Has anybody tried the "Feingold Diet"

[Oreo]

No... Russ hasn't come out with a new diet plan.

The diet basically says that preservatives and dyes in foods are leading to a large number of health problems including ADHD in children.

http://www.feingold.org

They send you a list of all of the foods that are proven not to have specific synthetics and/or preservatives. You have to pay to become a member and get the list which is why I'm curious if anybody here is familiar with it.

Thanks!

[Taverner]

1. I was raised on it

Personally I think its all bunk. Many preservatives are naturally occuring elements (citric acid for one).

They also rail against artificial foods and colors. The FDA definition of these things is a bit of a mystery - carrot color is labeled artificial where as almond flavoring from arsnic is natural.

[sui generis]

5. ...and just look how you turned out!

:hi: :P

[MADem]

2. Pay to become a member, eh?

Sounds to me like a

SUCKER

game. Here's how you can tell if something has preservatives in it....READ THE LABEL.

[LeftyMom]

3. LeftyKid is on a variation

One of the things I like about the feingold diet is that it's encouraged to adapt it and not be nay mroe restrictive than needed. I like that as my son is already vegan and food allergic, so we really don't want to cut out foods without good cause. In his case we avoid arteficial colors and flavors like the plauge, but not some of the fruits and veggies that are avoided on a strict interpretation of the feingold diet because he isn't more symptomatic with those foods. Well, we avoid apple juice, it makes him a bit squirrely.

If you need a list of Feingold approved foods I know Mothering magazine published one a few years back. I gave away my hard copy but I think it's online. I'll look for it.

edit: I've certainly never paid for a list of approved foods for anything. I'm a kick-ass label reader.

[Oreo]

6. Thanks!

Of course they're saying you can't trust the label but if you can find a list that would be great.

What were your child's symptoms that led you to going with the diet?

I found this
http://www.mothering.com/articles/growing_child/food/feingold.html

[LeftyMom]

7. Here's the link I was thinking of

http://www.mothering.com/articles/growing_child/food/feingold.html (Please note that I think some of the cited books and articles are pure unadultrated bullshit.)

In LeftyKid's case, he becomes easily overstimulated (mostly by crowds and noise- taking him into a big box store used to be pure hell) and acts out, and when he was younger diet was definitely a trigger for that. It seems to be less of a factor now, I don't know if it's something that he's growing out of physically of if he's just better at self-regulating his behavior and coping with the overstimulation.

My Mom gave me one of Dr Weil's cookbooks a few years back (I don't know why she buys me omnivorous cookbooks, but anyhow) and he suggests some criteria for evaluating a prepared food that I think are useful for people looking into Feingold or a similar dietarty approach (I'm paraphrasing.) What he says to ask yourself while looking over the ingredients is if they reflect how you'd prepare the food at home. So if you are looking at at package of oatmeal cookies, the ingredients should look like what you'd use to make a batch at home, and if there's corn syrup or arteficial vanilla flavor or something you wouldn't use you put it back on the shelf and look for something else. He also suggests being skeptical of anything your grandparents didn't cook with, though he uses a lot of international ingredients my Grandma certainly never heard of, so I'd revise that to mean healthful and minimally processed ingredients with a long track record.

[Oreo]

8. Thanks for your help

My 4 1/2 year old is definitely along the same lines and although in my opinion is too young to be diagnosed ADHD, definitely shows a majority of the symptoms that are listed.

We're just hoping to get him on the right track before he starts school and we're both against giving him drugs (but not in a crazy Tom Cruise jumping on the couch way ;))

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feingold_diet

[sui generis]

4. kids have ADHD?

I think with rare exceptions it's over-diagnosed, and the diagnosis works like a crackhead telling you he's an addict, which justifies his smoking crack.

It's the ones who are calm and eerily focused who are weird. Caused by eating too much wholesome food. I mean really! Fresh vegetables and fruits, no packaged snacks, organic meats, whole grains, and dairy milk and a daily kids vitamin, plus no refined sugars except on special occasions. Now that's unnatural.

Sigh. Color me weird and unnatural. My mom bought a two liter bottle of Coke once a month, which went flat the first day, and we occasionally got to have ice cream. On rare occasions she would buy candy for the kids - by the piece. Real portion control. As much fruit and nuts as we could stand to eat. On rarest occasions or road trips we might get to have a rootbeer float or a small dipped cone at DQ.

To this day I can't eat sugar in the evening without being wired and sleeping restlessly, and never developed a taste for junk food beyond a nibble here or there. Maybe it's all the freakin' sugar they eat. Yeah, plus who knows what chemicals in anything that comes in a package.