The diet takes some effort, especially in the initial stages. Most parents find that the success rate of over 80 percent more than makes up for any additional work.

I put my daughter, Jenny, on the Feingold diet for hyperactive children over thirty years ago. It would be more accurate to say that our family went on the diet, as it’s nearly impossible to have a 4-year-old on a different diet from the rest of the family.

People would often remark that they thought it would take too much work to keep food additives out of their diet. Obviously, they didn’t know how much “work” a hyperactive child required. The effort for the diet seemed easy in comparison.

Angel shows her blue tongue after eating artificial colors.

That was over thirty years ago. Despite the diet’s success, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Food Advisory Committee has yet to require warning labels on food containing artificial ingredients. Food additives are very big business. Foods which rely on additives are generally extremely profitable (chemical additives are far cheaper than real food). Drugs for treatment of ADHD are also big business. There is no profit for a diet free of additives.

Synthetic Color Additives in the News
March 31, the FDA voted 8 to 6 against recommending warning labels on foods with synthetic color additives. The one bright spot is that the panel did call for more studies to determine if there is a link between food colors and hyperactivity in children. FDA will consider the committee’s recommendations in the next few months and decide how to respond to the Center for Science in the Public Interest’s request to either ban food coloring or mandate warning labels.

The use of artificial food dyes has increased 50 percent since 1990. That’s twice as many products than I had to eliminate with Jenny. Today, synthetic colors are found in everything from pickles to bread. Artificial food colors were once made from coal tar but now derived from petroleum. (Read the last sentence once more: “Artificial food colors were once made from coal tar but now derived from petroleum.”) Yes, the bright colors you see in all processed foods are derived from PETROLEM.

Artificial dyes are more stable and cheaper than natural colors derived from fruits and vegetables. The real sticking point is natural colors are more expensive than the petroleum colors.

I remember my daughter’s pediatrician thinking I was a bit nutty when I told him of Jenny’s improvement when I took all the synthetic colors out of our food. I could tell that he didn’t really believe me. (I changed doctors.) I had my own accidental double-blind studies to affirm how they affected Jenny. When an artificial color or flavor was consumed by accident, Jenny’s ADHD would surface once again. To add insult to injury, it could take several days for it work its way through her system.

I guess nothings changed. Do I care if they can prove it in a double-blind study? Nope. Perhaps your children don’t have ADHD or ADD, but do you want them consuming products with petroleum colors? Don’t wait for the FDA to rescue your child.

You must be your family’s advocate. Read labels and vote with your dollar. If enough people stop purchasing foods with artificial chemicals, the retailers would use natural ingredients. Jenny is now grown with a family of her own, yet my husband and I don’t eat food with artificial additives. We are voting with our dollars, you should too.

CLICK HERE for the Baby Bites Store.

For info about the FREE Baby Bites Ezine,  CLICK HERE

Having a child with ADD/ADHD, who is a picky eater, initially takes more work. You may have a child self-limiting the kinds of whole foods eaten, but the child with ADD/ADHD most likely prefers the very foods causing their problem. Because each child is unique, the chemicals and additives triggering symptoms can vary.

For kids who can’t tolerate food colorings, the tinest smidgen could produce ADD/ADHD symptoms for several days. A small drop of something they cannot tolerate may prompt symptoms of hyperactivity, sleeplessness (sometimes nightmares), and irritability.

Joshy shows us that his tongue is colored red, after eating a piece of birthday cake.

A parent needs to be vigilant, especially in the beginning. You’ll find, as I did, “accidental double-blind studies” will pop up. You’ll become a master sleuth, ferreting out unwanted food additives.

Cleaning out the pantry is vital. With over 3,000 additives in our food supply it can seem like a gargantuan task. You’ll be glad to know that it’s not impossible, but it will take some determination on your part.  I wouldn’t even want to try to put a child on a different diet than the rest of the family. When you’re talking about whole foods, why not improve the entire family’s diet? Take time to read the labels of the foods you usually purchase. See where you can change to a more healthy brand. Reading labels is vital. You might be surprised at what you find.

When my daughter, Jenny, was a child, she could not tolerate most of the additives in our food supply. Nitrates would always trigger ADHD symptoms. They’re in all packaged lunch-meats, and most pork products like ham, bacon and sausage. She’s grown and married now, but, today, nitrates still give her headaches. Red and yellow food colorings were the worst additives for Jenny and would immediately trigger symptoms of hyperactivity. MSG is another additive that can cause problems. It often produces headaches (MSG actually kills brain cells), not just in people with ADD/ADHD, either. MSG can be hard to identify on products, as it hides in a multitude of names. ( CLICK HERE for more MSG info.) MSG can be found in almost ALL fast food.

Sugar, especially High Fructose Corn Syrup, is in just about all processed foods. All these years later, sugar still makes Jenny irritable. Still, once you get in the habit of avoiding sugar, it’s not too hard to eliminate. For sure, you’ll want to avoid High Fructose Corn Sugar which is found in most bakery goods, soda pop, and in packaged foods!

It’s not as difficult as you might think to eat whole foods. Of course many foods available in the grocery store are processed, but you’ll want to purchase products with the least amount of additives and chemicals. I still don’t purchase products with artificial colorings, flavorings, nitrates, or MSG.

I’m not a nutritionist or a dietitian, but I’ve found a few dietary supplements are extremely helpful for kids with ADD/ADHD, even Sensory Processing Disorder and Autism. In fact, many times with dietary changes and the addition of these supplements, positive changes are often seen in a couple of weeks:
1) The first is cod liver oil. I purchase Carlson Norwegian Cod Liver Oil and I take it myself. The lemon flavored one is tasty. Cod liver oil is high in vitamins A and D.
2) The other is a good kids’ probiotic, purchased in the refrigerator section of a whole foods store. Without fail, kids with ADD and ADHD need to have their gut function improved. The gut feeds the brain. When a child has good gut function, their brain functions better as well.
3) The third is that almost ALL people in the U.S. are vitamin D deficient, even kids. A simple test that your pediatrician can do will tell you what your child’s vitamin D level is. In fact, everyone should have their vitamin D level checked. My husband, Dick, and I found we had low levels ourselves. The optimum levels are around 50, but most people are way under that. (Cod liver oil is high in vitamin D, but if your child is extremely low you may want to add this supplement. If you can’t convince your child to take the lemon-flavored cod liver oil, then vitamin D3 supplement is an alternative.)

You, will of course, need to take allergies into account. If your child is allergic to wheat, dairy, or nuts, these foods will need to be eliminated as well. Today, I won’t go into GMO foods (genetically modified organism). This is another issue. My eldest daughter, Julie-ann, thought she was allergic to corn. Then found out it was GMO corn that she couldn’t tolerate. If a product says it’s certified organic, then it’s by default, GMO free.

You can save on organics at big box stores like Sam’s Club and Costco. Since there’s not a Sam’s Club near me, I have a Costco membership. “Costco Organic Products” is a list I just put together for my son-in-law. He has a Costco membership, but lives a distance from a store. Because he will be the one driving to the store and shopping, he wanted to know what organic food products I found at Costco (Sam’s has similar products) and purchase from the store. I’ve put an unofficial list together for him. I’m sure there’s more, but at least it’s a start. CLICK HERE to see it.

If you liked this article, then you’ll want to read: “A S.A.D. Diet”: CLICK HERE

When you sign up for the Baby Bites Ezine on the right side of the Ezine information page, I’ll send you two helpful reports: “Be Frugal Save Grocery Dollars” and “7 Tips for Healthful Grocery Shopping.”

CLICK HERE for the Baby Bites book.

His mom didn’t rush to clean off his fingers, but she talked about the various textures with him. She offered lots of positive reinforcement and praised him every time he complied with her request to touch new foods, especially foods in a sauce.

Because Danny had such difficulty in touching gooey foods, his mom made it a point to have him experience various textures while playing: finger painting, gluing paper objects, and making edible play dough. These activities use the hands as tools and eliminate any pressure of having to eat something with a gooey texture. A plus for any child is that these are fun activities.

Once touching sticky sauce-like substances is no longer difficult when playing, then touching and eating food with sauces won’t seem unpleasant.

Involve your child in multi-sensory culinary experiences.
Happy Pancakes are easy and fun to make for breakfast!

Danny’s mom noticed he had other difficulties surrounding tactile issues and she eventually had him tested by an Occupational Therapist. Danny had Sensory Processing Disorder, SPD, a neurological problem. It’s believed approximately 5 percent of children are found to have some level of SPD. The therapy is to integrate sensory-rich activities in a positive environment.

Children with SPD may have difficulty with motor coordination (either gross or fine). Perhaps they’ll refuse to walk barefoot in the sand or on the grass.

There can be huge issues surrounding teeth brushing, getting hands dirty, and they may dislike having their head touched when brushing, washing and drying their hair. Sometimes the texture of some clothing and labels overly irritate the child with SPD.

If you see a link between other tactile issues and avoidance of foods with a certain texture, a child may be exhibiting sensitivity defensiveness. It’s wise to ask your pediatrician about having an evaluation for SPD by an occupational therapist.

Not all picky eaters have SPD, but most children with SPD are picky eaters, because of their over-responsiveness to tactile sensations. They many times will eat a limited number of foods, and may completely avoid certain textures and food groups. Of course this may impact their overall health.

The Baby Bite Steps uses positive reinforcement, while engaging a picky eater in directed-play. This conditions a positive response to various food textures. Adjust your timetable for kids with SPD. Consistency and praising your child for small steps are even more vital for the “out-of-sync” child.

Although not an official diagnosis, some like Dr. Jacquelyn McCandless, place SPD as a part of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). This is a broad category, including diagnosis from Sensory Processing Disorder to Attention Deficit Disorder to Autism to Aspergers Disorder. One constant is that these children are usually picky eaters, preferring the very foods that make their problems worse.

Parents of children with SPD have seen remarkable improvement using the Baby Bite Steps, especially when combined with improving “gut dysfunction.” Jaquelyn McCandless, M.D. says that Autism Spectrum Disorder is a complex biomedical illness resulting in “significant brain malnutrition.”

There’s emerging evidence that, once nutritional concerns have been addressed, children with Autism Spectrum Disorder improve at some level. While the nutritional treatment will vary, there seems to be agreement that all children with Autism Spectrum Disorder improve with diets free from refined sugar, white flour, and food additives. In addition, they usually benefit from probiotics and cod liver oil. Once Danny began taking both cod liver oil and a probiotic formulated for children, he experienced another giant step toward health.

Click Here for a synopsis of Baby Bites: Transforming a Picky Eater into a Healthy Eater.
Buy the Book at the Baby Bites Store Now! Click Here

All cured meats, including breakfast sausage, bacon, luncheon meats, and hot dogs, contain nitrites and nitrates. They’re added to processed meats to prevent botulism and enhance the taste and color of the meat. Without nitrates processed meats would be brown, just like cooked hamburger.

Once inside the body, they can form nitrosamines, a cancer-causing chemical. These carcinogenic compounds have been associated with cancer. They have also been linked with leukemia and ADD/ADHD in children.

Between 1980 and 1987, a study conducted in Los Angeles found a relationship between the consumption of certain foods and the risk of leukemia with children under the age of 10. Results indicated that children, who ate an excess of 12 hot dogs per month, had nine times the normal risk of developing childhood leukemia.

Pictured: Zach thinks nitrates are hair-raising scary!

In 2007, researchers in Denver found that children, whose mothers consumed one or more hot dogs per week during pregnancy, had double the risk of developing brain tumors, and children, who consumed one or more hot dogs per week were also at higher risk of brain cancer.

Nitrites are found naturally in many green vegetables, especially spinach, celery, and green lettuce. However, the consumption of vegetables is effective in reducing the risk of cancer. Nitrites found in whole foods are managed differently in the body. It’s the synergy of various compounds, which makes the difference between harmful and healthful. Nitrite containing vegetables also have vitamins C and D, which inhibit the formation of carcinogenic compounds. Therefore, vegetables are quite safe and healthy, and actually reduce your cancer risk.

For health avoid eating meat products with nitrates. Children, who have small tummies, and the picky eater, who is consuming limited foods, shouldn’t eat meats containing nitrates. Always look for nitrate-free meats. In addition, these products usually are high in fat, and the fat is where contaminates are stored.

Food additives are problematic for everyone, but for the child or adult with ADD/ADHD, avoidance of food additives is imperative. There’s sound evidence that food plays an important part in controlling the symptoms of ADD/ADHD. Food additives such as artificial colorings, preservatives, MSG, and nitrates. Of course, avoidance of junk foods, trans fat, and sugar, especially High Fructose Corn Syrup, is also very important.

My daughter, Jenny, was extremely sensitive to food additives, including nitrates. Thirty years ago, her pediatrician thought I was crazy, when I mentioned that food additives made her ADD symptoms worse. Today, parents, who suspect artificial ingredients in food are affecting their childrens’ behavior, can now point to proof. New research, by Jim Stevenson, a professor of psychology at England’s University of Southampton, reported in a British medical journal, that a variety of common food dyes and sodium benzoate, an ingredient in many soft drinks, fruit juices, and salad dressings, causes some children to become more hyperactive than usual. The younger the children, the more they found they negatively responded to the additives.

Be on the lookout for nitrates: All prepackaged lunch meats contain nitrates. If lunch meet is pink it has nitrates. Ask the deli counter clerk to check the nutrition label for nitrates. Some deli meats may be nitrate-free. Frozen turkey breakfast and turkey Italian sausage packaged in a tube usually don’t contain nitrates.

Most pork products (all cured meats, hot dogs, bacon, sausage, pepperoni, salami, etc.) use nitrates to preserve color and freshness. Look for alternatives. Incorporate easy-to-make egg, tuna, and chicken salad sandwiches in your lunches. Of course, the standby peanut butter and jelly sandwich is easy and always nitrate-free.

When you have a craving for a hot dog, be sure to buy a brand that doesn’t contain nitrates. These are usually found in whole food stores. Or when a delivery pizza is the answer to dinner, order a veggie or hamburger pizza, leaving off pepperoni, ham, and other processed meats with nitrates.

Take the time to teach your children to enjoy whole foods. If you set good eating habits from the beginning with your kids, you’ll avoid ever having a picky eater. Learning to eat a healthy diet starting early in childhood will decrease the likelihood of your child becoming obese and getting diabetes, heart disease, or cancer. I discuss this more in detail in Baby Bites: Transforming a Picky Eater into a Healthy Eater.

For a synopsis of Baby Bites: Transforming a Picky Eater into a Healthy Eater, Click Here.

For info about the free Baby Bites Ezine, Click Here.

My journey to whole foods began when Jenny, my third daughter, was diagnosed as hyperactive. Her pediatrician wanted to write a prescription at her two-year check-up to control her symptoms. I resisted and I resisted again at her 3-year and 4-year check-ups.

Jenny was constantly moving and she had a short attention span. We found ourselves adjusting our routines just to accommodate her. More worrisome, Jenny had great difficulty falling asleep. Bedtime took hours for her to settle down.

I knew in my heart that Jenny wouldn’t be able to function in a school setting and I would be out of options at her next annual check-up. I began to search for solutions at a time where there weren’t many. Although, it didn’t take too long and I found a book, Why Your Child is Hyperactive, by Dr. Feingold. He was the first to make the connection between food additives in processed foods with hyperactivity. Today, you can find many resources through the Feingold Association.

After reading Feingold’s book, I knew I had to change my purchasing habits, not only for Jenny, but for the entire family. I figured, I didn’t have anything to lose. I was a mom on a mission. I didn’t wait to gradually replace the food I’d previously purchased, but took an afternoon and cleaned out my entire kitchen. I read every label and gave away 5 bags of food.

In about a week, we began to see a new child emerge from the cloud of chemicals. Jenny, who exhausted US at her bedtime, was now falling asleep in minutes. This alone was worth any perceived difficulty or for that matter cost in changing our diets. Jenny’s attention span increased. She was more at peace. We always knew when something hidden in our food got past us, in our own accidental double-blind studies. After ingesting hidden chemicals, Jenny would once again experience sleep difficulties and, of course, hyperactivity.

I became a master sleuth, locating the additive culprit and then eliminating it. It typically took three to five days to clear her system. Unfortunately, in the last 30 years more chemicals have been added to our food supply. Today, 90 percent of the foods in our grocery stores are processed with over 3,000 chemicals. I believe this is why we are seeing an alarming increase of Autism Spectrum Disorder, which includes: Attention Deficit Disorder, ADD, ADHD, Sensory Integration Disorder, and of course Autism.

Learning what’s in the food we purchase is vital for every family; whether or not you have a sensitive child, like Jenny. Eliminating additives and chemicals from your diet will increase the overall health of your family. Although our nutrition label is more complete, today, manufactures have added to the confusion. They want us to believe that we’re purchasing a healthy product, even if we’re not. They do everything they can to convince us that their processed food is in some way nutritious.

In Baby Bites: Transforming a Picky Eater into a Healthy Eater, I explain the difference between natural and organic: “The terms natural and organic don’t mean the same thing. They’re not interchangeable. Certified USDA organically grown produce is produced without pesticides, synthetic herbicides, sewage sludge, irradiation, preservatives or additives, and doesn’t utilize seeds from Genetically Engineered Organisms (GMOs). USDA Organic means it’s grown, handled, and processed differently than conventionally processed foods. At least 95 percent of the product is organic. On the other hand, the word “natural” on the label means absolutely nothing. Natural isn’t a term designating how the food was grown or produced or handled. The term “natural” indicates the product is edible. The food hype includes the whole food industry, which is growing by leaps and bounds. Just because the word organic is mentioned, don’t think the product is free of sugar or white flour. Reading labels is still your best bet. ”

If you liked this article, then you’ll want to read “The Picky Eater and ADD/ADHD:  CLICK HERE

Buy the Book at the Baby Bites Store!!!

For info about the free Baby Bites Ezine, CLICK HERE.