This might be a little confusing as to why I'm throwing in a
second diet recommendation in here. Just think of this one as an
alternative if the paleo diet doesn't produce good results.
The ketogenic diet is a diet that is low carb, moderate protein,
and high fat. This is similar to the paleo diet but differs in how
low you need to keep the carbs and how high to keep the fat.
A ketogenic diet starves the body of glucose (what carbohydrates
turn into in the body and what most humans run off of), to the
point that the body starts breaking down fat into ketones.
These ketones can be used to run the body like glucose was.
I'm guessing you have a couple of questions, like why I am
recommending the ketogenic diet at all?
One meta-analysis (a study that looks at the data from a bunch of
studies) found that "The limited number of reports of improvements
after treatment with the KD is insufficient to attest to the
practicability of the KD as a treatment for ASD, but it is still a
good indicator that this diet is a promising therapeutic option for
this disorder [49]."
Also, like paleo, the ketogenic diet is good for your gut bacteria.
It's been used to help those with other neural conditions, like
reducing seizures and behavioral problems [50].
Why am I recommending the paleo diet first?
Paleo is easier to pull off. With a ketogenic diet, you have to
keep the carbs low because giving your child more than 50 grams of
carbs a day could kick them out of ketosis. However, there are ways
to up the carb intake if you supplement with ketones to keep your
body in a state of ketosis.
The way I would approach it is to focus on going paleo with your
child, along with hitting the rest of the protocols and steps. Then
if you don't see improvement or your child plateaus, I would work
with your doctor to try out a ketosis diet for them.
Just like paleo, there are a ton of books written on ketosis. If
you want to look further, here are a few to check out.
* Keto Clarity by Eric Westman MD and Jimmy Moore
* The Ketogenic Cookbook by Jimmy Moore and Maria Emmerich