Wow, glad I found this thread as we're now withholding milk from the twins' diet for two weeks to see if we see anything new. Granted we're also getting possible sleep apnea checked out which would explain A LOT but there's always been something 'up' with them. They were MPI and reflux babies so it wouldn't be completely out there if they were still having a hard time processing milk. Ice cream I've seen the most introverted and shy spiriteds in a room full of hundreds of strangers completely melt down publicly and become human bouncing balls. This is definitely not their public behaviour. HOWEVER, there are a lot of ingredients in ice cream and although they had different flavours, there are a lot of common ingredients they both had. So we're going to give it a two week trial just to see.
E is severely MSPI. We thought allergic but the one test came back negative. MSPI to the point of hives, wheezing and blood in her stool. So there's a genetic possibility of the twins still being MPI.
I do put a lot of faith that behaviour can be changed due to food additives, colourings and chemicals. Our bodies simply weren't designed to process them. That being said, we eat processed food as it simply fits into my food budget of three children on a single income. We try to make as much from scratch as we can, but there's still a lot here with additives and colourings and chemicals.
I do see a difference in my girls when they've had a sugary treat, but all of those sugary treats have colourings. They have to have a dozen homemade cookies to really go 'off' the way they do after eating a sucker. And it's still nothing compared to how they were after having an ice cream last weekend. But there were other things that could have been at play. They were out for a few hours, they were a little on the tired side, lots of stimulation and they were starving by the time they got their ice cream. Then I asked them to wait in a line with me. So this is the sociology analytical research design professor's voice in the back of my mind. Unless you can remove all other factors beyond a reasonable doubt, you'll never know. That's one of my reasons for going a full two weeks without milk. If they don't have milk today, they may not have cereal, sugary oatmeal, pancakes, x, y, or z either. Over a course of two weeks, chances are they'll have all of the other foods that may be causing issue. And the other reason for two weeks with no milk is it really does take a long time to get out of the system.
My cousin was treated for ADHD for a number of years with no success. It involved medication increases, suggestions to my aunt and uncle for parenting classes and no doubt a lot of stress. Then they found out he had an intolerance to red food dye. Within a few weeks he was a new kid. Then my uncle tried going off of it and found similar results.
I watched a special where children of parents who work in the sugar cane fields ate the unprocessed sugar cane. The kids weren't hyper. They weren't genetically predisposed to be able to tolerate sugar any more than any other child. I don't think there's anything wrong with good old fashioned sugar in food used in moderation as it's proven to lead to obesity and you shouldn't have too much of one thing. But man-made chemicals are completely different. If i had the ability to remove them from my house and not become instantly poor I would. I DO think they're bad for you. I could go on for hours on how the incidence of food intolerances, behavioural disorders and obesity have been sharply on the rise since our method of obtaining raw food and processing it has changed so much in the last century. I think they're related. Food simply isn't made the way it used to be. Granted more people can be fed for cheaper but the side effects are how we're paying for our progress.
Again, I could go on for hours.......................
