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Post by Momof2Boys on Oct 28, 2003 14:09:06 GMT -5
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I am really sadden to see the other site go, but I am so glad someone had the courage to open this one. I'm new to all this and I am still confussed about so many things. I have been trying to follow the Feingold diet with my boys. I have seen some, not much improvement. I have also been giving them a tablesthingy of Barleans Flax Oil with either yogurt or a health shake in the mornings. I hope I'm not giving too much. Its what was recommended at the GNC store. They both get a good multi vitamin every morning. They have been taking vitamins since they were very little. My boys are 9 and 10 about 90 to 100 lbs. Is there something else I should be giving them.
I've been doing this for about 1 1/2 months now. At first I saw improvements in their grades at school. Now for the last two weeks, their grades have gone down. Their behavior has not gotten worst, just hasn't improved much. Could someone please let me know if I'm headed in the right direction. What else can I do besides just give it more time. My youngest is the one that has a big problem staying focused. He is not hyper at all. At the end of the day when he comes home, its a hard road with homework. I know put a timer, once the timer rings, thats it,,,you go to school with homework not done and get your punishment from your teacher. That has helped a little.....Thanks again to whomever started this site, and God Bless the lady who had the other one. It was a great help to me.
Thanks All
Molly
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Post by DenverSarah on Oct 28, 2003 15:42:40 GMT -5
Hello,
you are on the right track!
What exactly are you doing Feingold style? I ask this because if you are only doing it 80% you will not see 80% improvement. Following it 100% IS THE ONLY WAY to know for sure how well this program will work. I think many people never get to see what it can do because of only doing it halfway. It's not uncommon for folks to try it mostly, and get little or no improvement, and then find it was the one thing they couldn't give up or refused to believe was the problem is the very thing that made the difference between little or no improvement and the MIRACLE.
On the flax, are you giving 1 tablespoon per day? I know that the few liquids that I have experience with suggest at least 4 per day! It is good that you are supplementing with essential fatty acids, and if anything you should be giving more. You may want to consider switching to gel-caps. Also, I recommend buying supplements on-line if you don't have an aversion to on-line shopping. The prices are about 50-70% lower than the Health Food store. I use a product called Natural Factors Learning Factors that I purchase at Seacoast vitamins.com. I give my son 2 gels in the evening and 2 in the morning and along with Feingold this has made all the difference.
As far as further vitamin supplementation, there are numerous studies that show b vitamins and extra magnesium to be helpful. However I am not very knowledgable about the vitamins. I have been fine with the daily multi-vitamin that my son uses and with the way things are going I don't want to change anything and rock the boat. Just make sure if you are using any supplements at all that they are high quality and don't have any of the artificial poisons in them! I couldn't ask for him to be doing any better! Good luck with yours and I hope this helped!
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Post by Catatonic on Oct 28, 2003 23:36:06 GMT -5
Molly -
You are definitely on the right track. I know I tried Feingold for about 4 months on my own before I felt convinced that it was a VERY important part of the answer to my son's problems. I joined and have been following the food list carefully and the improvement in my son's behavior is miraculous.
However, I found that with my son, the Feingold diet addressed only part of the problem. His overreacting to things emotionally, having temper tantrums, and acting oppositional were dramatically improved by the diet. His inattention and hyperactivity were not.
That's where the supplements help, and it took a good 6 weeks before we saw results. Denver Sarah is absolutely right about including magnesium and B-vitamins along with your Omega-3 and multi-vitamin. We've also found the flax doesn't do much for my son. For flax to work, the body must be able to convert its shorter chain fatty acids into the long-chains that the brain needs. I guess my son can't do this efficiently. I give him fish oil that contains DHA and EPA and he does very well. He gets a lot - 480mg DHA and 720mg EPA per day. If I mess with this he goes down hill.
You might also keep in mind that sometimes your child will have problems unrelated to what you're trying so hard to accomplish. For example, where we are right now the pollen counts are very high for ragweed and juniper and my asthmatic is on his nebulizer every two hours. My ADHD son doesn't have asthma but is plainly having some type of allergic reaction with swollen watery eyes and obnoxious behavior. (With him, obnoxious behavior always seems to be a side effect of any problem.)
I'd recommend, first, trying additional supplements (magnesium and B-6) and second, keeping a notebook. Write down everything your child eats each day. Write down the allergy conditions like pollen count. Write down if he went anywhere he doesn't go everyday (like having PE in the park instead of the gym, or a field trip to the dairy, etc.) Write down what his behavior was like. This has been a big help to me and only takes about 5 minutes a day or less.
On homework, I've found bribery effective on occasion. If homework is finished by a certain time, he gets to go to the park for an hour. If he's done by the time his dad comes, he can go out and play football catch in the street until dinner. Motivation does a lot better than nagging (I've nagged often enough to say this with some authority!)
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