My life changed when I was 29 and I trialled a new diet. The diet was developed by Dr Ben Feingold and presented in his 1974 book: Why Your Child is Hyperactive. He said that hyperactive symptoms in children were caused by artificial additives, aspirin and many foods containing salicylate.
While the book wasn’t available yet in Australia, I was given a diet summary chart (only ten centimetres square) by a psychologist who found it in a medical journal. He asked me to help implement the diet in his hyperactive patients. Based on this chart of disallowed foods, I spent a week designing meal plans and adapting recipes. Then I, along with my family, went on this new diet. I was not expecting any noticeable changes as I wasn’t hyperactive. There were many changes to our usual food, and I even had to forgo my daily peppermint lolly pick-me-up. Interestingly there were some foods, such as tomato sauce, that I never liked and rarely used before I began this diet.
I was amazed to discover that after around two weeks on the diet many of my bothersome symptoms reduced. I vividly remember the experience of realising my own life had changed. Normally everything I could see or hear, near or far, had equal impact. On the diet, I can remember noticing only the cooking I was doing on an old wood stove. I felt I had blinkers on, as if there was a tunnel from my face to the stove, and I could focus on just what I was doing: cooking. I felt as if far, far away, there was another world quite outside this tunnel where there was wind blowing leaves, my children playing on the old creaky veranda, and our Great Dane dog lovingly attending to some meowing kittens in the next room. But for the first time I could just focus on the task in front of me.
In addition to the diet improving my concentration, over time I noticed my sinus problems as well as my headaches reduced. I felt calmer and had less emotional ups or downs. I had never been diagnosed as hyperactive, but I was seen as ‘intense’, talkative, and always busy.
Above all, on this diet I felt great! My skin had not shown obvious eczema for years but on the diet the annoying cracked skin on my hands cleared and the skin on my face improved so that I looked six years younger! Later I was delighted when after long trips in the car I could enjoy life much more with my greatly reduced car sickness.
Over time I realised that the benefits of the diet were even more significant than I had realised. This happened when I gradually relaxed the diet and my symptoms returned in earnest. I realised that changing my diet had transformed my life forever.
Joan, this is a ‘call to arms’ for me. I needed reminding again.!
Thank you for writing these occasional letters, much appreciated.
Dear Jennie, I hope you enjoy your own ‘call to arms’! Joan
What a surprise it must have been to have your life change so much with your version of the diet!
Btw, I notice that you allowed cocoa but not chocolate. I only eat very dark chocolate so no additives,–it doesn’t need to have colour or flavour added–and I seem to get away with it on the whole.
It seems strange now to remember how different the early diet was and to realize its effect on me. Feingold had excluded chocolate as in USA all chocolate had colours and flavours, so I thought I would solve the problem and allow cocoa in home-made cakes. When I added up all the results from the families who took part in my research one in four who reacted to colours, flavours, salicylates and MSG did not react to chocolate with no additives. Enjoy being one of the lucky ones!
Joan, Thank you so much for your all your work on the topic of food sensitivity. The Feingold Diet was also a turning point for me. I still struggle with food issues but usually know what I have done to cause the issue. I have your ebooks and really appreciate all your hard work.
Thank you!
Dianne M. Jones
Thank you Dianne for your kind words.
Every food sensitive person can be like you, doing “diet detective work” to find out what caused any reaction, and looking at my books to learn how to test foods so so you can see what can be tolerated. We now know much more than we did over forty years ago. Keep testing foods! Joan