Diet & ADD | ADHD Information

I was wondering if any one is on a special diet?

I just totally fall flat in this area, I LIVE on junk food constantly and don't have not motivation to fix this problem what so ever.

I eat literally nothing but carbs, noodles, spegetti, mac & cheese, hamburgers, fries all the time!

A friend who does not have ADD, has been trying to encourage me to start dieting since my weight it up and diabetic runs in my family - been told I am boarderline.

Personally I hate cooking, and it is always an ordeal to cook a meal for me, cause I take everyones head off that dares bother me when I am cooking. It takes a lot of effort just surviving the ordeal.

Is there a special diet that we should be on, foods that will help lessen the affects with ADD?

Sounds like the only thing you are eating that would help your ADD is the hamburger meat!!

From what I've read, high protein, low carb diets are the best for ADD.  I think I can attest to that.  Now mind you, I'm a carb junkie!!  Crave em!  But . . . if I can ignore those cravings (except for that 1 week a month) and go with more protein, I feel pretty good actually.  If I do a lot of carbs, I feel like crap! 

Personally, I try to eat tuna, chicken, fish, fresh veggies (salads and such), fresh fruit, cheese.  Basically, its pretty much the Adkins diet. 

But sometimes you just have to have chocolate!!!  And mac and cheese, and bread, and fries . . . sigh . . .

 

Well I picked up a book today on South Beach Diet and did some shopping but it was far and in between the items that I did buy. Cut my spending in half for groceries - kind of at a loss what to make for meals out of the stuff I have bought.

Thinking that my carb in take was likely up around 300 / 400 daily. And I am being told that I have to drop this to less then 60 per day.  

Today was my first day, and been hungry all day - this might just get to be a depressing endevor. Today had wild rice / brown rice mixed with red beens for breakfast, had cut of ham (fried) w/ 2 hard boilded eggs and green beans for lunch... and then 2 raw cheese hot dogs and a bit of lowfat cottage cheese for supper - Had a Pepsi & Tea today as well.

I don't think I am doing this right, so for my first days efforts I did manage to stay below 100 carbs.

Wanted to report back that I found a site for Feingold Diet, suppose to be for ADHD, have not checked it out yet but wanted to add it here for anyone else interested.

http://www.feingold.org/home.html

Hi guys,

Rice does not affect me at all like bread and pasta. I usually eat brown rice. Although I did acquire a tase for Kim Chee several years ago and white rice is  a must with that!

The carbs in fruits seem to be much different than the carbs in white bread, biscuits, donuts, etc.

But it also seems that different foods affect different people in different ways. So I guess we need to listen to our bodies. I know people who eat unbelievable amounts of bread and pasta and are quite thin and healthy. But exercise alo plays an inportant part in this. 

It does seem to make sense that the more natural the food is, the better it wil be for you. I am sure that home-made cookies are better for you than Hostess Twinkies!

I worry about meat, it is so full of antibiotics and hormones, it can't be good. Maybe free-range is better (or wild game). Tofu, brown rice, and legumes and some other veggie sources have more protien than you would ever need. Tofu is also pretty low in carbs. My daughter is a vegitarian and we have a lot of tofu. They even sell it with natural flavors now.

I used to love cooking on the grill outside. I still do, but I grill veggies (and some fish).

Life was simpler when I just ate whatever mom put in front of me and I did not know any better! 

 

I have read about Fiengold. I believe it was developed with the idea that many problems are caused or at least exacerbated by food allergies. It makes sense as a lot of what we eat is not even food (many colorings and additives are actually petroleum based). I don't know if this can cause ADD, but I am firmly convinced that a bad diet can make it much worse.  

It is tough to lower carbs when you are used to a diet that is mostly carbs. I find it helpful to at least eliminate the worst offenders such as sugar, white flour, and anything made with them. It is amazing, but a large number of the foods advertised as low fat have huge amounts of sugar in them!

Processed sugar is poison! I have a hard time fighting this myself (especially with chocolate). I find it helpful to keep very sweet fruit around (like seedless grapes) when I feel the urge to snack. It is still sugar, but natural sugar does not seem to affect me as badly as processed sugar.

CHECK THIS OUT:

I was in the little snack bar in my office building for lunch and picked up a salad. i was checking the list of ingredients printed on the back of the little packets of salad dressing (all very well-known brands). One ingredient listed was ethylene glycol. In case you are not aware, that is the main ingedient in automobile anti-freeze!

 

I was just looking at the salad dressing I use (Western) and it shows something similar called: Propylen Glycol.

I just found a link to what you were talking about - they are the same thing:

http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/tfacts96.html

That sure don't make me feel good knowing that is in my salad dressing, I will have to go to the store now and see if the other one I usually swap out has the same thing. Otherwise I guess I am not going to be eating salad dressing any longer.

Thanks for pointing that out to me, very disturbing.

NightStar38164.4721180556At least if someone leaves you parked in the driveway overnight in winter you won't freeze! That could explain why I don't get cold as fast as dear husband does, LOLBy the way Nightstar, thanks for the great link.

i've always been a sugar freak. but funnily...i hate artificial crap. LOL i love to bake my own cakes and cookies with all natural ingredients b/c i'm a 'foodie' and i also just prefer natural foods. as in 'whole foods' i don't really eat a lot of refined foods. i do have a major achilles heel for a few junkie things though like: rice krispie treats...when the starbucks in houston stopped selling those i was crushed! it was seriously something i loved..plus i love coffee. now i dont get my weekly damned rice crispie concoction and i have stopped consuming any caffiene whatsoever. as some of you know , wellbutrin + adderall. well enough said there. i drank some iced tea the other day thinking it wouldn't be a big deal- afterall i've been completely clean for months..of caffiene and i was so ILL b/c i drank that innocent tea. (and i never drink it with sugar either! it was the caffiene. it slammed me)

i love healthy food and i crave it- i've always read food labels. and i actually think its funny that all of a sudden now ppl are up in arms about 'transfats' when my vegan friends in highschool over ten years ago were preaching about the evil of transfat.

one of my major failures diet wise is rice. i am in love with rice. i grew up with a gorgeous steaming pot of korean special rice in my kitchen every day. and when i make some for myself i have to curb my addiction.

oh well.tonight i made myself whole wheat penne pasta, i made some light red tomato sauce with olive oil, garlic, red and gold bell pepper, zucchinni, mushrooms and a bit of white wine and fresh italian parsely and fresh basil. this is how i like to eat. i just try to make the best choices.

if i'm going to eat pasta i make sure its whole wheat. if i eat bread it is always whole grained. if i want a snack , its either carrots, strawberries, dried cranberries, apples, pears, grapes, fresh pineapple etc

i do that bc i like to stay hydrated and fruit is so nice and juicy..i must warn anyone out there that is seriously into atkins. it is truthfully very unhealthy. they've shown that although atkins makes you lose weight relatively rapidly..just eating a well balanced diet with appropiate portion size and low calories catch up to the atkins results with a six month differential.

also: there is a lot of evidence via scientific experiments that extreme low calorie actually extends life. its all about balance anyway. if you're only eating mostly protein..i just can't imagine..i guess i prize my fruits and vegetables..how you can be getting the vitamin and minerals that you need. pork and eggs and steak do not give you vitamin c or antioxidants...etc. the wider variety you eat of wholesome unrefined food types the better off you are. eating according to season helps too. this way you are eating produce that is at its height of efficacy in terms of health value to you, as well as flavor being at its peak and also the ultra cool benefit of investing in sustainable food sources.

yeah yeah. i sound all like a hippie or something. but i just believe in some very basic things. i do eat a powdered sugar donut when i want one. but i try to make the best choices concerning my food as i can. if i want a cookie i bake it myself. that way i know what the hell is in it. i don't want artificial flavorings and solid state oils and sodium YUCK

anyway

you guys should check out whether you're  a 'supertaster'

most ppl are in the 'regular' category for their sensitivity in taste..only about a 1/4 of the population are 'supertasters' and about 1/4 being i guess the opposite..those that taste very wanly in comparison to the rest. i think i'm the way i am about food b/c i'm a food taster. i'm the kind of person that can tell the difference btwn waters. (my pick? ozarka. i hate distilled and brands like 'aquafina' and 'dejablu' they all have a horrible plasticky yucky taste)

anyway. enough of the food snob.

i'm a rambler. sorry guys.

sumi

Ok, I have decided that the South Beach Diet is not going to work for me! I already cheated today - and I miss my TEA!

The foods on the list, just leave me with a hungry feeling no matter what. A friend just told me about Carb Addict Diet!

http://www.moretv32.com/health/2210135/detail.html

Was either that, or ignore the South Beach Diet food list and go to counting carbs instead.

Sumi, I like a lot of friuts myself and it just seemed messed up on that South Beach on the banned foods, I like on Pasta here! I have been obsessed with carbs the last two days, so I know this one is not going to be for me.

 

Personally I reccomend skipping dieting altogether and just jumping into an excersize program.  A serious one.  Hit the gym 6 days a week, doing 20-30 minutes of cardio every time and eat what you want.  Your body will start craving healthier, protein rich food after a while to sustain your athletic body.

And you will lose weight.  Diet is secondary to excersize in terms of weight loss.

Hi Taverner,

I think exercise is extremely important. It does help produce endorphines, the shortage of which is suspected to be a cause of ADD to begin with. 

But I don't think diet can be ignored. Diet also seems to have a very significant effect on brain chemistry. Certain foods seem to have consistently bad effects on ADD symptoms (processed sugar for example).

So I guess the real answer is to eat in an ADD-friendly way, exercise regularly, and get enough sleep. 

Easier said than done, but worth trying!