Obesity

Hi Desmond79.

  I have realized over the years (I'm now in my 50th year) that some foods are highly problematic for me. As an Asthmatic, I cannot tolerate Citrus and as a migraine sufferer a whole host of foods trigger migraines for me and my son, including Chocolate, Citrus, red wine, cheese, marmite, chinese five spice and star anese to name but a few.

Despite this, I'm a real foodie, but forget to feed myself. If it wasn't for my family, I may forget to feed them; as my mum did me, resulting in severe malnutrition. Consequently, I personally tend to binge. (The result of a childhood riddled with starvation.)

Now I cook everything from freah for my family and use ready meals as a treat rather than a solution, but inevitibly, eating fresh costs more and requires military precision for my own family who have very individual needs.

Over recent years, i've learned about autism burn out.

I have two sons diagnosed with ASD and both exhibit different forms of eating disorder. One has sugar consumption issues only matched by an overactive bee hive desparate to produce a liquid so rich in sugar you are high for a week, the other apparently eats just for comfort 24/7.

The truth is, that both consume so much energy just getting through the average day (Due to their stress and anxiety issues) that they hit the sugar dips of the natuaral human body at extreme levels and at different times and consume it in different ways just to enable them to get through the day.

My sugar crazed child no 3 troughs enough spoons of sugar in his tea that would put most humans into a diabetic hyper state, but forgets to both eat and drink throughout the day frequently enough, giving him hyperactive behaviour if unchecked, and son no 2 grazes food continually over 24 hours just to survive, but forgets to drink enough fluids giving him severe cramps and migraines if he consumes the wrong food.

People say, that on regular diets, you must consume little and often. The reality of those on the spectrum however, is recognising the patterns of the weekday stresses of those with ASD, verses the weekend issues of those with ASD, and adapting to those demands whislt trying to factor in the unplanned changes, Consumption of food and fluid at the correct regular intervals and that is healthy and umproblematic. Quite an undertaking if you suffer with food allergies and ASD.

I could supply many web links to back up my findings, but I urge you to reseach food urges related to ASD yourself and experiment.

Personally, I can't cope with sugar and prefer savoury hits, but recognising changes that trigger a greater need for energy may help you make more healthy choices for your energy hit.

Once you accept that your hunger pangs may be related to dips in your own energy levels related to the demands of your ASD day, you may feel better able to control the sorts of food you eat and the quantity consumed to sustain those demands.

If you are also unfortuate enough to suffer with food allergies as well, your progress maybe prolonged whislt you establish a balance. I strongly advise you take professional advice guided by a Autism Aware Nutritionalist.

(A detailed diary of your food consumption/verses daily dairy/verses your mood/emotional wellbeing and food cravings, would be very useful at this point) Not only for you, but for the nutritionalist to make sense of your consumption.

Dont feel at all guilty about your consumption or be tempted to fake your findings. Your recordings are an accurate record of your bodies needs and you should not feel bad about that. Take my advice and listen to your body. It's giving you the most accurate information and It's how we react to that, that makes the impact.

Please note, I'm not a nutritionalist or expert, just an observational parent of four.

Coogybear

I could also do with losing a few pounds.. so this is partly a case of do as I say, not as I do ;-) 

Aside from the obvious do more exercise, I would recommend some kind of slimming club especially if you need help with healthy recipes - Slimming World is good, the diet is very effective, and going to the class introduced an element of competitiveness which (for me anyhow) always helps. It is on my list of new year resolutions to go back!

If you would rather not go to a class, then Weight Watchers online is very good. Their website is excellent, with a very active forum where people post recipes and tips. They have a 'points calculator' where you can enter what you have eaten and it keeps a running total, and an app so you can go into supermarkets and scan items. I bought their scales which calculate Points, which are very handy when cooking. 

Both SW and WW do cookery books, and have some of their recipes online. 
www.weightwatchers.co.uk/food
www.slimmingworld.com/.../food-optimising.aspx 

A few general tips I have found for eating more healthily -
- Get a vegetable steamer. Veg tastes nicer and it is easy to clean up
- Slow cooker. Easy to throw veg or meat in it, then leave it to do its thing all day. 
- Agree that banning certain foods is a good idea unless you have an iron will. If I had a loaf of bread in the house it would be gone by the end of the day, along with half the packet of butter!  
- If you have the time, then I would recommend getting a juicer or smoothie maker. Many people find once they are in the habit of drinking something healthy, their tastes change and they crave veg rather than junk food. Carrot and beetroot are very good juiced, and would be good for Gran too! 

Hi Desmond, I too am a comfort eater. I agree that banning certain foods helps. If you give them up completely, you forget about them. When I was unhappy at work, I ate biscuits all day. On my days off, I would eat whole packs of cakes while watching tv. It is tough. 

I sugest that you shop imediately after a large meal, and ban one aisle at a time in the supermarket.

If you have time, try cooking an occaisional healthy meal. Once you have mastered it, you could cook double and put half in a freezer box for later.

Also walking is excellent for weight loss, even just round the block helps and it lifts your mood.

Good luck

Hi Desmond,

You are not alone in struggling with weight issues. I was frequently bullied for being fat at school but managed to get a better grip later on. Other memebers of the forum struggle with anorexia or over-eating issues. Often it is about not knowing where to draw a resonable line about what is sensible. We tend to go for all or nothing approaches to things in our lives.

Even today, I really struggle to walk past a biscuit tin without opening it and sampling the contents. My solution to this is mainly not to have snack food in the house. If you don't have a tin of biscuits to hand then you can't indulge. When you go shopping you have to learn to think that crisps, chocolates, sugary drinks etc are just not really 'food'. They aren't nutritious and healthy and you have to be able to not buy them.

I expect that my diet which is actually very boring and repetitive might not appeal to you. I have rules about what I allow myself to buy and am generally not very fussy about the food I eat apart from avoiding a couple of things that simply disagree with me (apples, tomatoes, uncooked fruit and veg)

My diet is mainly based on fairly lazy, minimal effort regime as follows

Porridge for breakfast, microwaved in 5 minutes

Canteen lunch e.g. soup and bread roll or meat & veg

Evening meal: pre-prepared chicken dishes from the supermarket (e.g. chicken in bacon or chicken and cheese) that can be oven cooked with some microwaved chopped carrots, cabbage, and 1 slice of bread and butter

this is enough to keep me going as a male, 6 feet tall, 12 stone 8lb. I cycle to work and back every day but I sit at my desk most of the day.

None of this is proper cookery - I don't make sauces or anything much from scratch but we do indulge in home made bread from a bread machine. I cheat with this by using the pre-mixed packets so this only takes about 30 seconds to make.