Sunday, August 31, 2008

Desperation Diet

I've been sitting here for about an hour now trying to figure out how to write this post. The topic is Jason and his behavior. The problem is I could write a book on such a topic. I think, at the risk of losing every reader's interest, I must stick to the shortened version.


I mentioned that he was a complete terror while on vacation. My thought on this is that it was a result of what he was eating. Seeing how we were vacationing our diet was not as healthy as it usually is. At home we eat a very healthy diet. I realize "healthy diet" can be widely interpreted... but there you have it, I'm not going into that right now. :)

I have spent hours upon hours searching for answers to Jason. We have tried many things. Things regarding diet as well as emotional and disciplinary issues. Nothing has worked.

Well, we are trying something new. A new diet. A diet of desperation. The Feingold Program, ever heard of it? We have not spent the $80.00 to buy the diet and join the website, but we are experimenting with what information I have gathered from the internet.

We tried a bit last week and had one really great day. Then things fell apart, but I have found information explaining exactly why. So armed with new information we are starting over. I thought it was just taking out all artificial preservative, flavorings and additives, but there are also the natural forms of salicylate which are suppose to be taken out for stage 1 of the program too. These can be slowly added back in later to pinpoint any that cause a reaction. Some of the foods on this list include apples, grapes, raisins, tomatoes, almonds and apricots...all of which Jason has been chowing down on most of this past week.

So tomorrow we start again with an approved food list of about 6 things. We do this for about a week or until we notice a change. Then we will start adding in other foods. It will be a rough few days, but will be so worth it if this works. Praying we have found help. All my eggs are in one basket here. I don't know what I'll do if this fails.

Actually, yes I do.
I'll cry.
I know I will.

6 comments:

Be Thou Exalted said...

I've heard a lot about diet affecting children. We cut a lot of sugar out of Autumn's day to day eating, and found that helped, she very rarely has kool-aid and candy. I never really thought about eliminated certain fruits. Do you keep a journal of what he eats and how his behavior is? I'll keep you in prayer as you experiment this week!

Katina said...

Thanks for your sweet comments. I have three kiddos, Sophia, 6, Elijah, almost 4, and Noah, almost 2.

Elijah has always had eczema and emotional/social issues last year and we tried our own version of Feingold...basically we cut out dairy (which is known to be an eczema trigger), wheat, and preservatives, especially food coloring.

All of our kids had the chickenpox last year and Elijah was the worst. He had eczema and he would scream his ever livin' head off every time we tried to bathe him for a few months after he got over the chickenpox. It drove me nuts to be honest and I didn't know why or what to do, but the diet really helped his skin dryness, and he was able to bathe in the tub without standing up the whole time (it was an interesting few months! :)).

Hang in there. It's so hard when you have one who needs extra love in the diet department and it's even harder when they're not behaving properly. It's really tough. I've been there too and I'm sure I'll be there again. :) Elijah is generally a late bloomer and I think a lot of his issues were/are related to his ability to communicate and relate to other people in social settings. It sounds like your Jason is a lot like my boy.

Another reason he might have not done well on vacation is all the changes of going away. Some kids just don't tolerate change as well as others.

I am happy to report that Elijah still only drinks soy milk and we try to limit his dairy, but he is back on wheat and seems to be doing fine. In the winter his eczema will probably flare again and then I fear we'll have to go back to a stricker diet.

I hope feingold helps. You're doing a great job loving him and trying to help him. Hang in there!

Ps. Sorry for the long rambly post. I can just so totally relate.

Amie said...

I've heard of this diet. I've heard good things about it.

Anonymous said...

LOVE FEINGOLD , , ,

Feingold was the answer we needed for Our Ryan! Within one week there was a HUGE difference in his behaviors! Ryan is EXTREMELY sensitive to food color additives - they send him bouncing off of the walls!

Marcia said...

Joining the parent support group is the easiest way to find success on this diet. There are lots of moms there who would be happy to help you as you get started. Part of the membership materials includes the Foodlist & Shopping Guide--nearly 200 pages of approved food products by brand names. I don't know of the list you are using but one with only 6 foods listed sounds like it would be discouraging.

The first weeks can be a little rocky until you get into the swing of it. After that, most people find that it goes along pretty smoothly.

Here are two websites:
www.feingold.org

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/Feingold-Program4us/

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