Question: Has anyone ever tried measuring their blood sugar levels (a la diabetic testing) during the day to see what correlation their is between blood sugar and ADD symptoms? And also what foods are raising/lowering blood sugar (one's own personal blood sugar; I don't completely trust glycemic index as being universally applicable because of the potential for interaction with other foods, along with one's own eccentric pancreas).

If this is a bad idea and you can think of a better solution, please let me know.

It seems that people's experiences with food and ADD tend to be pretty idiosyncratic. I really would like to look at this objectively and it's hard right now to figure out what effect is due to what food.

i've been finding lately that when i drink a soft drink (and especially if its coke), that IMMEDIATELY after i feel extremely extremely tired. the sort of tired tahtyou feel at night when youre ready to go to bed.

and if i eat lollies or chocolate, i need to keep eating more and more to keep going, or i want them for the rest of the day.

starting tomorrow, im going to try a "no junk food" diet, to see how much better i am.. because i know that lollies and colourings are bad for ADD anyway. i'm thinking that it could have a good affect on my hyperactivity, and my sociability. im hoping it might have some good effects on my brain fog and confusion too.

Well... I definitely think I have sugar problems....I am on a hypoglyceamic diet, and I feel much better now.

Anything sugary or sweet makes me sleepy immediately. I try to avoid sugar until the evening when I have no more obligations.

On www.brainplace.com you can read quite a few suggestions from Dr. Amen.
He is only one of the sources that I have found who recommends a low carb diet for ADD'ers.

When I was on the Atkins induction diet that is almost ALL protein and fat for two weeks...I had the most energy and best focus I can remember.

Trouble is you can't STAY on this diet or it will kill you. I'm still on the quest for that happy medium....now, if I could get rid of my caffeine addiction that drives me to drink soda!

The main book about the glycemic index talks about how to calculate the glycemic value of foods when they are combined ...some formula, I don't remember it.

I am diabetic and have definitely found some foods raise my sugar levels more quickly than others --but I don't know how these foods rate on the glycemic index. Skim milk and bagels are two no-no's for me. I drink a low-sugar soymilk with my cereal in the morning (instead of regular milk). And I only have bagels every once in a rare while --they don't rapidly raise my blood sugar like milk does, but they keep it high for many hours.

I've gone on and off the Atkins diet. And I always seem to feel a little better with my ADD when I'm on it. Since the diet is about balancing out your blood sugar, I think it fits with this topic. Has anyone else tried Atkins? Another thing that could be possible is that I'm just more motivated when I'm on a diet and think it's helping my ADD. Has anyone else had similar experiences?