Suggestions for battle-free healthy eating.

Jun 10 2011 Published by under ADHD, Nutrition


I am troubled by the diets of many of my clients, but none so deeply as the children I treat for ADHD. Lack of proper nutrition is one of most important contributory factors to ADHD, yet I see many of the children I treat eating poorly. I think there are two factors that explain this – 1. lack of information, and 2. unwillingness on the part of parents to insist on healthy eating.

I want to rant a bit about the second of these reasons. I hear often that children only eat a small selection of foods and won’t try anything else. In too many families food becomes a battle-ground on which children assert their rebellious natures, but ultimately, it is within parental control to determine what their children eat. Battling over foods is unhealthy in many ways but, with a bit of ingenuity, determination, and rethinking, can be avoided.

What follows are a few practical suggestions for improving your child’s nutrition and helping you get your head around insisting on healthier eating:

• Your job is to offer your child the food you want to offer, at the time you want him or her to eat. The child’s job is to decide what and how much of it to eat. (this is the advice of Dr Ellyn Sattyr, a food therapist)
•    Don’t give in to your child’s demands to eat food that you know is unhealthy on the grounds that it’s better to eat something than nothing at all. If a child skips a meal his blood sugar will be low, but not as low as the crash that occurs after eating a high glycemic, sugary, preservative rich meal.
•    Offering a choice of healthy options may be a good way to coerce a child into eating as it gives him the power to make a choice. Offering choices can reduce stress. It’s unhealthy for everyone involved when meals become a battle ground, so don’t battle, be firm, consistent, and generous with the range of healthy options on offer.
•    Get rid of unhealthy foods you don’t want your child to eat – this means a change for everyone. Healthy eating needs to be a family choice.
•    Sneak vegetables into foods — chopped sautéed greens in pasta sauce; peppers, tomatoes, sautéed greens on pizza; chopped celery, fennel, and cucumber, peas in tuna or chicken salad; powdered greens and carrot juice in smoothies, etc.
•    Put out crudities, nuts, raisins, sliced fruits, cheese to nibble while doing homework. Peas in the pod, edamame, mozzerella-filled cherry tomatoes, ants-on-the-log (celery sticks with almond butter and raisin ants) are just a few suggestions of fun snacks.
•    Make food art; play with food – children love eating their creations.
•    Do not offer alternative meals that require additional cooking – although a healthy substitute such as hard-boiled eggs, sliced smoked tofu, toasted tempeh, whole-wheat bread with nut butter can be put out on the table for additional options.
•    Get your children involved in shopping, cooking, even gardening. Get some good children’s cookbooks – these can be inspirational. Let your children cook for you on occasion, using any of the healthy ingredients you’ve stocked your house with.
•    Experiment with unfamiliar cuisines – many “ethnic” cuisines feature vegetables and rely on healthy spices for delicious taste. South-Asian food has a particularly rich vegetarian tradition – you may discover something wonderful that you never thought you and your children would love.
•    A family meal is important for more than nutritional reasons – do not discuss learning, grades, and behavioral issues (or any other contentious subjects) over meals.
•    Pack your child’s school lunch – school cafeterias can be a mine-field of unhealthy foods.
•    Do not suggest that the change to healthier eating is a short-term experiment.
•    Vitamins and supplements are important and fall within the category of “no-real choice”. However, they are supplements, not replacements for food and should not be offered as an alternative to healthy eating.
•    Finally – keep smiling! No begging, bribing, guilt-tripping – “this is what’s on offer, and the choice is yours”.
•   Remember, you offer, and they decide what and whether to eat.

Happy Dining!

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ADHD and Nutrition: 3 Steps for Starters

Apr 11 2011 Published by under ADHD, Nutrition

 

This year I have had the pleasure of working with a number of young patients diagnosed with ADHD in a clinical study on homeopathy and ADHD. (Please see the sidebar if you are interested in enrolling your child in this study.) And what a pleasure it has been! Those of us involved in the study have been thrilled with the results thus far.  I am limited by the confines of confidentiality in what I can tell you in this newsletter, but I will say that homeopathy seems to have a truly beneficial impact on ADHD, even with children who are medicated. 

As this study is designed to examine the impact of homeopathy on ADHD, I am not able to offer the study clients nutritional advice, but I do offer such advice to my private clients. Frustrating, as many people notice a huge improvement in their child’s ADHD symptoms on dietary changes alone.

I offer here 3 simple nutritional steps to help support your child with ADHD. Nutrition refers to the nutrients you take into the body – both in the form of food and supplements – and impacts, among other things, the way the body and mind are regulated and coordinated. I also include in “nutritional support” the elimination of foods that are detrimental to your child’s functioning.

So, here are 3 easy things you can do, and why you should….

1.    START THE DAY WITH A HIGH PROTEIN, LOW CARBOHYDRATE MEAL
•    Serve 2/3 protein (eggs, fish, grass-fed organic meat, protein supplements in a shake), 1/3 complex carbohydrates, fruits, veggies
•    A low glycemic meal such as this will provide your child with a steady source of energy, avoiding glycemic spikes, and stabilizing peaks and troughs of insulin and glucose that can effect attention, energy, focus, self-control
•    Many ADHD kids are protein deficient – protein helps make neuro-transmitters and can improve attention and focus
•    Blood sugar levels are related to stress hormone levels – a low glycemic/ high protein diet will stabilize blood sugar levels, minimizing spikes in stress hormone activity
•    Many ADHD kids are hypoglycemic. A high protein diet helps reduce symptoms of hypoglycemia, some of which are similar to symptoms of ADHD
•    A morning meal high in protein raises tyrosine levels in the blood and brain – causing neurons to manufacture norepinephrine and dopamine, two neurotransmitters that promote alertness and mental activity.
•    Children on stimulant medication often complain of appetite loss during the peak hours of medication, meaning they often don’t eat lunch at school. Starting them with a protein rich, low glycemic meal is your best bet for getting them through the day.

2.    OPTIMIZE OMEGA 3 FATTY ACIDS
•    Omega 3 fatty acids, or long-chain polyunsaturated fats, are essential for supporting optimal cognitive function by promoting neuron function. The omega 3’s in fish are DHA and EPA; deficiency in these is linked with behavioral disorders, especially aggressive behaviors, mental stress, and depression.
•    Optimal levels of these healthy fats may improve the cellular membrane, assisting cellular fluidity and neurotransmission, allowing the cells in the brain to work more effectively, making it easier to concentrate, promoting focus, calmness, and facilitating learning.
•    Studies have shown that most children with ADHD (up to 82% in fact) are deficient in plasma levels of DHA
•    Consuming cold-water fish at least 3 times weekly or supplementing with a good fish-based oil, free of contaminants and heavy metals is essential for all children with ADHD. Aim for about 500 mg of DHA daily.
•    The only problem is that our fish is seriously contaminated, with mercury in particular. Krill oil, made from a subspecies of crustaceans found in the Antarctic, may be the optimal source of non-dietary Omega 3 DHA. There are a number of advantages to krill: there is no mercury risk with krill; it has superior neurological absorption to fish oil, meaning that a smaller amount is needed; and delightfully, it is environmentally sustainable in a way that fish oil is not.
•    There are also vegetable based Omega 3’s. These contain a long-chain ALA fat, a precursor of Omega 3 fats. There are a number of reasons that these plant-based Omegas are inferior to the fish alternative. The body needs to convert the vegetable based ALA to a usable Omega 3, something that is difficult if insulin levels are elevated. Moreover, ALA is not equivalent in its biological effects to the long-chain omega-3 fats found in marine oils and not as effective in its impact on brain function.
•    Flax is one of the most common of the plant based Omega 3’s. Because of the structure of its ALA, this vegetarian Omega 3s is prone to rancidity, and therefore must be freshly ground each time it is taken.
•    A preferable vegan Omega 3 choice is Chia seeds – also an ALA fat, but more concentrated than Flax. Chia is a new superfood, with claims for all sorts of health benefits. I have not been able to find any studies that specifically support the use of Chia seeds for ADHD, but have found anectodal evidence of its efficacy in addressing the symptoms of ADHD. I have some clients who have found this to be the only form of Omega 3 that their children are happy to take – a definite benefit!

3.    ELIMINATE FOODS THAT CAUSE INFLAMMATION, TOXICITY, ALLERGIC REACTIONS, ARE HIGH ON THE GLYCEMIC INDEX, OR HAVE NO NUTRITIONAL VALUE
•    Wow! That’s a long list! Remember that you are what you eat, and every cell in your body is affected by what you put into your mouth. Given the wealth of wonderful, delicious, nutritious, powerfully healthy foods at our disposal, why ‘gunk up the engine’ with garbage?
•    So, no white stuff – in particular, no white sugar, no white flour.  Carbohydrates must be complex, which means full of nature’s brown goodness, and limited in how much they have been processed. The more processed the grain, the higher it is on the glycemic index, the less the nutritional value.
•    Never allow your child to eat/drink anything with nutrasweet or aspertame – check all “sugar free” products for these ingredients.
•    Limit dairy products if you notice any change in your child’s behavior after they are consumed, or if s/he craves them excessively. The same goes for wheat and yeast.
•    Reduce or eliminate fried foods if possible
•    Do not serve your child any foods with preservatives, artificial colors or flavors, MSG (monosodium glutimate), processed or manufactured foods.  This includes luncheon meats, most hot dogs, margarine, candy, ketchup, soda pop, instant noodles, popsicles, and lots of other things.
•    Notice any food sensitivities your child displays and remove the offending food. Many ADHD children are sensitive to foods containing salicylates. These are found in a huge range of fruits, vegetables, spices, herbs. If you are concerned about your child’s sensitivity to this category of food you may need help determining the degree of sensitivity and which foods should be eliminated.
•    For some people, this list of eliminated foods seems overwhelmingly limiting and may require an entirely new way of thinking about food shopping, cooking, eating. Stick to farmer’s markets and the fresh food aisles in the grocery store. Think like your grandmother did – cook like it’s the 1940s. Luckily, there’s a lot of help out there in the form of nutritionists, food blogs, professionals to help you if you need it.

In a perfect world, I would like to see families with ADHD engaging in an integrated model of care that includes homeopathy, nutritional advice, supplemental support, counseling, and a program of behavioral expectations and rewards that addresses the needs and issues of all members of the family, not just the child diagnosed with ADHD. Indeed, ADHD is a family matter and the stresses of such a diagnosis can impact harmony within the family as a whole.

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