How to Help Control ADHD With Nutrition

6/9/2007

Any parent would know dealing with children who can be affected by ADHD can be a very demanding, frustrating problem. ADHD stands for Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and has become a behavioral disability in up to 5% of the population and is on a global scale. Adults and children alike can suffer with ADHD with symptoms ranging from:-

Inattention Problems consisting of not listening, being easily distracted, a lack of attention to details and being forgetful in activities.

Hyperactivity Problems of talking excessively, restlessness, fidgeting and moving constantly, i.e. getting out of chairs when required to sit for a period of time.

Research is showing links to good nutrition in controlling the effects of ADHD and results are promising in helping to eradicate this anti-social behavior disorder. Most foodstuffs that are found on supermarket shelves these days contain additives, the likes of artificial coloring, artificial flavoring as well as preservatives for prolonged shelf life. These chemicals including MSG, nitrites and sulfites are made from crude oil - the same product you run your car with. When you think about it, our diets have changed dramatically over 50 years or more, ADHD did not seem so prevalent in children from the 40's, 50's and 60's generations, so why now is ADHD such a problem? Children's diets in earlier decades did not usually consist of so many bright, sugary food groups such as breakfast cereals; they more than likely ate good whole foods such as Oatmeal, Weetbix and toast with spreads.
There was no variety in different flavors of medicines and definitely no coloured toothpaste for teeth brushing, so maybe these little differences are a big contributor to why so many children today are being diagnosed with ADHD.

Foods to help control ADHD symptoms with diet are whole foods, fruit and vegetables, meat that has not had any chemicals or hormones added to it. Remember that "White is not always right" when dealing with processed food groups such as white bread, white flour and white sugar or anything made with these products. Try and add more wholegrain products to the diet and when doing the family shopping read labels on sauce mixes, cake packet mixes, in fact anything on the supermarket shelf to see if they contain some form of preservatives, artificial flavoring and coloring.

Parents can help their ADHD children by feeding a nutritional diet, these little bodies just can not cope with so many chemicals and high sugars that are being hidden in everyday products. There are different forms of medication available for ADHD, which are sometimes needed to help control symptoms. Dopermine and Norepinephrine seem to be rated best in treating ADHD but with a little help from nutrition, medication might one day helped to be alleviated. Two good sources for information on nutrition and ADHD are www.feingold.org/ and www.healing-arts.org.

In our search to make our lifestyles easier in today's busy society, where a majority of both parents work and good old fashioned cooking by our older generations is lacking, we are contributing to ADHD in our children by basically poisoning their systems with our foods.

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