Aspberger child and vegan eating

[graphicminion]

Hi there! Wondering if anyone has experience with Aspbergers specifically? I have a 10 year old daughter with Aspbergers who is eating vegan. But her diet is VERY limited: (raw) broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, apples, peanut butter, breads, some cereals, almond milk and plain pasta. She'll eat some food bars but really, not too much else. No beans. No potatoes. No corn...I worry about her not getting what she needs—though she is already 5'5" and weighs in OK at the doc's.

Trying to figure out if there's something I can do or if I don't need to worry...thanks in advance for any input! If this has already been addressed, please forgive me. Couldn't find it in search.

[lfwfv]

You can input her food into cronometer (see Jeff's forums about posts regarding how to using cronometer on the McDougall plan).

I eat a fairly limited diet myself and I get everything i need. I also don't eat legumes, and eat almost no corn (i hate it, though very occasionally i'll eat corn tortillas).

I typically eat:
bananas
apples
occasional other fruit: blueberries, strawberries, pineapple, pears, oranges, watermelon, peaches, raisins (depending what's in season and cheap)
romaine lettuce
carrots
broccoli
occasional celery
occasional red cabbage (been on a cooked cabbage kick lately)
cucumber
quinoa
brown rice
gluten free oats
occasionally millet
ground flaxseed
potatoes
sweet potatoes

That is really it. I am keeping track of my nutrients on cronometer and I am getting everything i need to maintain a healthy pregnancy so far. Since a non-pregnant females needs are even less (with regards to iron, protein etc.) I would bet she is getting what she needs. But by all means, check on cronometer.

[graphicminion]

Thank you so much for responding! I am sorry, I just now saw this (a year later--ugh). I will certainly go check that out as I have not really figured out much else in the year that has passed. I truly appreciate the information and am so sorry for not responding until now. Hope you and yours are doing well!
Again, Thank you so much!

[grid]

I can see it's an old thread but maybe someone someday will find it helpful...

@graphicminion: I'm not an expert but I have asperger's and I was a very picky eater (by the way, I'm still a very picky eater to be honest). When I was a child I didn't eat so many kind of things than your daughter, so I think you wouldn't be so worried. I was a meat and cheese eater, but first and last I ate the most 5 kind of things and those things must have been in the proper form otherwise I didn't even looked at it.

When I was a teen, my mother tried to take me to the market as many times as she could. These ''market days'' were not about buying stuff but about being together. We just walked between the rows of products and my mother told me stories about the veggies and fruits I'd never tasted before. These stories were mostly funny but told me how that particular veggie or fruit were used by one of my relative. I think my mom told me these "tales" because she wanted me to know better our family and they were nice memories for her, but for me, they were the credit for a whole new cuisine after growing up.

It means that as a child I didn't eat most of the things she talked about in the market, but later, when I decided what to eat, I was much more confident trying those things because of my mom's stories.

I don't know your daughter but I know myself and some other aspies. For most of us as a child, lunch and dinner time were always a little bit tense partly because we did not know what we were asked/forced to eat again we didn't want to, partly because we never want to make anyone disappointed we love and we did know that our eating choices are not fully accepted by the ones around us. That's why those market days were so useful for me. Those were about the stories without any stress on swallowing new things. Those days gave me infos without forcing me to do anything I couldn't do at that time.

In most cases we need looooooooong time to change. If you don't stress yourself but teach her without forcing her to use the knowledge immediately everything could be much easier for both of you. We are very sensitive to people around us so if you stress yourself on some of her habits, you will also stress her, although she might not be able to describe what she really feels.

Sorry if I seem self-important, I really don't mean to be. I just hope my stories might easy the life of some fellow aspies and their relatives.

Take care
grid