Last year a seasoned teacher filled my ears full on the extensive research she has conducted concerning the alarming growing number of kids placed on drugs for “ADD” or “ADHD.” Her contention was that virtually all of them could be off the drugs if their nervous systems were given the proper nutrients derived from diet, with supplementation as necessary.
I bet Dr. Joel Fuhrman, author of Disease-Proof Your Child would back up her claim.
I am pretty sure kids don’t have a deficiency of Ritalin. What then is the root cause of the growing number of kids being diagnosed with ADD or ADHD? What is deficient in their diet? Might this dilemma be similar to that of the sailors who developed scurvy when Vitamin C was absent in their diet? When they were given foods with Vitamin C, the scurvy miraculously went away.
Susan Allport called my attention to an article she wrote titled “The Vanishing Youth Nutrient.” In her article, the Science writer “unravels why the disappearance of omega-3s from our diet may be responsible for the epidemics of obesity, heart disease, cancer. Oh, and wrinkles, too.” (See http://www.prevention.com/cda/article/the-vanishing-youth-nutrient/6dec72fe5deb2210VgnVCM10000030281eac____/news.voices/in.the.magazine/september.2009.issue/0/0/1).
Allport’s article spotlights a story about 2 year-old Lisa, diagnosed with a neurological disorder. “Lisa’s mother had heard about studies linking omega-3 fatty acids to intelligence and healthy brains, and she thought she’d give them a try. She purchased a bottle of Nordic Naturals’ Children’s DHA in liquid form and began putting half a teaspoon in her daughter’s orange juice every morning. Within a week, the young girl was babbling and her tantrums stopped.”
That story hit a nerve with me. My own granddaughter was diagnosed with ADHD, and it was heartbreaking to watch what happened to her as she was given Ritalin to control her symptoms. I convinced my daughter to try her on the Nordic Naturals. We called them Sierra’s “football pills” to make it fun and encourage her to take them. Seeing an immediate change, the doctor was then educated, and the Ritalin was stopped.
Omega 3 is an essential fatty acid critical for the development of healthy brain and other metabolically active tissues…and it is sorely lacking in our average American diet. Conversely, our diet tends to be rich in Omega 6 because of more and more consumption of soybean, corn, and other vegetable oils.
The imbalance in the ration of Omega 6 to Omega 3 is felt to be a key player contributing to not only neurological disorders like Lisa’s, but also depression, arthritis, obesity, insulin resistance, and many cancers.
Allport lists the following recommendations for increasing Omega 3 in your diet:
1. Eat More Greens
2. Eat Healthier Meats – grass fed, not their corn-and soy-fed counterparts.
3. Eat Fish
Allport lists the following 10 Easy Ways to Reduce Omega-6s:
1. Replace processed cereal with cereal or oatmeal that contains flaxseed.
2. Make your own salad dressing with a mix of canola and olive oil.
3. Eat less fast food because it’s all very high in omega-6 seed oils.
4. Look for potato chips that are fried in canola oil rather than cottonseed, soy, safflower, or sunflower oil.
5. Substitute walnuts for other nuts when you can because they’re a seed that’s high in omega-3s.
6. Make your own baked goods, replacing half the butter with canola oil.
7. Check food labels to avoid hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils.
8. Avoid omega supplements that contain both omega-3s and omega-6s. You’ll see these labeled with terms like Complete Omega.
9. Choose grass-fed pork, chicken, beef, or bison whenever you can.
10. Avoid farmed fish because they are often fed corn and soy.
Allport’s article is lengthy, but well worth the read. You will come away with a good understanding of the differences between Omega 3 and Omega 6. And, maybe you too can help your own little children and grandchildren to develop neurologically without the use of synthetic drugs that fail to address the root cause of “ADHD” symptoms.
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