Day One

"Life is a succession of moments. To live each one is to succeed." - Corita Kent

I truly felt successful when we made it through the first day of our new diet. It was bad enough that Daniel has been off of the Focalin for a few days now, but taking away sugar on top of it and limiting what he eats, made him beastly. I had to keep reminding myself that his behavior was the product of his body's reaction to being off the medicine. It was extremely difficult, especially when he would haul off and hit his siblings, for no reason. I still had to hold him accountable for his actions, but I knew that his anger was elevated by no fault of his own.

We have started the dietary changes by removing refined sugar (as much as possible for now,) form our house. I am a sugar freak, so it is going to be hard on everyone. We decided to do this as a family, and that includes me. So I'm going to have to deal with it. By lunchtime, the kids were like drug addicts, trying to find candy, cookies or anything sweet to satisfy their cravings. It is amazing how addicted we are to sugar, without even realizing it. By dinner time, I felt like crap. It was probably my body's way of saying, "Give me sugar or suffer!" The kids were sick of eating healthy, but started asking for fruit, after realizing that there wasn't any other option. I have to limit Daniel's fruit intake, so he was angry about that, as well.

We are going to start trying to single out allergens. In my research, I have found that many ADHD sufferers are merely reacting to a hypersensitvity in diet or environment. We will start by eliminating milk for seven days, starting today. Then, next Tuesday, I will feed him only milk products for breakfast and watch for a reaction. It will be visible within 20 minutes to an hour. If he is allergic to milk, it will be obvious. There are physical and behavioral reactions. I will discuss those in a later post. I'm hoping that we have an easier time today, but only time itself will tell. I will end this post with a list of our diet for the previous day. This will help me keep track of possible allergens and give anyone who wants to follow a stricter diet, some idea of where to start.

• Oatmeal (not instant), butter (provides fatty acids,) and honey or brown sugar
• milk
• orange juice
• veggie tray w/ broccoli, carrots, tomatoes and celery
• sour cream and ranch dip mix
• pretzels
• water
• peanut butter and honey on seven grain bread (I buy the brand made w/out corn syrup)
• pears
• popcorn
• baked potatoes w/ cheese sauce (homemade w/ wheat flour)
• mixed veggies (I do not use canned as it is less healthy)
• shredded chicken (whole, cooked chicken)
• milk or water
• peanuts (for a bedtime snack)
• water