Study: Diet May Help ADHD Kids More Than Drugs

Study: Diet May Help ADHD Kids More Than Drugs

www.npr.org

"ADHD, it's just a couple of symptoms — it's not a disease," the Dutch researcher tells All Things Considered weekend host Guy Raz.

The way we think about — and treat — these behaviors is wrong, Pelsser says. "There is a paradigm shift needed. If a child is diagnosed ADHD, we should say, 'OK, we have got those symptoms, now let's start looking for a cause.' "

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If the child is fidgety and inattentive, drugs are prescribed. That is how schools have been handling ADHD. In my school days there wasn't really a name for it like that, it was just called being fidgety and inattentive or having poor study habits. It was treated with disciplinary action. Now schools are requiring parents to put their children on drug therapy to treat student for their lack of focus on their classroom studies. I assume that is more of a treat for the teacher.

The US is becoming a country hooked on drugs. Drugs are the answer for almost everything from ADHD to ED. Drugs are how we unwind, have social interactions, and to toast the occasion. It's Miller time! the saying goes. The US is also a country hooked on junk food, bad diets, and treating symptoms instead of finding a cause.

Is it really just a matter of eating well and staying fit? That just sounds too easy. Lets just give them drugs and hope it goes away. If not, we'll take some ourselves. Who cares?

www.npr.org
(visit the link for the full news article)

[color=dodgerblue]I have said for years that parents of 'ADHD' children should try cutting out sugar, adding whole grains, fresh fruit and vegetables to their diets instead of jumping straight into medicating them.

Life saving medications? Yes. Mind/mood altering medications? Absolutely not.

I swear, I must have chosen the worng career. I have been saying for years this ADHD nonsense may be real but it stems from a junk-food diet and a few similar factors. Many of the foods we get nowadays are made less for nourishment than for simply giving us a sugar-shot, something to make us feel good for a few moments then crave some more.

I don't believe it has always been this way. In my childhood we had sweets and all, but these were treats and not our daily diet.

reply to post by Erongaricuaro


[color=dodgerblue]We were poor growing up so junk food was a treat. It was once in a while not several times a day.

I think ADHD in most cases stems from a poor diet and lack of discipline.

Its all the corn syrup in every thing. Its in the schools food. The schools pizza breading, the bread, the chocolate milk, the chips, the condiments. I remember a while back, that the schools wear talking about changing the menu to healthier foods. Most of the food at my old school was fried if they really wanted healthy kids they would be eating FRESH vegis fruit and meat with water.

reply to post by Erongaricuaro


I have a different term for adhd ,I call it growing up !

It is in big pharmas interests to invent illnesses or syndromes and charge for the "treatment" .

IMO adhd doesnt exsist because if it did most of us would be "diagnosed " as having it . The symptoms are very ambiguous . Plus the medication can have seriousl side effects . Overall I think its a sham .

Great thread star and flag sir !

ADHD was Mozart, right? ADHD was Van goh right? I mean ADHD is some of our extraordinary children being in prison by taking pharmacutical drugs.

As everyone already knows, it's the junk-food. Even regular food now has mostly junk ingredients.

The dyes, the preservatives.

Why we decide to literally drug-out children and feed them psychotropic mind-altering drugs and narcotics.... to make them "normal".....

Ugh, I don't even care anymore. People are insanely ignorant. They will tell you there is no proof and that the government wouldn't allow these food additives if they weren't safe, etc. Yet they take the "give psychotropics to children" approach instead of giving up this horrible trash food. They don't even consider it, or anything else. Take drugs and that's that.

It should be considered a crime. Heaven forbid a child is different, or has parents that neglect to have any knowledge about what they feed or do with their children. I feel sorry for these kids, I really do. They're growing up into the corporate nightmare of a world, thinking all of this is normal. They're all led to believe the people "advising caution" against the pharmaceutical norm, are the "crazy ones", and that the ones throwing very dangerous drugs around as if they were aspirin, are the "sane professionals".

So long as the pigskins fly, NASCAR runs, and American Idol airs.. people will just swallow those pills and pretend like their mind isn't being destroyed.

[color=dodgerblue]I think its a BS diagnosis. I believe several other commonly diagnosed afflictions are BS too. I won't mention which ones because I don't want to open that can of worms.

Yea, but its basically another way to shift the blame off of the parents/schools and make money for big pharma.

Medications should be the very last possible resort after all other avenues have been exhausted, unless of course they are life saving.

But instead we are basically drugging America's future. Nice, right?

I have a special needs child who is extremely difficult at times. We have him on a special diet that includes minimal sugar. His old doc mentioned medication and my reply was "Over my dead body". He is 3 years old. We don't go to that physician anymore.

Originally posted by daryllyn
Medications should be the very last possible resort after all other avenues have been exhausted, unless of course they are life saving.

Yea, remember what that was like? When the average person thought psychotropics were dangerous, and stayed away unless it was absolutely necessary.

I don't remember anymore, it seems like a dream now.

Watch any of the pharma commercials lately? Every single drug has a main listed side-effect related to "thoughts of suicide" or some such insanity. People think this is okay apparently. They swallow their pills and think it's just to make them normal and happy, and that bad stuff only happens to bad people.

You know, like a fairy-tale.

Originally posted by daryllyn
[color=dodgerblue]I think its a BS diagnosis. I believe several other commonly diagnosed afflictions are BS too. I won't mention which ones because I don't want to open that can of worms.

Yea, but its basically another way to shift the blame off of the parents/schools and make money for big pharma.

Medications should be the very last possible resort after all other avenues have been exhausted, unless of course they are life saving.

But instead we are basically drugging America's future. Nice, right?

I have a special needs child who is extremely difficult at times. We have him on a special diet that includes minimal sugar. His old doc mentioned medication and my reply was "Over my dead body". He is 3 years old. We don't go to that physician anymore.

edit on 12-3-2011 by daryllyn because: (no reason given)

I agree with you and personally , I beleive all the medicines we need are found in nature but greedy corporations couldn't make enough money off it . Now doctors throw pills down peoples throats when something less drastic would suffice .

Anyone think hyperactive kids are that way because of food and drink additives ?

Peace .

reply to post by SyphonX
[color=dodgerblue]
People put too much trust in doctors. They are people too, and people make mistakes.

There are most definitely alternatives to medication. I think a balanced diet and exercise can go a long way in improving everyone's health and is the answer to many health problems. But thats just me.

I don't have that much room to talk as right now I am taking Chantix that carries some similar warnings to the ones you have mentioned. But 8 days after starting it, I am no longer smoking. I am jittery and kind of on edge but I don't know if it is the Chantix or the nicotine withdrawals.

Originally posted by daryllyn
reply to post by SyphonX

 

[color=dodgerblue]
People put too much trust in doctors. They are people too, and people make mistakes.

There are most definitely alternatives to medication. I think a balanced diet and exercise can go a long way in improving everyone's health and is the answer to many health problems. But thats just me.

I don't have that much room to talk as right now I am taking Chantix that carries some similar warnings to the ones you have mentioned. But 8 days after starting it, I am no longer smoking. I am jittery and kind of on edge but I don't know if it is the Chantix or the nicotine withdrawals.

edit on 12-3-2011 by daryllyn because: (no reason given)

I guess part of the problem is like the reaction I first had reading your post. I smoke (a lot) and know it would be good to quit. I first thought, gee, a pill to quit smoking? Neat!Take the pill and stop. I know, though, that I can quit, as I have done so many times before. Staying quit and deciding to stop are those things I need to work-out in my own mind. I could do it if motivated, but if a pill would do it for me... See my point? And I'm one of the people that supposedly knows better.

In my medical opinion. ADHD is a real issue and SOME people do benefit from medications BUT.......

It is really one of the most over prescribed / over diagnosed conditions in the world.

Why? 2 reasons

People do not take their kids to specialist. Family docs mean well, but simply do not have the skills needed to make an accurate diagnosis. ALWAYS see a specialist before you medicate your kids. Seriously do you go to a podiatrist to deal with lung cancer? No.

Schools. Because schools are over crowded and under funded teachers want perfect little zombies that sit at thier desks and make no noise or move.

I was diagnosed with ADHD as a kid. I am always 100% against the drugs prescribed, although I'm not convinced that a bad diet is the cause. It definitely has something to do with it, but my mother was (and is) a health food nut, and she raised me with healthy food, never ate school lunches, (until highschool, but that was my stupid choice) shopped at health food stores etc. I still live with some of the symptoms but I have learned to live with them and I believe I'm better off than my peers who took the drugs as kids, or still are.
I believe it was one of the shots I was given as a very young child.

I'm grateful everyday that my mother never put me on drugs.

reply to post by FredT


Yes but your pro vaccine .

I rather not have any foreign bodies in my blood .

Man made medicines are about profit not health , like they say ,,,,, A business cannot be ethical AND make a profit which is why are in this mess .

Originally posted by Erongaricuaro

Originally posted by daryllyn
reply to post by SyphonX

 

I guess part of the problem is like the reaction I first had reading your post. I smoke (a lot) and know it would be good to quit. I first thought, gee, a pill to quit smoking? Neat!Take the pill and stop. I know, though, that I can quit, as I have done so many times before. Staying quit and deciding to stop are those things I need to work-out in my own mind. I could do it if motivated, but if a pill would do it for me... See my point? And I'm one of the people that supposedly knows better.

edit on 12-3-2011 by Erongaricuaro because: (no reason given)

[color=deepskyblue]
I have tried quitting on my own without success. I know several people who have quit successfully with Chantix. Its kind of cool how it works. It blocks the nicotine receptors. So for the whole first week you are still smoking, but your brain is not getting the nicotine. By the end of that week the worst of the withdrawal is over making it easier to quit. Its not a longterm thing. After you quit smoking you wean yourself off of the Chantix and that's it. I think the benefits of quitting smoking outweigh the risks of the drug since the side effects haven't really been an issue for me.

But everyone is different. Whats good for one might not be good for anyone else.

Originally posted by Doomzilla
reply to post by FredT

 

Yes but your pro vaccine .
.

Whats that got to do with ADHD?

reply to post by FredT


Your saying that they want zombie kids in school , and I'm saying that medication for adhd AND vaccines may contribute to the dumbing down of children .

You cant tell me that adhd medication is harmful but vaccines arent . They are both foreign bodies which have side effects .

Natural medicine does Not .