The Natural Answer to ADD/ADHD

I was driving my car on a Sunday afternoon in July of 2002. A woman on the radio was speaking about her twelve year-old son diagnosed with ADD. He had been using medication, with little success, when she learned of a nutritional program called Feingold. Named after Dr. Benjamin Feingold, this program eliminates artificial colors, artificial flavors, and the preservatives BHA, BHT, and TBHQ from the diet because they are synthesized from petroleum, which can trigger a wide range of behavior, learning and health problems. The woman told about the amazing results her son was experiencing and as she spoke, my thoughts drifted to my oldest daughter, Rachel, about to turn ten in August. To say that the first ten years of her life had been a challenge would be an enormous understatement.

Difficult from birth, Rachel was a very unhappy baby and I don’t recall her ever sleeping through the night. The first time she smiled - a truly happy, open-mouthed, giggling smile - was a week after I stopped nursing (at nine months) and replaced my additive-laden milk with formula and basic one-ingredient baby foods. Following that week, my husband and I enjoyed one very precious, peaceful year until we unknowingly allowed our toddler to eat all the neon-colored “kid foods” that most parents believe to be acceptable, healthy choices.

Almost immediately, we were yanked into a life of raging tantrums and more sleepless nights. I would have fallen for the terrible two’s rationale, except Rachel’s tantrums never subsided, and she was beginning to show signs of obsessive-compulsive behavior and nervous tics. By the third grade, Rachel was having trouble staying focused in school, often meddled in other classmates’ affairs, and the teachers were constantly repeating the assignments to her. Worst of all, Rachel was becoming violent with me when she couldn’t have things her way, and I, being overwrought and exhausted, usually responded too harshly. Most of the time, I felt I was a failure as a mother, and I frequently cried myself to sleep wondering what I was doing wrong. These years strained our marriage. My husband and I had many heated arguments that are too painful to remember.

After listening to that Sunday afternoon broadcast, I thought, “Why not try this?” It is all-natural, I wouldn’t have to use medications, and our whole family would be eating a healthier diet. Also, I was shocked at the idea of eating the same product I used to fill my gas tank. I wanted to immediately remove every petroleum-filled crumb from our pantry. So in a fury of label reading and trashcan stuffing, I cleaned up our diet just in time for Rachel’s fifth grade school year to begin.

The biggest and most unexpected surprise for my husband and I was that within one week our seemingly untamable daughter was acting calmer, the permanent scowl on her face lifted into a sweet smile, and I stopped hearing the retort of “No!” after my every request. Two months into the program, I began noticing dramatic changes in my health. For years, I had been experiencing overwhelming fatigue, aching joints and mental fogginess. I often felt stressed, angry, and as if my skin was crawling. These symptoms slowly began to fade, and I began feeling more energetic and alive than I had in twenty years. My husband also noticed a better ability to concentrate, less anger and frustration, and he was sleeping more soundly. (I later learned that parents of ADD/ADHD children are often chemically sensitive too.)

Elated over all the positive changes in my family’s health, I immersed myself in every resource I could find on nutrition. I discovered how the artificial ingredients in foods can profoundly affect our bodies. Petro chemical additives can cause allergies of all types, enuresis [bedwetting], aggression and emotional disturbances, ADD/ADHD symptoms, obsessive/compulsive disorders, can weaken the immune system, and they have been shown to cause cancer in numerous scientific studies. My family is living proof of the havoc these food pollutants can wreak. Every human being is unique and everyone’s symptoms will manifest themselves uniquely.

Understanding the relationship between harmful food additives and ADD/ADHD compels me to share this information with anyone who will listen, because I know there are parents out there who are desperate to find an answer that really works, instead of masking symptoms or causing undesirable side effects. Sadly, few doctors are aware of, or believe in, the connection between diet and ADD/ADHD. The multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical industry unfortunately has too much influence over most of our health industry. If just one doctor (or anyone for that matter) had suggested to me that chemicals in foods could be the cause of my daughter’s hyperactivity and anger, our lives would have been drastically changed for the better. I honestly feel like the best years of my life have been stolen from me by food companies who craftily advertise their brightly colored poisons to innocent little victims. I wish I could somehow broadcast to the entire world, “IT’S NOT THE SUGAR – IT’S THE ARTIFICIAL COLOR AND FLAVOR!”

My husband and I now share a beautiful marriage together, both my daughters are happily choosing to eat an all-natural diet and life is peaceful. Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating the peaceful part! But seriously, I am deeply grateful for organizations like Feingold and for publications like Art Of WellBeing. The information these sources give can be so empowering for those who seek natural, non-harmful solutions to their physical and/or emotional problems. I would give anything to re-live the first ten years of my daughter’s life with the knowledge I now have, and I encourage anyone who knows of a child with ADD/ADHD symptoms to share this article with the parents.

The Feingold Association is a non-profit organization, founded in 1976, that has helped hundreds of thousands of families by providing a nutritional information packet as well as a “Pure Facts” monthly newsletter that you can obtain from their website at www.feingold.org or by calling their toll-free number 1-800-321-3287.

The author is an artist and stay-at-home mother. She resides in Winston-Salem with her husband and two lovely daughters.Find out more information about the Feingold Program at www.feingold.org