Feingold?

[give_me_a_latte]

Anyone have any experience using the Feingold Program? We used to eliminate food dye and definitely saw improvements in behavior. I got slack with it though, after our recent move. Now we're facing an eval where four different diagnoses are being tossed around, and meds are being mentioned. I'm just not convinced we need to go there yet. I'm thinking that instead of just eliminating dyes, I might go crazy :lol: and do the Feingold Program.

[just.me]

I bought the program a couple of years back and highly recommend it. The hardest part is cutting out salicylates which is why I quit following it. I pulled it back out though and I'm going straight to stage 2, which doesn't cut out all of the salicylates.

[MarinesWife]

Many years ago, it was a lifesaver for us. Highy recommend.

[ShelleyW]

Life-changing for our family. I highly recommend it.

[Marcia]

I hate seeing families ignoring the salicylate part of the Feingold diet. It can make such the difference between success and failure and it is only until you've had success for a month or so. Then you add them back one at a time. Most people can have all them or rotate them.

[themama23]

YES!!!! I have a very long story about Feingold so I will try to be brief. Our daughter has fetal alcohol syndrome. As a young child she had uncontrollable behaviors that made us consider institutionalization. :bored: By no coincidence I discovered Feingold and Dr Doris Rapp's book "Is This Your Child?" (highly recommend her as well) Within 24 hours of STRICT Feingold stage 1 and following Dr Rapp's advice (which for our daughter meant no dairy) we had a new daughter. It was truly something miraculous to witness. We did mess it up a few times feeling sorry for her missing out on things early on. What we found for her was one indiscretion made for a "reaction" within 20 minutes that lasted for 4 days. Ugh! We weren't doing her any favors allowing her off diet for treats. She is now 18 and had done amazingly well staying true to her diet until just last month. The good news is she is doing well trying foods that she hasn't had in over 10 years, although we are proceeding with caution. Please private message me if you have any questions.

[bluedarling]

We tried meds, and it was a roller coaster ride for my son. We finally did Feingold + fish oil and supplements, and while the "good" may not have been as good as peaks on meds, it was a much preferable steady improvement (without the valleys). MSG was also a major trigger for my child, so we added that to the Feingold diet. We later tried gluten/dairy free, but nothing was as successful as Feingold. Just remember if you are going to do it, commit to it and do it completely. You probably will be able to do the diet without the Feingold program eventually, but its great for getting you started. Remember...its hard when you first start, but once you get used to it, it becomes easy. Press on.

[Marcia]

Here's the link to the Feingold Program: www.feingold.org It's an awesome group and if you decided to give the diet a try, do join. Too many mistakes are innocently made without it.

[DyslexicParent]

Wow, I didn't know the Feingold diet has become so commercialized! Is buying membership and the other materials necessary just to do an elimination diet?

 

Has anybody done IgG antibody testing such as Hemocode? I am considering trying an elimination diet for my 11-yo DD when summer starts but don't know the best way to proceed. Would it be better to use a naturopath or nutritionist than to pay for the Feingold program?

Here's the link to the Feingold Program

[wapiti]

Wow, I didn't know the Feingold diet has become so commercialized! Is buying membership and the other materials necessary just to do an elimination diet?

 

Has anybody done IgG antibody testing such as Hemocode? I am considering trying an elimination diet for my 11-yo DD when summer starts but don't know the best way to proceed. Would it be better to use a naturopath or nutritionist than to pay for the Feingold program?

 

 

I don't know anything about Feingold (and majorly chafe at the idea of buying anything more than a book). Our nutritionist recommended the Doris Rapp book. The nutritionist also recommended IgG testing, though we haven't decided whether to do it, as I have doubts about accuracy, i.e., we might as well just try the elimination diet. In my ds10's case, the behaviors are minor relative to a special-needs situation, but I'm trying to improve his asthma so that I can decrease the asthma meds (re: behaviors, sometimes I wonder if he just needs more sleep, which we are working on; the asthma, on the other hand, is at least measurable via peak flow meter and ultimately via the computer thingy at the allergist's office).

 

The nutritionist recommended two weeks off dairy first, and then to look at wheat/gluten, which will take longer to see effect. The only reason I've been putting this off for years is that ds's significant food picky-ness combined with his food allergies - all nuts, sunflower seeds, etc. - make it tricky to replace the protein and fat that he currently gets from dairy (plus he does not have an anaphylactic allergy to wheat or dairy and has been tested many times). He's not a huge dairy person, but milk and crackers is essentially his school lunch - not enough IMO anyway (I honestly think hunger may contribute to his crankiness as he enters the "tween" stage), but I feel like I'm in a tight spot so I'm experimenting with baking DF/GF with protein powder - hoping I can come up with some sort of muffin(s) that would have enough protein and fat for lunch. I should probably just make DF muffins with protein powder first, and then worry about GF later. Baking muffins is probably the easy part - eliminating certain foods (e.g. store-bought cookies) for six kids is more challenging - bake-o-rama...

 

In contrast to our nutritionist's recommendation, the Doris Rapp book talks about eliminating dairy for four days and then adding it back to see what the reaction is. I only skimmed a small part of the book late at night, lol, so maybe I don't have that quite right. I have to spend some time reading.

 

I'm under the impression that there are different types of nutritionists. If you want to go the nutritionist route, one that specializes in special-needs kids, the DAN diet, etc., is probably the type you are looking for. I don't know how much Feingold costs, but we pay our nutritionist hourly for consultation - at least the advice is tailored to our specific situation, though at the same time, I feel like I'm paying someone to tell me what I already know we should do, lol. (eta, the nutritionist also recommended going all-organic, getting rid of all junk, etc. etc., of course)

[DyslexicParent]

Is Doris Rapp's 1991 book still the best available about children's allergies? Are there any chapters that are out-of-date or no longer apply?

... Dr Doris Rapp's book "Is This Your Child?" (highly recommend her as well) Within 24 hours of STRICT Feingold stage 1 and following Dr Rapp's advice (which for our daughter meant no dairy) we had a new daughter. It was truly something miraculous to witness.

 

[wapiti]

Is Doris Rapp's 1991 book still the best available about children's allergies? Are there any chapters that are out-of-date or no longer apply?

 

FWIW, the nutritionist recommended the Bock book, which has been discussed on this board (I vaguely recall some controversy about the guy or the book; I bought it but haven't read it yet)