The symptoms of ADHD have become so common place that teachers, friends and family are quick to diagnose the condition as true ADHD and recommend medications to control your child’s behavior. Although well-meaning, the many side effects of Ritalin type drugs, such as insomnia, loss of appetite, anxiety, long term memory loss, dependency, heart disease, poor judgment, and neurologic effects such as tremors and convulsions, are too easily ignored.
Still, ADHD symptoms create serious problems for your child as it becomes difficult for him/her to sit and learn and he/she can be very disruptive, which has a negative impact on fellow students and teachers as well. The question becomes how best to approach treating the ADHD symptoms for the benefit of the child?
It has been my experience over the past 25 years treating ADHD, that 90% of children diagnosed with ADHD do not have true ADHD. True ADHD is caused by inadequate levels of dopamine in the brain and children with this condition will benefit from a Ritalin type drug. The other 90% have ADHD-like symptoms, but these symptoms will resolve without medication once the cause has been identified and addressed.
Of all of the causes of ADHD symptoms, by far the most common is the food we eat. By following these simple guidelines, you may be able to help your child without the need for medical intervention.
First and foremost is the effect that sugar has on our brains. Did you ever notice the amount of sugar in soft drinks or any bottled drink (except for water)? These drinks usually contains around 30 – 40 grams of sugar/carbohydrate in an 8 ounce serving (250 ml). There are 5 grams of sugar per teaspoon. What that means is that there are approximately 6 – 8 teaspoons of sugar in every cup you drink (imagine a cup of coffee with 6 teaspoons of sugar).
Did you ever notice that all of these drinks contain acid, such as phosphoric acid, citric acid, ascorbic acid, etc.? Acid is added so you will not throw up. The high concentration of sugar is intolerable to our stomachs and without the acid we would be unable to keep it down. Doesn’t it seem only logical for the companies to put less sugar in their drinks and not have to add acid? It would be healthier and save money as well. 
What the beverage companies know that you do not know is that that level of sugar especially in the presence of caffeine has the same effect on the brain as cocaine. It creates a craving and even an addiction to that drink. If you think you can use artificial sweeteners instead to avoid the addictive effect of sugars, they are even worse as they are toxic to your brain cells and are so sweet they create cravings for more sweets.
If your child has ADHD symptoms, do yourself and him a favor, get the sugars and artificial sweeteners out of his diet. This does not mean only colas, it also means cakes and cookies and candy. Watch how your child behaves after he gets his treat from the candy man. You may be surprised to see that after a little while he cannot sit still or he is getting into fights. Some children are also sensitive to artificial coloring. Eliminate them from his diet for just a few weeks and see if there is a change. Then put them back onto his diet and see if the old behaviors return. If you see that he craves certain foods, watch how he behaves after he eats them. It can take anywhere from a few minutes to an hour for the change to occur.
Other factors that may be causing your child’s ADHD symptoms could be gluten, stress, fatigue, injuries, nutritional deficiencies, allergies, visual disturbances, head trauma, etc. These will all be discussed in later articles.