We discovered when my daughter was 2 and a half that she was extremely sensitive to sugar. When we adopted her, I was able to spend a month at home with her 24/7, and having had experience myself with being hypoglycemic, I had an awareness about how sugar can affect a person's behavior and mood. I was fortunate to discover a book called Little Sugar Addicts, and we were able to curb a lot of melt downs by eliminating sugar from our beautiful girl's diet.
That was over 2 years ago, before we even heard of Sensory Processing Disorder. Since that time, we've discovered that there are other foods that make her behave terribly, although after several Rast Food Allergy tests, she is not technically allergic to them. They are apples, chocolate, milk, blueberries, and, recently we discovered, zylitol.
When I say she behaves terribly, I'm saying she bangs her head on the floor or wall, screams and snarles, punches, throws things, smashes things on the table or floor, breaks things, sometimes weeps uncontrollably and the next minute is laughing histerically, and is overwhelmed by irritability.
Today was a great day. Our beautiful E was loving, well-behaved and happy. She totally enjoyed her day. I made sure she ate all the right things. I was watching her sleep a short time ago and thought to myself, "will she believe me as she gets older and I tell her not to each something because it will make her feel yucky."
Only time will tell. Everything we put in our body affects us in some way: physically, emotionally, intellectually.
I'm wondering what other parents have discovered about how theirs or their child's diet impacts their life, their behavior, their personality. I hope to hear from many of you.