Diet Part 2: Behavior After

Josiah's behavior since going on the Feingold Diet has improved drastically. He is able to sit still (or as still as a normal 5 yr old boy can). He is able to control his behavior and choose to obey. We can have a calm conversation with him about his behavior. He is more loving to his siblings.

I can very easily tell when he has accidentally had something to eat which he shouldn't have. There were a few times he came home from PK4 last year and was literally bouncing off the walls and furniture. He wouldn't go to sleep for his nap. I would then ask him about what he had had to eat at school and sure enough we would be able to figure out he had eaten something with preservatives or additives.

I remember one very distinct time after our Community Group on Sunday evening. We usually eat dinner together and everyone brings something different to contribute. Needless to say, some of the food that is brought cannot be eaten by Josiah. So, one night we were having tacos. I looked on the bag of tortillas which had been brought for the group and there were 5 ingredients that Josiah couldn't have. Also, the cheese had artificial color (very common). So, I made him a taco with our tortillas and cheese. But then he wanted a second one and Chris made him one forgetting to get out our tortillas and cheese. Josiah only ate 1 taco with the bad ingredients. But within a few hours he was literally laughing hysterically about nothing, jumping on the bed, and not going to sleep. I knew he had had something he shouldn't have. I asked Chris and we finally figured out that he had made Josiah the second taco without our tortillas and cheese. Josiah finally got to sleep about 11:30PM. I had hoped he would sleep in but no, he was up early. When he woke up on Tuesday morning he was finally back to being our Josiah.

When Josiah accidentally eats something or has to take a medicine with something in it (another post), it is like he has taken an upper. He's on a drug high. Depending on how much has gotten into his system this high can last for up to 3 days. For a medicine which he has to be on for several days, it can take up to 2 weeks to fully get out of his system.

Josiah doesn't like himself when he is on a high. He has said that he hates himself and has even mentioned wanting to die. Josiah has told us that he likes himself better on his diet. He is extremely compliant about it. He doesn't want eat anything with preservatives or additives. He has even questioned people who are giving him food, asking if it has high fructose corn syrup in it. He see a bright colored cake or cupcakes and asks if it has artificial or natural colors in it. He has said that he can't eat at Chick-fil-A (one of his previous favorites) because they have MSG in their chicken.

Thankfully, if Josiah accidentally eats something, it is not life-threatening. He doesn't need to carry around an epi-pen. Whatever he ate will eventually get out of his system. But it does make life miserable for those few days.

Diet, Part 1: Food sensitivities

As many of you know and some of you don't, back in February we put Josiah on the Feingold Diet. (I use "diet" for lack of a better term. Not diet as in weight loss, but diet as in a restriction of foods for a medical reason, like diabetes.)

But I am jumping ahead of myself. At the beginning of the year we were at our wits ends about what to do with Josiah. He was out of control and nothing we did seemed to help. In some instances, we felt like we were making it worse. We had come to the conclusion that he must be ADD though the symptoms didn't quite seem to fit, they fit better than anything else. I was in despair. I refused to have my son put on Ritalin and have him drugged. For about a week I was depressed and saw no hope. Then a good friend suggested I research whether there was any diet or supplements which would help. What I found has revolutionized our household (and led me to become aware of other issues of which I was ignorant, but that will be for a future post).

I found the Feingold website. Basically, we decided to try this diet to see if it would help at all. Within a month, there was a remarkable change. I had people who didn't know we had changed Josiah's diet comment on how much calmer he was. I had family who don't see Josiah on a regular basis say that they could see a dramatic change in Josiah from pre-diet to post-diet.

What we found was basically Josiah has food sensitivities. This is different from food allergies. It is not life threatening like allergies, but can be just as serious. Josiah is sensitive to preservatives, artificial additives, and some salicylates. Salicylates are natural preservatives found in just about every fruit and vegetable.

Our library didn't have any of the Feingold books so I found a similar one. I found The ADD Nutrition Solution by Marcia Zimmerman. I was amazed at how artificial preservatives and additives affect our bodies. Since Josiah doesn't have a specific food he has to avoid (it is hidden ingredients) I have a list on my refrigerator. I've got it memorized so I can look at an ingredient list and know right off if there is something he can't have. An example would be ketchup. He can have ketchup. He just can't have the kind with ingredients that include high fructose corn syrup (usually the 2nd ingredient!) and red #40. Both are common ingredients in ketchup.

Here is Josiah's list.

CANNOT HAVE ANY:
artificial colors (any of the # colors)
artificial flavors
ADA (azodicarbonamide)
BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole)
BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene)
Calcium propianate
calcium sulfite
caramel color
casein
citric acid
corn oil
corn syrup
cottonseed oil
dextrose
disodium inosinate
disodium guanylate
hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oil
hydrolyzed corn protein
mono and diglycerides
MSG (monosodium glutamate)
natural smoke flavoring
sodium acid pyrophosphate
sodium benzoate
sodium erythrobate
sodium nitrite/nitrate
sodium phosphate
STPP (sodium stearoyl lactylate)
sodium tripolyphosphate
sulfites
sulfur dioxide
TBHQ (tertiary butylhydroquinone)
high fructose corn syrup
refined sugar
chocolate/cocoa

any artificial sweetner
Splenda (sucralose)
NutraSweet/Equal (aspartame)
Sunett (acesulfame potassium) saccharin
Olean (olestra)

Salicylates-----------
NO oranges/OJ
limited raisins
limited tomatoes
limited grapes/GJ
ONLY Golden Delicious apples
Must have 100% juice (limited to one diluted cup/day) NO sugar added, NO juice cocktails (check ingredients to be sure)