Can ADHD Be Controlled With Diet?

I don't think ADHD can be controlled with diet, although I would get rid of the junk food for other reasons. There is more and more evidence that ADHD is caused by poisons (mercury, lead etc.) that have saturated our environment. A mother, usually unknowingly, is exposed to these when pregnant (in the form of air, water, food, workplace materials etc.) and these poisons effect the brain development of the child. Some women have high levels of these toxins in their bodies just because of where they have lived and their lifestyles - this is also thought to effect the fetus. There are so many ideas about dealing with ADHD, that your friend might want to look for a support group on the web or in her city to compare notes with other parents.

I don't know if it can be helped by diet alone, but it can't hurt to reduce the sugar, especially high fructose corn syrup, artificial coloring, and probably artificial sweeteners as well. I would say caffeine too except that I've heard that it has a positive effect on kids with attention issues.

I'll be back.

I just wanted to add a tip for getting a kid off junk food. If mom is buying $10 a week worth of diet soda she should offer her son the money inplace of the soda. The deal is he can spend half and save half. He cannot spend the spendable half on junk food. The saved half has to stay saved until he goes to college or graduates high school, at which time the deal ends. Most kids get hooked on the money and give up the junk.

Thank you guys.

Good tip Greenwitch.

A lot can be done to improve ADHD behavior by structuring the environment. One of my stepsons was ADHD, medicated with Ritilan. His behavior was much more acceptable at our house than at his mother's house.

His mother loved and revered his free spirit refused to impose limits of any sort. Consequently....

A healthy diet, low on sugar and artificial preservatives, flavorings and colorings is good for any child. If you can encourage the child to make healthy, conscious choices about eating this should bleed over into making conscious choices about settling down to homework or chores or any of the other tedious rituals of life on this planet.

ADHD does not have to be a bad thing. Richard Branson admits he has ADHD and he owes his success to it. Howard Stern (as much as I don't like him) says he refuses to take medication for his ADHD because that's where his creativity stems from. I have also heard that many great people from history had ADHD.

I have a friend who faced a similar situation. She made diet changes and applied them to the entire family. Her son's behavior was improved to the point that his teachers stopped harping about having him put on drugs and the rest of the family lost substantial weight. I don't have the details, but there are certainly diet plans that have a positive effect.

the two websites shown below may be of some help to parents with children suffering from ADHD .
hbg

...ADHD SUPPORT GROUP...

...NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MENTAL HEALTH...

No I agree that ADHD is not necessarily a bad thing but I do think some of his behaviour is quite dangerous, especially in public (he is only 7). Also, recently he has become quite violent.

I have a child with adhd and through talking with many, I have heard that starting the day with high protein foods such as eggs every day has helped some children. It is thought that the brain connections are lacking something in the sending department and protein is supposed to help stimulate these. I have also heard and would like to try with my own child a new form of medicines from Canada that instead of synthetic uppers which we use now, different variations of vitamins are being used trying to more naturally deal with the connections. I hate giving my child the uppers and feel like I am doing more damage then good. I hope they inform America of them soon. I wish her luck, and pray there is a better answer to be found.

Oops I meant the recieving units. That is why the uppers are used[to boost the sending] so that the recievers can get the messages.