Kids, Ritalin and Soda
Kids, Ritalin and Soda
Ritalin has become the drug of choice for kids who are diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). Remarkably, prescriptions for Ritalin have increased by 600% in the last 10 years! This is despite the fact that there are no conclusive data that stimulants like Ritalin have any long term benefits for kids. In fact, only about three quarters of kids can even tolerate Ritalin while the other fourth have too many side effects to use the drug. Ritalin shares basically the same properties as cocaine!
The only way to manage and help kids with ADD or ADHD is with diet. On occasion a good chiropractor or osteopath is also needed. For the most part, hyper kids are hopelessly addicted to carbohydrates (mostly grains). This diet leaves them starving for B vitamins. Their main sources of B vitamins (including folic acid) are now fortified breakfast cereals. Their top sources of energy are coming from bread, cakes, cookies, donuts, french fries, soda beef and cheese.
This kind of lopsided diet wreaks havoc on a kid’s nervous and hormonal systems. For the most part, these kids need lots more vegetables and lots less carbohydrates in the form of grains (breads, sweets, cookies, etc.). Getting kids to eat better is a major problem. But the alternative is terrifying. Are we developing a generation of kids who will grow up with greatly increased numbers of Alzheimer’s and other brain and nervous system dis- orders? Lots of experts, including myself, think so.
If you have kids who are headed for emotional and hormonal problems, get the book Carbohydrate Addicted Kids by Heller. If you have kids who are already on Ritalin, please get a copy of the classic book No More Ritalin by Dr. Mary Anne Block. Do everything you can do now to change your kids’ diet. Do not allow them to get hooked on junk food and grain carbohydrates. It will damage their brain and lead to diabetes later in life.
Kids and Sodas
And by all means, do not let your kids get started on sodas. These concoctions are brain poison. They are made up of phosphoric acid, caffeine, sugar, aspartame, saccharin, caramel coloring, carbon dioxide and aluminum. These ingredients can so upset the body’s metabolic balance that kids who consume these regularly don’t even have a chance. Back in 1906 the newly formed FDA tried to prove that the coca cola habit was deadly to kids. They failed. An article in a 1922 Good housekeeping tried to show that a child drinking three to four cokes daily would ruin his or her health. I agree with this article.
The phosphoric acid in sodas can upset the balance between calcium and phosphorus. Too much phosphorus will cause a person to be fidgety, nervous, and hyper. If the imbalance from chronic soda drinking continues, the body will try to balance the calcium by leaching it out of the bones. The end result is osteoporosis, bursitis, kidney stones, plaque, etc. With too many sodas, your body will also begin to slowly diminish its production of stomach acids. This leads to indigestion, the need for antacids, malabsorption syndrome, colitis, candida, yeasts, Caffeine adds insult to injury. To the child already made hyper by phosphoric acid, caffeine will cause an adrenal rush with release of cortical hormones and insulin. The huge dose of sugar in sodas will complicate the insulin problem (there are 11 teaspoons of sugar in one 12-ounce can of soda). Sugar will also deplete chromium levels, increase the rate of infections and yeasts in the GI tract, cause the red blood cells to clump, and wreak havoc on the developing hormonal system of a child. Add some aluminum from the container which is leached into the soda by the phosphoric acid and you have a true mash of disaster.
Is it any wonder that prescriptions for Ritalin have increased six-fold? That statistic simply means that we as a society have been bought out by industry and have given up on solving the problem at its cause. Since proper diet is not an option for most Americans, a quick-fix is now used. This quick fix in the form of drugs will produce a disaster in Americans which will come home to roost in adult life.
Don’t let your own kids become one of these statistics. Get them started right. Teach them what a good diet is. Keep soda out of their bodies. And give them nutritional supplements when necessary. One of the very best is a true B-complex vitamin made from whole foods – Cataplex B by Standard Process Labs. There is none other like it. Give your kids with problems like these a fighting chance. Give them three to nine Cataplex B tablets daily. If they are kids whose main problem is being super hyper, use a slightly different product. These are the kids who are always over-hyped. They are never calm, always going at 100 miles per hour. They may also suffer from muscle cramps, be overly ticklish, and have allergies. For these kids, use the same dose of a slightly different B vitamin product from Standard Process Labs called Cataplex G. Don’t fall for the Ritalin fiasco. Take the high road. You and your kids will be glad you did.
Health Alert March 1999 Volume 16, Issue 3