New ADHD Study

I've long been a studier of ADD/ADHD. As a counselor I researched and taught educational classes on ADD/ADHD. One question I asked was, "How come we see so much of it today?" Did everyone really miss it before? Is there something about our culture that makes it stand out more or causes more of it? Is there anything parents can really do to help children cope with it?

The answers to these questions are simple,yet complex. Before I tackle any of them, I will share that even as an educated, employed, successful adult, I tested moderate for ADD. I could tell when I took the test, however, that I would have answered many of the questions very differently when I was younger and would probably have been flagged had I ever been tested. But I give credit to my mom for creating a very structered environment growing up where I was held to certain standards and consequenced when I didn't meet those standards. That strictness drove me crazy as a child, but I can see now it was teaching me the skills I needed to get my inability to attend to one thing at a time (unless I happened to become obsessed with something) under control. I learned how to sit for a long period of time (not still, no I still cannot do that, but to take notes, make notes, or otherwise occupy my body so that it will not jump out of it's seat.)

I also believe that we restrict children's ability to have great amounts of physical activity. Thirty minutes in a seven hour period is no where near enough time for physical activity for young children. While I believe they also need to learn discipline of a structured learning environment, children are full of energy. Even average, non ADD/ADHD children. But, we have them sitting in school for 6 hours, on the bus for 1-1&1/2 hours, and then give them 2-3 hours of homework. Add in a few structured activities, and there's not much free time left. (This is one great benefit I get from homeschooling.)

In addition, there are many environmental things that contribute to the increase. It has been suggested often that our American diet heavy in fats, preservatives, and sugar is a major contributor. One new study backs this up. As I look into being healthier and am learning more about whole/natural food eating, I find more and more articles such as this one.

I'm sharing it because I believe that knowledge is important in making healthy decisions. This is only one way we can learn more that may possibly help us as women and moms.

http://www.care2.com/greenliving/5-foods-linked-to-adhd.html?page=2

What we do to be Healthy - Part 3

That brings us to portions. I have to say that this has probably been one of the most lifestyle changing revelations I’ve had when it comes to eating better. What Americans often tend to think of as portions are what we get when we go out to eat. And because we look for ‘more for less,’ our perceptions of what portions are are greatly distorted. Proper portions are:
· One carbohydrate serving is 15 grams. This equals to ½ cup of potatoes or pasta and 1/3 cup of rice. It’s often one slice of bread and ½ cup of fruits (although most melons and berries have larger servings, 1 – 1&1/2 cup.)
· One vegetable serving is one cup raw or ½ cup cooked.
· One meat serving is 3 oz (that’s 1 oz. smaller than a quarter pounder!)
While this list doesn’t include everything, it’s a good start. Once you see what appropriate portions are, you will be able to better balance what you eat. But that’s not the end of it. Knowledge is only part of what it takes to be healthy. The other parts of this puzzle are a decision to make healthy choices and following through on that decision. Sometimes there’s a fourth piece of the puzzle: accountability tools.

What we do to be Healthy - Part 2

The second major change is to start reading labels. That is, reading the nutritional information and the ingredients on the prepackaged items you do buy. You will be amazed at how eye-opening this is. I first began reading labels when I started watching my carb intake. First you look at the contents: calories, fat, saturated fat, trans fat, and carbohydrates. Then you look at the serving size. This is where much of the shock comes in. And often the knowledge you need to make healthy eating changes.
I’ve caught myself, more times than I care to count, saying, ‘There’s that many (insert: calories, carbs, fat) in that!’ It almost seems impossible that there could be that much shoved into such a small serving size. But, once you start reading labels, you will understand much more about why many of us are so unhealthy. You can even do this when it comes to eating out. Most fast food restaurants and many other restaurants have their nutritional information on line (although once you read it, it will almost seem ironic that it’s called ‘nutritional’ information.)

What we do to be Healthy - Part 1

For me, the main goals in eating (other than having the proper perspective) are to eat balanced and as natural as possible. As natural as possible is probably the biggest challenge in eating healthy. We have become accustomed to prepared and processed foods. They are convenient, quick, easy, and our taste buds have gotten used to the flavors in them.
I’ll be the first to admit that my pantry still has quite a few processed foods. Crackers, cereal, breads are all staples. However, we also have bowls of fresh fruit and a constant supply of fresh and frozen vegetables. They key is to not look in your pantry and throw out everything that’s in a box or bag. The key is to take it one step at a time and eliminate what you can, and add what you can.
One of the first thing we did in our house was make fresh fruits and vegetables a constant fixture. Study after study shows that Americans don’t get enough fruits and vegetables. There are a many products available now that tout being fruit and vegetable supplements (made with real fruit, two servings of veggies,) but the truth is, there’s no substitute for fresh, real live foods. If we start eating them and our children start eating them, we will begin to appreciate the flavors and textures that cannot be mimicked in man-made foods.
I have to add a caution here, though. Many fruits and vegetables sold in many markets (grocery stores) are the product of mass-produced items in which pesticides. There are many cautions out about limiting our intake of products with pesticides. The most recent study shows that there may be a link between pesticides and ADD. Whether that (or any of the other specific claims) turn out to be true, it would be wise to be cautious. There are many ways to avoid and limit exposure to pesticides. You can grow your own (although not everyone everywhere can grow everything,) you can buy from local farmers’ markets and stands (where you can ask), and you can buy organic. Don’t let your limited ability to do any one of these things scare you off of making this one important change, however. Fruits and vegetables (and a variety of them) are good for our bodies and provide many needed and desired nutrients.

Health is eating to live, not living to eat

While many of us focus on our weight and size, few of us focus on how we approach food. Food has become a cultural phenomena. It has become about how much you can get for how little. How things are pleasing to our taste buds for the moment regardless of the long-term impact on our bodies. How to make it cheaper, easier, and more fun. In other words, we have learned to live to eat. Instead, our focus in regards to food should be eating to live. Our main goal in eating should be to feed our bodies what they need to thrive. I’m not saying that we should ignore our taste buds. On the contrary, eating healthy can be fun, creative, and taste good.
This is a struggle that many of us have, including me. One of the reasons that I am not content with my weight and size right now are because I made some eating decisions that were not in the best interest of my body, but instead were catered to my taste buds. We are conditioned by commercials and lifestyles to eat for pleasure.
We also eat when we’re sad, eat to celebrate, eat for fellowship, and even eat when we’re bored. Why not? We’re asked. You deserve it. We’re told. In my book, what we really deserve is the opportunity to eat what’s best for our bodies. The answers to why not are almost too much to cover, but I’ll dabble a little in the reasons.
We are what we eat. Garbage in, garbage out. That may make us think that the garbage will come out, having no effect on us, but that simply is not true. The garbage out in the case of what we eat is how it affects us. The reasons not to eat simply for taste disregarding nutrients and health benefits (or detriments) include:
· The effect on our digestive system.
· The effect on our hearts and cardiovascular system.
· The effect on our hormones and endocrine system.
· The effect on our ability to sleep well and restfully.
· The effect on our energy level.
· The effect on our moods.
· The effect on our ability to focus and perform well.
As you can see, even this short list is fairly comprehensive, covering nearly ever aspect of our lives. So, with a multitude of information, much of it contradictory, how do we know how to eat? What diet do we follow? Who do we listen to?
First of all, I encourage you to do your own research. Check out the government’s health website. Look up the effects of preservatives and other chemical additives to our foods. Read and listen to balanced health professionals. Talk to your doctor. Like I said before, I don’t claim to be an expert or to know everything there is to know about health, but I have done a lot of research and can pass along what I’ve found.

Health is not a lack of disease

This is also an important part of understanding health. Many people think that they are healthy simply because they have not been diagnosed with something. Others think that their ability to be healthy is out of their control because they have been diagnosed with something. Neither of these is true.
Much of what I have learned about health (like many other areas) have come through trial and error. And education. Much of that education came after I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes with my first pregnancy. I had been vowing to lose ten pounds (then fifteen, then twenty) for a long time. I wanted to be smaller, and I guess healthier, but I never really looked into what it would take to do so. When I was diagnosed, however, I was prompted to find out what I needed to do to get healthy. So, ironically, I became the healthiest I had ever been while I was managing gestational diabetes. This came in handy when I dealt with it again in my second and third pregnancies, and especially when I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in between my third and fourth pregnancies. Because of this, I have learned that a diagnosis of a life-long disease does not mean that I have to give up on being healthy. On the contrary, for me it was the catalyst I needed to become healthier.
I know the same is true for many other women. I know many moms who cope with illnesses such as fibromyalgia, Graves’ disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and other diagnoses who live very healthy lives. They manage their illness and do not allow it to define them or their overall health.
If health is not found solely in the numbers and is not a lack of disease, then what is it? That’s the crux of this chapter. I don’t claim to be a medical professional or an expert in any specific area of health, but I can share what I’ve learned through research, experience and talking with health professionals about what it takes to get and remain healthy.

Health is not measured solely by numbers

The importance of this truth is one that we may need to work diligently to ingrain in our heads. The first number that comes to mind is the number on the scale. The main number that many of us become obsessed with. I, too, have had many struggles with those three little numbers. The second number must be discussed along with the first, because they generally go hand-in-hand. They are the numbers you find on your clothes. You know, the sizes. Just as we tend to obsess with the numbers on the scale (or ignore them because we don’t really want to know what they are) we also tend to obsess with the size of our clothes. As if once we hit that magic number, everything in our lives will fall perfectly into place. A few minutes of watching any of entertainment shows on the heartaches and troubles of size zero stars will verify that that is not true.
I also know from experience. I was one of those teenagers who seemed to have been able to eat anything and say a small size. I never thought, though, that I was skinny enough and was constantly hoping to lose ten more pounds, get one size smaller. Looking back, I know now that my energies and efforts were wasted. Not because they didn’t get me to my goal, but because I should have been content with the weight and size that I was.
As discontent as I was, I never did anything to become healthier. As a matter of fact, I eat much more healthily now that I’m a few sizes bigger and weigh a little more. I’m not content with where I am, but at least I now know what to do to get where I want. My health is not wrapped up in what size I am or what the scale says. What matters much more is that I eat a healthy, balanced diet. Not diet, mind you, in the sense that I’m on some strict regimen to help me lose weight, but diet in the sense of simply what it is that I’m eating. I eat more fruits and vegetables than I ever did when I was young and super skinny. And I eat a lot less junk.
I don’t want you to get me wrong, though. Weight does matter generally in our health. I would never encourage anyone to stay overweight in order to avoid getting caught up in the numbers trap. There’s a reason that there’s a healthy range for different body types. Enough research has been done to know that when you carry a certain amount of extra weight on your body, you’re putting extra strain on your body systems. The important thing is not to pick an arbitrary number that you’d like to be at, but to find a range within the numbers that you are comfortable and healthy at.
Beyond the numbers found on the scale and on our clothes are the numbers found in our bodies. These are the numbers in the numerous tests that doctors like to run these days. Many of these numbers are important indicators of health: cholesterol, triglycerides, vitamin D, sugar levels, etc. Tests have gotten really good and decades of research have helped us to know where these and a variety of other numbers should be for optimal health. However, we can sometimes get too wrapped up in these numbers. I am not saying that we should not pay attention to these numbers, or avoid knowing what they are. Ignorance does not lead to bliss in the area of health and indicators of health. They are not, though, the end all and be all of health.
Like I said before, when I was young and thin and all my numbers were in pretty good order, I was not as healthy as could be. I also know people who have perfect cholesterol, sugars, etc. and are not overweight, but are also not healthy. They don’t have good healthy habits, they suffer from a lack of energy due to poor diets, and sleep issues. So, while knowing the status of many of your health indicators, it’s important not to be lulled into complacency when all the numbers line up.

Uprooting the Weeds of Life

So, how do we get rid of those weeds? Those hurts and scars that we carry with us from a variety of experiences. First, we shouldn't try to get rid of them all at once. When I'm gardening and try to grab a handful of weeds to pull up, it is much more difficult. I use less effort overall pulling one or two weeds at a time. There are some that are not as well rooted that I can grab a handful of, but then there are those I have to work on individually. Knowing the difference will be helpful as you tackle emotional weeds.

As a counselor, I believe in the benefit of going to a counselor for guidance and assistance in dealing with some things. Especially the more deeply rooted items. In my garden, I use a tool to help with the stubborn weeds, and the same can be done in life. But, also as a counselor, I recognize that all counselors are not equal and recommend only using one who comes from a Biblical-worldview. They will guide you to healing through God's grace, mercy, love, and forgiveness. Many others will try to convince you that healing comes from getting better at getting your needs met.

I also know that many people aren't comfortable with or in a position to go to counseling. You can still heal and get rid of the weeds. You simply have to be willing to do the work.

The first step is to look around at anything that may be perpetuating the weeds. Are there relationships that encourage their growth? What thought patterns nurture them? What behaviors keep them around? You don't want to abandon good friends and you most certainly don't want to dissolve your marriage, breaking vows that are meant to be for a lifetime, but you want to surround yourself with people who will offer Godly encouragement and wisdom. They don't even necessarily have to know what your dealing with. If you have them in your life, and God has something to say through them, it will happen.

Next, thought patterns are to be tackled. What and how we think affects what we do and how we relate to people. You may not be able to recognize negative or harmful thought patterns, especially if they've been around a long time. However, as you delve into the Bible, God will begin to plant seeds of His Word that will produce fruit in your life. The Word and prayer (simply communicating with God) are an unstoppable power to transform life.

As your thoughts change, so will your actions. You will no longer set yourself up for failure. You will no longer sabotage relationships. You will no longer let the weeds of your past rise up and choke the vegetable- and fruit-bearing things of your life. (Yes, we are to be fruitful, but vegetables are important produce, too.)

While I just went through the Reader's Digest version in a few paragraphs, this is an on-going process. The work you have to do will depend on the amount, size, and depth of the weeds in your life. It may look like too much as you survey the landscape, but by pulling one weed at a time, you will change the looks of it for good.