One of the biggest challenges for the parent of a child with ADHD is that at least one of the parents typically has similar problems. The non-profit association's current newsletter dives right into this issue, with feedback from parents who explain how they feel when they have consumed food additives that are known ADHD triggers.
"My first clue that I am reacting is often when I raise my voice at the kids or I roll my eyes at my husband (or his back)," writes one mom. "As far as feelings go, I feel disorganized, unable to decide what to do next. I sort of wander around my house seeing all the work that needs to be started, but I can't get my mind around a plan that will get anything done. Sometimes I jump from task to task. Often I go back and forth from a chore to the computer to a magazine."
Another mom compares a reaction to a food additive with "a video where they show only the shortest bits of images and keep cutting from one thing to another. All the concepts from the images are fighting in my head for attention but I don't have time to process them because I am being hit with another image immediately that also demands attention."
Another writer notes, "Having a reaction is awful, especially when you have children who behave better than you!" Some parents report physical reactions of all types, from migraine headaches, to asthmatic attacks to hives and eczema when they eat certain artificial food additives. But most people find that it's a lot simpler to select the brand name products that have been researched by the Feingold® Association and have been found to be free of the offending chemicals.
The Feingold Association is a non-profit support group that shows families how to find the foods they enjoy, but minus chemical additives like artificial colors, flavors and preservatives. Volunteers first started the support group in 1976 after they found out that their children's problems were being triggered by some of the chemicals added to foods. Now, those children are grown and are choosing healthy food for their own families.
Earlier this summer the Feingold Association announced a new recipe book titled "Feingold Family Favorites", which promptly sold out it was so popular as consumers are increasingly aware that what they eat affects how they think and feel. The new "Feingold Family Favorites" recipe book is available from the Feingold Association through the website (www.Feingold.org) .
To request a free copy of the current issue of Pure Facts, the Feingold Association's newsletter, call (800) 321-3287 or visit www.feingold.org. Although most of the people using the Feingold diet focus primarily on eliminating things like food dyes, some need to go further and remove common allergens like wheat, eggs, soy, nuts and dairy. For the specialized help that is needed, the Feingold Association suggests a book by Lisa Lundy titled "The Super Allergy Girl™ Allergy & Celiac Cookbook."
Named in honor of Dr. Ben F. Feingold, the Chief of Allergy at Kaiser-Permanente Medical Center, the Feingold Association website provides medical references on the research that shows how foods and food additives affect health, learning and behavior. Dr. Feingold's success in using diet to help aspirin-sensitive patients led to his discovery that the same foods or additives that can bring on hives and asthma can also trigger what is now being called ADHD. His medical research was presented to the American Medical Association in 1973 and has been published in medical journals.
Posts
