Need help with ADHD diet | ADHD Information

Hi Tarnea i put my daughter on the failsafe diet from sue dengate she was on meds before that but they seemed to make her anxiety worse and she had lost all her personality i would say this diet has been the best long term thing that has worked for us YES we have some bad days when we break it but generally she is now a happy healthy normal kid heres the site if you want to read it

http://www.fedupwithfoodadditives.info/

 

You may want to visit the Alternatives to Meds section of this board -- there's info about diet mods there as well!  Many of us have had much success with them as well as other methods.

All the above are grgeat ideas but I would have to say to switch to all whole grains and avoid enriched wheats and processed whites as well. 

tarnea, I'd echo the suggestion to go slowly in making the changes.  Go to a co-op or health food store and you'll be surprised what you can find.

Some things my DS likes:

Candy from The Squirrel's Nest online store (Via Feingold Association -- no artificial colors)
Yogurts from Stonyfield Farm
Doritos makes cheesy chips that are not orange and have no dyes
I think it's Nature's Path that makes frosted toaster pastries (i.e. Pop Tarts) with no artificial colors
King Arthur Flour cookie mixes are good, muffin mixes too

It was the Squirrel's Nest candy that sold DS on this no dyes thing. I traded his Valentine candy haul for candy from them, and he was amazed ... they have natural colors, and everything tastes good. He literally couldn't believe you could have fun food that wasn't neon orange, which is pretty sad.

Anyway, at the moment, he's on the case, scrutinizing every jelly jar and stick of gum for those evil color numbers! (which reminds me, Cascadian Farms jelly!)


Try eliminating the red and yellow dye.  I know this was HUGE for my son.
Red dye is in SO many foods you would not believe it.
We also eat Annie's Organic Pasta now.  He loves it and it's better than Kraft.
We also buy bread and eggs and tortilla's with Omega 3 added.  Plus, he gets a tsp. straight from the bottle (Nordic Naturals) every morning.
Do this gradually and it won't seem so drastic to him.
Thank you all so much, Im a whole lot less stressed when it comes to worrying about what I have to feed him now. For some reason  I had it in my mind that if I gave him the wrong thing (sugar, additives) that he'll explode or something, now I know its ok to  have these things in tiny amounts, I was going mad scanning every ingredients label in the stores GRRRR silly me, all it was doing was making me highly stressed out and an insomniac! Im a chilled out mother now and we're enjoying all the new found healthy snacks together... Thank you all for helping me understand ADHD and all to do with it.

[QUOTE=tarnea]Thank you all so much, Im a whole lot less stressed when it comes to worrying about what I have to feed him now. For some reason  I had it in my mind that if I gave him the wrong thing (sugar, additives) that he'll explode or something, now I know its ok to  have these things in tiny amounts, I was going mad scanning every ingredients label in the stores GRRRR silly me, all it was doing was making me highly stressed out and an insomniac! Im a chilled out mother now and we're enjoying all the new found healthy snacks together... Thank you all for helping me understand ADHD and all to do with it. [/QUOTE]

You should give anything and everything in moderation. Keep in mind though, if you give a child a food item that he's sensitive towards (even in moderation), he's going to react in some way. My son gets pretty impulsive, hyper and loud when he does. It's best to do a trial of ellimination and figure out what these triggers are. You can't go by everybody else's experience with diet because it's all going to be different. Personally, I HAVE to read all the labels. After a while though, you get the hang of what foods to aim for and where to find them. I also find that the typical grocery stores are useless for us. We shop at wholefoods stores. Once you have this sorted out, you won't find yourself reading as many labels. I still do periodically, when I'm trying to expand his diet but either than that, I know what to look for. Good luck.

I would change things gradually over a few weeks. Have the doctor talk to him about diet when you can, too, because my son took it a lot more seriously when his psychiatrist said eat the proteins first, don't eat too many carbs. (since he's six, the doc will need to be more simplified.)

I just make sure my son has a protein at every meal and not too much sugar. I'm sure ideally I should take away all sugar, but I haven't been able to do that. If your son has to have special dietary restrictions the following won't work.

Anyway:
Breakfast - milk, cereal/oatmeal, turkey-bacon or eggs, fruit
Lunch - meat & cheese sandwhich or peanut butter crackers, fruit or baby carrots, water or milk, dessert
Snack - smoothie with yogurt,fruit milk, juice or some other protein/carb combo
Dinner - More milk, meat, veggie, bread
Snack - low-fat ice cream or popcorn
Thank You, I was just a little unsure what foods were ok, so I'll take on what you said and just  go woth food similar to them.
I was reading on another site that milk isnt good for ADHD? Is that right? The doctor told us to stay awake from food with red food colouring, that doesnt mean red food right? e.g tomatoes, nah cant be, everything from the ground must be ok to eat? Does he just mean all that fake looking snack food that kids always seem to LOVE- what about salt, has anyone heard that salt is bad for an ADHD child? So many questions so little space hehehe...
Get ful blown allergie testing  each person is so different. We do SF aswell. There is  also food sensativity testing as well. Dye free also does help as well. Beware though food allergies can be a part of the issue. Antihistamines also effect our son even though it didn't show on his test results as a problem. He is twice as hyper on that drug. We do vitamins also. High protein meals also help.Oh, I forgot - we take a good quality omega 3 and vitamins daily. I know my son does drink a lot of milk, but it is not a problem for him, and I know it's better than drinking koolaid-type drinks or even fruit juice - which is high sugar.

Food allergy testing would probably be good if your child has a lot of hyperactivity.

We try to avoid a lot of processed foods. Again, sometimes we make exceptions. What's a campout without a hot dog?
I just found out today from my 6 yr olds doctor that he has the 'A' and 'H' of ADHD. Ive been online most of the night trying to find out about foods that are no good for him, and so far all I have are the food he cant eat, Im after the stuff he's allowed so I know what to buy in our grocery shopping? Im absolutely lost? My emotions are crazy right now, I have no idea what I have to do for him, it all sounds like a heck of a lot of extra work piled on me, on top of my already crazy scedule with 2 other young children to run around after, I dont want to let him down....
So if anyone has a diet for BREAKFAST-LUNCH-DINNER-DESSERT and SNACKS could they PLEASE help me out?
My main worry is what to put in his lunchbox tomorrow, he's going to totally nut out when he see's his regular munchies arent there.