I get lots of questions about special diets (even though I'm not an expert).  So I thought I would share some of what I have learned online.

Alex has been on his special diet officially for three years.  But for Alex it started well before that.  He would refuse foods and avoid foods that he had decided did not make him feel well.  This started before he was a year old.  I recall hearing when I was a child that disliking a food is an indicator of an allergy.  Adults were talking about it around me.  However, very little credence was given to it at the time.

Alex dislikes and avoids many foods.  He never showed an interest in eating or exploring food.  Food and discomfort are one and the same for him.

Phenol is one category of food that causes many people trouble.  Although it is talked a lot about in the autism and ADD comunities.  The intolerence affects many people in the general population as well.

So what is phenol overload?
Phenols are chemicals found naturally in many of our foods.  The chemical is associated with giving foods the appealing color.  They are a natually occuring chemical that for some can be hard to process once in the body.

What is occuring is that their bodies have difficulty processing the phenols into useful and/or non-harmful substances, known as PST deficiency.  The therapy has been to reduce phenol intake so the body has less to process and prevent build-up of unprocessed phenol in the body. 

Large levels of phenol build-up in the body can lead to behavior problems. Some symptoms can include;

• child waking in the night
• dark circles under the eyes
• laughing at inappropriate times
• self-stimulatory behavior
• ed face/ears
• diarrhea
• hyperactivity
• aggression
• headache
• head banging or other self-injury
• inappropriate laughter
• difficulty falling asleep at night

The typical adult symptom of phenol intolerance is chronic fatigue syndrome, which is the opposite symptom that most children have, altho some children do present as always tired/lethargic, instead of hyper with sleep and other issues.

High Phenol Foods
Banannas, apples, red grapes, artificial coloring, tomatoes, peanuts, oranges, cocoa, red grapes, colored fruits, and milk.

Most of these foods show-up on Alex's allergy panel.  So he does not eat them.  In addition, we have  him take a bath with epsom salt 2 to 3 times a week.

For more information research the Feingold Diet.