Archaeology, and the GFDF diet so far

We've been having a ball reading about and playing at archaeology this week. We read Archaeologists Dig for Clues and Tut's Mummy Lost and Found which both came with our Sonlight Core B materials, and supplemented with dig magazine and the Geosafari Egyptian Dig kit. The kit was fun, but not terribly educational. We found at least one inaccuracy in the history pamphlet which came with it. But Max and Bess had fun making a mess, and afterward they created their own dig in the backyard. They found lots of acorns and one rock which led to a half hour argument about who owned said rock, because apparently it's a valuable dinosaur bone the likes of which the paleontology community has never seen. Fortunately, they settled it out of court. The acorns were cataloged as proof of an ancient squirrel civilization.

Archaeologists at Work

A few weeks ago, we put Max on a gluten-free, dairy-free diet for his GI symptoms(chronic diarrhea accompanied by slow weight gain). Many children on the autism spectrum have issues with gluten and dairy. We've been pleasantly surprised by Max having fewer temper tantrums and being much more talkative since the change. I'm not saying it's a direct result of the diet, because I'm sort of a skeptic about anything that isn't proven in a controlled, clinical study. I'm just making an observation. It's possible the change in diet happened to coincide with a cognitive jump. It's not unusual for Max to be completely incapable of doing something one week, and then become a master of it the next. So I don't know. But here are the changes I think can definitely be attributed to the diet change: fewer GI problems, better sleep, and increased appetite.

I'm not a natural when it comes to gluten-free cooking, but I'm slowly learning. It feels odd to have eggs in the house again, as we've been vegan for years. But Max is very picky about the texture of the foods he eats, and vegan/gluten-free foods were not getting eaten. So we buy eggs now. I only purchase free-range from a nice,local farmer, but I'm not naive enough to think the hens are sent to a retirement community when they stop laying. We are choosing our son's health over our moral stance. Maybe, one day, we will be in a situation where we can raise our own chickens who will have full access to retirement benefits.

I've created a page here for gfdf recipes and product reviews which I will periodically update.

Until next time!