Posted by Laurie Beth on January 17, 2006, at 16:11:41
In reply to 'Diet change cured me of depression', posted by Meri-Tuuli on January 16, 2006, at 8:38:18
Both casein in milk and gluten break down into opiate-like substances (exorphins) before they break down into constituent amino acids. Many have speculated that failure to completely break down these substances before they leak out of the gut and through the blood/brain barrier is the cause of some or much autism, ADHD, mood disorders, schizophrenia, and so on.
I've been addicted to cheese/yogurt and wheat/gluten (and sugar) since early childhood. I strongly suspect that this is the cause of at least some of my mood, cognitive, and energy problems. But fixing this (or even testing the hypothesis for long enough - a week, 3 weeks, or more - there's a book on austism that says that the exorphins from gluten can remain in tissues for at least 8 months) seems virtually impossible for me, for a number of reasons:
(1) SO MANY foods have unidentified trace amounts of casein and gluten in them;
(2) perhaps because of the addicting properties of these foods, I became a picky eater in childhood and have only recently begun to branch out a little more in my diet; eliminating all dairy and gluten (much less corn, or soy, or nuts, or many other items that some have speculated might also cause similar problems) would leave me with little that I can tolerate eating, and with very, very few sources of protein; and
(3) in any event, even if my problems are due in part due eating these addicting foods, and even if I could somehow avoid eating them for long enough, and find enough substitutes to provide minimally required nutrition, I can't help but wonder if I was drawn to these foods and exorphins for some reason that wouldn't disappear just because I managed temporarily to discontinue eating them - even when a cocaine or heroin addict gets completely off his drug for a period of time, that's hardly an assurance that he'll never crave it, or give in to those cravings, again, right?
However, I decided today to TRY to go off gluten for a few weeks and, if I'm able to do that, then go off casein for 5-7 days (I can dream, can't I?) to see what happens. I decided to try eliminating gluten first because I know for sure I can't do 3 or 4 weeks off both casein and gluten without any direct evidence that it will help, and because it seems that it takes gluten exorphins longer to get out of the system anyway. But I'm feeling pretty hopeless about actually sticking with this plan, even for a week.
As they say in the autism community, the people who crave casein and gluten most are usually the ones who most need to give it up.
If casein and gluten don't mean much to you, it might not hurt to try to really avoid them for a few weeks (it's still not easy, as a practical matter, because of the unidentified trace amounts in many foods, but there are sources on the 'net that will help you identify brand items that are casein-free and gluten-free (CFGF)).
If you crave casein and/or gluten, OTOH, it will be harder to quit ... and more likely to be useful.
poster:Laurie Beth
thread:599584
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20051208/msgs/600018.html