-Feed him a gluten free diet and he'll get better
-Try a low fat/high carb diet and he'll get better
-Restrict his meat intake and he'll get better
-Start him on a organic, soy free, wheat free, gluten free, non GMO, low taste diet and he'll get better
-Feed him air and ice and he'll get better
Don't get me wrong, we did a lot of research on diet for children on the spectrum and we have tried quite a few of those "special" diets.
But as most children do, Noa decided to be a VERY picky toddler.
Many children with autism have food aversions and eating issues. It can vary from not wanting to eat a certain type of food to full on dietary exclusions of foods based on color. One of my friends' kid will only eat things that are white. Another one has a phobia of bread.
Noa will not and has NEVER liked meat. As with everything with Noa, starting off I thought it was a bit "odd". A toddler that refuses ANYTHING with meat in it. If he even smelled meat in something he would refuse it. We are unable to go NEAR the meat counter at the supermarket because the smell bothers him so much. He will stop dead in his tracks rather than go near it.
He was a very small toddler. Well below where he was supposed to be on the growth charts. So of course, we stressed about it.
He ate so few things we weren't sure if he was getting enough nutrition to help him grow.
So of course, we spend HOURS and hours online looking up substitutions and supplements.
Our pantry started to look like the aisle at the health food store.
We had chia seeds, flax seeds, almond meal, coconut flour, psyllium husks, spirulina, arginine, pea protein powder, brown rice protein, quinoa, lentils, etc.
Sounds weird huh? Even weirder? Noa loved it ALL. I had to learn new and random recipes to make with these things.
We stared making kale smoothies with all kinds of fruit in it. We would make so many that we would go through bunches of kale in days. They ladies at the grocery store would ask us "what are you doing with all this kale??" We eventually ditched buying kale and started a garden, growing our own.
Noa survives on pretty much anything green, grains and fruit.
He still has his interesting restrictions. He doesn't like anything white. His pasta is usually made out of chickpeas or lentils or whole wheat. Rice has to be black, red or brown.
Sounds like a parents dream right??
Yeah, not so much.
Have you even tried to run errands with a vegan toddler during the day? Where exactly do you go to grab a quick meal while you're out? Or what about driving across country? We will bring food with us in coolers because its pretty hard to find cucumbers, carrots and a kale salad 100 miles outside of town. The looks are hilarious when we go to restaurants and order:
"I'll have the pork loin and my husband wants the roasted chicken"
"And for your son? Chicken nuggets? Pizza? Spaghetti?"
"No, he wants the roasted pumpkin and kale salad with balsamic vinaigrette"
We have had plenty of shocked looks as diners walked by watching a 3 year old eat bowls of roasted veggies.
I've even had one grandma stop to ask "How did you get him to do that???"
Definitely more things I could complain about but this isn't one of them.
Its pretty awesome having a vegetarian kid
And look at the bright side, I know that I don't have to worry about anyone taking his lunch at school..unless they like kale and broccoli soup with seaweed crackers ;)
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