Below you will find a listing of various foods and chemicals that might be playing a huge part in your child's ADHD. To find out for sure, try keeping a food/chemical exposure diary for a month or longer. Understand that reactions to exposure to any of these foods or chemicals can start in as little as 15 minutes and can last up to 4 days. Reactions can take any number of forms. Basically, any of the behaviors you experience in your child could be considered a reaction to exposure.

This list is part of what you will find in what is called the "Feingold Diet". There is information available about this diet and the chemical exposures available on the web. You will also find just as much saying that it is not supported by the medical community. Obviously, if something like this works and the child doesn't need medication anymore, that might take some money out of the pockets of the pharmaceutical companies as well as the doctors' pockets. At any rate, doing the diary and keeping track of what your child is exposed to and at what time, then recording any behaviors whether they be normal or ADHD behaviors cannot hurt anyone. If you start seeing a pattern, try removing whatever item your child was exposed to at the time...just for a week and record what happens. If the behavior stops, you may have found yourself a clue to helping your child. As you find more and more of these patterns, you may be able to eliminate many of the problem behaviors without the need for the medication.

DO NOT STOP ANY MEDICATIONS WITHOUT YOUR DOCTOR'S SUPPORT AND ADVICE...STOPPING MEDICATIONS ABRUPTLY CAN CAUSE MAJOR HEALTH PROBLEMS.

Once you have found patterns and eliminated exposures from your child's environment and have shown improved behavior, talk to your doctor about the possibility of slowly getting off the medication to see if the better behavior is maintained.

Each child is different and may or may not respond to this treatment in the same way. Also, each child will have different things that cause the behaviors. Not all of these items will be a problem. Sometimes they will only be problems in combination with others and be okay by themselves. If that is the case, keep that exposure to a minimum but it may not have to be totally eliminated.

Does your child seem to crave an item on the food list--red jello for instance? Or can your child tolerate one kind of red pop but not another? Or is your child constantly writing on themself with magic markers and other ink-filled markers? Things like this can be a sign that those items are problem items. When you buy certain fruits, does your child eat them up faster than you can keep them? Check the list and see if those fruits are on the list, then watch the behavior after eating the fruits. Often, food allergens trigger craving of that food.

Yes, doing the diary, changing your grocery purchases or having to hide foods the rest of the family can have but your child cannot, and eliminating certain chemicals from your house and child's environment can be inconvenient. But it won't do damage to anyone to check it out. If it doesn't work, no harm done. If it does, it can be well worth the inconvenience, especially as your child gets older and begins to understand that he or she doesn't want to behave badly and has a way to keep from it...a way to have control of his or her own behavior.

As you progress and behaviors are much better, you may come to a place where you are relaxed and thinking that everything is going very well. Then suddenly there is a new behavior that you have not seen before or in a long time. What happened? Go back to your list. Copy and paste this list and save it to your computer as you may need it weeks, months, or even years from now as exposures may change as your child grows and is out into the world more. For instance, a new job can lead to exposures that were not part of your child's life before taking that job. Do they need to quit the job? That depends on if there is some way to prevent the exposure and also how bad does the child want that job? As your child gets older and approaches the teen years and adulthood, it is time for them to be learning how to protect themselves without needing your constant guidance. Once they are out on their own, they will have to monitor it themselves. Hopefully as they get older, the problems caused will decrease. But if not, they may just change to a milder form.

I hope this helps your family as well as it helped mine.

COMMON FOOD ALLERGIES:
milk, corn, wheat, sugar

SYNTHETIC FOOD DYES THAT ARE COAL TAR OR PETROLEUM BASED.

ARTIFICIAL FLAVORS.

FLAVOR ENHANCERS SUCH AS MSG.

PRESERVATIVES:
BHA, BHT, TBHQ

SALICYLATES--PHENOL-BASED COMPOUNDS:
found in the following foods, etc.: aspirin, almonds, apples, apricots, berries (all), cherries, chili powder, cider, cider vinegar, cloves, coffee, cucumbers, currants, grapes, mint, nectarines, oranges, peaches, bell & chili peppers, pickles, plums, prunes, raisins tangerines, tea, tomatoes, wine.

OTHER COMMON OFFENDING CHEMICALS:

HEATING: gas appliances & furnaces; kerosene; oil heat or spills; odorous space heaters; burning of chemically treated wood; smoke from fireplace, woodstove, or coal; propane appliances.

HOME: moth balls; fresh newsprint; typing correction fluid; holiday decorations of fresh evergreen branches; evergreen trees; formaldehyde from new carpeting; scented candles; menthol cigarette smoke; air fresheners; dog & cat repellent.

KITCHEN: scouring powders; soaps; waxes; polishes; aerosols; chlorine; disinfectant containing methyl salicylate; pine scent; oven cleaner; rug shampoo; colored dishwasher detergent.

HOME WORKSHOP: paint; shellac; varnish; and similar substances; particle board especially if being sawed; wood coatings; airborne particles from sanding wood; fresh paneling; plaster & drywall substitutes & fillers; formaldehyde from foam insulation.

BATHROOM: deodorant; perfume & cologne; hair spray; alcohol on skin; hand lotion; colored & perfumed soap; facial powder; eye shadow; fingernail polish & polish remover; artificially dyed or flavored toothpaste; lip chapping stick; preshave & aftershave lotion; bubble bath; dental cleaning agent; flouride treatment; adhesive bandages; artificially dyed or flavored medicine.

YARD: pesticides; swimming pool chemicals; lawn chemicals; smoke.

NEIGHBORHOOD: tar & pitch, smoke from large outdoor fires; exhaust fumes; freshly poured blacktop; roof resurfacing chemicals, tree spraying.

SCHOOL: freshly applied waxes & plastic coating on gymnasium & hall floors; mimeograph paper; duplicating machines; freshly painted walls; formaldehyde from freshly laid carpet; all purpose glues; odors from construction of a new mobile home (first seven years after construction); glue used in flooring; wallpaper & paneling; petroleum products; engine cleaners & chemicals; damp basements.

PLAYROOM: scented stickers or toys; ballpoint or invisible ink on skin; felt tip marker on skin; colored chalk or chalk dust; fingerpaint; scratch & sniff stickers; putty & clay-like modeling compounds; caps & fireworks; white powder inside new balloons; Easter egg dyes; art supplies; photographic chemicals; odorous marking devices; glue & paste: modeling clay; paint and other art supplies; chemically treated paper; school bus exhaust fumes; strong chemical odors from science labs; pets or pet food, moldy odors in lavatories & locker rooms; previously flooded basements or other damp areas of the school; aroma of food to which child is allergic such as popcorn; dust; molds; mites; fleas.

DO NOT STOP ANY MEDICATIONS WITHOUT YOUR DOCTOR'S SUPPORT AND ADVICE...STOPPING MEDICATIONS ABRUPTLY CAN CAUSE MAJOR HEALTH PROBLEMS.