The best books... are those that tell you what you know already

The title for this post comes from a quote in George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four. I'm using it to plug the fact that as from today - Monday 28th April 2014 - my book is out.

'Autism: Exploring the Benefits of a Gluten- and Casein-Free Diet. A practical guide for families and professionals' is available from the publishers site (Routledge) and lots of other real and virtual bookstores. I'm pretty sure that the book title is self-explanatory but just in case you need more information about it, here is the accompanying blurb on what we've tried to do:

"Once considered a rare condition, increasing numbers of children are being diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum, making it one of the most common and often challenging childhood developmental diagnoses. Whilst experts around the globe strive to unravel and truly understand how autism develops and presents itself, comparatively little is still known about the condition despite decades of research and investigation.

What is becoming clear is that autism is an extremely diverse condition with a presentation often complicated by a heightened risk of various accompanying behaviours and conditions outside of autism, variably affecting quality of life and future outcomes. Based on years of experimental study and thousands of personal observations, a growing body of research suggests that some challenging characteristics present in autism may be positively affected by the introduction of a gluten- and casein-free (GFCF) diet.

Autism: Exploring the Benefits of a Gluten- and Casein-Free Diet offers parents, teachers, and other education or health professionals with an easy-to-read alternative to sifting through the combined science. Written by leading experts in autism research, food, nutrition and dietetics, the book cuts through the jargon to offer readers a no-nonsense, accessible and authoritative overview of how diet might affect some characteristics of autism, and provides a range of useful recipes and handy hints for making mealtimes fun for children with autism and related conditions who are embarking on such a dietary change".

OK, so 'leading expert' might be a bit OTT for my part. Still, my co-authors and I have tried to provide a balanced overview of what the GFCF diet is and importantly what it isn't and where we're up to research-wise. GFCF recipes y'say? Yes, we've also put a few of them in the book too. Enjoy!