Salicylates/Feingold

[Hazelnut]

I'm interested in trying the Feingold diet to see if it improves my son's behavior. Here's the thing: I've already, looong eliminated artifical colors and flavors, preservatives, etc. I understand a lot of healthy foods contain some salicylates too, so I am thinking we will try to avoid them for a few weeks and see if we notice anything. Is there anything to it, aside from simply checking out the lists available online? Is there a website anyone prefers? I'm not sure if it's worth checking out any feingold books. I'm familiar with elimination diets and we already eat very healthy- I've just never paid attention to whole foods with them. Also, any recommended websites for suggested lists of foods to avoid?
thanks

[Mylie]

You could try that but please don't call it Feingold if you do...

Alot of people do this,call it the Feingold program and when it doesn't work blame the Feingold Association for it not working for their child..

I did it the first time I tried the program myself..Not trying to critisize you or anything but I would recommend following the program for the first 8 weeks to the tee which means following the food guide to the tee..That is when I found true results..A year after I started..

Alot of people don't think the salycilates would do any harm but when I finally did the program 100% I found that apples were the reason my son couldn't stay dry during the day and night..It was a real eye opener for me to see that..

I hope it all works out for you and your family...

[Hazelnut]

what exactly is the program? Is it a specific way to go about eliminating?

[leighi123]

Originally Posted by Mylie

Alot of people don't think the salycilates would do any harm but when I finally did the program 100% I found that apples were the reason my son couldn't stay dry during the day and night..It was a real eye opener for me to see that..

Someone just suggested this diet to me in another thread I posted... My ds wets his pants for several hours if he has apple juice (we dont buy it, but he has had it at a friends house). He has been potty trained for over a year and doesnt have accidents otherwise. Plus we KNOW he is allergic to artifical coloring and flavoring.
I need to look into this one more!

[heatherdeg]

You can get the program instructions here: http://www.feingold.org/

We actually avoided Feingold for a long time because like you, we didn't have any colorings or flavorings in our diet. We eat gluten-, dairy-, corn- and soy-free. If you look at what's in packaged food, you will know that this means we eat primarily fresh food.

But a friend did the program and noted that salicylates were in many fresh foods--and on that list are 3 that we use a LOT (apples, peaches and tomatoes).

So, we will be trying Feingold. I bought the materials and while I had to grit my teeth to do it for something that seemed so needless, I have to say it WAS very much well worth it. It was way more information and support than I anticipated having and I felt like the money I spent wasn't "for nothing".

HTH

[Hazelnut]

I saw the website but felt like I couldn't really find any details about it without buying something, which just made me sort of resistant, and then of course what you can read is about avoiding obvious stuff to me (like artificial colors). It's the apples/tomatoes/etc. that will be difficult. My kids are already picky.

I'm glad to hear that you felt it was worth it. I guess there is nothing left but to just try it.

[heatherdeg]

Originally Posted by Hazelnut

I saw the website but felt like I couldn't really find any details about it without buying something, which just made me sort of resistant, and then of course what you can read is about avoiding obvious stuff to me (like artificial colors). It's the apples/tomatoes/etc. that will be difficult. My kids are already picky.

I'm glad to hear that you felt it was worth it. I guess there is nothing left but to just try it.

Yes... that's by design. If you could find the information online, the foundation wouldn't be able to make any money from it. I don't begrudge them that. For what they send you, it's actually pretty cheap. It doesn't seem that way when you're buying it, though.

But your reaction was exactly why I didn't bother... for years. It seemed obvious. It wasn't until one of my friends (who actually bought the materials) pointed out to me the various things we were eating (fresh and organic, no less) that were problematic. So now I had to have the materials. And I just went and renewed them (the updated lists) after typing my reply above because I've now had the materials for over a year and we endured a series of crises that had us eating REALLY badly for nearly a year now. Barely managing to avoid my son's existing food irritants. Man--has THAT backfired on us.

I get the whole picky eater thing because we're on such a restrictive diet ourselves. But really, for 8 weeks we can endure anything (I think stage 1 is 8 weeks... maybe it's 4... have to go back and review). And if it actually works, well, we'll just deal with it.

You might find that your kids aren't so picky if part of their pickyness is due to food irritants bothering their system--ya know?

And the newsletters that come with the program are priceless. As a result, we are testing my son for a vision problem that could be presenting like ADHD. They're not "the diet is the answer for everyone". That being said, the diet DOES happen to help a lot of people--and not just with ADHD (although that's what it gets the most attention for).

[webjefita]

If you go to http://www.feingold.org/ and download that free book "Why Can't My Child Behave" on the front page, you'll get like an 80-page introduction to the program. It does include a list of approved whole foods, and a sample 4-day diet with a very limited selection of approved foods for all meals and snacks. I am going back to trying this again, since I don't want to buy the materials. Good luck.

[Heba]

You might also be interested in looking at the Failsafe diet (which came after the Feingold diet but is more rigorous as it eliminates more salicylate-containing foods plus amines as well as the artificial additives which Feingold does) - I mention this mainly because there's a ton of stuff available online for free which you might find helpful, even if you're not following the full failsafe diet: have a look at <www.fedupwithadditives.info>

[MarciaD]

Feingold Association

[QUOTE=heatherdeg;15090617]Yes... that's by design. If you could find the information online, the foundation wouldn't be able to make any money from it. I don't begrudge them that. For what they send you, it's actually pretty cheap. It doesn't seem that way when you're buying it, though.

The Feingold Association, not a foundation, is a parent support group run by volunteers. It doesn't make ANY money. And you are right, once you see the membership materials, you understand why it must charge a membership fee. Every penny one spends is worth it!

There is lots of good information on the website to get you started on the diet.

[fruitfulmomma]

I don't know about Feingold but we have sals issues. This is a good starting chart for eliminating foods - http://www.salicylatesensitivity.com/food-guide
Have you been on the allergy forums here? They are a great resource.

[heatherdeg]

Originally Posted by MarciaD

The Feingold Association, not a foundation, is a parent support group run by volunteers. It doesn't make ANY money. And you are right, once you see the membership materials, you understand why it must charge a membership fee. Every penny one spends is worth it!

sorry... I didn't mean to mislead anyone. It was an honest mistake! And I didn't mean in terms of making a profit, I meant in terms of sustaining themselves and producing the literature.

[Hazelnut]

I had forgotten about the failsafe books- I've seen them mentioned here before. And they are so cheap on amazon. The website looks good though.

You're right I guess I should check out on the allergy forum. I guess I was in the behavioral issues mindset and asked here.

Is one program considered better than the other? I printed out one list and it seemed like every veggie/fruit under the sun was High of Very High or Moderate on it. Maybe I need a program after all. I just don't feel like sifting through testimonials and stuff about additives.

[Heba]

Oops sorry, I got the Failsafe URL wrong. The correct URL is www.fedupwithfoodadditives.info

As I understand it, Failsafe goes beyond Feingold. Feingold works for many people, but is not rigorous enough for others. If you've already eliminated all artficial additives (including the hidden ones which are not required to be labelled...some of which really took us by surprise...I imagine you may well already have found out about those), then you may just need a good list of foods containing sals such as the one that fruitful mama posted.

We began with Feingold, but very quickly went onto Failsafe basically because I wanted to get to baseline and then add in things from there. Some people prefer to do the opposite - start by cutting out fewer things and if it works, then they don't need to go any further.

Good luck!