Chronicles of The Elimination diet

As you may know if you have spent some quality time with my son, Thayden is a high spirited child.  While it sometimes leaves Troy and I exasperated at home, it is becoming more of a problem at school.  When sitting still and listening is expected (stories, share time, etc) he has a very difficult time and because he can't keep it in he often ends up picking on or even hitting his friends next to him.  We have tried (as has his teacher, who is great) behavioral modification and, as I recently heard at a conference, "you just can't sticker-chart out of ADHD."  Thayden doesn't technically have ADHD yet, and we'd prefer him NOT to keep headed in that direction, so we talked to his pediatrician about it.  To my surprise, he recommend, actually advocated for, several homeopathic-type therapies like biofeedback and dietary modification.  A recent study was published in the Lancet earlier in 2011 and another review that put all the literature together regarding the studies of diet and ADHD or at least hyperactivity.  It's difficult to do diet studies, especially randomized controlled ones, but there is some evidence that an elimination diet can be helpful for some children - especially the younger ones (preschool age) with hyperactivity/impulsivity symptoms.  That's pretty much Thayden!  So, after dragging our feet for a bit we decided to give it a try.

The most difficult thing is there is not an agreed upon diet.  Most of the studies typically do some sort of "oligofoods diet", but which foods they choose is variable and sometimes includes foods from the "no" list on other studies.  Looking online gets you a whole lot more anecdotal stories of yet more "no" foods.  You do the full elimination diet for 2 weeks, if there is no noticeable difference then you resume a normal diet.  If you do notice an improvement, you one by one add foods back in and follow the response. 

In any case, this is what will be eliminated from Thayden's diet for the next 2 weeks:

No foods:  all dairy, eggs, soy products, gluten, citrus, corn and corn products, peanuts, chocolate, peas, beans and any foods with preservatives, artificial flavors or colors.  He can have chicken (no skin) for meat (he could also have lamb but chances are he wouldn't eat it and neither will anyone else in our house.)  No spices except salt (but hey, garlic is a vegetable right? so we're using it.) 

We started the diet yesterday.  Thayden weighed 31.4 lbs yesterday (with PJ's on), which we will be following to make sure he doesn't drop any further below the 5%ile!  The first two days have went pretty well and Thayden is doing a great job with his "special diet," but still having a good number of tantrums, picking on sister, and difficulty keeping himself under control, so here's hoping we see some signs of improvement soon!

Breakfast Day 1: Rice cereal with rice milk, raspberries & blueberries
AM snack: 1/2 an apple
Lunch Day 1:  Quinoa with veggies (bell peppers, asparagus, onion) and chicken breast (olive oil, salt & pepper), rice milk, mango for dessert
PM snack: kiwi
Dinner day 1:  chicken breast (olive oil, salt & pepper), brown rice penne pasta, broccoli

Breakfast Day 2:  Rice cereal with rice milk
Lunch Day 2:  Left over rice pasta and chicken, asparagus, raw red pepper, rice milk
PM snack (a couple of them):  raw carrots, celery and red pepper, watermelon, coconut milk yogurt with kiwi in it, rice and flaxseed crackers (actually really quite tasty!)
Dinner day 2:  Chicken stir fry with veggies (broccoli, onions, red peppers, mushrooms, green onions, garlic) with rice pad thai noodles, 100% blueberry juice, and rice milk vanilla ice cream for dessert (he loved it!)

Left overs from Dinner day 2.

Thayden eating up his rice noodles and stir fry

In case you don't believe me, rice ice cream

I'll try to be a good blogger and put up pictures of our concoctions with our limited ingredients.  Wish us luck for school lunches!  Most importantly, pray for a noticeable response in behavior (and if your prayers are being answered, it would be awesome if it he is sensitive to just 1-2 foods so we can have all the rest back!)  If any of you have some food ideas to share, let me know!