How to Follow the Feingold Diet

A controversial diet created by allergist and pediatrician Ben Feingold has made a huge impact on many lives. Studies have shown that following the Feingold diet can cause remarkable changes in behavior and personality. Hyperactivity can be diminished in a large number of people who follow the diet.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

1. Avoid food coloring. Many people can have allergic reactions to food coloring and not know it. This allergy can manifest itself in mood and behavior problems. Avoid artificially brightly colored things such as sodas, drinks, candies, bubblegum, fruit snacks and crackers. Basically, the only naturally bright foods are fruits and vegetables.

2. Stay away from synthetic flavors. There are thousands of flavors created in labs by scientists, which can also cause behavior problems. There are many foods out there without artificial flavoring. Try Cheerios instead of Coco Puffs cereal, or plain potato chips instead of barbeque flavored.

3. Minimize intake of additives. This may be a huge change in lifestyle, but may be worth a trial if it can make a difference in your life. Minimize additives by avoiding pre-made, frozen or convenient foods. Often, these foods also contain artificial flavoring and coloring also.

4. Home-make everything. This is the best way to ensure that you and your family are eating as healthy as possible. Bake cookies at home, make your own candy and cook meals from scratch. This is a big commitment, but the results can justify the means.

5. Keep a food diary. This is a good idea to keep track of what is eaten and notice any obvious behavior changes which may be a result of reactions to certain foods. Once the body has been cleansed of all additives and artificial colors and flavors, reintroduce them slowly to the diet and notice any changes.

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[shulafaus]

on 10/6/2009 Well, this is very nice advice if you are living in 1973. However, today there are many processed foods which are acceptable on the Feingold diet. In fact, the Feingold Association provides a Foodlist book for each section of the U.S. that is about 200 pages long filled with thousands of brand name (yes - prepared) foods that you can buy.

You also forgot to mention that the three antioxidant preservatives, BHT, BHA, and TBHQ must be eliminated, as well as certain salicylate-containing foods which are eliminated just at the beginning and tested for tolerance once improvement is experienced.

Oh - and not all Cheerios are okay either - again, you need our Feingold Foodlist and Feingold Handbook and Feingold Fast Food Guide in order to properly do the Feingold diet. See it all at http://www.feingold.org (aka ADHDdiet.org)