The first time I met Charlie, he was like a human pinball. I grew dizzy tracking him as he bounced from one side of the room to the other. During our session I realized that I had raised my voice to ask him questions, possibly thinking that volume would slow his pace. It didn’t. His mom courteously interrupted saying that Charlie had good days and bad days and that today was not a good one. That was my first clue, and a big one.
Years ago, as a systems engineer, I was trained to uncover causes for changes. If it was an improvement, we wanted to repeat it, if not, I was to find the reason and eliminate it. At times I felt like “The Terminator”, though without the accent. My ears still perk up when a problem is described as intermittent. Reflexes kick in and I start searching for anything that varies along with the problem. My first clue came at snack time. Charlie only like certain foods and would eat those foods in large quantities.
When investigating food allergies or interactions, the first place to start is with food we crave. If we “can’t live without” it, then it’s probably affecting us in one way or another. In my work the affect usually means trouble. I could suggest a dozen ways to improve Charlie’s learning environment, though our success would be limited if something he was eating or drinking was placing his brain under stress. For Charlie, it ended up being gluten, dairy, and peanut butter. Once they were eliminated from his diet, he could sit with me and chat for 20 minutes. It was amazing and a new, happier life for Charlie and his family.
What a child consumes and breathes can have an astounding affect on their ability to control their behavior. Because of this, I begin my work with a look at NUTRITION and nourishment.
You may be familiar with the food pyramid. Personally, I’ve always wondered why the FDA refers to it as a pyramid, when it is obviously a triangle. I’m thinking that it started out as a pyramid, a Nourishment Pyramid™, describing how to feed a whole person; body, mind, and spirit. Maybe in translation, or due to budget cuts, they decided to keep one side but forgot to change pyramid to triangle. We’re ditching the food pyramid and replacing it with the Nourishment Pyramid™.
- Body - health through nourishing food choices, activity and sleep
- Mind - health through activity, sleep, a positive approach to challenges, support, pride, and self-esteem
- Spirit - health through sleep, joy, laughter, and a peace that comes with feeling connected and fulfilled
- Learning - is unique to each person and directly affected by the other three sides.
Next we’ll focus on the Body side of the Nourishment Pyramid™.
Fascinating and timely. Is testing the only way to find out what creates those good days and bad days? Can a parent and child try eliminating certain things to see if that creates a good day? What about adding something like fish oil for concentration? Does that help? You raised more questions for me. Sorry.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your questions, they give me the opportunity to clarify my thoughts.
ReplyDeleteWe found the foods that were causing problems for Charlie through an elimination diet. I suggest that parents keep a food/mood/activity journal and then do exactly what you mentioned, eliminating certain foods and recording what they ate and drank, how they felt, and what they did.
Charlie was not allowed to eat a certain food for at least 10 days. The first day he was able to include it back in his diet he had a little, the next day an average amount and, if Charlie still felt okay, the third day he could have as much as he would like. Sometimes foods need to build in our systems before an issue arises.
There are two approaches to the elimination diet. One is to remove a single food at a time and look for changes.The other method is to eliminate all possible foods at once and then add one back at a time. This option works well when there is a possibility that an interaction between foods or activities can cause a change in behavior. For example, one of my students found that they would not feel well after they had milk with oat cereal. Other cereals with milk were fine and dry oat cereal wasn't a problem.
Following an elimination diet means daily recording everything that your child puts in his mouth, though the rewards are well worth the effort.
Fish oil (Omega-3) is highly recommended as an aid in learning and depression. Since I've written so much already, I'll blog about Omega-3 soon.