Adhd Guide

Food and ADHD

When you are looking for the right treatment for either an adult or a child with ADHD you will need to look at the food they are eating. Many people no longer want to take the conventional medicines that deal with the symptoms and are looking for a way to either greatly reduce the amount they are taking or completely eliminate them all together.

There are many studies that show the food intake of someone that suffers from ADHD is directly related to their symptoms. The early results of these studies seem to indicate that there are serious deficiencies in most diets or the person also suffers from food allergies.

You can begin to modify your diet by keeping a food diary. In it write down everything you eat and be very specific, for example don't just write "I had a hamburger today" instead write: bun, cheese, hamburger, ketchup, pickle, and mayonnaise. After one week look at what you seem to eat everyday, for most people it will be a few items like bread, cheese and milk. Once you have determined what you eat the most take all those items completely out of your diet for two weeks. Then take one of the foods and add it back in and see how it makes you feel and continue the process with each food you eliminated.

Some people do not understand that a food allergy or food sensitivity does not have to put you in the hospital when you eat that food. In fact most food allergies are not that severe, some of the symptoms that you may have to a food that you are allergic to include a runny nose while you are eating, frequent headaches, and feeling run down all the time.

Common allergies for ADHD sufferers are wheat and food dyes. If you are unable to narrow down your food sensitivities go to your doctor and ask them to do a blood test for you, this will give you a complete break down of about 200 commonly eaten foods.

If you are better off following a diet then creating your own consider using the Feingold diet, it will help you eliminate all the stuff that does not belong in food like, food colorings and added flavorings. This diet will help you get into the habit of eating whole foods. Implementing this diet might be a little tough because many favorite foods are loaded with detrimental ingredients, but stick with it because many parents swear by the results and many times you can still have the foods you love the only difference is you will need to make it from scratch.

Remember that making the change from processed foods to whole foods may not be easy at first, but not only will you help the person suffering for ADHD you will also improve the nutrition for your entire family. There are plenty of studies that show that food intake is directly linked to ADHD symptoms and there are even a few that suggest the actual cause of ADHD is the foods we eat.