Early in my clinical research on the role of diet in ADHD I was surprised at the frequency that mothers reported anaemia. My clinical research collected diet information on over 1000 families. [ See my Masters thesis on diet and behavior and development of the diet ] Often they were very motivated mothers who had attended well to diet hoping that improving nutrition would decrease learning problems in their ADHD children. And they had made an effort to eat more meat to help with their ongoing … [Read more...]
I ‘stink’ something!
It is interesting just how supersensitive some children are! One little girl was reported by her mother to notice smells in particular. She disliked smells to the extent that she noticed all smells as negative because of their strength in her awareness. So instead of saying “I smell something” she said “I stink something”. We can listen to what children are saying and say how cute it sounds. and we can learn to be aware that they may be telling s something important about how the world affects … [Read more...]
What’s smell got to do with it?
If bitterness is a warning via taste, is flavour a warning via smell? Brisbane dietitian Joan Breakey investigated the role of flavour as a warning via smell and discovered that strong flavoured foods remained high risk for some, but others were able to tolerate the stronger flavours, providing the foods were fresh. Featured on Ockham's Razor on ABC Radio National on Sunday 16 May 2004. Click here to download the recording or read the transcript. … [Read more...]
A good new year’s resolution
Managing your diet better is a good New Year’s resolution. Have your symptoms been bothering you? Do you have a plan to really control them better? Here are some easy ways to achieve what you want. Have you cut out some foods, and then a few more, but not had good enough results? This might be the time to take yourself through the diet detective process. You can add information about food reactions you know in yourself, and reactions in your family, to the Baseline Diet in my book: Are … [Read more...]
Eczema and diet
It is a little known fact that eczema is affected by additives and natural chemicals in food. Many people know that allergy is almost always part of what happens. However even when they attend to the allergy foods that come up positive on allergy tests the eczema is not completely solved. In fact one way of knowing that diet investigation for food intolerance and chemical sensitivity is likely to have a positive outcome is the presence of eczema. Addition of IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), or … [Read more...]
The known unknowns of food sensitivity
Food sensitivity is complex. There are known knows and and probably unknown unknowns! Can we cope with what looks complex in science. I presented a talk on this topic on ABC radio on 3rd Dec 2017. See http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/ockhamsrazor/food-sensitivity-and-the-known-unknowns/9185042 You can see I do have some optimism the future. … [Read more...]
Christmas Sago Plum Pudding (Low Salicylate)
Christmas is a tricky time to be managing your diet, as many Christmas foods are heavily spiced and flavoured with fruit. You can still have a wonderful Christmas pudding using the following recipe that all of the family will enjoy. This pudding is light and fluffy, so is suitable for the warm Christmas we have in Australia. This recipe may be made wheat free by using wheat free breadcrumbs. It is best served hot with cornflour custard, cream or ice-cream. Sago Plum Pudding (Low … [Read more...]