When any parent hears their child has ADHD they start to ask why? Was it something we did? Could we have prevented this? And then you spend hours and hours searching the Internet for those illusive answers.
The things I did learn is that ADHD is NOT caused by poor parenting, too much sugar, too much screen time or vaccines. It’s not that simple. No single cause of ADHD has been identified.
Although ADHD biological origins are not clearly understood, studies have shown a few things, such as many kids with ADHD have a close relative with the disorder (for us we think my husband has ADHD, but was never diagnosed and not severe), smoking and drinking during pregnancy has been linked to ADHD, premature delivery, low birth weight, exposure to lead in early childhood, and injuries to the brain at time of birth have also been linked in one study or another.
The reality is like other mental illnesses, ADHD is likely caused by many different things. Basically your genetics, environment AND life experiences (BOTH nature & nurture). More evidence points to neurobiology and genetics as contributing factors, however the degree of impairment and severity of symptoms may be exasperated by environmental factors. The fact that environmental factors could make his symptoms worse was the most interesting fact in all my research. I couldn’t change the fact he has ADHD, but perhaps I can help make his life a bit easier by controlling things like screen time, food, exercise and sleep.
Can you tell I read a lot?
I REALLY wanted to understand what caused this. I felt if I knew how it happened then I would be better able to deal with it. Better to help my son deal.
Out of all the potential causes and stimulants I felt it was in my power to change his diet. This was something I could control. It was worth a shot right? We never really ate unhealthy anyway, but as 2 working parents, we did go to restaurants a few times a week, and buy pre-prepared meals and on weekends we did go for breakfast as a reward to the kids (& us).
As I read more I began to look at food differently. Since the 1970s experts have hotly debated that artificial colors (especially red and yellow), flavor, additives (aspartame, MSG, nitrates) and preservatives such as sodium benzoate might lead to hyperactivity in some children. The American Academy of Pediatrics’ (AAP) recommends you eliminate these items from the diet of children with ADHD. So we did. Nothing to lose right? We went Paleo. What is Paleo you ask? Basically you eat whole unprocessed foods that are helpful rather than harmful to your body. If it wasn’t around in the time of the lord we didn’t eat it. Thankfully with so many gluten and crones issues we have a lot more options than people did five or ten years ago.
Did it help you ask? YES!
After a week or so we saw a difference. He was able to focus more, was generally less hyper and inattentive and slept better at night. However, this is not to say that it was a magic cure and all of a sudden my son no longer had ADHD. All the symptoms were still there, but we could see a slight reduction in the severity… however it did take a lot of prepping and planning on our part to plan healthy meals the entire family would enjoy. In fact we completely changed our eating style as a family. We adopted a clean eating lifestyle and continue to make an effort because we too are all seeing the benefits of eating clean.
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