High Protein Diet for ADHD and Anxiety?

geekparent

New Member
This got buried a little in my ranting post, so I'm going to post it here.

My difficult child's therapist told us that we need to modify her diet: reduce white flour and white sugar, give her lots of protein and lots of complex carbs. Her diagnosis is ADHD with-anxiety, and some mild Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) issues.

I've heard of girlfriend. I've heard of gluten-free, casein-free diet. I've never heard of a high protein diet for this. Has anyone else heard of this? Does it work?
 
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agee

Guest
I posted to your other thread about this, but I believe your dr. recommended this to help your daughter maintain even blood sugar levels. When many people - most people - eat sugar or white flour or simple carbs, their blood sugar spikes then drops. When blood sugar has dropped it creates hunger, shakiness, possible headache, etc. Avoiding simple carbs and eating lots of protein, fat, and veggies will prevent this from happening.
My difficult child definitely does better the less simple carbs he has. We put a heavy emphasis on protein in our house and it really helps.
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geekparent

New Member
Do you have any suggestions? husband is very picky about what she will eat and it makes it very hard for us to figure out what to feed her while avoiding food boredom.

She tires of nuts very quickly. She eats breakfast at home and that's a biggie that we need to figure out. Also lunches she can carry to school. She doesn't like sandwiches. I'd love some advice and suggestions! I've gone as far as scheduling an appointment with a nutritionist to help me do meal planning and get the ball really rolling with this.
 

Josie

Active Member
My girlfriend/CF daughter takes rolled up lunch meat to school instead of a sandwich. Some other ideas are hard boiled eggs, deviled eggs, tuna or chicken salad, egg salad, caprese salad, or some kind of bean salad. You could do pumpkin or sunflower seeds as well as nuts. Hummus and veggies. Cheese.

For breakfast, I almost always make eggs. Sometimes we add yogurt.
 
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agee

Guest
Eggs for breakfast, or cheese toast on whole grain bread. My easy child often eats apples and peanut butter. difficult child has developed a love for Velveeta - not something I'd ordinarily buy but if it gets him to eat a lot of breakfast I'm completely fine with it. Lots of times both my kids will eat leftovers - meatballs are a favorite as are sausages. You could experiment with different kinds of quiche - I make it without a crust.
I second the lunchmeat/cheese roll-up for lunch. A boiled egg will do. My kids like it when I pack egg salad or chicken salad to eat with a fork. Cheese sticks. Chunked up chicken with ranch dressing dip? If she has access to a microwave you could also do more leftovers.
Maybe start with what she *will* eat re: protein and move on from there. What will she eat?
 
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