My Autism Insights

image borrowed from Sheppard Software

So we were doing this vegetarian experiment for a week to see what the effect would be on the family: Would Gus focus better or would he start having sleep issues again?  Would MM start eating more?  Would I have more energy?  DH was just going along for the ride and wasn’t looking for any changes to occur.  Last night, after dinner, we took a vote.

“So, what do we say?  Vegetarian or cAAAARRGHnivore?” I said in my best squinty-eyed pirate voice.

I looked at Gus and he didn’t answer, so I figured he was just going to ignore the question, but then he said, “Omnivore.”  Sounds right.

MM: “Omnivore.”

I didn’t even have to ask DH who was trying his best not to laugh.  He admitted he’d already abandoned the experiment earlier that day.  “Omnivore.”  My vote was unnecessary because I’d have been outvoted anyway, but it would have been unanimous.  We all want our meat back.

The Details

The week started off well with individual veggie pizzas.  That was the night Gus wokeup in the middle of the night, but I think if I’d made a whole grain crust (very easy to do with a bread machine as long as you plan ahead) that might not have happened.  For day 2, we had a 3-bean chili, which I’ve made before.   That went over well.  Monday was bad.  That was the meatless loaf day and I can’t even write about it again.  Just.  Bad.

We recovered on day 4 with pasta served with a portobello & black olive marinara, and thankfully I redeemed myself in my family’s eyes.  But then we hit a snag.  Thursday turned out to be a really crazy day that included lots of manual labor.  By the afternoon I was exhausted, I  didn’t feel like cooking, and I was in a very blah mood.  Normally, that would be a hot dog night - no thought or effort involved.  It would have been safer.  We had agreed to have salmon cakes one night during the week, but I didn’t have the energy to make them, so I improvised.  The result was a sort of weird fisherman’s pie (like a shepherd’s pie with salmon and potatoes instead of lamb).  We will never speak of it again after this post.

The salmon debacle signaled the beginning of the end.  I think we were all starting to crave a burger, but we carried on into Friday for a whole wheat spinach and cheese lasagna.  Epic win on that one!  And if I had known how easy it would have been to make, I would have done it on Thursday.  Hindsight and all that.  We wrapped up the week with a whole wheat baked macaroni and cheese served with a huge helping of broccoli.  MM demanded leftover lasagna, but it really wasn’t bad.  She wanted orange cheese and I used white.

Changes?

MM ate spinach and she started requesting lettuce in her salads.  Otherwise, she’s not eating any easier and will manage to find something wrong with whatever I make.  No big change there.

Gus did better than expected in the sleep department, but as far as school, his week was so-so.  He did break out of his passive mode on Monday to berate me (deservedly) for the meatless loaf monstrosity, so it was good to see him stand up for himself.  Otherwise, no change.

One problem I had was that our diet suddenly included a lot more cheese than usual.  My stomach was not too pleased.  Beyond that, I didn’t feel too different.  My energy level seemed more effected by the weather than by our diet.  However, a week is probably not long enough to really feel a difference, and since I have tried this before I know that after a time, I would have had more energy.

DH wants a burger.  Or at least some chicken.

Conclusions

We can handle a few vegetarian meals a week, but ultimately, at this point in our lives, we still need some meat in there as well.    For a long time, I’ve avoided vegetarian cooking altogether because I thought it wouldn’t work for Gus, but some simple adjustments in the types of carbs we give him made it work.  So it’s straight to the middle of the road for us.  Perhaps less red meat, better carbs and more willingness to eat some veggies.  I’d say the experiment went pretty well, all things considered.

Amazing how I’ve been up since 4:30, got up at 5 to make this post, and it’s almost 6 and I’m just starting.  I blame my new toy, Twitter.  Anyway, on to thankfulness:

I am thankful that Gus got dressed this morning without me having to ask more than three times.  No fuss, no drama - that’s the way I like to start the day!  Of course, now he’s pretending to be a rock star, Reggie Rockout, complete with green shades, blue striped hat, my clogs and acoustic guitar (he’s in disguise).  His first song will be entitled Rock it Out, and the first album will be The Best Rock Tunes Ever!  I may have to get some t-shirts and hats printed.  Is it possible I can get him out of his disguise before school time?  Can I at least get my shoes back?

I am thankful that my kids love music so much.  Even if one of them doesn’t have the most melodic voice in the world, she makes up for it with enthusiasm and incredible creativity.  Some of MM’s lyrics are pretty cool!  So at any given time, one of them is always bursting into song as long as they think no one is paying attention.  Yesterday, Gus’s song was What a Day for a Daydream. There’s a voice and acting school somewhere nearby, I think.  If things pick up economically, I may just sign these guys up.

Finally, I am thankful that I have an extremely patient husband because I think the vegetarian experiment is really wearing on him.  I won’t even discuss last night’s meal right now except to say that I did cave in and we had salmon.   It was maybe a step above the veggie meat(less) loaf.

Oh, and one of the reasons I joined Twitter was to take part in Autism Twitter Day on Tuesday, December 16th organized by Bonnie Sayer of Autism Family Adventures .  So if you’re on Twitter and connected to the autism community in some way, check it out!  And thank you, Bonnie, for such a great idea!!

Comment with your gratitude, please!

Due to a weird confluence of factors, we decided to try eating vegetarian for a week.  We started on Saturday.  I got curious to see if a vegetarian diet might help my extra-low energy level (and seasonal depression), but I was concerned how Gus would handle it.  Usually when he doesn’t have the ‘heaviness’ of meat in his diet, he gets even more energetic than normal (often this manifests in the middle of the night).  But we figured he’d be all right for a week.  MM was the one who really cinched the deal - she said she wanted to “get used to eating vegetables.”  I couldn’t argue with that.  She’s also feeling the ethical effects of killing animals.  I can’t really argue with that either, although I’ve made peace with it.

I did some research on different nutritional requirements for kids - mostly protein and iron.   For school aged children, the number of grams of protein is almost the same as the number of kilograms of body weight.  A simple conversion tool online can get you the correct numbers.  I used to be very skeptical about vegetarianism for children, but it seems that their nutritional requirements can be met quite easily.  Good to know!

It was going better than expected.  I’ve figured out that as long as Gus’s carbs in the evening are whole grains (i.e. NOT white pasta) they seem a bit more stable in his system.  The only time he woke in the middle of the night was Saturday when we had an awesome veggie pizza for dinner.  I think if I had made a whole wheat crust instead of using the white Boboli crusts, he might have fared better.  Even MM is eating with less complaints, at least she was until last night.  Which leads to why I said it WAS going better than expected.

I decided to try making a veggie meat(less) loaf.  Holy cow!  Gus almost never complains about my cooking - he leaves that to his sister.  But after the first bite his comment was, “What did you make?!?!?!”  (You know it’s awful when I resort to multiple punctuation.)  It was so bad, I actually apologized to my kids and promised never to make it again.  Taste wasn’t the problem.  It just had the consistency and texture of a congealed Stage 3 baby food.  It was so bad that even MM, who never has a problem insulting my cooking, forced a smile and insisted, “I like it!”  She couldn’t keep a straight face though.  I appreciated the effort nonetheless.  Hubby was conspicuously quiet during the meal.

I haven’t noticed any change in my energy level yet, but from what I remember the last time I went vegetarian, it took a couple of months for me to really notice.

I doubt that we’ll ever be a completely vegetarian family, but if nothing else, if the rest of the week goes well, I’ll know that we can swap in some vegetarian meals a few times a week without a negative impact on Gus.  Actually, I wonder if this diet did change his energy level (just not in a way that he’d be up at night), if it might actually improve his focusing ability.  Who knows - just speculating there.  It would certainly force me to  get some of the simple carbs out of his diet, which in itself would be a good thing since he never has processed them all that well.

We’re going to try something safer tonight - pasta with a portabella and black olive marinara.  Later in the week I’m going to try a spinach and cheese lasagna made with whole wheat pasta - that’ll be interesting.

I’ll post again at the end of the week about the outcome of our experiment.  Wish us luck and let’s hope I don’t have any more disasters like last night!