I've heard lots about curing or at least helping ADD by changing your diet, some sort of wholistic thing, I don't remember all the details...

Anyways! Have any of you had any significant sucess with such courses of action?

I've never tried it. It sure would be a lot less expensive than paying for meds, if it worked. :-)

Before I got on meds and got a therapist, though, I don't think I *could* have made the kind of changes to my diet that I've seen in some of the ADD books/sites.

I cut way back on the carbs and saw some benefits. I'm still a big fan of doing the simple stuff first.
ian

When I compete, my diet becomes very restricted. No sugar, high protein, lots of EFA's....My ADD is always the most tolerable when I keep my diet this strict. The only problem is that is very hard to maintain for me, since by the time I'm done cutting all I want to do is eat bucketloads of sugar

Stuggling please excuse my ignorance. What are EFA's?
ian

Essential fatty acids.

Thanks exeter.

Ummn sugar...

-Homer-

Issy-What I am reading is that ADD/ADHD might be an allergy/sensitivity to such things as milk, wheat, eggs, sugar, preservatives, food colorings, ect.

I think the diet changes that involve cutting back on bad carbs really works but don't expect overnight changes. I took an an online quiz three months ago on adrenal function before I got really strict about avoiding sugar and white flour and white rice. I just found the quiz under the bed. (Where else would it be? :p ) and took it again and I scored 50 % better. A lot of the difference was in the reduction of depression and anxiety. I am just able to cope with things so much better on a carb modified diet.

I think it takes time to see these sorts of results and most people get impatient before they get results. At long last -- only in the past week -- I am finally seeing a change in my ability to shift focus.

But it wasn't just diet that helped. I am also supplementing with a multi, chromium, L-tyrosine, GABA, Ginkgo (but watch the blood pressure!), 5-HTP (helps me shift) and EFAs.

Actually the name low carb is a bit confusing for people. They think of people chowing down on meat, eggs, and butter. But an increase in green vegetables is a great benefit. These green vegetables are also carbs. Good carbs!

Currently, I am still toughing it out unmedicated, resisting the siren call of Adderall. :)

I have had no success with treating my ADD with diet restriction. There has been no legit scientific research showing that certain diets do much of anything for ADD. Beware of snakeoil treatments. I would consider it cruelty if I knew my child had ADD and just tried to treat him/her with just a certain type of diet, especially when ADD is one of the most treatable types of learning disorders.

A good balanced diet high in fibre can not hurt you. I"m certainly influenced by hot fuels negatively. Sugar being the worst. I'm not trying to treat my ADHD, I'm treating the whole of me. I found I needed a lot more fibre when I cut out spuds, pasta, white rice and sugar but whole ground flax did the trick. It too several weeks to make the changes obvious.

I do what I can and eating properly is a big help.
Cheers! Ian

I was describing the best, most productive, focused times of my life to a friend recently and later it hit me that both times I was on a very restrictive diet. On both occasions which were seperated by more than two decades I had pretty much cut out sugars, dairy, eggs, and processed foods. I wasn't doing it for ADHD, but looking back it surely had an impact. My grades improved, I got organized, and generally just felt good and successful. So I'm beginning again. I already am starting to have the fog lift (until I cheated and the fog decended for a few days). I'm not saying it's a total solution or for everybody, but for me it's the place to start.

Scattered

I learned alot about diet in biology. If you arent getting enough vitamins and minerals certain chemical reactions in your body become sluggish and inefficient. Something about amino acids, protien enzymes. It's all very abstract right now because it was very complicated when I studied it, the terminology anyways. I can picture the diagram in my head but I cannot explain it to you but basically your body needs enzymatic balance which speeds up cell metabolism or something.