Musings of a mom... with three very different, but wonderful children... primarily talking about ADHD related stuff... but could talk about anything.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

How's the ADHD Diet Going?

It's a very altered version of the original ADHD diet, but I've learned a few things. Overview of diet:
** little sugar as possible
** everything organic and hormone free
** Gluten free

First of all, I've learned chocolate is a NO-NO. It really intensifies his emotions. Thankfully, that's not too awfully hard to cut out of a kid's diet. Especially since his new school doesn't seem to pass around candy and chocolate as much as the old. (WHAT IS UP WITH THAT? Is it not hard enough to limit candy and junk food at home without the schools offering it as REWARDS?? But again, I'm not a teacher and don't ever want to be to children under 13.)

Here's what I've been successful at:
** giving him cod liver oil daily - have no clue if it helps, but it makes me feel better
** replaced fake fruit snacks with real fruit leather (no sugar, artificial anything)
** am buying organic milk, eggs and butter, no hormones has to be a good thing, right?
** all natural peanut butter and jelly, his main staple (no added sugar, preservatives, etc)
** shakes with yogurt, ice, real fruit and a tiny bit of sugar - the kids love them! sometimes this replaces junky snacks.

Here's what I've failed at:
** Gluten free.
Ha ha, my attempts at gluten free cooking have been laughable. Here's what's really laughable - my kitchen is stocked with:
- tapioca flour
- white rice flour
- brown rice flour
- xantham gum
- some other stuff I can't remember not even spell right now.

All of this is needed to create gluten free bread. My family almost staged a coup when I tried to serve it too them. I haven't COMPLETELY given up yet, I hate to let something beat me.

** Going completely organic. Can't even find everything organic.

So what have I learned?

#1 - I like going as organic as possible because I think our world would be a better place all around
#2 - chocolate is bad for my boy. Poor kid!
#3 - how am I supposed to measure whether or not it's helping?
#4 - the no added sugar/ all natural stuff tastes really good and why didn't I do this a long time ago? I mean, isn't the added health benefits worth the extra cost? Might save me thousands of dollars in medical bills down the road - who knows?

P.S. I'm not trying to be preachy - I never would have done if the threat of ADHD pharm drugs wasn't hanging over my head. But now I'm kind of glad I've tried the diet out.

6 Comments:

Blogger Mommy Daisy said...

I love that you're doing this. You've gone all out on it too. I wish we could afford to. Sad, but it's expensive to buy organic. I'm sure it will improve your family's quality of life in the long run. And they'll get used to the bread and other things. Like you said it actually tastes good anyway. Good going.

8:33 PM

 
Blogger Sarah said...

Go away crazy Jason.
Ahem.
Jim said he would expand the grocery budget if I could commit to doing the same thing with organic. I don't know about gluten free- MAKING bread?!- but the rest I could do pretty easily, I imagine.
You'll have to keep updating as to whether it seems to be helping, and then maybe I'll give in...

1:25 PM

 
Blogger Musings of a Mom said...

uh-oh, I started a monster.

Baking bread for me involves putting a bunch of ingredients into a bread machine and pressing start. But like I said, doesn't taste good so far.

I'll keep y'all updated!

2:15 PM

 
Blogger Sarah said...

Hey, I tagged you if you feel like doing a meme!

12:45 PM

 
Blogger Heather said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

2:57 PM

 
Blogger Heather said...

I came across your site accidentally, trying to find a natural grocer for an upcoming visit to Lima. I eat a gluten free, yeast free, sugar free (as much as possible), dairy free diet, due to a recent development of food intolerances. My best support system is a long time friend that had ADHD and skin rashes all growing up and was diagnosed with Celiac a couple years ago. Since following the gluten free diet, my friend is no longer ADHD. There is a ton of research out there showing the link between gluten and mental capacity.

:) To save your sanity and kitchen try ordering bread, pizza crusts, pasta, etc. online instead of making it. There are lots of gluten free online stores and the gluten free diet is worth it. I bet you will see a more noticeable difference if you go all the way gluten free.

3:02 PM

 

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