Most ADHD diets involve avoiding processed food because of the artificial additives they contain and their lack of nutritional value.  When doing the groceries, don’t be fooled by packaged foods that are “fortified” or “enriched with nutrients.  Not only are these so-called “enriched” foods just as depleted as regular processed food; they have a negative health impact on people who eat them on a regular basis.

Food processing involves various methods to prolong shelf life and deliver these foods to far corners of the world.  These methods, which can include freezing, canning, and adding chemical preservatives and flavoring, results in a final product that is lacking in vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients that it promises.   Despite these facts, processed foods are eaten regularly and at a high volume. This is troublesome because when processed food is eaten to satisfy hungry, the body uses up its vitamin and mineral stores to digest these foods and convert them into energy. Hence the term “empty calories” – the body uses its nutritional stores and cannot replenish them, thanks to the lack of nutrients in the processed food. The easy availability of these processed foods is one of the leading reasons why more children and adults experience ADHD. As you are probably already aware, vitamin and mineral deficiencies affect brain function, causing hyperactivity, impulsivity, and inattention.  Although food supplements can make up for the deficiency, it cannot get rid of the symptoms if a person’s diet is poor to begin with.

Enriched food is very misleading because it gives the impression that the food must be nutritious and healthy.  But the truth is that enriched food are only slightly less depleted than regular processed food.  What’s worse is that the nutrients added to the food are synthetic toxic additives.  For instance, the iron in iron-enriched snacks and breakfast cereals are actually made of the metallic form of iron! The only iron the body can use is the bio-available kind naturally found in meat and some vegetables.  In other forms, iron can do very little good to the body, in the same way metallic iron shavings can do little good to your nutrition. Yet this is the kind of iron found in iron-enriched foods.

Another enriched food you need to watch out for is those with omega-3 fats. Omega-3 fats naturally occur in deep sea fatty fish, walnuts, and flax, but now you see the omega-3 label in eggs, bread, and infant formula.  But not only are these omega-3 fortified foods more expensive; they don’t contain enough omega-3 fat to be of use. What’s worse is that synthetic versions of omega-3 are often used to fortify these foods.  A study shows that omega-3 fortified infant formula causes massive diarrhea because it uses a toxic synthetic fat similar to omega-3.

Following a nutritious ADHD diet is no easy task, but you are better off sticking to actual food sources of these vitamins and minerals instead of enriched processed food.  Enriched food will not only fail to provide the nutrients needed by someone with ADHD; it may end up aggravating any nutritional deficiencies that are already there.

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We are surrounded by toxins every day. No matter how hard you try to protect your child, he or she will invariably encounter toxins in the air, in the additives and preservatives in foods you eat, and other carcinogens lurking in the environment.  Exposure to these toxins is one of the leading causes of childhood ADHD, but a detoxification system and a good ADHD diet can help fight the symptoms.

The human body is not entirely defenseless against these substances – our skin makes a good first line of defense.  However, many toxins still pass through this barrier and enter the bloodstream, usually when absorbed from personal care products.  Most of the time, the immune system can get rid of these foreign particles naturally, through the excretory system. However, a recent study shows that children with ADHD sometimes have a problem with detoxification and need special help. Though there are treatments that can improve detoxification, another way to go about it is by incorporating certain herbs and foods into your child’s diet.

Below are five detoxifying foods that might help.

Beetroot

This unassuming herb has been discovered to break up cancerous cells and detoxify the liver. It is rich in folic acid and is loaded with antioxidants which can ward off the effects of toxins.

Flaxseed

Flaxseed is rich in the omega-3 fat alpha linolenic acid, which gets converted into the omega-3 fat DHA in the body. Though DHA needed by the brain to recover from ADHD, flaxseed is more useful as a detoxifying agent because of its high fiber content. This means it has laxative properties that can cleanse the digestive system and ensure efficient waste elimination.

Garlic

Garlic is a potent detoxifying food because of its antibiotic, antiseptic, and antiviral properties. This is probably the easiest food to add to your child’s diet – garlic makes everything taste better! Just make sure that you slice or dice the garlic well in order to activate its healing abilities. If your child cannot stand the smell of garlic, many health shops provide garlic supplements.

Nettle

The lush green plant nettle has been found to be rich in vitamins and minerals, including iron – a nutrient often deficient in children with ADHD. In terms of detoxification, its mild diuretic properties aid the urinary system and prevent urinary issues. Nettle is usually consumed in tea form and has a taste a child may not appreciate; you can make it more pleasant by adding honey to the mix.

Dandelion

Yes, those dandelions in your backyard have healing abilities used by Chinese medicine for thousands of years. andelion is a great source of vitamins A, C, B, as well as iron, zinc, and magnesium. It is also used to cleanse the liver, gallbladder, and improve bowel movement.

If your child is on the gluten-free casein-free (GFCF) ADHD diet, you’re probably racking your brain thinking of ways to cook without wheat or dairy.  The good news is that supermarkets and grocery stores now stock up on ready-made GFCF mixes or prepared foods. There’s also a new trend towards GFCF bakeries for parents who’d like to give their ADHD child a sweet treat every once in a while.  The downside to these new products is that they often cost quite a bit of money and go beyond many families’ allocated budget for groceries. If you’d rather prepare GFCF foods yourself, here are some tips that will make cooking for your family a whole lot easier.

Find free recipes

If you don’t know how to start cooking or what dishes to serve, try out a few recipes first.  You can find a number of free recipes on the internet; join support groups, message boards, or mailing lists, and see if parents have shared their favorite GFCF dishes.  You can also check out your local library for GFCF cookbooks.  Take note that cookbooks come with various recipes; some come with complete how-to’s for appetizers, main courses, and desserts, while others have a specific focus on dessert or bread.  Borrow several of these and try out their recipes.  Figure out which cookbook you can’t live without, and then buy your own copy.

Make your own flour mix

Just because your child can’t eat wheat, doesn’t mean he or she will be deprived of baked goods forever! You can still bake GFCF pastries using non-wheat flours like almond flour, rice flour, quinoa flour, or tapioca flour.  Pre-mix the flour and freeze them in an appropriately-labeled container.  When you need to make a dish or pastry that requires flour, all you need to do is pull out the right mix and scoop out the needed amount. Take note that each type of flour has different effects; it will take a bit of trial-and-error before figuring out which one makes the best dish.  Another important thing to note is that while millet and oat flour is naturally gluten-free, they are not safe for GFCF diets because these crops grow together or are manufactured with wheat.  This contaminates the oat and millet with great amounts of gluten.  

Use butter substitutes

For recipes that call for butter, use margarine or vegetable shortening.  As with flour, you’ll need to experiment with different types of butter substitutes to figure out which works best.

Use milk substitutes

There are a number of casein-free milk substitutes you can use for cooking – coconut milk, almond milk, rice milk, or hemp milk.  Certain foods like pudding might not solidify as well with these milk substitutes, so don’t be afraid to try out different types.

Make your own casein-free cheese

While there are a number of casein-free cheeses available on the market today, a close look at the ingredients shows that many of them still contain trace amounts of casein. However, you can fake the cheesy taste and texture using casein-free ingredients. For instance, try simmering coconut milk and stir in garlic powder, sea salt, onion powder, and unflavored gelatin according to your taste.  Let simmer until the gelatin has dissolved, then keep in the fridge.

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Did you know that stress and ADHD are closely linked together? There’s evidence which suggests that stressful situations can aggravate ADHD symptoms, especially impulsivity and attention. The converse is also sometimes true – ADHD symptoms make a child or adult more likely to be stressed out by things like long waiting time, sudden changes in plans, or new environments.  There are many ways to cope with stress and life’s other pressures, but one way you can go about it is by eating foods that fight stress.

Food can be an important part of stress management in many ways.  A warm bowl of oatmeal, for instance, can increase the levels of a neurotransmitter called serotonin, which regulates mood and calms you down. There are also foods that lower the levels of stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol, which are responsible for the negative effects of stress on the body.  Finally, nutritious foods can reduce the overall impact of stress on the body by lowering blood pressure and boosting your immune system. This list of stress-busting foods will show you how.

Complex carbohydrates

All carbohydrates increase the production of serotonin, but nutritionists warn against relying on simple carbs like chocolate and soda for your feel-good fix. Since simple sugars are digested quickly, they trigger happy sensations immediately. Unfortunately, this feeling is short-lived and is soon followed by increased irritability.  Instead of the immediate gratification provided by simple sugar, try eating more complex carbohydrates, which take longer to digest and thus sustain high levels of serotonin for longer periods of time.  Examples of complex carbohydrates include oatmeal, potatoes, peas, and lentils. Bread and wheat are considered complex carbohydrates too, but individuals with ADHD should steer clear from them.  Wheat contains gluten, a type of protein that irritates the gastro-intestinal tract and causes ADHD symptoms when it sedates the brain.

Oranges

As long as you’re not allergic to citrus fruits, oranges make great stress-busters. Its rich vitamin C content lowers levels of cortisol while boosting the immune system.  A study showed that cortisol levels and blood pressure returned to normal after people took 3,000 mg of vitamin C before doing a stressful activity. If there’s a particularly stressful event in the near future, like a major exam or a big presentation, consider taking supplements instead.

Spinach

Another nutrient that lowers cortisol levels is magnesium.  Not only is magnesium often deficient in individuals with ADHD; stress actually eats up our body’s magnesium stores.  This is why most people experience fatigue and headaches when they’re under pressure.  A cup of spinach can normalize your body’s magnesium stores.  If you’re not a fan of spinach, salmon and soybeans are also rich in this mineral.

Fatty fish

Consider adding more fatty fish to your diet. Omega-3 fatty acids, which are found in species like salmon, mackerel, and tuna, regulate levels of stress hormones and improve neuron communication.  Many studies show that people who consume more omega-3 fats from fish are less likely to be stressed, inattentive, and moody. Two servings a week should be enough. If you’re not a fish-eater, you can take fish oil supplements for your daily omega-3 nededs/

Research and experience shows that there is a relationship between the food ADHD children eat and how they act, think, and feel.  Neurotransmitters, the chemical messages that transmit actions and thoughts along the brain’s neural pathways, are affected by nutrients and minerals. Since food has this direct effect on neurotransmitter action and neurotransmitters are responsible for mood and behavior, it makes sense to conclude that food does affect mood.  This can also explain why ADHD diets are a popular natural treatment for the disorder. Some children are more sensitive to certain foods like bread or milk, while others can eat a sandwich without any changes in mood. While it’s easy to identify these kids, it makes you wonder how much of the ADHD behaviors we encounter are actually the effect of nutrition.

While the food-mood relationship tends to vary from child to child, here are the most common effects of different food groups.

Energizing carbohydrates

Refined sugar, such as those found in soft drinks and pastries, tend to make children crankier because of the fluctuations in blood sugar levels. First, the child experiences a boost of energy, then a low as the sugar finally runs out.  The child becomes more irritable as his or her mood parallels the highs and lows of blood sugar.  The mood fluctuations caused by refined sugar tend to be less severe if these foods are eaten with a fiber or fat that slows its absorption into the blood stream, but children with ADHD are generally better off without these carbohydrates.

Calming carbohydrates

Complex carbohydrates like fruits, legumes, and whole grains, or foods with a low glycemic index, provide a constant stream of energy without causing a crash. That’s because they do not disturb blood sugar levels as much and do not trigger the release of stress hormones.

Happy foods

If your child tends to be gloomy and moody, consider adding more bananas, milk, and leafy green vegetables to his or her diet. These “happy foods” aid the release of the neurotransmitter dopamine, which causes feelings of pleasure and motivation. Foods that contain the amino acid tryptophan relaxes, so you might want to consider enriching your hyperactive child’s diet with red meat, soy products, turkey, and tuna.

Using foods to regulate mood

Every child has a unique response to each food type, and you need to identify which foods bring positive effects to your child’s mood. Here are a few ways you can do so.

• Make a food journal to record what your child eats and what time of the day this was eaten.
• Record when bad moods, ADHD symptoms, or behavior problems occur.
• At the end of the week, examine your food journal and try to find connections. If, for instance, you see that your child becomes more irritable after having an energy drink, you might want to consider eliminating this from your child’s diet.
•  Continue keeping the food journal to help you decide what dietary changes need to be made.

Ever wonder why your ADHD child gets more lethargic and fidgety after lunch? That’s because popular lunch time options put the brain to sleep rather than wake them up. Here are great lunch ideas that will help your child stay alert, calm, and attentive all afternoon.

Achieve the right balance between carbohydrates and protein

Your child’s ability to absorb information after lunch has a lot to do with the amount of carbohydrates and proteins he or she eats. Turkey, milk, eggs, and bananas contain high amounts of the amino acid tryptophan, which sedates the brain and can cause drowsiness. Eating carbohydrates with these tryptophan-rich foods only increases its sedative effect. Carbohydrates trigger the production of insulin, which drives the tryptophan into muscle tissue and helps it reach the brain more quickly.

On the other hand, eating more protein and fewer carbohydrates improves alertness after lunch, especially if they contain the amino acid tyrosine. Seafood, legumes, tofu, and tuna are just some examples of tyrosine-rich foods. Try a salad topped with legumes, turkey, and tuna if you want to improve how your child works and learns in the afternoon.

Even the order by which the food is consumed can influence afternoon performance. A high-protein breakfast or lunch enables tyrosine to wake up the brain. On the other hand, if the brain needs to relax, eating a high-carbohydrate dish before protein will neutralize the effect of tryptophan.

Provide a light and healthy lunch

High-calorie, high-carbohydrate dishes like pasta with meat sauce might sound like an appetizing lunch for kids, but it will only diminish their performance when their meal is done. Same goes with fatty meals – high-fat foods divert blood to the stomach instead of the brain because they are difficult to digest. Instead, serve your child a healthy lunch that has only 600-800 calories. A great example of this is a whole wheat tuna sandwich with tomato, lettuce, and low-fat mayonnaise and a glass of milk.

Discourage your child from eating desserts or consuming soft drinks with the meal. The junk sugars in these foods might increase energy, only for your child to “crash” in thirty minutes or so. Aside from being lethargic and inattentive, this blood sugar low will also cause mood swings.

Fight for healthy school lunches

Parents who do not have time to prepare lunch for their kids need to lobby for healthier school lunches. Lunch options in most public schools are nutritional failures; fast food options like burgers, pizza, and French fries are quickly taking over the menu. Get involved in your child’s parent-teacher organization if you can and make nutrient-rich school lunches a top priority.

The brain’s growth is mostly complete by adolescence, but a lot of its vital connections are still being made during the teen years. Next to infancy, adolescence is a period that requires a nutritious diet for healthy brain growth, especially if this brain has ADHD. Diets of the average teenager, however, tend to be sorely deficient in important nutrients and fatty acids.  Teens either eat foods with high levels of hydrogenated fats and saturated fats, or they restrict their food intake in order to stay trim. Here are some ADHD diet tips to help your teenager develop healthy eating habits.

Practice what you preach

Instead of telling your child what foods to eat, model healthy eating habits by practicing what you preach. Take your child to the supermarket with you and demonstrate how to buy nutritious foods. Point out which types of foods are just empty calories and which ingredients trigger ADHD, such as artificial coloring, preservatives, and flavoring.  Encourage your child to help plan meals at home so that he or she becomes more motivated to eat healthy.

Say no to processed foods

Resist the temptation to buy frozen foods, canned foods, and other highly processed foods. Not only do these foods offer low nutritional value; they are also loaded with harmful ingredients that aggravate ADHD symptoms.  For instance, processed foods contain high levels of hydrogenated oil, which can be incorporated into the brain structure. Once in the brain, these oils make neuron membranes rigid and inefficient at transmitting and receiving neurotransmitters, which affects brain function and behavior.

Use teenage thinking as a weapon

Teenagers are conscious about their physical appearance, and you can use this to your advantage when it comes to nutrition. Talk to your child about the relationship between a healthy diet and acne-free skin, or say that empty calories will only facilitate weight gain.  This type of teaching uses the idea of “relevance”. In order for a teenager to accept the message, he or she has to believe that it has a direct impact in their life. Be specific – talk to your child about how eating well can improve their growth, their sports performance, their attention span, or whatever issue seems to be important to your child at the moment.

Here are some of the specific nutrients needed by your ADHD teen.

• Iron. Teens with ADHD, especially menstruating girls, tend to be low in iron. Addressing this deficiency is important, because iron aids in the production of neurotransmitters.
• Zinc.  The trace mineral zinc is responsible for brain wave processes, producing serotonin, and vitamin B6 metabolism, to name a few. Dark meat, oysters, and legumes are excellent sources of zinc.
• Calcium. Besides aiding growing bones, calcium helps produce neurotransmitters and aids in vitamin absorption and enzyme digestion.  Instead of adding more milk and dairy to your child’s diet, use dark green vegetables like broccoli, which are healthier sources of calcium.

One of the most difficult parts about natural ADHD treatments – besides figuring out which ones work best for your child – is the support or lack thereof of the people around you.  An ADHD treatment program is only as successful as the people who reinforce it, and there are many times when people allow your child to break the rules you’ve set for him or her.  One such problem is the issue of relatives and grandparents who slip the occasional cookie or forbidden food to a child on an ADHD diet.  Here’s what you can do when this happens.

Clarify the rules with your child

Children are smart enough to realize that their parents’ rules are different from their grandparents’ or aunts’ rules. If your relatives indulge your child by breaking routine and allowing your child to stay up late, make sure your child knows that regular routines will resume once he or she comes home.

Educate your relatives

The issue of ADHD treatments warrants a more serious discussion with your family. Since the relationship between ADHD and proper nutrition is not well-publicized, grandparents and other relatives might not understand why you child can’t have just one small bag of chips or a bowl of candy.  Educate your family by loaning books or showing them articles about ADHD and how symptoms are aggravated by artificial food additives, gluten, casein, and other allergens. Explain that your child has been well-behaved ever since the diet started and that avoiding these foods is crucial to your child’s ADHD recovery.

Consider desensitization techniques

If your family still refuses to cooperate, especially if your child is allergic to a number of foods, it might be worth it to try desensitizing the body. This involves specialized approaches that make the body less sensitive to the effects of gluten, casein, and other allergens. There are currently three types of desensitization techniques.

NAET

Nambudripad Allergy Elimination Technique (NAET) was created Dr. Devi Nambudripad, a chiropractor and medical doctor. Not only does this approach desensitize the body from known allergens, but it can also detect hidden food intolerances.

ASERT

Allergy/Sensitivity Elimination and Reprogramming Technique (ASERT) is a more expansive version of NAET because the desensitization technique is only one part of a multi-step treatment plan. This is also the desensitization technique used in our clinic.

Bioset

Developed by chiropractor Dr. Ellen Cutler, Bioset makes use of enzyme therapy and organ-specific detoxification technology to desensitize the body.

You’re probably familiar about the role of diet in causing and preventing ADHD, especially among children.  Certain foods can trigger hyperactivity or aggravate inattention because they contain substances or chemicals that have an adverse affect on the brain. Most ADHD diets revolve around eliminating such foods, but preparing dinner with alternative ingredients can be time-consuming, especially if the parent already has a busy schedule. It seems tempting to reach for that box of instant macaroni and cheese; in just five minutes, a meal is made. Never mind that it’s chock-full of artificial additives and has an abnormally orange glow; at least the kids are eating something!

If you’re in dire need of a quick meal that won’t make your child’s ADHD flare up, try cooking with quinoa.  This grain-like crop is closely related to spinach and beets, and is often eaten for its leaves and seeds. Quinoa is also considered a “super cereal” because of its rich amino acid content, high protein content (12-18%), and dietary fiber.   In fact, it was one of the staple foods of the pre-Columbian Andes and is used by NASA astronauts for manned space flights.  And despite being a grain, quinoa is completely gluten-free.  You can even buy certified organic quinoa, if you’re concerned about pesticide residue in your food.

Quinoa seeds can be used as a substitute for rice and couscous, and takes only about fifteen minutes to prepare.  Prepare two cups of water or soup stock (vegetable or chicken) and boil them in a saucepan.  Add a cup of rinsed quinoa once the liquid boils. One cup of quinoa might not seem like much, but the grain increases in size when cooked in water, just like rice.  Let it boil for about fifteen minutes, then check to make sure that the grain absorbed the water well.  Allow the quinoa to stand away from the heat for two or three minutes, then fluff the grains before serving.  Additional ingredients like salt, pepper, fresh herbs, and garlic can be added to enhance its flavor.

If your child is hesitant about trying new food, you can slowly introduce quinoa to the dining table by hiding it in soup. Quinoa grains function as a thickener, enhances flavor, and adds more nutritional value to the broth than any instant soup mix. You may also serve it for breakfast and present it as an exciting new cereal; simply use coconut milk instead of water to create a hot, creamy cereal. If it’s allowed by your child’s diet, you can also cover it in cheese, tomato sauce, or salsa. Just keep presenting the quinoa to your child, and he or she will eventually grow to enjoy eating it.

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In the morning rush before school, it’s perfectly natural for kids to skip out on breakfast. However, try to make sure your child gets a bite of a high-protein meal in the morning. A new study published in the Environmental Health Journal discovered that a healthy breakfast is good for children with ADHD, not only for the energy it provides, but because it reduces the body’s absorption of lead. As you may already know, lead is one of the leading ADHD causes in children today.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, lead is the primary environmental health threat to children today because of its harmful neurological impact. Aside from causing ADHD, lead is responsible for learning disabilities, violent behavior, and hearing loss. Children absorb more lead than adults because of their underdeveloped immune systems, and the study discovered that lead absorption is ten times higher on an empty stomach.

The study looked at blood samples from 1,344 children and assessed the amount of lead, copper, iron, magnesium, zinc, and calcium. The parent of each child also filled a questionnaire about their child’s diet and eating habits. After looking at the data, the researchers observed that children who ate regular breakfasts had lower blood levels of lead at 6.1 micrograms per 100ml. Those who had irregular breakfasts had higher lead levels at 7.2 micrograms per 100ml. Interestingly enough, the researchers also discovered that low amounts of lead is also related to high zinc levels in the blood.

How do children get exposed to lead? Even though lead-based paint and leaded gasoline has been banned, traces of this heavy metal can be found in most foods and drinking water because of lead in the soil and industrial waste containing lead.  Lead can sometimes be found in toys and certain cosmetics.  So aside from providing a good breakfast every morning, take a few minutes to wash all new toys, filter water, and use organic products to protect your child from lead’s harmful effects.