The Week One Evaluation

I know that many of you following this blog just want to know, "So, did you see any changes? Is it helping?" As my husband would say, "We need more data." It was both a good week and a difficult one. I feel like the beginning of the week I began to see some pretty dramatic improvement in some areas and then later in the week some of the "old" patterns of behavior returned, perhaps even being worse. I had a long talk with his teacher on Friday and realized that some of the problems at school are more disruptive than I thought. I rememebered breezing through some of the posts on the Feingold members forum about "detox" and ignored it until Friday when I wondered what happened to my little boy! Now, there could be a variety of factors to both the positive and negative behaviors. (After all, he doesn't seem to have problems in other places such as the YMCA childcare or Sunday School). Trust me, I realize this diet is not going to solve all of my child's behavior problems. He has to grow in character and let God change his heart in many things. I also don't want to just say that positive behaviors are just because of a new diet plan. Both are absurd viewpoints and warned against in the Feingold materials. I am not trying to find an excuse for his behavior, but perhaps a reason why. Anyway, back to detox. It seems that the pattern I saw is not uncommon...for children to show improvement and then have a period of what some moms call "detox" for lack of a better word when their bodies have to adjust to the dietary changes. In addition, I also noted that in the middle of the week, he had some grapes (non-Feingold, stage one because of high salicylates) as a snack at school because a classmate brought them in to share with the class. All that to say, the jury is still out on whether this has "worked," but I will leave you with some highlights of the week.
1) Overall, he seems to be getting along better with his three year old brother...even offering to read to him, tuck him in for a nap and play swords "appropriately" for a while.
2) We had some fun making some homemade, Feingold approved foods together. Typically, he doesn't really like to help out in the kitchen.
3)One evening at the beginning of the week, my husband commented, "He actually showed some signs of self-control tonight!" We were not even on the topic of the diet at the time.
4)He was self-directed in making a really cool dragon art project for Chinese New Year, evening getting up one morning and working on it before school instead of asking to watch PBS.
5)He chose to wear jeans to school--twice This may seem little, but for a year he has refused to wear anything but elastic wasted, sporty type pants.

Stay tuned. I am excited and anxious about what this week will bring! I have so many more topics that I want to cover, too!

The "Easy Child" on Feingold

Several people have asked if I am doing this diet with the whole family. The answer is yes and no. I also have a 3 year old son who is night and day different from my six year old. He is my happy go lucky, I am going to try to make you laugh kid. God put him in this house to lighten things up! He is my child who just yesterday put himself in "time out" because he did something I told him not to do. He still is no angel, though. So in answer to the question, by default, my 3 year old son is on the "no artifical stuff" diet only because I have replaced the usual snacks with additive-free ones. He doesn't like some of the same high salicylate fruits like grapes, oranges and strawberried, but I am not limiting other things high in salicylates for him. He has even cried because he wanted pear juice instead of apple juice when he saw that his brother got some. So I let him have some pear juice, all the while thinking to myself, "This is not twice as expensive, this is not twice as expensive." So, while he is not officially on the diet, but naturally has been eating some of the same food as his brother. My husband and I are not on the diet either, but we also don't eat m&ms in front of our kids. I save my non-Feingold snacks for when he is at school or in bed.  Again, "naturally" we are getting fewer additives and saliclylates because of what I am making and buying. And we've both indulged in the homemade bread over the store-bought bread that I purchased for us. Many families say that the whole family saw benefits from being on the diet. We will see if thesw little changes make an difference. Stay tuned. Tomorrow is Day 7....evaluation day.

Apples? No. Spam? Yes.

Here is, a sampling of the Feingold "approved" items that I bought at the store today. It is so interesting because this food plan is not like any other. It is not a diet of just organic foods (although a lot of organic products are by nature, free of food additives) or glutten-free or of cutting fats, salt or even high fructose corn syrup. It specifically cuts certain chemicals that have been shown to be problematic in certain people. Specifically, it eliminates artifical dyes (blue #1, red #40 for instance), artificial sweetners (aspartame, etc.), artificial flavorings (vanillin, etc.), and artificial preservatives (BHT, BHA) and finally, naturally occuring salicylates (asprin related compounds which can also be found in fruits like apples, grapes, tomatos and oranges). In the first phase, you eliminate everything. Then, slowly, add in the salicylates. BTW- don't worry if you have never even heard of salicylates. I hadn't before I started this. The difficultly is that these chemicals are hidden everywhere from vitamins to cheese and most cereals. I thought I was doing fine by reading labels for these buzz words, but when I received my PDF of the Feingold approved food list, my heart sank. I didn't recognize hardly any of the brands of food and some items that I bought thinking they were OK were not on the list (Mom's Best Cereal, for example). Ironically, Hormel spam was acceptable...I guess it has enough salt to preseve it naturally. Don't worry, I didn't add spam to my grocery list. When I asked about this on the Feingold forums, I was told that many items are not on the list because
1) The larger companies haven't been cooperative in filling out paperwork to get their item approved (in other words, it could be OK, it just hasn't been officially researched and approved)
 2) Sometimes an item will have these chemicals in the packaging (BHA in cereal for instance) and companies are not required to put the packaging information on the item
3) The companies are only required to put what they added, but if they buy from a supplier who uses the chemicals they are not required to include that. (They gave the example that a certain yogurt company uses strawberries from a supplier that put red dye in their strawberries).
4)Salicylates (like apples or grapes) are often found in "natural" flavorings that are listed in the ingredients, but are not individually listed.
Naturally, this was a freak out moment for me! But, I downloaded my Foodlist pdf to ibooks and set off to the store. I was most pleased to be able to get Aunt Jemina pancake mix because we eat a lot of pancakes in this house! Who Hoo! I also decided that if it seemed OK on the label that I wouldn't freak out about every item. I would buy as many of the approved products as possible. If it were a matter of life or death because of a severe allergy it would be one thing, but this is different. It won't help my son too much if his mom ends up in an insane assulym because she spent half of her waking hours driving to a mom and pop grocery store 50 miles away to find approved chicken nuggets. For right now, I'll take my chances with the non-approved, preservative free Rold Gold pretzels and stick with plain chicken tenders. After all, I do have a life, too!

Book Bribe

I am counting down the days until Feb 3--the Clifton Park Library used book sale. What does this have to do with the Feingold diet you might ask? A lot! I am not a big believer in bribing kids. I never (well, almost never) say things like, "If you are good at Target, I'll get you a lolipop." Don't get me wrong, there are sometimes natural consequences for good behavior. "If you have a pleasant attitude, then dad will likely play something with you after dinner." But, in general, I think kids desirable behavior needs to come from the heart and not just because they get something. There have been two exceptions to this rule so far. Potty training and the Feingold diet. You can't just tell a child, "You are not going to be able to have your favorite foods because we are going to put you on a special food plan and you need to be cooperative and happy about it!" Especially a child who is in need of the Feingold diet! I did my best to shop for some fun alternatives to his favorite foods, even stocking up on some "junk food" treats. (This was actually an idea on the website. At first, allow your child to go a little overboard on the "junk food" items allowed on the diet...Lays potato chips or Breyers all natural ice cream for instance so it is a little more palatable. Then, gradually ease up on the special treats once they get used to it). So I did that in moderation, but still felt I needed a little more. So, I bribed him. Yes, it is an outright bribe. I told him that for every 5 days that he stuck to the diet plan without complaining, he would get a new "surprise" book. In other words, I am not taking a trip to the bookstore every 5 days for you to pick out a new book. My budget is being stretched enough buying more wholesome foods. Fortunately,  I have a few books that I've held back from the Fall library book sale that are in like-new condition. Over the past few months, Santa has put some in stockings and the "Book Fairy" has brought them when he was sick, but I still have a stash of 1 or 2 more that will last me until the next book sale, where I can get $.50 children's books. Now, if you notice, this is day 4. He is soooo excited about Day 5 because he can't wait to get his new book. Tonight before bed, he was asking if he actually gets the book on Day 5 or if he has to wait until Day 6. I assured him that he will get the book before bed, but that he had to continue to stay on his food plan, including saying, "No, thank you" to others who might offer him something when I am not there (This is going to be another blog topic).  I must say that his cooperative spirit is an answer to prayer. I know many of you have been praying for this specifically and I want to tell you, your prayers are being answered. I am very proud of him. I know that many of you are anxious to know if I have seen any changes in his mood/ behavior yet. I told myself that I would wait at least a week before trying to make any evaluations. Don't worry. I am keeping a journal and will let you know soon!

Why Am I Even Trying This?- Day 3

First of all, thank you to all of you who have left comments or sent personal message about this. I have gained some helpful suggestions and I am glad to know that someone is even reading this! Some of you may be asking, "Why are you trying this with your son?" or "How did you find out about this diet?" Those of you who have spent anytime around my 6 year old know the answer to the first question. He is a little ball of energy who would talk all day if you would let him, has major mood swings and just plain does everything fast. His first grade teacher (who is fantastic by the way) has sent emails about him with phrases like "I was tired at the end of the day," "He tries (to raise his hand before speaking) but just can't seem to help it," and "He is very body busy." Emails like these started in Kindergarten and I always took them seriously in that I addressed them with Elijah but always tried to blame it on something else...he is a young kindergartener and a boy, he could be gifted (every parent wants to think that, right!), God just made him that way, etc . I wouldn't entertain the idea that he could be showing signs of what the psychologist now call ADD/ ADHD. After all, if he wanted to, he could sit and do a lego set for an hour and didn't have problems academically. Then, of course, there is just downright pride. I am a teacher. There is now way my child could be hyperactive! We've addressed the problem from a number of angles. First and foremost was helping him to realize that the situation is not hopeless. God can help him to overcome it. This quote from the website, biblicalparenting.org, gave me a great perspective. "One of the greatest ways that you can help a child who has ADD or ADHD is to provide hope. God has a prescription for hope in Romans 5:4-5, “Suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” Notice that hope comes from character, which comes from perseverance, which comes from suffering. Children need a plan for dealing with the suffering they experience. In fact, suffering can be the key to hope, if the child responds well. Your job is to help your child develop a plan for his or her suffering. Once children begin to respond to suffering with perseverance, then they will see character developing. That character will be encouraging and hope is the natural by product." Reading that was like having a ton of bricks lifted from me! Other Christian parents deal with this, too! Now, he has not been officially diagnosed with ADD/ ADHD. I have just read several articles about it and he displays many of the characteristics associated with these "disorders." I know if he is in school long enough, a teacher will eventually, if they haven't already, insinuate that he might have this, so I want to address it head on. He has so many great qualities. He is smart, creative and loves to be around people. I don't want these qualities to be overlooked because he can't sit still in his seat or talks without raising his hand. Some teachers are good at ignoring this and others only focus on it. "Why not homeschool?" you might ask. For now, I don't think that would be the best situation for him but that is a different blog for a different day. So, here I am with a dilemma. Is this stircktly an issue with of outright disobedience that needs more consequences or is possible that something else could be playing a role,  too. I remembered a friend of mine from California talking about trying this diet with her son with spectrum disorder. So, I began researching. The statisitcs were impressive and the testimonials from both parents as well as adults who had themselves followed this plan were encouraging. While the impact of the diet varied in effectiveness, in one study, only 1% found no change at all! That is when I decided that I needed to try it just to see if chemical sensitivity was not an issue for my son. After all, he already has an egg, peanut, almond and pencillin allergy. It wouldn't suprise me if he had other sensitivities, if not outright allergies, to food additivies as well. I didn't want him to be 20 years old, try a diet like this and have success and say, "Mom, why didn't you try this 14 years earlier!" So, now, on day 3, I am literally dreaming about reading food labels.

Two diets at Once-Day 2

I've been using the word "food plan" with Elijah instead of "diet" because in our household diet is a word used frequently in January when my husband and I are trying to shed those pounds gained over the holidays. I do not want him to confuse the two. With the in mind, my struggle today is to meet the needs of both Elijah's additive free diet and the traditional shedding pounds diet that Russ and I are trying to follow. Last night, I made some homemade "healthy" granola bars, but the calories in those made the numbers red on my husband's "my fitness pal" app. for yesterday. The boys loved them though. And what could get me out of bed on a Saturday morning after being up several times in the night with a fussy 3 year old? Simple Mornings Muffins. I saw these new additive free muffin mixes by Dunkin Hines at the store yesterday and was excited to try them since we love to have muffins on Saturday morning. The Blueberry strussel muffins looked delicious (and were!) but at 200 calories a muffin, it was not exactly diet food. My husband made scrambled eggs instead. I indulged in 500 calories worth of muffins. My son gobbled them up with his pear juice (no tears this morning!). Then, it was on to what to make for a birthday party cake. I was originally going to make the weight watchers cake where you put a diet cola in a boxed devils food cake mix, but since there were additives in both the mix and the soda, that was out of the question if my son was going to be able to eat it. I started searching for other diet cake recipes, but most had margarine instead of butter. This would be good for us, but again, not for my son. Finally I found a weight watchers recipe that used 2 T of butter in with the other ingredients. I did a little dance, made my low-cal, low-fat, preservative-free, aspartame-free, dye-free chocolate cake and everyone was happy! In the Feingold materials, they suggest not combining this with any other type of dietary restrictions because it will be too much to handle. Now, I know why! The search is on for snacks and desserts that the whole family can enjoy!

The Journey Begins- Day 1

I do not consider myself to be a crunchy person. I had an epidural with each of my boys, used disposable diapers and am currently drinking a diet coke. I have, over the years, done some things that lean toward being "all natural," particularly in what I use to clean, but in general I try to give my kids a well balanced diet, recycle as much as I can and use All Free and Clear. That is the extent of my crunchiness. I've just begun the journey into reading food labels for chemical ingredients that could possibly be causing my 6 year old son to show symptoms of hyperactivity. I'm following the Feingold diet for 30 days to see if there is any change in his mood, ability to sit still or incessant talking. I am not going to go into detail about the diet or the research behind it. If you are interested in that, you can visit http://www.feingold.org/. Basically, it elminates food additives such as artificial dyes, artifical preservatives, artificial sweetners, and artificial flavors as well as items that contain salicyates, naturally occuring asprin products.  I've decided to blog about the everyday, real life journey of being on this program. Really, I am using it to keep my own sanity Writing often helps me with that. Plus, I've always wanted to blog and this gives me something to blog about. It's not fancy and will probably be filled with grammatical errors for you English majors, but will, hopefully, be informative.
If you have any type of dietary restrictions, you know about label reading. It takes you twice as long to grocery shop because you are looking for words that you can't even pronounce on every item you buy. Yesterday and today, I began the process of looking on labels of products in our pantry and then trying to find an alternative in the organics/ all natural section of the grocery store... the section that I usually pass up because the item are twice as much as the more mainstream items. After a while, you start to pray that you don't see the words "red, blue, yellow, BHT or artificial"on the packages of your child's favorite foods.  Thankfully, the Pepperidge Farm Goldfish in our pantry are colored with beet juice...nothing artificial! The first thing that had to go were the Flintstone vitamins which contain both aspartame and artifical dyes. Luckily, I was able to easily substitute the Lil Critters gummy vitamins. No harm done except to the wallet. Then, it was on to finding substitutes for treats. Instead of jelly bellies, m&m's or gummies, we went to the store and found some all natural alternatives like yummy earth lolipops. I knew that the only way this was going to work was if I had something to substitute for the items that he liked. I was pleasantly surpised to find a decent selection of these types of items at Target (so I can get my 5% red card discount!). I was thrilled to find Annie's Homegrown Mac and Cheese was on sale this week for $1! That will be dinner tonight. Whew! But then the moment I knew was coming. The time I had to tell him that he couldn't drink apple juice. Tears were soon followed by a willingness to try Pear Juice (I found some on the bottom shelf of the baby foods section, but we're not telling him that!). He tried it and liked it! Thank you, Lord! I am sure over the next several days, we will have more moments like this, but overall, I will say it was a successful first day!