I suspected very early on that our youngest son, Josiah, was quite strong-willed. But when things took a turn for the worse in the summer of 2010, I began to wonder if there was more to the story. He became aggressive, non-compliant, and almost unmanageable. I was disciplining him constantly and nothing seemed to be working.
As we pursued interventions, it became clear that Josiah would most likely receive the diagnosis of ADHD, which was confirmed in August of 2010. Unwilling to consider medication except as a last resort for a 3-year-old, I began to search the internet for the Feingold diet I had heard about in college during my training as a special education teacher. By mid-summer Josiah was on this additive-free diet, and his out-of-control behavior began to quickly improve.
Rather than cook special meals just for Josiah, I decided to put everyone in the family on Feingold. It certainly couldn't hurt them, and may even just help. We found this to be true in our middle child, Rachel. Somewhat moody from the time she was a toddler, our daughter began to smile more and explode in anger less. She was less anxious, began to embrace things she had once shunned, and blossomed more than I ever thought possible in such a short amount of time. Apparently we had 2 Feingold kids in our house!
The Feingold diet takes out artificial flavors, colors, and preservatives along with a few vegetables and many fruits containing a naturally-occurring chemical called salicylate. As we have tinkered with this diet, we have discovered that Josiah is extremely sensitive to salicylates, but Rachel is not.
Currently, this is what the diet for our FG kids looks like:
Josiah
Feingold stage 1 (which means he cannot currently tolerate berries, tomatoes, grapes, cucumbers, oranges, or even ibuprofen), no chocolate, MSG, gelatin, dairy, or corn sweeteners. Josiah was once a very picky eater but over the years this has been improving.
*In Novemember of 2011 we put Josiah on a gluten free diet and saw him gain greater emotional control. Adding protein became easier. Eating gluten free also opened him up to many new foods and his pickiness is fading even more.
Rachel
Rachel developed numerous health issues in 2009-2010. After pursuing several things medically, we still did not have any definitive answers. Feingold in addition to limiting dairy and a few other tweaks have helped her through several digestive issues. Adding probiotics brought her out of a year-long battle with IBS in 2012-2013.
Micah
My oldest child shows no sensitivities to artificial chemicals, but he's watched the changes in his youngest brother and read enough labels to feel it's better to stay away, or at least put up with it at home. (He does love Mom's cooking and has decided homemade always tastes best.) He has also had numerous digestive issues and we discovered MSG and gelatin are triggers for him--because we had eliminated it with Josiah's diet.
Leah
This diet has helped me as well! Things like PMS have greatly lessened and I'm just more cheerful and less bothered by things that once might have sent me into an emotional tailspin.
My husband is not included on this list but he has told me he never wants to go back to the way we used to eat. :)
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