We have begun the glutamate free diet about a week ago.

We were already pretty close to this diet in that we were not consuming casein, gluten or soy and we are very confident that there was zero of any of that stuff in our diet. (That said we did have to take about three grocery bags of food to the homeless shelter after we learned how much of our “good” food had msg in it!)
The changes: for our child first of all we are noticing a willingness to try new foods. She is willingly putting things in her mouth that she has never had AND enjoying them. We are noticing an increase in her joy and smiling. We are noticing a more talkative child and spontaneous engaging social exchanges. The other morning I zombied my way to the coffee machine and from behind me I heard, “mommy, I’m making pancakes with papa.” I almost dropped my cup on the ground. She never acknowledges someone in the room unless prompted. We can’t really put our finger on what is “different” about our child since the diet change but something is definitely happening with her.

What hasn’t changed so far is her repetitive behaviors. We still see a lot of pacing and we still see a lot of repetitive play themes and unwillingness to divert. We also are still having a rough time with focus. Being that we are only a week in I am hoping to see even more improvement.

Helpful hint to parents starting the diet: we are keeping a food/behavior journal as each day goes on. It’s so much easier to track this stuff and go back to see what changes are occurring when it’s written down.

Kaili Reynolds