ADHD food experiment

it worked

Photo by Natalie Chaney on Unsplash

When my son, who has ADHD, was in third grade he was having so much trouble following directions in class and staying focused. I had read about food preservatives and additives exacerbating ADHD symptoms so we decided to try an experiment. We would eliminate ALL additives and preservatives. We made everything from scratch except bread, which I bought from a bakery with the ingredients labeled. Some people suggested cutting out gluten and sugar but I decided this experiment wouldn’t include that. I wanted my son to enjoy the food he was eating and not feel too deprived. I bought grass fed steak (his favorite food was steak so it seemed worth the splurge) and all organic fruits and vegetables. He wasn’t eating anything in a package or box. Nothing that had added colors or MSG or anything that as Michal Pollan says your great grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food. I made him his favorite brownies for lunch everyday to keep it fun. We made a lot of steak. He really enjoyed it, but I’m not going to lie, it was a ton of work.

At soccer practice one day, a parent had brought what they called “homemade” muffins so he asked me if he could have one. I asked the parent about them and it turned out they were from a box mix (which had preservatives). Nope. At a class birthday party, there were cupcakes with bright blue frosting. Nope. The box of crackers at his friend’s house. Nope. The steak and brownies kept him going but it wasn’t easy. At the 3 week mark, his teacher asked to speak with me. She said “I don’t know what is going on, but it’s like he’s a different kid. He is able to follow all of my instructions and he’s much calmer”. I watched him follow the complicated instructions she had for them at the beginning of the day and he didn’t falter. Prior to the experiment, I had seem him wander around the classroom unsure of where to put assignments and what to do next. His friend’s parent also commented how different he seemed. I explained the experiment and they looked at me like I was crazy. I didn’t care. I knew it was working and sadly what that meant. It was our over processed food that was making things in school so hard for him. Could we keep this cooking and baking everything from scratch going? We got our answer in the middle of the 4th week.

“Mom, my ear hurts”. This was a common statement in our home as my son was prone to ear infections. When the doctor prescribed the antibiotic, I asked if there were any that didn’t contain preservatives. There weren’t. My son was also in a lot of pain, so I looked for a pain killer without artificial colors. I was able to find that, but sadly not one without preservatives. He started the antibiotics and took the painkiller. When he was feeling better that weekend, he went to a birthday party and had soda and cupcakes with colorful frosting. By Sunday night, he was bouncing off the walls. It was honestly shocking how different he was after 4 days of preservatives and food coloring.

In the months and years after, we experimenting with simply cutting down on additives instead of completely eliminating them and, sadly, it didn’t work. It was going to have to be all or nothing. We felt it was too much to expect a child to never eat cupcakes from a box mix or crackers that weren’t homemade or really anything that came in a package. When his struggles with ADHD become too much (even with medication), we have discussed trying the no additives and preservatives again but so far, he has never done it. I believe this is now, as a teenager, his decision so I just bring it up occasionally and offer my support.

Many people don’t believe me when I tell them this story but I know what I saw and what he felt. It’s been a bit heartbreaking to know if we ate only “real” food and the options for everything else weren't so prevalent, my son would most likely have a much easier life.

I would LOVE to hear anyones stories about food and ADHD or any other issues related.