Working With a Child’s Diet Can Help Reduce Symptoms Of ADHD

In  the News: Eggs, Diet and ADHD

Several  interesting reports were released last week.  The first was new data showing that the nutrition in eggs is better than previously thought.  They have less cholesterol and more vitamin D. I personally love eggs, however I only use organic grass fed eggs. They are easy to prepare, chock-full of nutrition and loaded with omega's which are great for kids concentration and brain development

Another study published in The Lancet showed that a strict elimination diet decreased symptoms in kids with ADHD by 60 percent.  The study uncovers how working closely with a child’s diet can help reduce symptoms.  More research still needs to be done, but evidence shows that diet may be an alternative--or a support--to medication for ADHD.

 Twelve years ago, before anyone was talking about this, I worked with  The Eras Center in Los Angeles, a special needs school with a high population with kids with ADHD, autism and other special needs. I was employed as a creative arts therapist. When I was hired, I was instructed to follow the footsteps of the person before  me, who would do a 20 minute activity with the kids, and then if they were able to sit through the group without disrupting, they would get to pick a sugary treat from a hat. 

When they hired me, they had no idea my intense passion for healthy food, how I grew up with a 550 pound dad, how I watched his incredible struggles, and how, from the age of eight, I had read about every existing dietary theory. In short, they didn't know my passion has always been about showing people how to make good food choices.

After a couple of weeks I convinced my supervisor that I would give stickers for rewards instead of candy. The kids were just as happy.  A couple weeks late,  I convinced  my boss to give high protein snacks such as cheese sticks, and homemade smoothies that the kids would prepare themselves throughout the day.

 A couple weeks after that, I began hosting parent workshops in order to get the parents involved in helping their children make better food choices. 

 Within less then a year, 50 percent of the children were able to get off medication with an intense food detox diet.  I did daily cooking classes with the students, and kids who previously only liked artificially-colored  blue or red foods, were now eating colors from fruit and veggies. Feeding kids a healthful diet can often seem like a huge task--after all, even seemingly "healthy" foods are loaded with nitrates, MSG, preservatives and other triggers. A nutrient-dense, whole food diets take work and preparation.  That is where I come in. I help you decipher your children's food triggers, and help you  enrich their diets with delicious kid-friendly superfoods that are fast and easy to make.

Personal and group classes available. Check out magnificentmommies.com for more info!

"With some simple and delicious changes to the snacks we fed our students, Dawn helped many of out students wean off medications for depression, ADD, and ADHD. Our teachers noticed how much more focused the children were only minutes after snack time. What's more, her snacks were delicious and easy to prepare."-Mishelle Ross, Ph.D., mother and Director of the Eras Center, Culver City, California

And lastly, I want to share my contribution thoughts about superfoods for kids, which were featured in the current issue of New York Family:

http://newyorkfamily.com/newyork/article-676-superfoods-to-the-rescue.html