Now this could easily become an enormous post in no time flat, so I am going to try very hard to be as concise as possible. I think I might break this post up into a few posts, actually:
- Why we follow the Feingold diet.
- What went into our shopping cart last weekend.
- What meals and snacks we make on a regular basis.
- Ideas for making an organic/Feingold diet more economical.
I'd like to first talk a bit about our experience with the Feingold diet, and specifically how it has helped our Earlybird. And before I begin even that, here is a link to the Feingold website so you can see what I'm talking about in case you are completely lost at this point, lol! :) Simply put, the Feingold diet is a set of guidlines that can help some people with behavioral, physical and/or emotional disturbances.
As I've mentioned before, we have our youngest son, Earlybird, on the Feingold diet, albeit loosely. By loosely I mean that we adhere to most of the guidelines, but after two or so years, have found what seems (or seemed) to work for us. Recently however, I've been revisiting the guidelines, and I realized we were transgressing left and right. Several things EB was eating routinely were not on the approved list.
This re-connection came about when I renewed our membership to the Feingold Association. I felt we could use a refesher so I requested new materials (since the old ones had long been misplaced.) Along with the food shopping guide came a fast food guide, mail order sourcebook and we will be receiving the monthly newsletter as well.
Yesterday we began a two-week trial during which we will stick to the diet strictly and record EB's meals and behaviors. At the end of two weeks we'll look at the chart for any patterns. We will also consider if we're ready to move on to stage two (something we've never officially done).
We stumbled upon the Feingold diet two years ago, just before EB was diagnosed with PDD-NOS (Pervasive Developmental Disorder - Not Otherwise Specified). Children with PDD-NOS present some, but not all, autistic symptoms, and to varying degrees. EB has a severe speech delay and also some late gross motor skills (sat alone late, walked at 20 months, jumped late - that kind of thing). Eight months of OT helped enormously with the motor skills - he's pretty much on an even track there, now. He's been in speech therapy for a year and a half and his improvements have been wonderful. His therapist, whom he sees twice weekly, is *awesome* and has given me concrete activities (and much encouragement) to use in working with him at home.
Thank God, EB has many strengths as well. He does not have the eye-contact issue; he looks you right in the eye and in fact seeks face-to-face contact. He loves to be the center of attention (sometimes too much, lol!). He is very bright and though it is hard for him to articulate, he learns and understands things well. In other words, his receptive speech is far better than his expressive. It's important to remember this because often we excuse behaviors that should not be excused - he knows right from wrong and much more can be expected of him at each step of his progress.
We need to remind ourselves of this, while still making allowances for his challenges. For example, he knows what "no" means, but he can't be relied upon to not walk in the street. He did this just the other day. We usually keep a lock on the gates to our back yard but one was left open. Bill and the boys were out back, and I was working in the dining room when I saw EB pass through the front gate, and head for the street. Bill was upon him immediately (our radar is fine-tuned, I assure you) but not before EB had run across the street to see the neighbor's construction site. Obviously I don't need to say how frightened we were by this - it served as a reminder that he still has safety issues. We are always tweaking the skills-to-work-on list. We need to be careful for him, all the while working on strengthening and expanding his abillities.
EB is also extremely affectionate, loving, sunny and happy. He kisses and hugs perhaps the most of all my three sons. His emotions run strong both ways, however! He has a temper and can act impulsively and aggressively - it is something we are working on all the time. He's easily overstimulated, especially in large noisy crowds. A trip to the zoo, or a train show or even a busy playground can be a significant challenge to say the least. You have to be organized and thoughtful about those opportunities - they need to be presented in small manageable doses. He has to learn to tolerate - and enjoy! - these activities, and we need to keep them safe for him. He has some issues with hyperactivity and attention - he has not been diagnosed with ADD but I see some of that in him.
EB is 5 now, and it was around the age of 2 we began to suspect something was "off." We see to it he gets the best therapy we can find (we are very fortunate to live in the northeast in this respect) and we work at home with him, surrounding him with love and support and the kind of atmosphere that allows him to grow and focus.
Now about that Feingold connection. EB has always been highly sensitive to things that are strongly scented or dyed - regular laundry detergent gives him itchy rashes. Laying on a new carpet turns his ears red. Finger paints that are stinky and colored with chemicals get in his skin and affect his behavior. It sounds strange, but it's true. We've seen it happen too many times to ignore it. For instance, last night he got a bit of lawnmower oil on his hands and within 30 minutes his face became beet red and puffy.
So we knew early on this child had multiple sensitivies. But how many we were not sure - and of what kinds - physical or emotional? Both?
Both.
I found the Feingold website after a google search for "red cheeks and hyperactivity" led me there. A few days of reading led us to believe this diet was worth trying. The first thing we took away was apples - and let me tell you, this boy loved apples - and right away we saw some improvement. He was calmer, and his speech made more sense. He was using his words instead of just gesturing. At that point we decided to continue.
So we did, and we have, though up till now it's been sort of modified. We have seen an absolute connection between food and behavior, of that I am sure. It is most apparent when he eats something that he shouldn't - such as a brightly colored lollipop or birthday cake or God forbid, a hot dog (the run-of-the-mill, nitrate-laden kind). We once let him have Munchkins from Dunkin Donuts and for days he was out of sorts - not using words, frustrated, teary, distracted, miserable.
Let me pause here to say, we are not by any means experts in any of this - diet, nutrition, mental health or childhood development - we are just parents who have found that feeding our child in this way seems to help him feel better, learn better and behave better on a consistent basis. We would go to the ends of the earth for this child - for any of our children - so how hard can shopping and cooking a bit differently be? It is a challenge I am ready to take on if it means an easier life for EB and us all.
More to come soon, because, as I feared this post did indeed become enormous. But I felt it necessary to fill you in a little on Earlybird's challenges and how we came to follow the Feingold diet in the first place. I will post next (hopefully tomorrow) about just what was in our Feingold-friendly shopping cart this weekend.
Enjoy this glorious day, my friends, and give your little ones a big hug! They are - each one of them - our greatest blessings in life!
Our EB digging right into his Feingold-friendly party food!
