Well it has taken me a while to get my old head round the process involved in designing a newsletter that can be smart phone friendly…but I’ve got there at last! So I do hope that those of you were having problems have full access now. Please let me know if you have any problem with viewing it. And thanks to my youngest son Steve, who was instrumental in persuading me that I was NOT too old to learn new tricks.
I am very excited to I have had an article published in the online magazine ‘Foods Matter’ Follow this link!
http://www.foodsmatter.com/allergy_intolerance/food_intolerance/articles/gluten-not-always-problem-roe-03-15.html
FOCUS THIS MONTH IS ON CHILD BEHAVIOUR PROBLEMS
If your child has been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, or you consider that he or she is ‘hyper’ some or all of the time, or you are struggling against the odds to get your child to behave, a change of diet can be very helpful. According to my figures in a study done in 2012, 88% average improvement.
Here are the top 4 foods for triggering behaviour and concentration issues.
1.Cow’s milk products
2.Cocoa
3.Sweet artificial flavours
4.Orange
Trying to help children who display these kind of behaviours is difficult, but it is even more important than it is with ‘normal’ children, to ensure that you are consistent in what you expect, and that the boundaries of what is allowable are clear to your child. Yes I know that is hard, especially with a child that is stroppy, moody, antagonistic, argumentative. A really good series of books about behaviour have been written by Dr Christopher Green…Toddler taming….Beyond Toddlerdom [5 to 12 year olds]….and The Pocket Guide to understanding ADHD.
I have found that a huge majority of the children that I test who have behaviour issues have certain vitamin and mineral deficiencies, so taking these supplements is usually a BIG part of the process of improvement.
- Vitamin B6.
- Zinc.
- Essential fatty acids.
If your child’s behaviour or concentration seems worse when he is hungry or has done a lot of exercise, he may be deficient in the mineral Chromium, and would benefit from eating more frequently, and eating foods that help to keep his blood sugar at a decent level. Dips in blood sugar can lead such children to have meltdowns. to find out more about foods that keep blood sugar stable read any book about the GL diet [Glycaemic Load] One good one is by Patrick Holford. In more severe cases a supplement of chromium may be necessary. For suitable dosage please ask me.
Because with some children [usually those with a more severe problem] the cause of B6 and zinc deficiencies is a biochemical condition called pyroluria, it would be good idea for some of you to find out more about this condition.
Here is a quick tour of pyroluria.
Pyroluria is a disorder which is often familial, which occurs with stress. It is a biochemical imbalance in which kryptopyroles [a by product of haemoglobin synthesis] are produced. These are excreted in the urine, but unfortunately have the action that they bind with Vitamin B6 and zinc. Therefore available Vitamin B6 and zinc is passed out in the urine, and deficiencies result. In children this manifests itself as problems with behaviour, mood, irritability, poor stress control, poor anger control.
It is possible to confirm that your child is pyroluric by doing a urine test. This can be ordered by a nutritional therapist [make sure that the person you choose is registered…in the UK this will mean ‘BANT’ registered The British Association of Nutritional Therapists, or a nutritionally qualified doctor.
Please follow this link for doctors who have training / experience in naturopathy, nutritional therapy in the UK.
http://www.biolab.co.uk/index.php/cmsid__biolab_medical_referral_list
Treatment of pyroluria is by supplementing B6 and zinc. If the symptoms are mild to moderate, symptoms will improve within a week or two. If severe, then symptoms can take a few months to improve. If the supplementation is discontinued, symptoms will usually return within a few weeks. So it will be necessary to continue indefinitely.
George was a sullen looking nine year old. He argued the toss about EVERYTHING. He was struggling in the school playground because of his temper, and consequently found it very hard to make friends. ‘They just try to wind me up mum.’. In the classroom he was not reaching his true potential because of his inability to concentrate. In a phone call before his test his mother said that she was at her wit’s end, because none of the strategies to encourage good behaviour that had worked perfectly well with her other children proved any use at all with George. Ritalin was being considered for George, and his mum brought him to be tested as a last ditch act of desperation before starting the medication.
George was minimally moving all the time that I was testing him…drumming his fingers, swinging on the chair, saying that his school trousers were uncomfortable round his middle, wriggling his torso to try to get more comfortable. His speech came in bursts, like mini explosions, and despite being constantly reminded, George kept on interrupting while his mother was talking.
On testing we found that George reacted adversely to
- cow’s milk products which he LOVED. He was at that stage drinking whole glasses at a time, and loved cheese, both of which had been encouraged as George was a really picky eater.
- aspartame, the sweetener that was in every glass of squash that he drank…4 or 5 a day
- blackcurrant [his favourite flavour of squash] to which his mother felt he was addicted.
- sweet artificial flavours. George’s mum knew that coca cola made him ‘climb the walls’, but had thought that it was ‘sugar rush’ I pointed out that these flavours were also in the sugar free Ribena that he consumed several times a day. They were also in every yogurt that he ate…2 or 3 a day…
So all of George’s problem foods were regular daily items that he had several times a day.
It proved impossible to discuss with George a change of diet, as he became a ball of anger, shouting and screaming. So his mum and I had a phone conversation that evening.
George was VERY angry about his change of diet, but his parents held firm, and within 48 hours he was a different boy…estimated improvement at both home and school was 85%.
Once he had been on supplements of B6, zinc and Omega 3, 6, 9 essential fatty acids things improved still further. he could concentrate, he stopped fiddling. He never needed the Ritalin. He did manage to reintroduce all foods after 3 months exclusion, without any behavioural disturbance. They followed my advice to keep using alternative milks and squashes, and did not redevelop any new intolerances, but every time they stopped the supplements, within less than a week George’s behaviour went backwards.
ASK MARY
My six year old son is so stroppy, argumentative and sometimes downright miserable. We aren’t coping well and now his teacher has requested a meeting.
Causes of children’s behaviour problems are multi faceted. I presume that you try to be very consistent in regard to your expectations for his behaviour?
There are a few things to consider here.
- If his behaviour is down to a food intolerance, he is very likely to be suffering other symptoms of food intolerance like tummy aches, headaches, eczema, rashes, catarrh or asthma as well.
- Does he have dark shadows under his eyes? As this is the classic sign that he is eating something to which he is reacting.
- Vitamin and mineral deficiencies are very often implicated too. .
TELL ME AGAIN MARY
Be very careful if you are avoiding cow’s milk products that you do not use an alternative product too often.
Soya
If you have been trying to avoid dairy products, or are vegetarian or vegan, soya may be something that you use very frequently. Soya flour is also in a lot of bread these days. So soya might be the thing that you regularly eat 3 or 4 times a day, and consequently build up a new intolerance to.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
Sunflower
Many alternatives to cow’s milk either have sunflower oil or the emulsifier sunflower lecithin in. If you also like seeded bread, cook with sunflower oil, use a sunflower margarine or eat crisps frequently, you will find that sunflower has become a frequent food for you. Then you might start to react to that as well.
I saw a very pleasant young man with eczema last week, who had been reading on the internet that green tea was a very healthy drink, and one that was especially helpful for skin conditions. He didn’t enjoy it much, but went at it with gusto. he was having 10 green teas daily. Big surprise to him, [but not to me or most people who have spent an hour or two with me having a test] when we found that green tea was a major causative factor in his eczema.
This little section is mainly for people who receive this email from abroad or who have not been able to get to me for a test.
Because we always tend to talk of FOOD intolerance, very few people, when considering what food might be their poison, ever think of tea or coffee, as it is a DRINK.
Yet 1 in 3 of the people I test have a problem with their favourite hot drink, and sometimes both. This will almost exclusively be because they now or previously drank either 3 or more times a day.
So for those of you who are trying to work out what you are reacting to, it might be your favourite drink. If you do try stopping tea or coffee, be aware that the withdrawal symptoms [headaches, irritability, muscle aches, maybe an exacerbation of usual symptoms] will almost certainly affect you. If you are giving up more than 3 mugs a day it may be worth cutting down gradually before you cut the drink out completely. If you have a favourite time of day to drink tea or coffee, cut that one out before all the rest.
This is nothing to do with food intolerance, but might give a boost to my my very talented older son’s invention. So for all of you who are interested in music, guitars, electronics, take a look at this gorgeous little invention. I will leave you to read my son Pete’s description of exactly what it does, as my explanation would be unlikely to throw any light on what it actually does.
Please follow this link….
http://www.submarinepickup.com/
That’s all for now.
My new website will be ready very soon, and for those of you from far away I will have a ‘Diagnostic Guide’ which you can use, which I hope will guide you to the cause of your health problems.
The book is nearly ready. I have a publisher, so…… watch this space…..
all the best
Mary