behavior -

February 26, 2019

Mouth Breathing in Children – Should You Be Concerned?

Mouth breathing in children is a growing topic these days, especially for parents whose children have PANDAS symptoms or ADHD. Parents are learning that the effects of mouth breathing may include behavioral symptoms, but mouth breathing just might be at the root of all disease. Read more below.

What causes mouth breathing?

Mouth breathing occurs when there is an obstruction from the sinuses to the airways. When a child (or grown up) is unable to breathe efficiently through their nose, they will breathe through their mouth.

Obstructions can be caused by temporary congestion due to seasonal allergies, a cold, or a sinus infection. An obstruction may also lead to chronic mouth breathing due to enlarged tonsils or adenoids.

Tonsils and adenoids can be enlarged for a number of reasons, including chronic or recurring infections like strep, as well as food allergies (dairy is often a culprit). The photo below shows how enlarged adenoids can block proper air flow through the sinuses.

In addition, the shape of your jaw and palate can cause mouth breathing. Mouth breathing is also associated with tongue and lip ties, crooked teeth, and MTHFR mutations.

Jump to “Does Mouth Breathing Change Your Face?” to learn about why today’s children struggle with jaw and palate malformation.

How do you know if your child is mouth breathing?

As in the picture below, your child will sleep with his mouth open, rather than closed, and may snore. Mouth breathing in children is easy to spot during both waking and sleeping hours.

When your child is awake, you will notice he or she most likely sounds congested when breathing and his mouth will be open when he is at rest (not talking, eating, or otherwise using his mouth). Mouth breathing tends to be loud compared to breathing through the nose.

If your child is a mouth breather, you may also notice:

dry chapped lips
dry mouth
bad breath
snoring
allergy shiners (purplish or red circles beneath your child’s eyes, often associated with food allergies, but may also be from chronic sinus problems).

Is mouth breathing bad?

The effects of mouth breathing can be detrimental to you or your child’s health, leading to both physical and behavioral problems. Let’s look deeper into why mouth breathing in children can cause long-term problems.

Why is it bad to be a mouth breather?

Mouth breathing can cause sleep apnea. Mouth breathing during sleep lead to sleep apnea, a condition in which breathing is interrupted during sleep.
Mouth breathing bypasses natural defenses. Your body is designed to take in air through the nasal passages, which aid in both filtration and humidification of the air as it enters your body.
Mouth breathing causes lack of oxygen in the blood. The sinuses also have a very important role in breathing: enzymes in the sinuses create nitric oxide, a gas responsible for transporting oxygen throughout the body.

NO [nitric oxide] gas from the nose and sinuses is inhaled with every breath and reaches the lungs in a more diluted form to enhance pulmonary oxygen uptake via local vasodilation. (source)

This nitric oxide helps to reduce blood pressure, as well as oxygenate the blood, which ensures that vital nutrients are carried to where they are needed throughout the body.
Mouth breathing allows pathogens to thrive. Nitric oxide is involved in local host defense in the upper airways. It inhibits the growth of various pathogens including bacteria, fungi, and viruses.
Mouth breathing can cause chronic fatigue. The lack of oxygen that occurs due to mouth breathing can cause chronic fatigue syndrome, as well as a number of other health conditions like high blood pressure, poor memory, and mental health problems.
Mouth breathing can prevent deep, rhythmic sleep. This effects your health negatively in a number of ways. See more below on how this can lead to ADHD.

Mouth breathing and gut health

There is a gut-mouth axis which connects our mouth to our gut, and if something is amiss with the mouth, you can bet it will affect the gut. In fact, our mouth actually communicates with our gut. For instance, as you begin to eat a particular type of food, enzymes in your mouth begin to break it down, and your gut is triggered to also prepare for digestion.

Mouth breathing also causes our system to become more acidic, which can affect digestion and absorption of nutrients in our gut.

In addition, because mouth breathing bypasses the nose’s natural defenses, the bacteria in our mouth changes. Remember, one of the effects of mouth breathing is a lack of nitric oxide, the substance that helps to stave off unwanted bacteria. This lack allows opportunistic bacteria to thrive, creating an environment ripe for chronic hidden infections that affect the mouth, teeth, sinuses, and throat.

The mouth is the first part of the gastrointestinal tract, which also includes the esophagus, stomach, small intestine, & large intestine, and goes all the way down to the anus. Think of this system as a tube, and what enters the top of the tube will eventually make it all the way to the bottom. Once our oral cavity is colonized with unfriendly bacteria, these bacteria enter and make their way through our digestive system.

In this way, mouth breathing in children sets them up for a lifetime of poor gut health.

Does mouth breathing change your face?

Maybe. However, the converse is actually more true: children with a narrow jaw and malformed palate are more likely to mouth breathe.

One study found that children who mouth breathe have a significantly more convex facial profile, as well as abnormalities with dentofacial growth. In other words, mouth breathing in children is correlated to a receding chin line and jaw and teeth malformation.

So why do our kids struggle with this malformation of the jaw and palate? For a comprehensive answer, we turn to Dr. Weston A. Price, a dentist who, more than 80 years ago, traveled the world in search of why indigenous cultures had such nice, straight teeth and little disease, and westerners had crowded, crooked teeth and much physical degeneration.

The truth was found in the traditional diets of indigenous people, who ate various foods according to their region. These foods never included the processed, refined flours and sugars that had taken over the American food supply.

Because of good maternal diet during pregnancy, indigenous children were born with wide palates and jaws, with plenty of room for their teeth to grow properly (these people weren’t getting their wisdom teeth removed, as is common practice in America!). In contrast, following the industrial boom of food products in the US and other industrialized nations, Dr. Price noted a narrower jaw and palate, and, consequently, more disease in children born to mothers eating processed and refined foods.

Dr. Price also noted that in traditional cultures where industrialized foods began to replace traditional foods, within a couple of generations, the shape of people’s faces had changed, and the population began to experience more disease.

You can find his fascinating book here.

Behavioral effects of mouth breathing

We already know that behavior is linked to gut health, so if one of the effects of mouth breathing is abnormal gut flora, the odds are, we might see some unwanted behaviors from children (& adults) who mouth breathe.

Can mouth breathing cause ADHD?

Let’s go back to the nitric oxide factor. Remember how normal breathing through the nose creates nitric oxide, which in turn oxygenates the blood? Kids who lack nitric oxide due to mouth breathing may be at risk for ADHD.

(You’ll also notice that children with ADHD are more likely to have crooked teeth.)

A neuropsychiatrist once told me that ADHD was actually a sleep disorder. Come again?

He explained that kids with ADHD don’t get enough deep, rhythmic sleep, so the symptoms of ADHD were their brain’s way of coping- pinging from one thing to another to keep them stimulated and awake.

Lack of deep, rhythmic sleep sounds like one of the effects of mouth breathing, no?

One study found that adenotonsillectomy may have a positive impact on the neurobehavioral problems of children with sleep-disordered breathing. Why? Because enlarged tonsils and adenoids obstruct the airways and can cause mouth breathing in children.

Another study found that removing the tonsils and adenoids of children with ADHD was more effective than treating with stimulant drugs.

Can mouth breathing cause anxiety?

Likewise, mouth breathing may cause other mental disorders, like anxiety, for the same reasons above. We know that anxiety is deeply connected to gut health, and we know that mouth breathing is bad for gut health, so clearly there is a causal connection.

Anxiety is also connected to adrenal fatigue, a condition in which we see elevated cortisol levels and enhanced “fight or flight” symptoms.

Mouth breathing is detrimental to the sympathetic nervous system. It accelerates the heart rate and increases blood pressure, stimulating our fight or flight response, hence the link with anxiety symptoms.

Mouth breathing and PANDAS

Because the symptoms of PANDAS/PANS vary widely and include hyperactivity, anxiety, OCD, depression, and other undesirable behaviors, we can see how mouth breathing is connected to these conditions. Treating the causes of mouth breathing in children can help to resolve symptoms of PANS and PANDAS.

How to manage mouth breathing in children

Whether you’re worried about your child mouth breathing, or you want to improve your own breathing, there are things you can do.

How do I stop mouth breathing?

Because mouth breathing has a number of causes, there are a number of ways to remedy it, from diet to special dentistry. Let’s dig in to steps you can take to avoid the effects of mouth breathing.

Diet

The number one culprit for causing inflamed, enlarged tonsils and adenoids? Dairy!

One study found that adhering to a dairy-free, paleo-style diet eliminated symptoms of sleep apnea.

If you or your child is struggling with the effects of mouth breathing, diet should be your first line of defense. Remove inflammatory foods like dairy, sugar, and gluten & other grains. A paleo-style template is your best bet to lower inflammation in the sinuses, adenoids, and tonsils.

Epigenetic dentistry

An epigenetic dentist or orthodontist will specialize in treating TMJ and sleep apnea, based on the understanding that it is the shape of the jaw and palate that causes these conditions.

These dentists use devices like orthodontics to actually change the structure and shape of the jaw in order to promote better air flow. Patients report resolution of chronic symptoms like headaches and anxiety thanks to corrected breathing.

Search for “epigenetic dentistry” near you to look for someone who can help, or ask your nearest biological dentist if they know of a dentist who specializes in this treatment.

Surgery

Some parents resort to a tonsillectomy and/or adenoidectomy for their child when resolution of symptoms cannot be obtained through diet changes and supplements alone. This is a personal decision, and while these body parts do, of course, serve an important purpose in the body’s defenses, sometimes they cause more harm than good.

Oftentimes, especially when we see recurring sickness like strep throat, removing the tonsils will eliminate the infection and chronic inflammation.

Other options should be exhausted and much prayer and research should accompany such a decision, but many parents report their child’s symptoms of ADHD and even PANDAS resolving after a tonsillectomy.

How do you train yourself to sleep with your mouth closed?

You should be mindful during your waking hours and force yourself to breathe through your nose when you think about it.

As often as you think about it, close your mouth and take nice, slow breaths through your nose. Anytime you catch yourself breathing through your mouth, close it.

In addition, you can use devices or tape to ensure your mouth stays closed while you sleep.

This chin strap is inexpensive, comfortable, and effective for keeping your mouth closed while you sleep.

You can also try mouth taping using strips like these or a mouth guard designed to promote nose breathing.

Is taping your mouth shut at night dangerous?

Not if you do it correctly. When you tape your mouth, you should be able to breathe through your nose. If you can’t, you need to address the reason why your breathing is blocked (see dietary and other suggestions above).

Is mouth breathing a big deal?

Yeah, it really is. Because mouth breathing is associated with so many health conditions, both physical and mental, it stands to reason that regardless of what conditions you may be facing, proper breathing can help.

Take the steps above to ensure you breathe properly through your nose in order to avoid these negative effects of mouth breathing.

April 17, 2018

Learn Why the GFCF Diet is a Must for Autism

Have you thought about trying a GFCF diet for your child with autism? If you haven’t you should, and in the guest post below, Dave from I’m Simply a Dad, will tell you why!

No parent likes to see their child struggle. For autism parents, it seems like we have to watch our kids endure one obstacle after another. Sometimes, we are able to help them through it, but many times their hardships are deeply rooted in their biology. This is why the GFCF diet is a must for autism because it provides the building blocks for healing. If we provide them with the support they need, the body will heal, behaviors improve, and symptoms can disappear.

Why try the GFCF diet for autism

The GFCF diet seeks to heal the gut and calm down the immune system. By doing these two things, digestion and cognition improve, aggression and anxiety decrease, and you’ll even notice improvements in sleep quality. The child starts to feel better, and it will seem as if the fog has been lifted from their brain.

Now, of course, this does not happen overnight. However, after a few weeks on the GFCF diet, you will begin to see progress. There are some lucky parents that do see immediate results. One parent even told me they heard their nonverbal child’s first words after just 3 days on the diet.

What is the GFCF diet for autism?

The GFCF diet is the removal of gluten, casein, and all food ingredients derived from them. Soy is often removed as well due to its similar molecular structure. Gluten is a protein found in wheat and other grains.

Casein is a protein found in dairy, which is why some people refer to this as the GFDF diet or the gluten free, dairy free diet. Soy is, of course, anything derived from soybeans.

Why is gluten free casein free good for autism?

Kids with autism and even ADHD tend to have overactive immune systems, which is what contributes to the severity of their symptoms. When we eat foods containing gluten, casein, and soy, it causes an immune response in many of us including our kids on the spectrum.

These 3 ingredients are quite inflammatory, and they are responsible for a large portion of food allergies and food sensitivities. If we eat these foods several times a day, then this can lead to chronic inflammation.

The gut-brain connection

The gut and the brain are connected by the vagus nerve. This means that the brain can “talk” to the gut, and the gut can “talk” to the brain. Each has the power to influence the other, so if we want to help our kids with autism think more clearly and stabilize their emotional state, then we must heal their gut.

Leaky gut is a condition that has been repeatedly linked to the autism and autoimmune population. Essentially, someone with leaky gut has cracks in their gut lining allowing things to leak into the bloodstream. This can be toxins, microbes, or undigested food. Obviously, we don’t want toxins and infectious microbes to be floating around in our bloodstream, but what about undigested food?

Molecular mimicry

When the body sees partially digested gluten and casein proteins floating around, it tags them as foreign invaders. The immune system then mounts an attack against them, which leads to inflammation. Even worse, these partially digested proteins can resemble our body’s own tissues.

An overworked immune system can inadvertently tag the tissues of things like our thyroid, and start eating away at it. (This is called molecular mimicry.) Eventually, this leads to autoimmunity, which is why I encourage parents to adopt the GFCF diet with their children. If the diet can help your kids, then chances are you can benefit too.

Opiates

In an unhealthy gut, gluten and casein may be broken down into molecules resembling that of opium. These gluteomorphin and casomorphin peptides can trigger the same receptors in the brain as heroin and other opiate drugs.

The result is a real addiction to these foods. It’s no wonder that our kids can’t focus or are stimming and bouncing off the walls shortly after snack time. (Jaclyn’s note: it also explains why kids on the spectrum refuse to eat anything but starchy, sugary foods, cheese, milk, and bread!)

The critical first step in autism treatment

The purpose of the GFCF diet is to take away many sources of inflammation and help the immune system to throttle down. When the immune system is not overworked, it is less likely to mistake our own tissues as foreign invaders.

Diet is the foundation for all healing. Progress in other areas may be slow if you do not first clean up the diet. Remember, the brain is only as healthy as the gut. If you want to help your child become the best they can possibly be, you have to heal the gut.

Eliminating gluten, casein, and soy is the critical first step that will allow our kids to progress in school or through other therapies and treatments.

What foods can I eat on the GFCF diet?

I’m sure the question you’ve been asking for a while now is “What CAN I feed my family on this diet?!” You actually have a variety of foods you can eat. Fresh fruits and veggies are always okay.

All 100% meat is GFCF, but double check labels for processed or cured meats like sausage, bacon, hot dogs, pepperoni, and other processed meats & meat products.

There are a number of gluten-free flours and grains for you to choose from, and you can offer different milk alternatives like coconut or almond milk. There are even vegan cheese options that are gluten and dairy free too.

If you would like to learn more about what you can eat, I have a beginner’s GFCF food list that includes several specific brands and meal ideas to help get you started.

Want to dive deeper into the GFCF diet?

For anyone wanting to take a much deeper dive into the science behind the GFCF diet, I have an in-depth GFCF Diet Guide on my site. This free guide will help you fully understand why adopting a GFCF diet is the critical first step in any treatment for autism.

We are all scared in the beginning

I believe the GFCF diet should be the starting point for any autism treatment. Unfortunately, many parents are paralyzed by the sheer magnitude of such a dramatic change in their lives. When we started our son on the GFCF diet, it was so overwhelming. I remember nearly crying after our first trip to Whole Foods. Everything was so expensive, and I remember thinking how can we possibly afford this?

Fast forward 8 years, and the diet is easy. We’ve been able to tweak the diet here and there with relative ease to fit my son’s needs. I guess you could call me a GFCF pro now. It’s one of my greatest successes as an autism Dad.

Our family is healing together

It took us a little longer to see positive results, but we did see progress with our son. Our biggest gains were with sleep and a stronger immune system. He no longer gets sick all the time, the constant skin rashes diminished, and his sleep quality improved drastically.

A few years after starting our son on the diet, the rest of the family has joined him on the diet. My wife’s once severe asthma is nearly cured. She has been inhaler free for years now. I personally lost almost 100 pounds, and our healing diet has helped improve my mental well-being significantly.

In our kids, inflammation can manifest as sleep struggles, attention difficulties, hyperactivity, behavior problems, and gut issues like constipation, bloating, or diarrhea.

The goal of the GFCF diet is to reduce the burden on the body by removing foods that can trigger this inflammation. However, the true purpose of the GFCF diet is to help our kids feel better.

Adopting a GFCF diet will allow the body to heal. As their body heals, they will start to feel good. When our kids feel good, then, they can really begin to progress and thrive.

Start your healing today

If you are ready to help your child start healing through the GFCF diet, I have a free jump start kit over on my website, ImSimplyaDad.com.

It includes:

A copy of My Ebook: “A Parent’s Complete Guide to the GFCF Diet”
1-week meal plan
Printable Cheat Sheet: List of ingredients containing gluten, casein, and soy
Printable Cheat Sheet: List of foods you can eat on the GFCF diet.

This jumpstart kit is my gift to you. Simply head over to ImSimplyaDad.com/subscribe, and sign up to get yours today!

Standard disclaimer:

Remember, I’m simply a Dad sharing the knowledge and experience I’ve learned over the past 8 years. The content presented is for informational purposes and should not be considered medical advice.

My name is Dave, and I’m Simply a Dad. My son’s autism diagnosis opened my eyes and taught me how to better care for myself, my family, and truly appreciate the important things in life. Our family has made great strides in our healing journey. It is my mission to share our experience and the lessons we’ve learned as we work towards health, hope, and happiness.

June 22, 2017

Five Natural Alternatives to ADHD Meds (That work!)

If you’ve been experimenting with ways to relieve ADHD naturally, this list of natural alternatives to ADHD meds may help!

If your child is struggling with symptoms of ADHD, you’re probably desperate to get some relief for over-the-top behaviors.

When you have a child who can’t sit still, can’t keep his hands to himself, and can’t follow instructions, you begin to wonder if you’re doing something wrong.

It may even be a relief to get a diagnoses that confirms your child has ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, often used interchangeably with ADD, or attention deficit disorder), even if you’re overwhelmed with what to do about it.

Common symptoms of ADHD include:

hyperactivity
inability to focus
poor sleep habits
impulsive behaviors
short attention span

If you don’t want to resort to ADHD meds, have hope; there are natural solutions that work!

And while a child’s unusual and troublesome behaviors can be frustrating, you can always try natural solutions first, as conventional meds may have unintended consequences. Let’s first look at some of today’s popular prescription options.

What medications are used to treat ADHD?

There are a variety of medications used to treat ADHD in both children and adults. Let’s look at some popular ADHD meds:

stimulants: these include drugs like Adderall and Ritalin and work by boosting levels of dopamine and norepinephrine in the brain, which helps nerves in the brain communicate better.
non-stimulants: these include drugs like Strattera and Clonadine and work by boosting norepinephrine in the brain as well. They are sometimes used when stimulants don’t work or cause unwanted side effects.
when typical ADHD meds don’t work, or if other symptoms are present combined with ADHD, sometimes meds like antidepressants are prescribed.

The problem with ADHD meds

ADHD/ADD medications carry the risk of cardiac toxicity, irregular heartbeat, and even sudden death due to adverse cardiac events. In addition, they have been found to impair proper growth, diminishing growth in both height and weight of children taking the medications, particularly those taking the drugs for longer than 18 months.

The National Institute of Mental Health cites the following side effects of antidepressants: suicidal thoughts or attempted suicide; acting aggressively, being angry, or violent; worsening anxiety or depression; irritability; insomnia; panic attacks; acting on dangerous impulses; and more.

Side effects for anti-anxiety meds also include depression and suicidal thoughts.

Stimulants (used for ADHD/ADD) may cause personality changes.

Mood stabilizer side effects may include agitation, mood swings, and abnormal thinking.

Other side effects may include tics, headaches, and nausea.

The problem with ADHD meds is that you don’t know how your child will respond, and often, a secondary or third medication may be prescribed to control symptoms that are caused by the original medication.

As if all of this is not concerning enough, consider that many acts of violence have been carried out by children, adolescents and young adults either on or withdrawing from psychiatric medications.

Is there a safe medicine for ADHD?

No prescription ADHD med comes without risk, but thankfully, there are natural options that work and don’t pose a threat to your child’s wellbeing.

Five Natural Alternatives to ADHD meds

1. Diet

First and foremost, your child must be on a real-foods diet. If your child is still eating foods containing neurotoxins, supplements are not going to work well.

Immediately remove food dyes, artificial sweeteners, and MSG from your child’s diet if you want to see symptoms improve. Following that, remove high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated oils. (Read more about ingredients to remove from your child’s diet here.)

Consider a gluten and dairy-free diet or look into paleo, primal (which allows raw & cultured dairy), or the GAPS diet.

Once you’ve cleaned up your child’s diet and figured out foods he may be reacting to (like gluten or even corn), you may have great success with natural ADHD meds!

2. Magnesium L-Threonate

I’ve written about the specially-formulated magnesium for brain health that remains one of our favorite supplements to treat ADHD.

Magnesium is critical to brain health and cellular function, but all magnesium is not created equally. A newer form of magnesium, formulated especially for brain health, Magnesium L-Threonate was developed by researchers at MIT, including a Nobel Prize winner

According to this article by Dr. David Perlmutter, the research done by the developers “demonstrated actual restoration of function in aging neurons in laboratory animals. Further, it appears that this specific form of magnesium, Magtein, may in fact be the only form of magnesium that significantly increases the levels of magnesium within the brain.”

When regularly taking Magnesium L-Threonate, our son is calmer and more focused, and outbursts and impulsivity are minimized.

The kind we use is called MagMind, and we follow the supplementation directions on the bottle: two capsules in the morning and one capsule with dinner.

3. Neural Balance

Let’s first talk about GABA, or gamma aminobutyric acid, a naturally occurring neurotransmitter. Those who are GABA-deficient may experience symptoms of ADHD, as well as depression, anxiety, or insomnia.

The idea is that supplementing GABA will help to relieve these symptoms. However, GABA cannot pass the blood-brain barrier, so effects will not be long-lasting. The only GABA able to actually pass the blood-brain barrier is that created by your brain.

Enter Passionflower.

An herb called passionflower can help your brain create GABA itself. It has a notably calming effect on symptoms of ADHD, and can also be used it to ease anxiety and improve sleep. (Find the herbal sleep bomb recipe here.)

While using passionflower as a tincture for various calming purposes may help, it may not be strong enough for serious results.

Enter Neural Balance.

There is a newer supplement that contains high levels of passionflower extracts to target and improve brain health and promote calm.

Neural Balance can promote calm in a way that passionflower alone may not.

The proprietary combination of passionflower and other key ingredients is called Anandanol and it helps with:

Lack of focus
Aggression
Irregular sleep patterns
Social anxiety
Social withdrawal

How does Anandanol work?

Balance between excitation and inhibition is delicately maintained in many parts of the brain. If the balance between inhibition and excitation among neurons is disturbed in favor of the excitatory glutamatergic pathways, the intensity of excitatory transmission may lead to adverse behavioral and neurological consequences.

The Passiflora blend included in Anandanol has an endocannabinoid agonist-antagonist effect (it excites and inhibits) to restore a balance between inhibitory GABAergic pathways and excitatory glutamatergic pathways, supporting natural calm and focus.

Other key components of Anandanol

Magnesium Chloride- quickly restores calm and helps to prevent inhibited nerve cell communication, which can lead to cell excitability.
CoQ10: supports celluar energy production, provides immune system support, and has antioxidant properties.
B6 is an essential vitamin that is necessary for over 60 processes in the body and in the production of important chemicals in the brain.

Get Neural Balance here.

4. Focus

We’ve shared about the benefits of BioRay Kids’ supplements. They are truly unique in how they support children’s bodies and health.

The BioRay Kids line addresses the toxic chemicals our children come into contact with daily by putting their signature NDF® (Natural Detox Factors) formula in each bottle. This special chlorella sticks to heavy metals, chemicals, and pesticides and carries them safely out of the body.

Their supplement Focus specifically supports the adrenal glands and the brain as well. Here are the ingredients:

NDF® (Natural Detox Factors)- supports the healthy function of kids’ organs through detoxification.

Solomon Seal- restorative to mental vitality, solomon seal is an herb often used as a tonic to nourish the brain and support the mind.

Eleuthro Root- an adaptogenic herb, eleuthero helps to ease stress and fatigue. It helps to build blood and improves the ability of the body to absorb and efficiently use oxygen, including in the brain. It improves memory and concentration and increases mental stamina.

Schizandra Berry- a major adaptogenic herb that helps with relaxation and staying alert. Schizandra berry supports the nervous system and is beneficial for concentration and memory.

Other ingredients include mushrooms, which reduce stress and strengthen the immune system, adaptogenic herbs like polygonatum and licorice root, milk thistle, which supports the liver, cilantro, which combats heavy metals, and probiotics, which promote healthy gut flora and combat pathogenic overgrowth.

5. Other supplementation considerations

In addition to supplements specifically created to help children combat symptoms of ADHD, other good supplements to consider include:

Extra Virgin Cod Liver Oil- cod liver oil contains the omega fats our brains need to function their best, in the most bioavailable form. The only kind of cod liver oil we like and recommend is extra virgin cod liver oil, found here.

Because our modern diets tend to lack good fats, extra virgin cod liver oil is a supplement most of us can benefit from (especially pregnant and nursing mothers or those planning to become pregnant, and growing babies and children).

Smidge Probiotic

Another supplement that everyone may benefit from is a good probiotic. There are many, many probiotics on the market, but many are either ineffective or contain allergenic fillers.

We really like these, which may seem like a large investment, but actually comes to much less cost per dose when compared to cheaper probiotics. You get way more bang for your buck with Smidge, both in efficacy and actual cost.

Because behavioral disorders are often linked to underlying gut health problems, a good probiotic is a must for struggling children- just remember to start at very tiny doses and slowly work up.

Please consider giving natural alternatives to ADHD meds a try before you resort to mind-altering medications.

Find a trusted integrative or functional medicine doctor to help you find the right natural treatment for your child.

These suggestions can help provide you and your child with relief and your home with more peace. Remember, it’s easier and safer to try supplements that support the body and brain rather than pharmaceuticals that alter your child’s brain.

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September 15, 2016

Want To Help Your Child Focus On Learning? Try This! + A Giveaway from BioRay Kids

School has been back in full swing for a little while now, just long enough for parents to begin pinpointing any difficulties their children may be having at school. By a month or two in, many parents are pressured to put their fidgety, rambunctious child on medication just so they can make it through the school day. However, if you want to help your child focus on learning, I have a natural solution for you.

This post is sponsored by BioRay Kids. Make sure to enter the contest at the bottom to win a free bottle of their amazing product, Focus.

The natural solution to help your child focus on learning

I wrote recently about how much a product called “Happy” has helped our son with angry outbursts and helped him to be happier overall.

I also told you about all of the wonderful products the maker of Happy has to offer children, including ones that help with anxiety, delayed speech, difficulty sleeping, constipation, and, you guessed it, trouble focusing.

Although we’ve come a long ways in helping our boys to sit still long enough to get some school lessons under their belts (we homeschool), and emphasize the importance of play and outside time, our oldest still struggles with restlessness, trouble completing tasks, and problems with sitting still when need be.

When the folks at BioRay offered to send us a bottle of Focus, we were thrilled to give it a try. After all, we’ve been so impressed with all of the other BioRay products we’ve tried, so adding in another beneficial product was a no-brainer, which is kind of funny to say, because it does, in fact, nourish the brain.

Your child’s focus solution

The BioRay Kid’s line addresses one thing, above all else: helping kids’ bodies clear the toxins they’re exposed to on a daily basis. Even when we eat well, filter our water, and use safe products in our homes, there is so much we can’t control, including the air we breathe.

“Toxins block our children’s ability to absorb nutrients and affect their behavior, health and ability to learn. The organs that these toxins impact the most are the liver, the gastrointestinal tract, the adrenals, the brain (mind) and colon.

Many moms and dads – and teachers – report unexplained angry outbursts, frustration, anxiety, moodiness, brain fog and poor performance even while kids are doing simple tasks.” (Source: BioRay Kids)

The BioRay Kids line addresses this toxicity by putting their signature NDF® (Natural Detox Factors) formula in each bottle. This special chlorella sticks to heavy metals, chemicals, and pesticides and carries them safely out of the body.

Focus specifically supports the adrenal glands and the brain as well. Here are the ingredients:

NDF® (Natural Detox Factors)- supports the healthy function of kids’ organs through detoxification.

Solomon Seal- restorative to mental vitality, solomon seal is an herb often used as a tonic to nourish the brain and support the mind.

Schizandra Berry- a major adaptogenic herb that helps with relaxation and staying alert. Schizandra berry supports the nervous system and is beneficial for concentration and memory.

(All of BioRay Kid’s products are gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, alcohol-free, and non-GMO.)

Do these ingredients sound like they would address the needs of a child finding it difficult to focus on learning?

Why supporting the whole body helps your child focus on learning

I recently made the astounding discovery that my child with behavioral difficulties needs adrenal support. I don’t know why it took me so long to make that connection, considering I’ve suffered from severe adrenal fatigue myself (read how I recovered here).

Some of the symptoms of adrenal fatigue include difficulty concentrating and mood swings, which are also some of the problems children with hyperactivity disorders deal with. When I considered how my own symptom might be manifesting in my child, it all made sense. The adrenal supporting herbs in Focus are crucial.

Not only that, but keeping a child’s body free from toxins, as well as keeping his gut flora happy, contribute to a happier, clearer-thinking, more focused child.

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a hundred times: when we address the underlying conditions, children’s behavior improves!

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If you think your child would benefit from trying Focus, you can get it here.

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Do you think this product will help your child focus on learning? Make sure to share via one of our links for other parents who may be struggling with a child having trouble focusing.

January 11, 2016

Heal Behavioral Disorders: Remove These Ingredients from Your Child’s Diet NOW

While we may hear often that children’s behavioral problems are caused by genetic factors, that is far from the whole story. In the process of parenting and healing my child with multiple behavioral disorders, I have learned and can definitively say that there are further causes behind these disorders, which means they can be healed.

That’s right: autism can be healed, and so can ADD/ADHD, ODD, OCD, dyslexia, and a number of other childhood behavioral and developmental disorders.

If you have decided to seek out natural alternatives to medication for your child, you will find many, many suggestions, but before you can begin “treating” your child, you have to accomplish a few things: reduce inflammation, eliminate toxins, and strengthen the immune system. The good news is these can all begin with some simple changes you can make in your child’s diet.

Below, I’ll give you five ingredients to cut out of your child’s diet NOW, which will not only begin the path to healing, but will likely result in improved behavior almost immediately.

#1- Food dyes

Artificial food coloring is responsible for a host of behavioral and learning problems in children, including symptoms of Attention Deficit Disorder, hyperactivity, autism, aggression, and much more. Because they are a neurotoxin, food dyes can cause headaches and migraines, as well as mood imbalances. Removing food coloring is one of the main components of the Feingold diet, a popular diet used to treat behavioral disorders and learning problems.

Food dyes, unlike many other ingredients, are easy to spot and are often found in foods marketed to children. Besides the obvious baked goods and candies, artificial coloring is often found in juices, pudding, and even in vitamins. Look for them under the following labels:

blue, red, yellow or green (any combination, sometimes followed by numbers)
FD & C lakes
citrus red 2
artificial color

#2- Monosodium glutamate (MSG)

It’s what makes Chinese takeout so tasty, bland foods not taste like cardboard, and is the reason you can’t stop at just one chip or cracker.

Monosodium glutamate is a common flavoring additive in many packaged foods, especially soups and flavor packets, and can be linked to a number of health problems, including migraines, as well as behavioral problems in children, because, like food dyes, it is a neurotoxin.

The very tricky part about MSG is that it can be hidden under a number of names, so you need to be familiar with its aliases, which include:

Any ingredient containing the words “glutamate” or “glutamic”
Yeast extract and other yeast ingredients
Anything hydrolyzed or autolyzed
Calcium or sodium caseinate
Some gelatins
Textured protein or protein isolates

MSG is responsible for making you crave junk food. It is formulated to make foods taste irresistible, causing you to eat more and more and still remain unsatisfied. As you crave these fake, artificially-flavored foods, real, whole foods are less appealing.

MSG can totally change the way you eat and what your body yearns for.

#3- Artificial sweeteners

Like artificial colors, artificial sweeteners affect brain health, and can contribute to behavioral problems in children.

Additionally, they can retrain our taste buds to prefer the intensely-sweet flavor of fake foods over the natural sweetness of healthy, whole foods like fruit. And like MSG, they cause us to crave more sweetness than we were ever supposed to, because the unnatural sweetness is like nothing found in nature. There are many artificial sweeteners, under a number of brand names.

Watch out for these:

saccharin
acesulfame
aspartame
neotame
sucralose

Artificial sweeteners are most commonly found in “diet” or “sugar-free” foods.

#4- High fructose corn syrup (HFCS)

You may recall several years ago when the Corn Refiners Association put out an ad that insisted that high fructose corn syrup was not harmful, but simply “natural, and, like sugar, fine in moderation.”

This unfortunate half-truth has perpetuated the idea that HFCS, also known as isolated fructose, high fructose syrup and corn sugar, is somehow part of a healthy, balanced diet. This simply isn’t true.

High fructose corn syrup contributes to hyperactivity in children and other behavioral problems. Because it is chemically-derived from corn starch, it has a much higher sugar content than sugar itself. The high-fructose makeup of this syrup means that instead of our bodies processing it slowly, as with regular table sugar, it goes straight to the blood stream.

#5- White bread (and other refined grains)

After eliminating the above ingredients from our diet, the next thing we did was to remove refined, white flour. This was a bit of an adjustment, and at first, it just meant that we didn’t eat bread at restaurants. From there, I started using whole grain flours in my home baking.

I will always remember early in our real-food journey, we were eating at a restaurant with family and my dad offered a roll to our son. I said no, but he blew me off and went ahead and gave it to him. Within minutes of finishing the roll, our son had gone from being fairly calm to running around and under the table, shouting, and being overall crazy! My dad believed me then and has never offered our son bread again!

While this may seem like a tough step, it was necessary for us to take on our way to better eating and better health. If you are eating white bread right now, switch to a whole grain or gluten-free version as a baby step to eating better.

Don’t be complacent

It might seem like making these changes aren’t worth it, and you might want to quit before you even try. Don’t.

Once you remove these ingredients, one by one, you will start seeing changes in your child and you will be motivated to learn more and do more- I promise! When I interviewed Gordon’s mom, Tracee, she told me that eliminating red dye for her autistic son’s diet completely eliminated his tantrums, practically overnight. She went on to completely heal him from autism. You have to start somewhere, so choose an ingredient and get it out!

Read Gordon’s amazing story of healing here, then go over and read Brendan’s story of being healed from autism here.

It’s important you learn the truth about these toxic ingredients because, as Dr. Mark Hyman says, “Doubt and confusion are the currency of deception, and they sow the seeds of complacency.”

It’s up to you to learn all you can about these ingredients and make healthy choices for your family. Food manufacturers will do everything they can to convince you that eating these things is fine “in moderation.” If they can confuse you, they win; if you feel overwhelmed by sorting through information and are uninformed, you will have little will to make changes.

Make the changes your child needs and experience health and freedom for your entire family!

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