IMPORTANT! Might NOT be ADHD or ADD!!

This won't apply to most people on this forum, as a lot of you have already been diagnosed and have been living with the symptoms of ADHD or ADD all your life. HOWEVER, if you've recently been diagnosed or have a CHILD especially, this is for you!!

I just remembered that, when my brother was much younger, many of his teachers told my mother that he was a dead-ringer for ADD or ADHD behavior. He couldn't sit still, would act out in class, couldn't concentrate... the list went on. Mom's never been one to take something like that without investigating on her own and, lo and behold, it turns out my brother didn't have anything LIKE ADD or ADHD-- he had severe allergies. Those allergies--to most foods, molds and pollens--were what was causing him to act out, as well as making his ear turn bright red and hot whenever he ate certain foods. Mom took him to an allergy specialist to confirm this, then got him treatment for his allergies and changed his diet to mostly organic stuff, leaving out the foods that were hardest on him.

He's 12 now, and he's a totally different kid, lemme tell ya.

I don't know that this will help any of you, but even if you HAVE ADHD or ADD it might be a good idea to look into changing your diet a little, just to see what happens. Go for organic foods and leave off the neon-colored cereals and Pop-Tarts, to begin with.

Good luck, and I hope this helps a little,
~muse

My nephew (8 yrs) is allergic to RED food dyes; Red #5, Red#40, Red Lake#45...etc. He was diagnosed as ADHD by three GPs. After two weeks of 'red dye abstinence', the behavior/symptoms associated with ADHD had subsided; however, if he eats a few gummy bears or a scoop of strawberry ice cream, then he's bouncing off the walls. Not a scientific observation on my part...but worth the due diligence on your part...if you're a parent.

I think the whole ADHD/ADD and allergy, asthma, obesity blossoming in recent decades can pretty much be put down to high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated oils. They've discovered the problems with hydrogenated oils and outlawed those and all the snack manufacturers are going nutso trying to tell you how "healthy" they are now without the artificial oils but until they get the darn sugars out of everything I don't think children/people have a prayer.

I'm working on eating "real" foods; staying as much as I can away from anything "manufactured"/processed.

You will pry my Capt Crunch with Crunchberries out of my cold, dead hands!!!

I'm kidding! It's food for thought (ugh, I didn't mean to pun). I've been trying to eat healthier just because I don't want the weight to creep back up.

My brother had those exact same triggers--it was corn and airborne allergens for him, so it didn't help that we were feeding him Pop Tarts and corn-based cereals before sending him off to preschool on a converted farm. >.<