Has Anyone Eliminated Food With Dyes(Yellow#5, 6 Etc).....

[MoMof2Boyz]

and what were the results? did you notice a difference in behavior? my ds sometimes won't pay attention in class, likes to do what he wants to do, a few days ago at recess when his name was called to line up he ran off, last night at the xmas program he kept bopping his head and making faces...at the end his teacher said he turned his back to everyone and was shaking his butt!(I didn't see that) he has had meltdowns but now it's not very often, most mornings he is not cooperative, sometimes telling him things like for instance, no we can't go to the playground right now....will just go in one ear and out the other and he asks repeatedly over and over! We have been taking him to a psychologist who has now said we don't need to see him anymore! DS's behavior has gotten better since last year, but in your opinion, is this typical 7 year old behavior? I'm hoping I can get DH on board with eating gluten-free but he refuses because it's "too expensive" I"ve already read about the positive changes in behavior when eating gluten free, but I"d like to hear from anyone if elimination foods with dyes has brought a positive change in behavior.

thanks!

ps my oldest son never did any of these things...that's why I"m not sure if it's typical behavior or not!

[ampmomof3]

Have you heard of the feingold diet? Dr Feingold did a study on the negative effects food dyes, artificial flavorings and preservatives had on childrens behavior. Google it! I can really see postive behavior changes in my children since we ordered the materials and began the diet! Ive even tested it back in and the old behavior comes right back. I'm also pretty certain that by "eating clean" it helped lead us to the trigger behind my son's rash(which he had for five years and it spread after starting feingold....but healed going gluten free).

[MoMof2Boyz]

Thank you, I'm going to read about it...how long did it take before you noticed a change in behavior and what changes did you see? thanks!

[ampmomof3]

Pre-feingold my twins(boys) were getting comments sent home about inattention, forgetting homework, talking, etc. After 6 weeks (6-8 weeks of detox) my boys both made AB honor roll and no bad comments from teachers! At home I noticed less hyper behavior, they were just calm and focused! I also have a 4 year old boy....here is the true test I noticed changes with him quicker. Before starting, he would want to stay up all night, argue with everything, angry with everything, fight with his brothers, hit, huge meltdowns over small things, and temper tantrums everyday. Those are all gone....well, he still irrataes his brothers but I think that's the "little brother duty" I decided to

let them all have unapproved candy from trick or treating....wow, big mistake for me! The days

following this "great tradgity" were awful and more noticeable in my youngest. He started the throwing his self on the floor kicking and screaming tantrums over nothing, couldn't take "no" for an answer, and hitting again. This lasted a week.....I'll never do that again!

[shadowicewolf]

I cannot have red food coloring because it has always caused my ADHD to become worse. Red was the first to go because of this and the fact that it makes my tounge feel weird (rougher?) along with a belly ache. The rest i tossed out on a just because basis.

[CaveMum]

Yes, we did an elimination diet in June/July/August and cut out most food additives, as well as salicylates, amines and glutamates. Our diet was supervised by a dietitian and based on the Royal Prince Alfred Elimination diet. Similar to Sue Fengate's FAILSAFE diet. We saw some very striking results with reduced hyperactivity and better compliance also sleep was better. At this time, our son had tested highly positive for coeliac antibodies (TTG 262) and was awaiting biopsy. I did a literature search, and there does seem to be some evidence that coeliacs are more affected by the types of food chemicals that are eliminated by the RPAH diet protocol.

[ampmomof3]

The feingold diet also eliminates sals, msg, and hfcs. That's interesting about food additives and celiac. What made you test for celiac? Did you test after doing the elimination diet? The reason I'm asking is my son had a rash that spread while we were eliminating additives. He had the

rash for five years(dx as eczema, dermatitis, etc)

and the only treatment that helped was

eliminating gluten! The rash was gone in two

weeks!! I had him tested for celiac (tTG IGA)

and he was just under the weak positive(so it was negative)...but

we had been gluten free for two weeks (...I'm thinking we were actually eating alot less gluten because of feingold. No crackers, only cereal that was approved was a gluten free brand).

[CaveMum]

Hi ampmomof3, bear with me, this turned out to be a much longer post than intended!

"What made you test for celiac? Did you test after doing the elimination diet? "

He was tested for coeliac antibodies as he started the elimination diet. Our dietitian was very clued up, noticed his big bloated tummy (which our GP just the week before said was "lack of musculature") and wanted to have coeliac excluded as a reason for his irritable behaviour,lack of sleep & digestive problems. In retrospect, we realised his bowel motions hadn't been normal for some time before this and his height gain had tailed off, all of which pointed to celiac disease.

"He had the rash for five years(dx as eczema, dermatitis, etc) and the only treatment that helped was eliminating gluten! The rash was gone in two weeks!! "

That seems like pretty compelling evidence of gluten intolerance. It might be worthwhile reading up on Alessio Fasano or Rodney Ford's work in this area.

"I had him tested for celiac (tTG IGA) and he was just under the weak positive(so it was negative)...but

we had been gluten free for two weeks"

I wonder if being off gluten may have invalidated the antibody test. Did you mention to your doctor that your son had been off gluten for two weeks prior to the test? I guess that you would have two options, either re-introduce gluten for some time and then test bloods again, or continue to eliminate gluten and observe symptom changes. Either way, it would be good to do proceed with monitoring from your doctor so that you have documentation (ie, height/weight changes, clinical observation of rash etc if you decide to stay off gluten). At this point it is totally up to you whether re-introduce gluten or not. This was something I didn't really appreciate fully when we were getting biopsies etc done.

"I'm thinking we were actually eating alot less gluten because of feingold."

Yes, I agree. I think that because the elimination diet cuts out a lot of processed food, the gluten content is much lower than a standard diet.

Another resource you might find worth looking into if you haven't already is Open Original Shared Link which has factsheets on food additives and the symptoms that they may cause and anecdotes from people who have tried the RPAH, FAILSAFE or Feingold. The elimination diet is a lot of work, and I hope that you see some positive results with behaviour to make it all worthwhile. Good luck to you with sorting this all out!

[Juliebove]

We had a neighbor boy who had ADHD. He had to avoid all dyes and sugar. Those things hyped him up.

[Razzle Dazzle Brazell]

I just thought I would chime in. Gluten Free junk and all ready made processed foods and flours are expensive. Gluten Free living is not expensive. I eat gluten and corn free and all organic and spend an average of $6.00 a day on groceries, supplements included. That is breakfast, lunch and dinner for one person I tend to engorge on nuts and I eat a lot of meats. If your family is full of junk food junkies it may be more expensive but you can save money by making things yourself.

[Kelleybean]

My son is on a gluten free diet for his autism, not celiac so our case may be different. We have mostly eliminated food dyes except the very, very rare occasion. I also have started baking sugar free at home (use honey, maple syrup, etc. for sweetener). I don't know that I noticed a big difference when I cut it out, but I noticed an increase in hyperactivity when we let him have it.

Lately I've been using a lot of recipes from paleo cookbooks. We aren't necessarily paleo, but all of those recipes are gluten free, sugar free, and mostly dairy free (we limit dairy). It might be worth checking out.

[mommyto2kids]

I'd say if I had to guess sugar is the worst of it. Food dyes may contribute, but sugar and chocolate and food dyes make my son crazy hyper. I am the gluten-free one, but when he gets sugar and the above and lack of sleep and no exercise, he's a mess. Leke the others said, you can eat gluten-free for cheap. All our dinners are gluten-free period at home. The kids like eggs and fruit and ham, most breakfasts, all gluten-free. Fruit is gluten-free. You can eat reular bread and buy some for only him. Does he have celiac? But if you are going to make any change make sure he gets enough sleep and get rid of sugar and chocolate. That is worse than food dyes, I think.

[GFinDC]

Just curious if removing starchy vegetables makes a difference also? If you go by the glycemic index starchy veggies like white potatoes are worse than sugar. The Harvard chart lists many more foods, this is just a snippet.

Open Original Shared Link

FOOD Glycemic index (glucose = 100) Serving size (grams) Glycemic load per serving

VEGETABLES Green peas, average 51 80 4 Carrots, average 35 80 2 Parsnips 52 80 4 Baked russet potato, average 111 150 33 Boiled white potato, average 82 150 21 Instant mashed potato, average 87 150 17 Sweet potato, average 70 150 22 Yam, average 54 150 20