They Are What You Feed Them: How Food Can Improve Your Child’s Behaviour, Mood and Learning

Before the age of three, shows delays or regression (permanent loss of previously acquired abilities) in social interaction and language skills

May show repetitive movements of part or all of the body (rocking, tapping, head-banging or self-stimulation)

At any age, shows a lack of spontaneous, imaginative play appropriate to his age

Shows poor or limited ‘non-verbal’ behaviours, such as eye contact, facial and body expressions

Has difficulties making friends and reciprocating socially or emotionally (may not appear interested in showing or telling you things)

Has difficulties with speech and limited use of gestures (if language skills are developed, conversational skills are still poor)

Shows restricted patterns of behaviour, interests and activities (preference for repetition and familiarity, and behaviour may be ritualized)

May be preoccupied with certain objects or their parts (for example, often attracted by things that move or spin)

Alternative labels have been springing up in recent years. Some emphasize the more positive aspects of these conditions, and tend to cross-cut the conventional diagnostic labels. The Highly Sensitive Child (HSC) is a good example, and in her popular book of the same name, Elaine Aaron does an excellent job of capturing many of the qualities that these children show.

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Your child may be in august company: Einstein appears to have exemplified the ‘absent-minded professor’ syndrome. He was dismissed at school as a daydreamer with little or no potential, and he was also sacked from two teaching jobs for his poor spelling—consistent with dyslexic/dyspraxic traits. More recently, he has also been claimed for the autistic genius camp for his supposed obsessiveness and lack of social skills!

Overlaps

Although they’re usually regarded as separate conditions, in practice there’s a big overlap between dyslexia, dyspraxia, ADHD and the autistic spectrum. Most children who qualify for one of these labels also show features of one or more of the others.

30-50 per cent of dyslexic and ADHD children have clear dyspraxic tendencies.

30-50 per cent of dyspraxic children have notable dyslexic difficulties.

Attentional and working memory problems are found in all three conditions.

Always remember that your child is an individual. Reality is much messier than any of the discrete diagnostic labels we may use to ‘pigeon-hole’ children, so even if your child has one diagnosis already, be aware that this may not give the whole picture.

This is a summary of a letter I received from Jane, a grateful parent:

‘As a baby, when Peter started on solid food he became tearful and wakeful, began to projectile vomit and lost weight dramatically. He developed a high temperature and a red rash so bad they thought it was scarlet fever! In fact, he reacted badly to many foods including eggs, wheat, artificial food colourings and other additives. When he started school, teachers said he was hyperactive – but with advice from the Hyperactive Children’s Support Group we modified his diet, and Peter improved dramatically.

All was fine until he started falling behind at school, and this time (aged 10) he was diagnosed as dyslexic. I heard about your research and increased his omega-3 fatty acid intake. This seemed to do wonders, and he quickly became an above-average pupil.

Then at 15, Peter started using cannabis, which he reacted to badly. Within a year he was admitted to an adult psychiatric ward and was prescribed powerful drugs (even though he still had easy access to cannabis in the hospital!). His prognosis was said to be poor. The hospital diet contained lots of foods I knew didn’t suit Peter, and I explained his history of food allergies, but they wouldn’t listen. The doctors just decided he had ‘‘mental health problems’’. At no time was his physical health investigated.

Then I attended an inspiring conference on diet and behaviour. With specialist help, I was able to persuade the hospital staff to put Peter onto a new dietary regime. This made such a difference – and once he himself could understand what had happened to him, he agreed to stop smoking cannabis. Within four weeks he went from being a seriously ill young man to near normal.

Six months later, Peter was back at college and enjoying a social life with family and friends. Without the help of researchers and scientists, I really think Peter would still be a lost child in an adult ward. Thanks to them, I have my son back – the greatest gift anyone could have given me.’

Keeping It in the Family

Conditions like ADHD, autism and dyslexia tend to run in the same families, but the reasons for this aren’t always down to genetics. The predisposition to these kinds of difficulties is certainly under some degree of genetic influence—and research is starting to tease out some possible ‘candidate genes’ that may play a part. However, let’s get one thing clear: there are no individual genes ‘for’ any of these conditions. Many different genes can contribute to an individual’s risk; these differ between individuals, and some are widely distributed in the general population. What’s more, no genes can operate without an environment. This includes other genes, various influences that operate while a baby is still in the womb and many, many others that continue to switch genes ‘on’ and ‘off’ during every single moment of your child’s life.

These influences include your child’s diet— because nutrition interacts with genetics in two main ways:

1 Some genes can affect the way in which your child absorbs and uses (metabolizes) different nutrients. This is just another way of saying that different people have different nutrient requirements.

2 Nutrients can actually affect the expression of many genes. This means that you might be genetically ‘at risk’ for something like ADHD or depression, but you won’t necessarily develop the symptoms if your environment (including diet) is good.

Genes are not destiny—and it’s worth pointing out that families often share dietary habits as well as genes! How good are yours?

What’s Beneath the Surface?

Your child’s behaviour and performance at school (or in other things she does) are just the things you can see on the surface. These are often the main focus of programmes aimed at changing or influencing children’s behaviour and learning, some of which can be very helpful. But other powerful forces at work are often well hidden. What your child is thinking will affect her behaviour and performance. (If she thinks the teacher sees her as stupid or lazy, for example, she’ll be rather less likely to do what she’s told at school; or if she doesn’t understand why you won’t let her stay up late, this could lead to a tantrum.) What she’s thinking, though, is usually much harder to tell than what she’s doing. It’s beneath the surface.

You can help here by doing your best to develop a good relationship with your child. Talk to her and try to find out what she thinks. Even more important—listen to her without judging; so that she feels able to tell you what’s going on in her mind. With some children, this kind of communication can be hampered by their very difficulties—especially if these are with language, for example, or social interactions. Sometimes a professional with the right experience can help—but keep doing what you can, and always remember that your child’s thoughts and beliefs (based on whatever her perceptions and powers of reasoning are) will affect her behaviour and performance.

At the next level, your child’s feelings will colour her thinking. If she feels bad about herself, she’s more likely to develop negative thought patterns and beliefs, and this can prevent her from trying to learn how tackle her own problems. The same applies to you, of course. If you ever find yourself thinking ‘I’ve failed as a parent’ or ‘I really can’t deal with this’, it will be because your own feelings at that moment are negative ones. You may be feeling overwhelmed, but when those feelings pass, you’ll think differently. It’s the same with your child.

Underneath your feelings (the things you can recognize, identify or put a name to), there is another level at work—and that involves your emotions. We’re on the physical level here—because your raw emotions actually reflect the constant shifts and changes going on at the level of your bodily functions, including your heart rate, your breathing, your digestion, and even the workings of your immune system. These things are governed by your ‘autonomic nervous system’ (which works without your conscious intervention, and usually without even your conscious awareness). They do, however, have a very powerful effect on everything you think, feel and do. In fact, your emotions are literally what ‘move you’ or motivate you to do anything. Think of them as ‘e-motions’—reflecting physical (electrical and chemical) energy in motion.

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At the very foundations, then, your emotions are affected by your physiology. In other words, the state of your body affects the state of your mind—and vice versa, of course.

When you use your mind to choose to do something—like going for a walk, talking to a friend, eating something healthy, or hugging your child instead of shouting at him—your decision will affect what happens to you physically. The exercise and fresh air from going for a walk will affect your body chemistry positively (whereas slumping in front of the TV or drowning your sorrows with a drink will have different physical effects). Sharing your concerns with a friend, or showing your child you love him, can also help you (and them) to relax and feel better—so you think more positively, and as a result will probably perform better than you otherwise would. Either eating something healthy or consoling yourself with junk food will also affect your body chemistry—but rather differently in each case.

I hope you can see why nutrition is the real bedrock of this physiological level—because your body’s repertoire will be influenced by the chemical raw materials that it has available. And the same goes for your brain. This is why food and diet really are fundamental to your child’s development, both physically and in the way his mind works.

Your child’s behaviour (and the mind-body links that create it) can be likened to an iceberg: only one small part is showing, but a whole lot more is going on beneath.

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What’s Behind the Labels?

As we’ve seen, the ‘diagnosis’ of most developmental difficulties focuses only on a few core features of behaviour and learning—as though these exist in isolation from the rest of the child. In fact, some other features seem common to almost all children with these kinds of labels—and many of them are consistent with known nutritional deficiencies and imbalances. I’ve always pointed this out in my own talks and lectures, and parents and front-line professionals usually recognize the picture (even if many researchers and so-called ‘experts’ prefer to keep focusing on their artificial pigeon-hole labels).

Then, a few years ago at a conference, I met another speaker whose introduction to her talk was almost exactly the same as mine! Her name is Dr Natasha Campbell-McBride, and you’ll hear more about her work in later chapters. When her own child was given the ‘autism’ label and she was told that nothing could be done, she went and studied nutritional medicine, and worked out a diet that got him doing well at a normal school. What Natasha had recognized—and what my own work was uncovering—is that it’s all to do with ‘guts and brains’, and the links between them—in which your child’s immune system plays a major part. But where my talk went on to focus on research into omega-3 fatty acids—which you’ll hear more about in Chapters 8 and 9—Natasha’s talk emphasized the critical importance of gut bacteria (often called ‘gut flora’), which you’ll hear more about in Chapter 5. These are crucial to your child’s digestion, helping him to absorb and manufacture key nutrients. What’s more, along with omega-3 fatty acids, they also play a vital role in programming and supporting his immune system.

Guts and Brains

Autistic spectrum disorders in particular have been linked with digestive difficulties—but in fact all the conditions I’ve been describing in this chapter typically involve a history of gut problems, immune dysfunction, and difficulties with mood, arousal and perceptual skills as well as behaviour and learning. In Natasha’s book Gut and Psychology Syndromes

(#litres_trial_promo) she explains the connections between all these things, and provides details of her special diet for dealing with even extreme cases of autism. I’d recommend this book to any parent or professional dealing with these syndromes, and although the full diet is not necessary or suitable for every child, the principles are—and she includes some great recipes, too!

To illustrate some of the features Natasha and I had noticed in the children we were seeing, ask yourself whether any of the following apply to your child:

bottle-fed rather than breastfed (for whatever reason)

prescribed antibiotics at a young age (for repeated ear infections, for example)

prone to feeding difficulties/a fussy eater from weaning