Gentle Changes, Dramatic Results :: ADHD and Diet, Our Story

Photo by Megan Kinninment

We’re all about pears in this house at the moment.


Not only because they are in season and in abundance (which is a damn good thing, I might add), but because they are on “The List”.

The List refers to the FAILSAFE Diet that we have had Melli on for a couple of months now. It’s a change in eating that was recommended to us by a paediatrician who diagnosed our high-energy kiddo as having food intolerances.

The foods she was reacting to were creating havoc with her behaviours, moods, attention span and ability to focus. In short, we had been living with a case of diet-induced ADHD and we were very worried about her. And stressed and exhausted by it all, too.

I’m not overly fond of the medical labels doctors dish out - but I could kiss the ground this man walks on. Seriously. After a year of being given conflicting, and often negative, feedback by the “child experts” we saw in our efforts to understand and remedy the extreme behaviours that were of growing concern, this doctor picked the solution straight up. And, he was spot on.

Alex and I had intuitively started looking into our girl’s diet as we observed some foods set her off into uncontrollable fits of hyper-activity, destructive behaviours and defiance – and we were making some headway, but there was no rhyme or reason to the foods we were restricting from her diet. It was very hit and miss.

Then we were introduced to the FAILSAFE diet which is: “...a diet designed to be free of additives, low in salicylates, amines and flavour enhancers. It is Sue Dengate‘s term for the low-chemical exclusion diet formulated by allergists at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Australia. It is designed to treat sensitivities to specific natural and man-made flavouring, colouring and preservative chemicals found in foods. *(see links at end of this post)

It turns out that our girl is highly reactive to food additives, particularly preservatives, as well as some naturally occurring food chemicals called salicylates, amines and glutamates. All of these occur naturally in perfectly good, healthy food, so the FAILSAFE diet appears quite counter-intuitive at first glance and takes a lot of checking and re-checking the list to make sure we’re on track.

For example: honey can cause a reaction in Melli, white sugar doesn’t; strawberries and watermelon will cause a reaction, pears will not; onions are not so good for her, potatoes are fine, walnuts are not good for Melli, but cashews are great and so on and so forth.

We’re at the stage now where we have finished the strict elimination diet and are now gently introducing “challenges” – foods that are high in salicylates for eg. – and seeing how she goes each time. It’s like introducing solids to a baby, always looking for a reaction as each “new” food is tested... a slow process.

But the results – I can’t tell you how much this has changed all of our lives, especially Melli’s. We had on our hands a little girl who was super-bright and intelligent, but hyperactive, impulsive, defiant, angry and destructive. Within days of changing what she was eating we saw a new little person emerge. A calmer, happier girl appeared. A little girl who could carry on a full conversation with you, follow instructions, remember things, not tear the place apart constantly and could refrain from hurting her baby sister (mostly!). A little girl who is now gaining self-control over her own behaviour - such an important milestone for the young child. We started seeing the beautiful, chirpy, hilarious, smart and loving little Melli we knew was in there all along underneath the challenging behaviour. Yay! It is remarkable.

We still have our hectic moments and days. Melli’s personality is what it is – strong-willed, energetic, clever and determined. She is a risk taker always pushing the boundaries, she is four years old after all and that age has its own unique characteristics. I wouldn’t want to change those personality traits. They are what makes her Melli.

But we seem to have found a balance – a calmer space – in which that personality can be nurtured and appreciated, without having to fend off some kind of disaster every five seconds.

We still have some ways to go on all of this. We’ve got another follow-up with the paediatrician booked in and I am still getting my head around what foods she can and can’t eat, and how to prepare meals within this new, strange, framework. But we’ve made a solid start.

I didn’t realise it at the time, but the efforts I’ve already put into learning to cook from scratch are really paying off for us now that we are in the midst of this new eating plan. While there are many foods that Melli simply shouldn’t go near, there’s always an alternative version that can be made at home in the FAILSAFE way – using specially designed recipes and almost always made from scratch. It’s requiring more planning on my behalf with shopping and preparation, but it is so worth it.

As well as the dietary changes, we are making other adjustments to our lifestyle too. For example we’ve just enrolled Melli in a new pre-school that has a gentle, unhurried approach. The atmosphere is relaxed, nurturing and calm. As an added bonus, the head teacher is also very knowledgeable and supportive of the food intolerance condition and the Failsafe diet so we feel totally backed up with the choices we are making for our girl.

It does feel like we are on the right track and our days are (mostly) calmer, less chaotic or tense.

It is amazing the results you can gain from a few small changes.

Below are some references for those of you who may be interested in the subject of diet and ADHD – or just interested in investigating the effects food additives can have on your health. Please note nothing in this blog post is intended as medical advice.

x

Megan



** Resources:

“Fed Up” – written by Sue Dengate
“The Failsafe Cookbook” – written by Sue Dengate
Fed up with food additives - Sue Dengate’s brilliant web resource.

The Failsafe Diet Explained - Failsafe diet web resource with detailed explanation.

Food Allergies and Intolerances – explained by the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital Allergy Unit
“Friendly Food” - a recipe book and a complete guide to avoiding allergies, additives and problem chemicals (available from RPAH)