Modified Feingold?

[lisle]

Hi,Everyone:
So many people say that the Feingold has helped, but I know my son will have a cow if I insist on it. So I'm asking which aspects of the Feingold have helped you the most? I realize this is not the way it's supposed to be but I thought I would try if there is consensus. We already avoid artificial color and chocolate whenever possible. My son is not very compliant away from home as he is extremely oppositional.
lisle

[catatonic]

Our first step was a home-grown version of the Feingold diet...and while we saw some positive behavioral changes, the improvement was very irregular. An experienced Feingold parent told me that "you can't implement the program 80% and expect 80% improvement...it's all or nothing."

She was right. It's been my experience that if we are not VERY STRICT in following the diet, then it fails. And not just for that day that we eat risky foods. It fails overall. At least for the first 6 weeks, you really need to be 100% compliant. After that cleansing period, you may try adding things back in to see if they provoke reactions or if they're safe for you to eat.

When we started the diet, my kids weren't happy about eliminating cheetos and M&M's and gatorade COMPLETELY and FOREVER. They've gotten used to it. In fact, they've learned to take a kind of perverse pride in our freaky health food.

My Challenge Boy has compliance problems with the diet when he's not at home and it is sometimes a serious issue. He began trading food at school lunch somewhere after the Christmas holidays and his behavior deteriorated to the point his teachers were calling me. I've spent the last 2 weeks picking him up every day for lunch to make sure he sticks to the diet. I view this as a temporary measure but I know the problem will come up again and again and probably get worse as he gets older and has more freedom and more money. (He's only 9 now.)

But really, if your son has a cow, so what? If he had a cow over taking antibiotic for an ear infection, you'd make him take it anyway. I look at this the same. It's a form of treatment, and it's one that works. The basic Feingold diet is really not that enormous a change, although you must prepare more foods from scratch. It becomes more work if you find you need to eliminate additional foods.

For example, in addition to the basic Feingold program, we avoid all corn syrup, MSG, nitrites and artificial sweeteners. This means there is virtually no packaged food we can purchase -- including canned soups, crackers, yogurts, breads. It can be an enormous, overwhelming pain in the a*s sometimes and the only reason I stick with it is because I truly believe it works miracles.

I think you're the only one who can really decide how strict to go on the diet, because you are the one who will end up with the bulk of the work involved. Lucky you!

[ckharrell]

We have been on the Feingold Program for over 6 years and can tell you that if we are not 100 percent on diet, our family lives in caos!

Artificial flavor and the preservatives that you are to eliminate as well are very important to seeing good results. Also, many families when going through the first 6 weeks discover that their child has sensitivities to ingredients that they would have never caught if they had not went through the process.
Things like diary, corn syrup, benzoates, even foods containing a high syliclate content.

Although the first several weeks can be hard work an pretty intense, it is so worth it! There is also major help on their message board.

Good luck in whatever you deside!

[Marcia]

I agree. And most of the products eliminated due to the chemicals can be replaced by another brand--even M & M type candy.

[dfp]

I don't know where you live, but if you live near a Trader Joe's or Whole Foods, it will make all parts of following Feingold much easier. In fact, after a fairly strict first 6 weeks to determine which foods caused reactions, I can say we follow a "modified" Feingold diet with great success.

By 'modified' I mean that I've memorized my son's & hubby's no-nos, and don't buy foods that include those things, and I don't really have to bring the foodlist to the market anymore. Then again, I do most of my shopping at Whole Foods and they don't really allow any of the artificial colors or preservatives in the foods they carry. Salicylates are another matter and I have had to memorize the list of high-salicylate foods so I can avoid them.

At Whole Foods & TJs I find I'm able to buy Feingold-friendly alternatives to a lot of the treats and packaged foods one normally gets at a 'regular' market. I don't think my kids feel that deprived. In fact, my son has noticed how much better he feels so he's quite compliant.

In a perfect world, maybe your son's cow-having would improve by being on the diet! (My son is very oppositional when he's off-diet).

Good luck. I know it's daunting-- I was very overwhelmed at first. But it turned out to be not that bad and we're all happier for it.

[ckharrell]

Yes.. this is true.
Once you get passed the first fase of the Program it is all about tayloring it to fit your childs needs.

The whole process kind of reminds me of when you first start feeing your baby table food. You know, the doc says to feed them the same thing for several days to see if they do well with it. Only in this case you don't have to go back to just drinking formula or breast milk!!

"dfp" sounds like she had an easy time of it and that is wonderful.

I wish the best for you and your child.


Cindy