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Most progressive health book of 2009.
Nourishing Hope for Autism, a holistic book that promotes diet as an effective way to help reduce the symptoms of autism, has been named the Most Progressive Health Book of 2009 as part of the Independent Publishers Book Awards.
The author of the book is Julie Matthews, a noted nutritional consultant from San Francisco, who specializes in dietary intervention for autism, ADHD, and other disorders on the autism spectrum.
Matthews espouses the belief that autism is not a mysterious brain disorder, but rather a whole body dysfunction influenced and aggravated by environmental factors, including toxins, inflammation, sedentary behaviors, food sensitivities, nutritional deficiencies, and slow digestive development.
In her book, she offers a logical scientifically based explanation as to how and why diet affects many of the woes so physically obvious in children with autism, and offers parents a guide to the types of foods that could be exacerbating symptoms and those that can help eliminate them.
Virtually all kids with autism have some sort of digestive complaint or complaints, which can include diarrhea, constipation, bloating and stomach aches. Many get frequent infections and have sleep disturbances. These symptoms are indicative of a poorly functioning digestive system, or a “leaky gut,” meaning that nutrients are not being absorbed properly. “This leads to nutrient deficiencies, which can affect all cellular function, including poor brain function,” says Matthews.
Substances in food, such as gluten (found in wheat) and casein (found in milk), that cannot be digested adequately produce symptoms such as foggy thinking, insensitivity to pain, emotional withdrawal and irritability, says Matthews. Among her numerous gut-healing solutions, are removing sugar, starches and yeast-containing foods and adding healing foods, such as probiotics, fish oil, flax, turmeric and ginger. You can find the complete list of dietary recommendations on her website www.nourishinghope.com.
Nourishing Hope is an appropriate title for this guide for parents, who, it seems, are too often told that there is no hope for their autistic or ADHD child.
“Some parents hesitate to try autism diets – or physicians are slow to suggest them – because they don’t know why and how diet works,” says Matthews. “One recent news report about autism diets suggested uncertainly about their efficacy, saying it was uncertain whether diet helps the symptoms of autism, or whether it helps the gut, which in turn affects a relief in autistic symptoms. The insinuation was that since they don’t know how it’s helping, they don’t know if it’s working at all. This is foolhardy. Don’t limit your potential because some ‘experts’ fail to realize why and how diet works.”
Matthews spreads her message of nourishing hope as a keynote speaker at major autism conferences, including Defeat Autism Now (DAN!), Autism One, Autism Society of America, U.S. Autism and Asperger Assn., and the National Autism Assn.
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Comments
Awesome book...congratulations Julie!
Thank you Debora for writing this article about an inspirational woman and her important work. My entire family, all the way down in Australia, is benefitting from the information in Julie's book. All of us need to move away from the "supermarket" diet (processed, preservative-laden foods), back to nourishing whole foods. The results in increased physical and mental health will speak for themselves. Way to go, Julie!
Julie has taken the complex issue of autism and done a beautiful job of breaking it down thoroughly and clearly, based on science, research and her clinical experience. I have appreciated this book as well as her cooking dvd in my own understanding of the impact of nutrition in Autism, which has helped me better support families facing these issues. Thank you for your good work Julie.
I've read "Nouriching Hope" a year ago as my son is on a Specific Carbohydrate Diet and still refer back to Julie's book, for a refresher as new questions crop up. Her facebook site is great for questions also as she seems to respond often.
I am very pleased you are getting deserved recognition for leading edge dietary info in the autism/ppd/adhd field. We have a start on autism and vaccines at wholefoodusa.wordpress.com
You will be the first author we will introduce along side of Rimland and DAN!
Many blessings.-- Augie
I am SO glad to finally see some alternatives to "grin and bear it" for families with autistic children! Julie and www.nourishinghope.com are AWESOME - the role of diet is so under-appreciated in our current culture.
This book is an incredible resource for parents & practitioners alike. I have recommended it to many clients in my Nutritional Therapy practice. Way to go, Julie!!
www.NT11.info
Diet was our first defense in our fight
to help our daughter. Many parents brush it
off. I hope this book helps them to pay
attention for their children's sake.
This information is SO important and gets so little attention from both the medical community and the press that I am Thrilled to see it in the examiner. Thank you for giving those of us that live it a voice.
Congrats Julie!
Diet is the most important key to healing autism. No therapies will work as well unless you are using diet and healthy nutrition. My son was so autistic that I was told I would not be able to care for him by age 7. He now is high functioning in a regular class room. We are not done yet at age 10. Julies book is great!! KimberlyMahurin@Gmail.com
This book is amazing and has been helpful for all of us parents who are trying to heal their child/ren from autism. Diet and supplement changes really do work!!!
Nourishing Hope is a valuable resourse, not just for parents of kids with Autistic Spectrum Disorders, but also for adults with ADD/ADHD - specifically the late-diagnosed adult ADDer with a history of unfulfilled career goals and aspirations, and the co-morbid symptoms of depression and/or drug addictions. For those fortunate enough to learn about their ADD/ADHD in time to turn their lives around, psychological counseling may help with the depression. However, the wholistic approach to good nutrition which Julie offers, combined with a daily workout/exercise regimen, can provide the path to healing adult ADD/ADHD as well. Especially with those who find the pharmaceutical drugs like Ritalin, Welbutrin or Adderall to be ineffective, or counterproductive. So, if it's good for ASD kids, you might just find it is effective for ASD adults who chose the organic path of good nutrition, exercise, meditation, and perhaps even a personal coach. Julie, Congratulations on your achievements.
Julie's book is great. It is very informative and the directions are very easy to follow. If you have autism in your family, or just want to cook healthier I recommend this book. I have seen Julie's cooking class too and it is worth going to. You learn how to make nut milk, kraut, and other great things. I love the almond milk. It puts the commercial one to shame.
As a nutritionist working with Autistic and Celiac families going on the GFCF diet, I honor your efforts with this book. I'm tickled to see the powerful message of nutrition and health getting out there! Thank You!
Sandi Star
Founder
Karmic Health
www.karmic-health.com
A very very helpful book even to health people as well as ASD populations. Julie, Congratulations!
I am so pleased to see Nourshing Hope, get the recognition it deserves! Julie is amazingly talented in discerning specific diets and backs them with clear, scientific facts! She is a talented, educated, kind woman on a mission to help these children! The first step towards healing begins with food! Congrats Julie! XO
Julie is a genius! Her intellect and intuition combine in perfect harmony in all of her work. Keep it up, Julie!
This book was insightful and Julie is a wonderful speaker as well. I met her in person and she brings hope to us as parents who are striving to help our children who are on the autism spectrum. We are what we eat and this holds so true with autistic kids. Diet is a #1 way to help give them a good outcome in life and perhaps, recovery, too! We are on our way so to speak with our beautiful boy, Gibson, who we have seen great things happen for as we implement the GF/CF diet and lots more.
Thank you Debora for writing this article about Julie and her amazing work with Autism diets. She has changed the lives of so many children and opened up a way for parents to heal their children in their very own kitchen! I have personally seen children who didn't speak, start to talk after a diet change, children who vomitted every meal, actually keep food down after a diet change, and kids who couldn't attend to therapy start to listen after a diet change. It really works, and Julie shows you how! Thanks Julie!
Dawn Winkelmann, M.S, CCC-SLP
Speech Language Pathologist
Certified Feeding Therapist
Julie Matthews has done an incredible job with her book "Nourishing Hope." Not only is it a useful guide for dietary intervention, Julie provides a nice overview of the biochemical complexities of spectrum disorders, as well as the many benefits of biomedical intervention for autism. I commonly advise parents of autism-spectrum children to reference Julie's book for useful information.
Kurt N. Woeller, D.O. - Medical Director
Stillpoint Center for Integrative Medicine
www.mystillpoint.com
www.AutismActionPlan.org
This is such an important book and Julie Matthews is an amazing voice-- a well-spring of knowledge and wisdom for parents and healing professionals. I have recommended her book to my clients all over the world who have been searching for answers and divine intervention, and are awakening to new possibilities when it comes to food and their children-- all the while undoing the labels that dis-empower. Thank you, Julie!
This book is a must for families and physicians. It is well written, intelligent, thorough and most importantly - easy to understand. Julie's book is an exceptional resource.
Dana Laake, MS, LDN
The Kid-Friendly ADHD & Autism Cookbook: The Ultimate Guide to the Gluten-Free, Casein-Free Diet. 2nd edition.
Julie is a courageous and masterful visionary and practitioner who graciously perseveres to educate and partner with patients, families and colleagues. We are deeply grateful to Julie and her dynamic, dedicated team for their passionate commitment to promoting hope, awareness, collaboration and practical solutions.
Julie! You are amazing! Thank you for your extensive research and incredible information to help our kids! I have 2 that we are seeing amazing results from nutitionals. We parents cannot thank you enough for all that you do!
Love, Joy & Peace,
Kristy Casey Deal
Autism & Nutrition (Facebook)
www.healthforlifenow.usana.com
This book is one-stop shopping for excellent information about nutrition and the myriad of special diets that are helpful in autism-spectrum disorders (ASDs). I found the best part of her book to be Part 3 where she guides you step-by-step through an approach that helps you determine the best diet or combination of diets for your particular child. She tells you what's important to consider, and offers practical advice drawn from her extensive experience as a ASD nutrition consultant. She's a very popular speaker at biomedical-intervention conferences such as Defeat Autism Now!
You must be referring to the NY Times article on the Mayo Clinic study on Nutrition and Autism by the "health" author, Rabin. Mayo-Shmayo. My son has Asperger's and the article and the study infuriated me. I wrote an Op-Ed, a letter to the NYT health dept and to the author. They are dinosaurs and both the Mayo Clinic and NYT should be ashamed for publishing such a hopeless article when there are families seeing positive results by treating Autism as a gut and neurological issue. I'm one of them.
My son is 6 and for the last year has been gluten and casein free. His behavior was remarkably changed. Then eight months ago we started working with a DAN dietician. She taught me how to look more scientifically at my son's diet. With her help I desensitized his taste for sugar and carbs and now have him eating veggies in smoothies. I cried the day he actually ate broccoli and said "yum."
I'm an artist and drew up a full-size diagram of my son's body so he can also understand his body
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