Does Sugar Consumption Affect Concentration, Learning, or Hyperactivity in Children With ADHD and FAS?

Submitted by FosterMommy on Fri, 07/25/2008 - 22:38.
I have tried eliminating sugar from my child's diet, it helped, and my child did NOT try to sneak it.
0% (0 votes)
I have tried eliminating sugar from my child's diet, it helped, but my child DID sneak it.
42% (5 votes)
I have tried eliminating sugar from my child's diet and it did NOT help, and my child did NOT sneak it.
8% (1 vote)
I have tried eliminating sugar from my child's diet, it did NOT help, and my child DID sneak it.
0% (0 votes)
Never take sugar away from a child. Let hungry children eat what they want.
33% (4 votes)
You should keep all sugar out of your house if it affects just one of your children.
8% (1 vote)
Other: Please explain
8% (1 vote)
Total votes: 12
FaithA's picture

Oh, the battles

Submitted by FaithA on Sat, 07/26/2008 - 08:04.

It's a wonder that hub & I stayed married during the sugar wars. I knew something was "off" with my son, but I did not recognize it as ADHD. I noticed that his behaviors worsened when he ate sugar, so I removed it from his diet for a year. Hub would slip it to him anyhow, even though I bought numerous sugar-free alternatives that were so good that I liked them, too. And then my son would sneak sugary treats as well. (Hub owns some vending machines and stores the goodies where our son can reach them.)

When our son was finally diagnosed w/ADHD and medicated, I told our son that he could eat all of the sugar he wanted. He went crazy for a few weeks, and now it's just another food.

As someone with a history of an eating disorder, it really bothered me to have wars centered around food.

- Faith

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We must BE the change we wish to see in the world. - Ghandi

JulieC's picture

Sugar Wars!

Submitted by JulieC on Tue, 07/29/2008 - 13:43.

 Yep we had them here too.  I noticed that sugar and 

caffeine effected my oldest son very badly when I first met him.  I cut caffeine out of his diet first, but it took quite some time to get rid of the sugar.  At first I did try limiting sugar products, which did lead to sneaking and stealing of items he wasn't supposed to have.  Finally I just stopped buying prepackaged snacks.  We keep healthy foods in the house, and when they desire something sweet we go out and pick up an individual treat, instead of an entire box.  They seem to like this much better.  It feels more special to go out and get a treat than it does to just raid the cabinet for one.  

 

Both kids do better with less sugar, we all do quite frankly.