Feingold Diet Failures?

[Paige]

Has anyone tried the Feingold Diet without cheating and not had improvements in behavior, attention, etc?

 

I'm seriously considering trying it with our family. It would have to be all of us or none of us. I like that I can buy a list of approved foods instead of just having a list to avoid and I think it would lead to healthier eating for everyone. My DS reacted strongly to dyes in medicine as a baby, so it isn't a stretch to think that now that he's older and getting dyes in all sorts of food that it could be causing him problems. We tried to eliminate food dyes when he was younger but it was hard to keep up with label reading and his sisters were having serious feeding problems and we were more focused on that issue. I've heard mixed things about the diet. Anecdotes and personal stories that I've heard have all been positive, but then the "official" doctor people all say there's no reason to think it makes a significant difference.

 

I'd love to hear your experience with the diet. :)

[nertsmommy]

I haven't yet, but I'm also considering it. We've been avoiding dyes due to DS behaviors and that has helped a lot. I'm wondering if doing more would even be better.

[Joules]

It made a huge difference in our house and ds and I are still on Stage 2 12 years later. The salicylates did not bother us at all. Ds is 15yo now and I don't tell him what to eat at all, but the whole fake food thing turns him off so he doesn't eat any artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives. I used to always tell people that we don't eat "petroleum-based food products" and I think the idea sunk in pretty well with him. (Dh eats whatever he wants also and eats out a great deal with work, but all the food in our house is artificial-free. It is easier to just do it for everyone.)

 

I know they have a reason for their stages, but honestly Stage 1 is so hard. I would recommend starting with Stage 2 and then if you don't see a consistent difference in eight weeks add the salicylates.

 

ETA: I mean subtract the salicylates above or add them to the forbidden list, I guess. Also, I've been celiac for 21 years, so not being able to eat what everyone else does is just not a big deal to me, YMMV.

[dbmamaz]

i had a friend who saw massive improvements in her kid. i havent strictly done feingold, but we have no dyes, preservatives, gluten or dairy. made a big difference for my youngest. i do have a friend who tried gluten/dairy free for a child labeled autistic, but they didnt see any improvement. but most ppl i talk to have said great things. and if you dont see improvement, at least you know you tried

[bettyandbob]

I adhered to it strictly for a few years. It helped. And it was obvious when one of my dc got ahold of something he shouldn't have. Now, dc are older, we maintain dye, preservative and artificial free, but I don't get the feingold guides anymore.

 

Be aware, you will have an adjustment period where grocery shopping takes forever, but you do adjust.

[MyLittleWonders]

We've been Feingold (though now I just read labels and know what we can/can't eat) for over 6 years. We saw big improvements in our older two kids (the youngest boy was an infant when we started). Our middle son is affected the most, but even our oldest son was helped (it's been so long it is hard to remember the specifics for him). I haven't heard any anecdotes of it not working, and personally, we don't tell the doctor as we're used to the party line of "what you eat doesn't affect how you behave". For the record, we are also gluten and dairy free, which each also helped tremendously in different ways for each of us.

[Annie G]

My niece very strictly followed stage 1 for about 8 months and her ds showed no improvements. She backed off that program but still does no artificial colors or flavors. And the boy hasn't shown any worsening of his behavior issues...my sister actually thinks he's better now than he was the last time she visited, back when they were strictly doing Feingold.

 

This is just one family's experience, though.

[ProudGrandma]

we have been on Feingold for a year and have seen great improvement with my son. For example:

 

before:

 

bed time was long and frustrating....he couldn't get comfortable...it took about 10-15 minutes for him to be "ok" with his pillow, and blanket.

 

His morning school work would take HOURS (3-4. He couldn't concentrate, he couldn't focus, he couldn't think.

 

He was SUPER sensitive to soft touches.

 

He runs EVERYWHERE...he has 2 speeds...fast and faster

 

AFTER:

 

Bedtime takes 3-5 minutes

 

schoolwork takes 45 minutes with very little issue

 

still sensitive to soft touches, but nearly as much...greatly improved

 

now he actually walks and can sit still

 

We can tell when something has slipped into his diet...but it wasn't until we followed the diet 100% for several months that we got a nice base line of behavior.

 

But the key is follow the diet 100%....those who take short cuts will not be as successful as those who do. Use the message board on the Feingold site for questions and support. The ladies there are AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!

 

or pm me if you want. I am totally on board with Feingold.

 

[Paige]

Thanks so much! I'm going to get the guide and try to go shopping this weekend. For those of you who saw improvements, how long should it take before we can tell if it is making a difference or not? I do not want to waste 8 months on a restrictive diet for no reason but I want to give it a solid try.

[ProudGrandma]

most likely your child will go through withdrawl at first...so actually it might get worse before it will get better. That time frame is different for every child. I think a big factor is how much of a diet change your child will go through. For us, we ate a fairly healthy food, but we had enough bad stuff we needed to change, but we saw changes pretty fast...within the first 2 weeks. Others have to wait several weeks. But, they say give it 6 weeks before you decide it's not going to work...

[MistyMountain]

I been thinking about trying it with my kids and was going to post something similar. Usually I don't believe these type of things but my kids do react to food dyes. Yesterday I made something with a food preservative they said to avoid and I saw that crazy behavior out of them afterwards. I don't like having to pay though for it. I also don't know if I can avoid the food that isn't preservatives or what those are. Can you just avoid the dyes, preservatives, flavorings and fake sugar? That will be hard enough but to add whole foods on top of it would be difficult.

 

I usually wouldn't believe these type of things but there is a link between behavior in kids with adhd with food dyes so it makes sense that things with a similar derivative would also affect behavior.

[dbmamaz]

its hard to eat additive-free without cooking it from scratch. Whole foods has good alternatives, and so does trader joes - and cheaper. we get our hot dogs from trader joes, and pickles. there is yellow food dye in most pickles. even in TJs, really - they use turmeric, and i'm allergic to it. oh, and some kids react to one of the natural yellow/orange dyes - my youngest does. we bought annies fruit snacks in a tropical flavor once, and he went off - luckily we were at a nature preserve . . he screamed for 4 hours straight. annatto i think?

[redsquirrel]

I have one friend who did it very strictly for quite a while. They already do most of their cooking etc from scratch so it wasn't a major lifestyle change. It didn't change a thing.