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Enzymes for Autism and Other Neurological Conditions: A Practical Guide to Biomedical Therapy
This edition has been replaced by an updated third edition , which is available on this site.
366 pages, Paperback
First published August 15, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 26, 2009
This was one of the books that had been on my Amazon wish list and I got for Christmas. It was the first of 3 books on autism that I read after Christmas. It has been life changing.
My son is autistic. He eats a limited diet and has always refused any gluten free food that I have tried to introduce. I was always reluctant to take away things he will eat if he won't add alternatives that would be on the diet.
Karen Defelice introduced a wonderful alternative. Instead of only giving food that he can digest completely on his own, Defelice advocates introducing enzymes that will help him digest food completely.
There is a very detailed explanation of how the body digests that takes up a huge percentage of the book. She details the role of enzymes and where else in food enzymes can be found. She then goes into how adding enzymes as a supplement at the time food is eaten helps break down food faster and further than many autistic children can on their own. This, to me, seems like a logical step.
There is a lot of anecdotal information used. They used a message board and people, parents who thought their children might benefit and adults deciding to use the enzymes themselves, used the enzymes as a 3 month or 6 month experiment. In the Appendix, Defelice breaks down the results. She makes no bones about this not being a completely scientific study. Results are based on the changes noticed by parents and are very subjective, but most of the volunteers had positive results. She says that several of the adults, who started on GF/CF diets and were using enzymes to have occasional infractions, eventually went off the diet completely because the enzymes were so effective
The book convinced me to try enzyme therapy with my son, and I have nothing but praise for it. We started on January 2nd this year, and he has had almost no aggressive behavior incidents at school since he started back after Christmas break. He was having pinching, biting, or tantrum incidents 2-3 times a week, but now he is much slower to be frustrated or upset and has just been in a better more productive mood.
Is this because of the enzymes? I say yes. I was late re-ordering them over spring break and we ran out for 3 days. It was a pretty rough week.
My son is autistic. He eats a limited diet and has always refused any gluten free food that I have tried to introduce. I was always reluctant to take away things he will eat if he won't add alternatives that would be on the diet.
Karen Defelice introduced a wonderful alternative. Instead of only giving food that he can digest completely on his own, Defelice advocates introducing enzymes that will help him digest food completely.
There is a very detailed explanation of how the body digests that takes up a huge percentage of the book. She details the role of enzymes and where else in food enzymes can be found. She then goes into how adding enzymes as a supplement at the time food is eaten helps break down food faster and further than many autistic children can on their own. This, to me, seems like a logical step.
There is a lot of anecdotal information used. They used a message board and people, parents who thought their children might benefit and adults deciding to use the enzymes themselves, used the enzymes as a 3 month or 6 month experiment. In the Appendix, Defelice breaks down the results. She makes no bones about this not being a completely scientific study. Results are based on the changes noticed by parents and are very subjective, but most of the volunteers had positive results. She says that several of the adults, who started on GF/CF diets and were using enzymes to have occasional infractions, eventually went off the diet completely because the enzymes were so effective
The book convinced me to try enzyme therapy with my son, and I have nothing but praise for it. We started on January 2nd this year, and he has had almost no aggressive behavior incidents at school since he started back after Christmas break. He was having pinching, biting, or tantrum incidents 2-3 times a week, but now he is much slower to be frustrated or upset and has just been in a better more productive mood.
Is this because of the enzymes? I say yes. I was late re-ordering them over spring break and we ran out for 3 days. It was a pretty rough week.
December 27, 2008
This book helped me find a simple and infinitely helpful diet change for my son...raw milk.
August 14, 2009
Very enlightening!
October 28, 2015
A great resource for kids and adults that have gut issues. Enzymes recommended in the book are available on Amazon and through Azure Standard.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews