Study: Diet May Help ADHD Kids More Than Drugs

reply to post by Erongaricuaro


Chantrix is also one of those mysterious pills with side-effects like "suicidal thoughts" etc. If that is indeed what you're taking for your addiction.

My father took Chantrix, and sleeping pills at separate times, both times he had to quit because he became very depressed and was not mentally sound. He told me he actual had recurring thoughts of suicide, which is extremely abnormal for him, as he is generally not that type of personality.

Dangerous stuff.

I'm not really aiming my incendiary rant at people like you, however. It's mostly just the complete apathetic disregard for acknowledgment that this stuff is dangerous.

I should fall back and regroup a bit, I am somewhat a believer in better living through chemistry. Besides for my day-long regimen of coffee and tobacco I will use aspirin and ibuprofen at the slightest provocation. My comment about "the ADHD nonsense" was not to dismiss the actual disease but that it is as common a label as "discipline problem" was in the 60's - like today's politically correct name for the same thing, AND the new fix for it.

Another ultra-common disease for kids today (and another topic) is asthma, which I have attributed to the problems caused by having wall-to-wall carpeting - no matter what brand of rug sucker you use. We have tile floors and regular mopping routines in Mexico and very few incidents of it. The diseases are real, refined sugars over-amp some people, and your anti-smoking pill sounds great!

I am rapidly approaching an age where dying young is no longer a possibility. At this point in time I readily avail myself to whatever comforts chemical properties can provide. And I eat well and healthily - as well as tastefully.

No doubt many of today's problems can be handled more effectively. Good personal and dietary habits would make many of these "problems" less problematic.

Edit to add: If the "depression" side-effect was somewhat controllable it could help make some of my writing a little more "edgy". I do have some issues with stopping smoking. I have a theory about tobacco/nicotine having some beneficial properties as perhaps a low-level "chemo-therapy" routine that keeps other "baddies" at bay, but other related "smoking" problems have bad that outweigh the good. I'm hoping my taste for hot chiles will offer some of the same benefits in tobacco's absence.

Diet can have a major effect on the development of young minds.

Too much sugar and not enough proper nutrition will invariably lead to poorer performance for most children.

(pardon the forthcoming rant....)

While I am not in any way shape or form an authority on ADHD, or the diagnosis of such - I do concede that it's being overused and the current technique of drugging into compliance is a poor and almost barbaric "quick fix" for what - for me - is nothing more than a symptomatic phenomenon of human evolution.

Children today are still being classified in an outdated mode of being "blank slates" - with caregivers insisting that they have nothing of their own to offer aside from rote memorization and sponging up various classes and so forth.

While as the step-child of a former educator, I know there is no way the school system - in it's current state - is equipped to handle a more integrated form of classes...whereby instead of a single teacher teaching a single discipline or subject there are two or three educators per class who can easily "jump tracks" to address every students natural gifts and nurture them accordingly.

I think it's time where we begin to look at the educational system in a new light - and instead of forcing (or drugging) the natural inherent curiousity of children into submission, a new program by which the natural persuasion of the individual child is accessed and tested to see how innate such abilities and talents reach, and then insure that those children are guided towards a more constructive environment for their personal growth - on their own pace, with qualified guidance on the part of qualified teachers.

While I agree it doesn't hurt to have a "well rounded" education in several areas of study, sometimes it's best to let nature take it's course during the formative years when a child is exploring his or herself.

Not every child moves at the same pace. An inattentive and easily distracted student may already have a grasp on the material, or is itching in his or her seat to get to a class that he/she feels is actually RELEVANT to their future endeavors.

Far too often, society prefers to looks at children as something other than human beings with dreams, aspirations, etc.

What is so hard about sitting Little Johnny or Young Jane down and point blank asking "what do you want to be when you grow up?" and then insuring he or she is given the appropriate series of educational classes towards that goal?

Oh wait - it's easier to just drug the poor kids up and keep pushing forwards with an outdated factory assembly line of unhappy future citizens hooked on drugs?

Sorry "System" - but you need a massive overhaul on multiple levels.

I'm betting a million to one a large percentage of the ADHD diagnoses are just because the kids are more advanced than the archaic child-psychology texts wax on and on about....and the "old school" (no pun intended) simply can't understand the new paradigm they are experiencing.

The Montessori Methodology
is a perfect example of how young minds can be guided to their highest potential without zombification.

It's a new generation.
It's a new era.
It's time the Educational System (and some parents, to a degree) caught up with a working program.

(rant over)

Originally posted by daryllyn
[color=dodgerblue]I have said for years that parents of 'ADHD' children should try cutting out sugar, adding whole grains, fresh fruit and vegetables to their diets instead of jumping straight into medicating them.

Life saving medications? Yes. Mind/mood altering medications? Absolutely not.

I did - - add NO FASTFOOD. NONE.

And - - swimming - - preferably a swim team - - which is an oxygen patterning exercise - - uses physical energy - - is a timed sport - - that you compete with yourself to better your own time.

I have posted this in a few other threads on this issue,.
One chemical that everyone seems to be forgetting to get away from that
has a direct interference with your ability to think clearly and rationally
Is Fluoride.
I would suggest doing some reading on the hazards of fluoride,.

Originally posted by FredT
In my medical opinion. ADHD is a real issue and SOME people do benefit from medications BUT.......

It is really one of the most over prescribed / over diagnosed conditions in the world.

Why? 2 reasons

People do not take their kids to specialist. Family docs mean well, but simply do not have the skills needed to make an accurate diagnosis. ALWAYS see a specialist before you medicate your kids. Seriously do you go to a podiatrist to deal with lung cancer? No.

Schools. Because schools are over crowded and under funded teachers want perfect little zombies that sit at thier desks and make no noise or move.

I was one of those "ADHD" kids. My mother took me to a specialist.

What the specilist told my mother - I'm smarter than kid's my age. I am getting bored in class because of this.

One of the tests the specialist gave me i can rememeber clear as day.

It was a picture of a street at night. A stop sign, and a lamp post next to it shining light onto the stop sign.

I was asked - which one was happier - the stop sign or the lamp post.

My answer was - They are both happy. The stop sign is illuminated by the lamp post so he's happy people can see him. The lamp post is happy because he has the stop sign as company.

This was why i was booted out of class every day. I would be told something - but it wouldent sit right in my head for whatever reason. So i would ask. The teacher got #ted off continualy that i just wouldent accept what she said as fact - hense i was labeled ADHD, troublemaker etc and booted out of class to maker he day easier.



I think it's amazing how people can grow up , and lived thru everything as a child, they've BEEN the ADD kid. They should know damnwell better its not because the child has any issue, its that the methods your'e going about teaching the kid may not work well.

There is allways lack of disapline which contributes greatly to the "ADD" kid phenomena.

When you cant discipline you're kids to help them associate right from wrong - or having them NOT fear what their parents would do to them if they were caught doing such and such.

Think back to when you were a kid. When you were told not to do something, it because you're #1 goal to do. Kids allways try to push the boundries. And what's happening is they are, continualy. And parents are powerless to discapline their kids without being karted off for abuse by family services.

Kids realise parents have no power over them - and they can do what they want. All it takes is a few crocodile tears and a phonecall these day's to "put parents in their place"


but yes - junk food and all the addatives - When a kid's brain has no ENERGY!! how is it suposed to THINK?! It cant. It's all over the place and fuzzy. Here again - is you're ADD kid.


It's humanaty's greatest flaw. The inability to accept responcibility. Instead we love passing it off on other things, leaving us blame free, and leaving things unchanged - so the problem never gets corrected - it just keeps getting worse.

I think it's best for people to distinguish between a personality that seems to encompass some of the ADHD traits, and true ADHD.

NP's are pretty close to ADHD. That would include:

INTP
ENTP
INFP
ENFP

It's the intuitive perceptive's... the full on "right-brain"ers out there...

ADHD, likely stems from many things. It seems that a major factor is a poor diet, but I have a hard time believing this is the one, only cause. I do think that if someone is diagnosed with ADHD, that correcting nutritional deficiencies, and switching to a whole foods diet will likely help assist the bodies ability to rid whatever toxins or pathogens are causing the underlying problems.

reply to post by Erongaricuaro


I believe in this wholeheartedly. If you stop feeding the kids terrible sugary foods they will most likely stop exhibiting symptoms of ADHD. Then the poor pharmaceutical industry will go broke, I love it!

reply to post by unityemissions


Pretty much in full agreement. If I had been from another generation they would have been wanting to drug me also. I am pretty much a classic INTP becoming more extroverted as I have aged. Public school systems "don't play well with others" that don't fit their mold. Fortunately the federal government had a place for me, a nice career where I got to do a lot of thinking and working "outside the box."

The public school caravan just moved too slow most of the time and was too repetitious. Then when an area came along that I felt needed some closer inspection and scrutiny they just wanted to move along past that and didn't appreciate me wanting to give it a closer look.

It seems the American system will take the mathematicians and scientists that manage to play the game and make it through the system but they seem to have the largest demand for people flipping burgers and taking your order, please.

No bets on how much longer that system will last but they will be fully prepared to flip burgers for the rest of the world when that time comes.

reply to post by Erongaricuaro

It's good to see the workable solutions getting more attention in the media. Not long ago NPR ran a little interview with the guy who is trying to roll back some of the more "creative" DSM entries that have resulted in nothing but massive drugging of innocent people with no lasting social benefit.

My church has been fighting these crimes for years.

Originally posted by TigaHawk
I was one of those "ADHD" kids. My mother took me to a specialist.

What the specialist told my mother - I'm smarter than kid's my age. I am getting bored in class because of this.

ADHD/Autism - - - is an umbrella "label". It encompasses - - a large area with great diversity.

Your experience is simply your experience and can't really be used in viewing/judging other experiences.

There can also be brain damage as a cause.

Originally posted by TigaHawk
There is allways lack of disapline which contributes greatly to the "ADD" kid phenomena.

When you cant discipline you're kids to help them associate right from wrong - or having them NOT fear what their parents would do to them if they were caught doing such and such.

My ADD daughter was actually too well behaved - - with good manners. We had to work with her to stand up for herself and fight back against rude and undisciplined kids. And NO - she was not shy and timid - - just was taught manners and to respect her teacher.

She had ZERO attention span on a one-on-one - - - - and required physical contact as in squeezing her hands for her to focus.

Originally posted by GENERAL EYES
While I am not in any way shape or form an authority on ADHD, or the diagnosis of such - I do concede that it's being overused and the current technique of drugging into compliance is a poor and almost barbaric "quick fix" for what - for me - is nothing more than a symptomatic phenomenon of human evolution.

YES!

My daughter was ADD. Her son was just hyper-active.

Fortunately - - because of my experience with her - - I was able to tell the difference.

His teachers in his private school were angry with us because we refused to put him on medication.

He is a happy healthy laid back - - kind of typical lazy 17 year old today.

Originally posted by Annee

Originally posted by TigaHawk
I was one of those "ADHD" kids. My mother took me to a specialist.

What the specialist told my mother - I'm smarter than kid's my age. I am getting bored in class because of this.

ADHD/Autism - - - is an umbrella "label". It encompasses - - a large area with great diversity.

Your experience is simply your experience and can't really be used in viewing/judging other experiences.

There can also be brain damage as a cause.

That seems to be the main problem with that label. As you suggest, it is applied as a blanket label for the "too intelligent" as well as for those who may be learning disabled. I suspect many lie somewhere in between and it is just a convenient term used to drug these children into submission.

As in the case of your child who seemed not to be a disciplinary problem but lacking focus perhaps, that would tend to demonstrate that there are much greater issues than can be covered by the ADHD label alone. Humans are complex creatures but no doubt society is being damaged by attempting to treat all of them the same then drugging the ones that don't fit their cookie-cutter.

No doubt great talent is being stifled by treating them in this manner, perhaps diverting that talent away from the greater society where there could be mutual benefit but instead toward fringe or illicit activities. When we tell the talented ones to shut up and go dig ditches who benefits? A lazy educational system? I think not the child.

Obviously a good diet is not going to fix all of society's ill, though it couldn't hurt. Psych drugs are not going to fix them either but it seems their hopes are it will "quiet-down" the problem somewhat.