Ep 204: ADHD Triggers and Emerging Solutions

Dana Kay, author of Thriving With ADHD, joins us to talk about
the traditional solutions to ADHD and the emerging science behind
the likely triggers of the growing epidemic. She’ll walk us
through natural solutions to remedy ADHD, chronic pain, and
more. 





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Full show notes


More and more kids are being diagnosed with chronic illnesses
these days–anything from allergies to severe depression. You may
have experienced this with your own teen, whether it’s constant
trips to the psychiatrist for changes in anxiety meds, or endless
food sensitivities that seem to come out of nowhere. In 2018,
research revealed that 54% of kids are chronically ill, up from
15% a few years before. This means that chronic illness is
growing among young people at a rapid rate…but why?





The answer lies in our guts. We might view our digestive system
as having one function–food in, waste out–but the truth is a lot
more complicated. Our guts contain the mechanisms that monitor
our immune system, regulate our bloodstream and even control our
mind’s function! The food we put into our gut doesn’t just affect
our digestion…it shapes our long term physical and mental health!





This week, we’re talking to Dana Kay, author of Thriving With
ADHD: A Guide to Naturally Reducing ADHD Symptoms in Your Child
and founder of the ADHD Thrive Institute. Dana is a holistic
health expert who focuses on educating parents about gut health.
She helps families understand that a better diet can relieve
symptoms for a myriad of health issues among children–including
ADHD and other mental disorders. She’s worked with over one
thousand families to create better overall health for chronically
ill kids!





In our interview, Dana breaks down the function of the gut within
the body, and why so many kids suffer from conditions that result
from poor gut health. We’re also discussing what dietary changes
can be made to heal our guts, and how we can convince our kids to
change their diets for the better.





Why We Should Rethink Our Diet


Although we don’t always think about our digestive tract as
central to our body’s long term health, it’s actually immensely
critical to our physical and mental wellbeing. It contains 80% of
our body’s immune system, billions of nerve cells and trillions
of bacteria! It controls what enters our bloodstream–and
therefore our entire body. Plus, it has a direct channel of
communication with the brain. 90-95% of the body’s serotonin and
50% of the body’s dopamine are produced in the gut, meaning that
our guts manage our moods, emotions, and cognitive function, says
Dana.





Dana explains that the typical American diet is full of
substances that are pretty harmful to our guts. Packaged,
processed, and convenience foods are chock full of artificial
preservatives and chemicals that aren’t a natural part of our
diet, and therefore damage our bodies. These foods break down the
lining of the gut, which regulates the bloodstream, says Dana. As
this lining breaks down, it no longer restricts toxins from
flowing through our bodies, and doesn’t retain water and other
important nutrients that are essential to the body’s function.





When these toxins enter the bloodstream, our body tries to reject
them, leading to inflammation. This causes a multitude of issues,
including stomach aches, allergies, inattention, poor emotional
regulation, brain fog, constipation–the list goes on. This means
that when kids are suffering from serious anxiety or depression,
diet can ultimately be the cause of the issue, as well as the
solution, Dana explains. If we can focus on helping kids create a
better daily diet, we can stop these chronic mental and physical
health issues and get kids back on the right track.





So what changes can teens and parents make to our diets to create
a healthy mind and body? Dana and I are giving you a dietary
breakdown on how to heal your bodies and minds.





How To Have a Healthy Gut





It turns out that lots of the food we eat on an everyday basis is
actually pretty terrible for our gut health, says Dana. The worst
three? Gluten, dairy, and soy. Dana explains that gluten is the
most harmful, as it destroys the lining of our guts most severely
and causes intestinal leaking. Dairy is central to the American
diet, but awful for our gut. And while soy seems easy to cut out,
Dana explains that there are a surprising amount of food products
that list soy as an ingredient. In our interview, we talk more
about how soy mimics estrogen production and can be really
harmful for growing teens.





Sugar is also not the best  for our gut health, Dana
explains. Sugary foods tend to be very artificial and refined,
which is damaging to the intestinal lining. If the gut is in poor
health and fails to deliver dopamine and serotonin to the brain,
kids will seek these chemicals out anyway they can–including
eating sugar. They can quickly get caught in a cycle of eating
sugary foods every time they need stimulation or a pick-me-up,
which can even lead to a serious sugar addiction, especially for
kids with ADHD, says Dana.





Instead, Dana recommends kids eat fruits and veggies, grass-fed
animal proteins and healthy fats. These foods don’t cause damage
to the intestinal lining, and can even help it regrow! Dana also
recommends only drinking natural spring water, and replacing
artificial sweeteners with natural ones like honey, maple syrup
and dates. Although it might be outside your family’s comfort
zone, making these substitutions in the family diet can totally
transform your quality of life, Dana says.





But even if we’re ready to make a change, it doesn’t mean our
families are. Plus, eating healthy comes with other obstacles…and
how do we even know what exactly our kids need? Dana and I are
covering all of these challenges as well.





Making the Change


As the mom of a child with ADHD, Dana wanted to change her
family’s habits to improve her son’s health…but found herself
struggling when she tried to do it all in one day. She recommends
that parents make these dietary changes slowly or increments, to
warm kids up to the idea of giving up gluten, dairy and certain
sugars! Teenagers aren’t likely to listen if you try to force
them to adopt this new diet, says Dana, so you’ll have to get
them to buy into it. Once they realize that this healthier diet
makes them more social and focused, they’ll likely want to eat
healthier all the time.





Dana recognized that eating healthy isn’t cheap–even though we
wish it was! However, she explains in the episode that spending
the extra money on healthier foods is likely to save parents a
lot of time and energy in the long run. When kids are feeling
better both mentally and physically, they’ll need much less
medical care–and won’t have tantrums and meltdowns on a regular
basis, says Dana. Plus, there are other things we can do to
lighten the costs, like meal planning and buying in bulk. Dana
and I get into these cost-savers further in the episode.





If you’re not sure where to start, Dana recommends taking some
tests. Functional lab testing can help teens locate weak points
and stressors in their bodies, whether that’s in the immune,
digestive or nervous system. It can also be he...