also have a gut imbalance. So it's important that we dig deep and make sure that we're looking at all the pieces. Now, this can get really complex, so I don't wanna go too far deep into this. Basically, what I want you to know is that. The food that your child eats matters the food that has fiber and [00:07:00] beneficial vitamins and nutrients, those are gonna feed the good bacteria in our gut.
Now, a lot of foods, especially the foods that children with limited diets prefer, they're not gonna have a lot of fiber. They're not gonna have a lot of vitamins and minerals. They're usually more processed. Now we're gonna talk about picky eating in just a second because I need you to know that is something that is deeply rooted in sensory needs and aversions and is not anything that makes you a bad parent because all your child eats is processed foods. There's so much more to it than just the foods that you present them with, right? So I need you to understand that before we start talking about this.
Now, the foods that don't have these nutrients maybe are higher in lots of processed starches and higher in sugars, maybe added ingredients. Those are gonna help grow the not so good bacteria, and that can create inflammation, that can cause lots of issues in the gut and when we have lots of inflammation like that, it can put us at risk for food [00:08:00] sensitivities and issues with immune dysfunction.
So there's a lot wrapped up in that. So we wanna make sure they're getting the right nutrients to nourish their gut. So that it nourishes their brain. We also don't want them to be low in certain nutrients. So if kids have a limited diet, they're also not getting all of the nutrients that they need, right?
All those vitamins and minerals and healthy fats and protein. So we look at it, we zero in, we microscope in on the gut. if we're not feeling good there, it trickles down to the rest of the body, especially the brain. So number one, that nutrition heavily impacts our gut. That's a huge key player for autism and helping kids feel their best, helping them focus their best and just.
Feel their best. And that is what I want for all of your kids, is just to feel good. 'cause when kids feel good, they can focus better, they can do better in therapies and in school, and it just sets 'em up [00:09:00] for a better, more enjoyable life as well. Now the next thing I want you to realize, number two, eating is a hugely sensory oriented activity.
Now, you may be familiar with something called sensory processing Disorder. And Sensory processing disorder is a, I'm gonna call it a diagnosis. It's not officially recognized in the DSM five, but it is a diagnosis that basically will explain how our body. Takes into account the sensory experiences that we have every day, whether that's smell, taste, touch.
So what happens is that our body receives that sensory input, and then our brain interprets it. But when our brain interprets it incorrectly, that may show up as, okay. That tag on the back of my shirt is absolutely. Something that is throwing off my entire day. I [00:10:00] cannot focus. Everything that I'm thinking about right now is this overwhelming feeling of this tag in my shirt.
It could be the seams and their socks. It could be the environment that they're in when they're eating, is that it's really loud and overstimulating. There could be a lot of. Sensory experiences that feel like nothing to you or you don't realize them 'cause they're in the background. But for a child with sensory processing disorder, this is turned up 200, 500, a thousand percent, and they are hearing and feeling and smelling everything all at once.
Now, the reason I bring this up is that up to 90% of kids on the autism spectrum also have sensory processing disorder or sensory processing challenges. Now this pulls into food because since. Because food is such a sensory rich experience. We smell the food, we taste it, we touch it, we feel it. We feel the temperature, we're looking at it.
All of this happens at once, and this can also change and it can be pretty unpredictable. [00:11:00] So for kids who have sensory processing disorder or autism who already have an increased sensory experience, food is not going to be something that is very enjoyable for them. And so usually they either avoid it or they stick to foods that are incredibly consistent and they can expect, they know what they're going to get from it so that it decreases their.
Of sensory overwhelm. So it's important that you understand if you have a child with a limited diet who's on the autism spectrum, the sensory experience of food is incredibly important. And if you don't understand the right way to expand their diet utilizing a sensory oriented approach, you likely are not going to have the success that you want.
And unfortunately, a lot of the approaches for picky eating, just the typical ones, like, well just. Put new food on their plate and they'll eat when they're hungry, or just stop feeding them X, Y, and Z and they'll eventually eat healthier foods or make 'em, just take a [00:12:00] bite and they'll like it.
None of those things honor your child's sensory needs and they're probably going to backfire. So if you've experienced that, you're not alone. Again, it's not you, it's the approach. So I need you to understand that and why nutrition is so important. Because due to your child's sensory processing needs and their sensory aversions.
Nutrition can be really hard as well. Now. Lastly, the important thing I want you to understand, number three is that our bodies and our brains need certain nutrients to thrive. And when kids do have this limited diet, they are not probably getting all of those nutrients that we need. Our brains really, really need healthy fats, especially omega threes.
And typically when kids have a limited diet. The first food that they're turning to is not going to be a food that's highly rich in omega threes, like fish or chia seeds and hemp seeds. So that is a huge group of foods that often gets missed. Meats are also commonly missed foods for [00:13:00] kids who have a limited diet because of the sensory experience of eating them.
We also see that kids on the spectrum often have low muscle tone. Throughout the body, but especially in the mouth and chewing some of those really chewy foods is just not doable. And kids are not going to eat a food if they physically can't. Now, meat has a lot of great nutrients in it, like protein and zinc and iron among many other things, which iron and zinc are really important minerals for autism and oftentimes we actually see that they're very low if you do go get a blood panel. So all of these things to say that we need certain nutrients to help your child feel their best, have the right nutrients for their body to function its best, and their brain and their gut. Now it seems like these are all like one-off things.
We have the gut, we have the body, we have the brain, but all of these things work together. So whenever you. Help your child [00:14:00] expand their diet, or if they don't have a limited diet because some kids won't. If we're helping them get those right nutrients, you are gonna set them up for success and all of these different areas of life, it's the groundwork.
That's where we absorb these nutrients. But it all starts in the gut. So I want you to understand how important that is and why nutrition is. So important to help nourish that gut, get at the nutrients that it needs so that it can shuttle that to the brain and the rest of your child's body so that they are their best self.
Now if you wanna understand my top six nutrition focuses when it comes to autism, you should grab my free guide. It's called Six Things that You Need to Know About Nutrition After an Autism Diagnosis. If you're listening to this podcast, I'm gonna put it in the show notes, and if you're listening to this on YouTube, you can also.
Download that through the link [00:15:00] below I'll pin it for you in the comments. Thank you all so much for listening. I am so excited to be back and celebrating the launch of the Nourishing Autism Podcast. If you want to make sure that you hear all the upcoming episodes with all of these amazing guests, make sure that you subscribe.
You can listen to this. Anywhere you get your podcast, make sure you click the subscribe button while you're there, I would also love it if you left a five star review, it would mean so much to me.
It helps me get my podcast in front of more and more parents who are looking for research-based information for their child on the autism spectrum, and a sensory oriented approach to help them expand their diet. these podcast episodes come out every single Wednesday. Thank you so much everybody for listening in. I can't wait to see you next week on my episode with Rob Gorski, the autism dad, where we talk about navigating parenting with a child on the autism spectrum, and he has three and he shares his experience since their first diagnosis in 2005.
I can't wait to see you there. [00:16:00] Have a great rest of your week.
Transcribed by Descript
About Brittyn Coleman, MS, RDN/LD
Brittyn Coleman, MS, RDN/LD, is a distinguished Registered Dietitian and Autism Nutrition Expert, known for her innovative, sensory-friendly feeding approach to nutrition for children on the autism spectrum. As the founder of the Nourishing Autism Collective, and as an autism sibling herself, Brittyn brings both professional expertise and personal understanding to her work. She empowers families with her expert guidance, helping children receive essential nutrients for optimal health and development. Her strategies are tailored to the unique dietary needs and sensory preferences of each child.
Brittyn's influence extends beyond her membership site through her active social media presence and her popular podcast, 'Nourishing Autism'. Her educational content on Instagram, YouTube, and other platforms has established her as a leading voice in autism nutrition, providing valuable resources, practical advice, and a supportive community for parents and professionals.
