fiengold die t and stimulents

[sarahsmom]

Hi Im wanting to start the fiengold diet during the summer, or at least the diet that Larua stevens has in her book. I wanted to know about doing this when the child is on stim meds. Should she be taken off before doing hte diet or kept on. WOndering if the symptoms improve witht he diet would be being on the meds actually make her hyper in themselves? So would it be hard to tell if the diet is working while on the stumulents? Has anyone followed the elimination diet in Laura stevens book? Is this pretty mucht he same as the feingold diet? Thanks Lisa

[catatonic]

While the diet Laura Stevens outlines is basically the Feingold diet, there are problems with the do-it-yourself version she discusses. Problem is, due to labelling laws, food additives do NOT need to be listed on the ingredient panel if they are ALREADY included in an ingredient the manufacturer purchases from a supplier. For example, if the oil used on french fries comes from the supplier with TBHQ already dumped in in order to preserve the oil, there's no need for the french fry manufacturer to list it.

So in order to establish a really "clean" diet, you need more information than ingredient labels provide. That's where the Feingold Association is so invaluable. The Product Information Committee researches these hidden additives so that any food listed as acceptable in the Shopping Guide is TRULY free of harmful chemical additives.

In addition, the Feingold diet eliminates foods that are high in natural salicylates. After the first 6 weeks, you can re-introduce these foods one at a time to see if they are well tolerated. (My son does not tolerate salicylates, so he eats NO oranges, has grapes or apples extremely rarely, and tomatoes only occasionally in a fresh salad. Salicylates make him hyper and ugly.)

I started out with the diet outlined in Laura Stevens' book, and also removed high salicylate foods. I found that my son's hyperactivity and oppositional behavior were dramatically reduced. However, there were still plenty of bad days. Based on my 3 month long independent trial, I decided to join the Feingold Association and have considered it money well spent ever since.

What we found through elimination diets...

Artificial colors are the trigger for my son's previously frequent and incapacitating migraines.

Corn syrup triggered terrible tantrums (which have now stopped completely) and caused him to wet his bed every night.

Wheat destroyed his attention span. Since eliminating wheat from his diet, he is READING every night, and is actually able to focus and complete tasks that take more than 10 minutes.

So the Feingold diet (or Laura Stevens' version) may not provide the complete answer, but is an excellent starting point. You need to get your diet as clean as possible in order to detect other underlying food sensitivities that negatively impact behavior.

I would say that if you try Laura's diet and find it beneficial, you seriously consider joining the Feingold Association. If you try it and don't find it helpful, you will probably need to test other foods. And it is probably best to do this without medication. If medication is controlling symptoms, it would be more difficult to tell if foods are responsible for behavioral changes. Since it will be summer time, stimulant use is probably not as critical, as long as your nerves are up to the challenge!

[Kaiti]

Hi Laura, not knowing alot about the specifics with stimulants, but medication in general can have an effect on a body no matter what it is for.

I would say that you take advantage of the summer break and definately try Feingold. Like Catatonic said abotuthe oranges, Mikey is like that with apples. I can 9 times out of 10 tell you what Mikey might have either gotten into or been given with his different attitudes and behaviors.

My best advice to you is to start Feingold now, it has been teh best thing for us as a family. You may notice changes in the behavior from that even with the stims.

If you don't want to try it now, try not to overlap it with the separation of the meds. The with drawl from teh meds might be part that might effect behavior and such.

Good luck
Kaiti

[AnneM]

I know very little about the Feingold diet ... but I have certainly heard some positive things about it when followed rigidly ...

I DOOOO agree that there should be a break between stopping the stims and the commencement of the Feingold Diet ... otherwise the results are going to be very confusing I would think (i.e. is it the Stims? or is it the Feingold that is helping or not helping here?) etc.etc.

If you and your dd are prepared to really give the Feingold Diet a try ... and I mean REALLY give this a try ... then GO FOR IT ...

By the time I even heard about it it was way tooooo late for my son to even "try it" ... to suddenly tell him he could no longer have oranges or apples or a host of other things would have upset him hugely !! ... although having said that I can honestly hand on heart say that I never ever have noticed ANY difference in him when he has eaten some of these foods (but then everyone is different!)... In other words if you are going to try it I would try it SOON before your daughter gets used to (and really enjoys) some of the forbidden foods ....

Please keep us posted!! and GOOD LUCK!!!

[Linda]

With the stims...they are out of your system rather quickly.