Dietician

I think it’s outrageous that she flatly refused to treat her because she is autistic. She should definitely contact her gp and explain what has happened - and ask that he refer her to a dietitian who can help her. I’m so sorry that your daughter has experienced this. 

How extraordinary that a gp referred her to a dietitian and then the dietitian says she’s not qualified to help her?! What the hell? Can she not ask her gp to refer her to someone who can? Because that sounds unacceptable really. I’m sorry - that must have been so disappointing for her.

Michael Mosley’s books on healthy eating are pretty good. The truth is that losing weight is actually relatively straightforward - the foods that really add weight are breads, pasta and sugar. I had a health issue once and tried various changes to my diet - one of which was cutting out all bread and pasta - all wheat containing products. You soon lose weight doing that. And take out refined sugar and processed food too.

Basically you can eat as many vegetables ( not potatoes though) , fruit (not juiced but whole fruit), fish and chicken as you like and you probably won’t get fat. Avoid all refined and processed foods. You can snack between meals if it’s things like apples and yoghurt. 

Dieticians are good but losing weight isn’t rocket science - but it does take discipline so it’s not easy. But the information is all readily available online and in books and podcasts etc. 

I know both of these are older books but I know a lot of people have got on well with The South Beach diet, especially if they're type 2 diabetic or borderline type 2.

I know lots of people scream about it, but Gillian McKeith's stuff was good, she advocated a very healthy, low fat and wholefood diet, at the time I was working in a wholefood shop and we had some new customers on the back of her programes, a couple of them were seriously over weight, said they felt sluggish and tired all the time with poor concentration, when they came back to restock after thier first visit a couple of weeks before they were both looking so much brighter, clearer eyed and skinned, they said they felt really good, had much more energy and concentration. Over time they must of about halved thier body weight and said they felt that this was a plan they could stick to for life, they never felt hungry unlike many diets they'd tried previously and just felt so much better. I started off a bit skeptical about her diet stuff, but having seen the results myself, I became a convert.

Thank you for this - very useful x

Glad to hear youve had some great support.

It is shocking but sadly not surprising. Well at least they admitted their inability to help and are not causing more harm. Bad advice about diet and misunderstanding of neurodiversity related issues around food can really cause damage. I know from first hand experience (my Arfid type issues around food and need for routine were interpreted as anorexia nervosa and I received extremely bad advice and I am still dealing with the damage caused by years of trying to fix a problem I didn’t have).

Hi, I have seen several dieticians in UK and other countries including through NHS and privately because I have a lot of issues with food and digestion (which I now know are related to autism). I can highly recommend Dalia Weinreb https://www.dalianutrition.com . She probably saved my life and it is actually thanks to her that I realised I might be autistic and pursued a diagnosis. She has a lot of experience with autistic individuals. I know it is expensive - I initially had some help from university to cover sessions, but maybe you can at least contact her ? (I don’t know but even if too expensive might be worth to get in touch and maybe she can also point you towards other resources). It is so important to have someone advise you who understands about autism, is compassionate and able to help make lasting changes. I know there is a lot of information about healthy diet etc out there but it can be really good to have someone look at your current diet and help you prioritise some key changes that you can make that work for you and have maximum impact- otherwise it can just be overwhelming or not sustainable in long term. Dalia actually also helped my mum (with lowering cholesterol levels) and was able to help even with one session. I have been working with her on and off for 5 years and I am extremely grateful to all the support I have received. 

Yep, in her case its cheese on cheese on pasta!

But she really wants to help herself, so we will try and get something together ourselves to help her make a start and she is going to make another GP apt.

Yes - shes definately been fobbed off.

Weve made a plan to sit down together on Monday to work out 4 weeks of meals, with accompanying shopping lists. Thats the sort of thing I hoped the dietician would do.

Anyway, we cant do worse than nothing ;-) And hopefully it will give a sense of 'where to start' until she can get back to GP

I know - I was so cross on her behalf!

Shes doing her best to help herself, but not getting the support she needs 

Thank you.

Yes I've suggested she revisits the GP to discuss this further.

Hi and welcome to the community.

I was quite overweight at one time. I could lose weight counting calories, but I found it hard and for me it encourages obsessive behaviour. I found it easier to just cut out carbs and sugar and stick to mainly protein foods and fruit and vegetables (cutting out all the starchy low nutrient foods like bread, potatoes & rice) not counting or measuring anything - just eating as much as I wanted. Foods high in protein and fibre tend to fill you up so you don't tend to eat so much. 

Disclaimer - this is not medical advice: your daughter should consult her GP before changing her diet like this. I did that and my GP was quite happy for me to do it, but your daughter needs to get advice if it is ok for her, if she wants to try it

I wish I could say I'm surprised, but I'm not, what your daughter experienced is all too common for people with ASC, mental health problems etc, it feels really punishing, but I think it's laziness on the part of professionals. I think it's shocking that the only help she got was a totally inapropriate diet sheet.

Personally I'd kick up a fuss, contact my MP, local news, national newspapers, write to the health trust, find out if this person has a professional body who can be complained too. Maybe contact Victora Derbyshire on Newsnight as this is exactly the sort of thing they and she cover, it is a national disgrace and people should be made aware of it. You could also write to health secretary Wes Streating at the houses of parliament.

That just seems like they didn't want to help.

It should be possible to make a diet plan. If there are certain foods which are an issue then they could suggest some alternatives. It might take a few iterations, which is probably why they couldn't be bothered.

I would think you are entitled to a little more help than an email. I'd explain this to the GP and ask to see someone else.

LinsT said:

All my daughter got from her was an email attachment with an article about feeding children with ADHD.

WTH that’s actually insane.

I don’t know what her safe foods are, but portion controlling and calorie counting could potentially mean that she would still enjoy the foods she likes, just in a safer way.

I mean, unless she’s anything like me and her safest food is cheese on cheese on cheese, then maybe a little variation would be better️

Thanks.

Fortunately she doesnt drink tea or coffee and rarely drinks alcohol.

Thank you

As soon as she mentioned her autism and ADHD to the dietician, she responded that this wasnt something she could deal with. All my daughter got from her was an email attachment with an article about feeding children with ADHD. Shes 28!

She is very overweight and needs to make some big changes. I fail to see why the dietician couldnt help her with some diet planning. Ive suggested to my daughter that she goes back to the GP and also places a complaint about it. Surely any reputable dietician could help someone create some sort of meal plan to help them lose weight.

In terms of her neurodivergencies, the problem is she gets easily overwhelmed - she needs a set plan that she can work from. She also has some issues with textures and dietary changes. She has to know in advance what she will be eating, or she will just immediately choose her safe foods, most of which are not very healthy sadly.

I guess the two of us will have to work it out together and hope we get it right. She can be hard to pin down to deal with these things - she works full time and is hyper protective of her 'down time'.

This is pretty much exactly what I’ve been doing with my diet (except I’m pretty bad with the coffee and alcohol…) and it’s been working pretty well for me.

Suggest she:

• count calories on the food packets.  Keep to under 1800 per day.
• Take more exercise.
• Drink water rather than tea, coffee, alcohol. 

In what way was the dietician not qualified to help?

If it were me, I'd go back to the GP and tell them and ask for a referal to someone different or more highly qualified.

Maybe something like slimming world would help, I don't know, I've never been, but I do know some people find it good.

I guess it all depends on why she's overweight and by how much, does she need small adjustments or a major lifestyle change?