ADHD And Changing Diet

I also have an 8 yr old with ADHD (severe, combined type) as well as other dx's, and he is on meds as well. We don't keep any sugar treats in the house - just healthy treats (grapes, carrots, etc.) so that eliminates the "sneaking" food. The temptation is just too great for these kids and I was tired of finding hidden wrappers and getting mad about it. If chocolate milk is the only "treat" he is getting at school, then I would let that one go. I would talk to the teacher, though, about the treats that the kids get when they do a good job. I actually supplied the teacher with a big bag of pencils, erasers, stickers, etc. for about $20 and asked that she give these items out to the kids in the class, rather than using candy as an incentive. She was thrilled to do it!

Finally, look for a "trigger" food if you are still concerned about diet/ADHD. For one kid it was milk, another it was peanut butter, and another it was ice cream, and yet another kid it was cough drops (crazy, I know). Not all of my kids were/are ADHD, but their behavior would go downhill have these certain foods.

Hope at least one of these ideas helps!

I know at my daughter's school I didn't want her having milk for a period of time because she had been sick and just wrote a note and she brought a juice box instead.

I also volunteer in the lunch room as a monitor and have seen some kids like really obese children try and go in the line for seconds or ala cart treats and have seen the lunch lady's or a teacher tell him no, your mom said you can't buy whatever. This poor guy he was in second grade and really really overweight and was always trying to sneak or get junk food.

As far as your house don't buy any treats. If there not there, there's no temptation. My daughter's treats consist of yogurt, applesauce, fruit, healthy food that I could care less about her getting into. I know some parents who buy treats and lock them up. But I think that causes issues when the child is a adult.

My daughter doesn't have ADHD but last night was bouncing off the walls. Really bad not like her usual self and driving me nuts. I thought about what she ate and she had Jello. Something in that Jello had to do it. She's a very calm child and was a monster last night. So I'm not giving her Jello tonight. I think if you just pay attention to what he eats like keep a journal you can pinpoint what does it.

I don't have a child with AD(H)D, but I have been reading a lot lately about children, diet and various disorders such as AD(H)D, autism spectrum disorders and food/environmental allergies. I'm just going to throw out a couple of topics for you to google. I'm not by no means an expert, but I can tell you a few ideas I am seeing over and over that I find fascinating.

* The idea that our diet of processed, refined foods has upset the normal bacterial flora present in our gut, if the gut was ever even colonized as it should ideally be. (Some draw a connection between C-sections and an improper gut flora balance, since the baby's first non-sterile exposure is not from mom's vagina, but from the bacteria lurking in the hospital, thereby forming the base level of the child's immunity from a foreign sample. This assumes though that mom has a balanced gut, which I think many times is not the case. Thrush and yeast infections would be obvious signs of imbalance, more subtle ones might be intestinal problems, chronic constipation etc.) Anyway, the significance of this is said to be that the gut lining is weakened by the flora imbalance, thereby allowing chemicals and compounds through and into the blood that a balanced gut would not let pass through. These moms are using things like cod liver oils, supplimentary digestive enzymes and probiotics to heal the gut as a primary point of "attack." If this interests you, go to the MotheringDotCommune and search for "Healing the Gut" threads. There's a large camp there that knows a lot about this topic.

* On enzymes and AD(H)D: http://www.enzymestuff.com/conditionadhd.htm

* A PP already mentioned, food colorings, wheat, dairy. Really any allergy. It might be worth it to get allergy tested. Also, some fruits and veggies contain a compound called Salicylate, which can cause some people problems.

* According to Doris Rapp, MD (author "Is This Your Child?"), a good way to check a particular food is to avoid it totally, no by-products, no tiny bites, for 5 days, and then to eat it once on an empty stomach. A food/behavior diary would also be a good idea.

* Look at the Feingold and Failsafe diets.

Good luck to you!

I know you have all ready be advised to death over this. My adopted son was diagnosed as ADD. We found, believe it or not, that tomatoe products caused his wild behavior.That was because we kept track of what he ate. Once it was defined we just elimminaed tomatoe products from the family diet. Now that was a challange because we as a family loved tomatoes. But we all made the change. What a fantastic change in my sons behavior. I notified the school about our discovery and they watched him carefully while he was elementary school. By the time he was in Junior High he was able to manage the tomatoe problem on his own. We didn't have a video camera but I did have a cassette recorder so I recorded him when he was wild from tomatoe products so he could hear what he was like. He didn't like it and was able to understand why he needed to not eat tomatoe things. It was not easy but it was worth it. You can make it happen for you son as well.

I am no expert on this, but I have done some research (online) when my best friend's son was diagnosed, because she refused to medicate him so we searched for dietary alternatives. One thing we found was a lot of evidence that food coloring is a major factor, and since then I have observed a difference in my son's behavior when he eats food coloring. What I am hoping is that if I teach him which foods have "bad" food coloring (from a lab, labeled "red #5, etc) that he will learn which foods make him feel good and which don't. So many foods have lab food coloring! It's frustrating but there are also other options!

If you talk to his teacher about how much controling his diet can effect his behavior, he or she may be willing to arrange for an aide or something to go through the lunch line with him to make sure he makes choices within the dietary limits you've set. Afterall, if he eats the things that set him off, the teacher will suffer as well. And I'm sure he or she only wants what's best for your son's learning.
Best of luck! :)

Hi J.,

I don't know if you have access to CNN, but their special investigations unit is airing a report on the American diet that I found very interesting. I saw it last night and it's airing again a couple times tonight so maybe you can catch it. Towards the end they talk about Omega-6 fatty acids and Omega-3 fatty acids and how our excess of omega-6 intake impacts the brain and behavior. I have yet to do more research on this, but found it very intriguing and think you might too.

While it's difficult to control your child's food choices at school, I like Missy's idea about talking to the teacher. Other than that I think the best thing you could do is try to compensate for bad choices at school in the home. Really eliminate the treats - even at the expense of your other kids and any daycare kids. The foods that are in your house are the ones you have major control over. Kids really don't need treats and your daycare kids will get them from their parents at home anyway.
Either way, I think you'll like the story about omega-6 and omega-3 that will be on tonight.

I know that there has been a lot of research into wheat and dairy free diets as well as removing artificial dyes from diets. Previous poster mentioned about the Jello. There is a red #5 or something like that that is bad for kids with hyperactivity. Also look into adding a magnesium supplement to your child's diet. It's been shown that kids with ADHD have a lower level of that in their body and when you add a supplement they can calm quite a bit. I haven't tried any of these things because my kids are all still little and don't have ADHD but I have done a lot of research into diets for kids because I have a special needs daughter.
Check this out:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?
Magnesuim & ADHD: (read the last sentence) cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=9368236&dopt=AbstractPlus

If I were you I'd remove certain things for like 2 weeks at a time and see if anything helps. I know some kids have responded well and other don't but maybe they haven't found the right thing yet.
Best Wishes,
J.