I believe that part of the solution lies in the (take a deep breath!) de-commoditization of food. Complex word, simple concept! Commoditization refers to the process where the internal differences and competitive advantages between certain products give way to a mass market where price is the only differentiating factor. A product is thoroughly commoditized when the only question that I ask is ‘How much does it cost?”. Gold, iron ore and copper are classic commodities. Buyers simply do not care where it was mined, or which company is marketing it, as long as the price is right.

Many parts of the food market (e.g. eggs, flour, sugar and milk) have been commoditized for decades. This is reflected in the fact that this is the products where buying decisions are typically the quickest. (When last did you hold a bottle of milk in your hands to study it from all sides!?)  What is really scary, however, is how more and more foods are joining the ranks of the ‘classic commodities’ every year.

Massively improved transports infrastructure, genetic modification, cooling technology, chemical pest control methods and super efficient distribution methods all combine to bring us foods that can often only be distinguished on one level: (you guessed it) price! “Where is the harm in that?” you may ask.

I have already explained in my article on superabundance that the ‘superabundant’ foods are often exactly those that cause the worst health outcomes if taken in excess. This superabundance is made possible by commoditization as it streamlines the delivery of vast amounts of products based on the lowest common denominator. More information about dealing with superabundance can be found here.

Another problem with commoditization that we will all (but especially those dealing with the effects of ADD/ADHD) have to address has already been hinted at above: Provenance. Another of those ‘big word/simple concept’ cases! In nutritional terms ‘provenance’ simply means: “Where something comes from”. The less commoditized a product is, the easier it is to determine provenance. Think of all the ‘Chateau so-and-so’ wine labels, or the well written ‘word pictures’ of where something was produced that you commonly find on high-end products. In a fully commoditized market provenance is virtually impossible to determine. Who knows, or cares, where the lump of sugar that you just threw in your coffee came from!?

Why is provenance important? Simply because where something came from will often determine what effect it is going to have on you. This is true in two ways (the second of which will somewhat expand the classical definition of provenance): 1) Production location can have a huge impact on the final composition of a product. For example, some countries will allow the use of pesticides and chemicals that have long been banned in North America. 2) Production methods can have a huge impact on the final composition of a product. This is not only true when talking about primary production (i.e. farming) but also when it comes to processing. Additives, cooking oils, sugar, fats etc. can all play a part in turning essentially healthy products into disaster zones. You should therefore always ask the following questions: Where was this produced? By whom was it produced?

Giving in to the easy availability of convenient foodstuffs by not asking the questions above is a very risky business as it could lead to exposure to the very factors (e.g. certain additives, High-GI concoctions etc.) that are known to exacerbate the symptoms of ADD/ADH.

My first piece of advice in dealing with the easy availability of food is to make sure that you play close attention to provenance. Doing so will allow you to enjoy the convenience of our modern food culture without being damaged by it. I will devote next week’s article to ways in which anyone dealing with ADD/ADHD can get serious about provenance. See you then!

The shifts that we looked at over the past few weeks were: 1) Natural to Artificial 2) Scarce to Superabundant

With this week’s article we will begin to discuss a shift that is perhaps a bit more difficult to pin down than the two mentioned above but that are no less significant. I am referring to the historical perception that food almost always equalled hard work.

Most people, especially those responsible for getting meals to the table, would perhaps unreservedly welcome the fact that this is not always the case anymore. The fact that we do not have to spend days and months cultivating our own food, followed with hours behind the stove to prepare it, has undeniable benefits. Time previously spent in food preparation can now be used for leisure or work in other areas. I am, of course, not advocating a return to the time when the main meal of the day took, on average, four hours to prepare. I am merely asking you to consider what we as a society lost due to the fact that it is now possible to put the words ‘easy’ and ‘fast’ before so much of what we eat. Consider the following:

The cost of ease of access: Modern methods of cultivation and distribution means that we have left the link between cultivation (or hunting!) and consumption far behind. While there was nothing romantic about tilling the fields, previous generations were in no doubt about where their food came from. These days our food can just as easily come from the other side of the world as from a farm in your county (with the former perhaps more likely). Most of us do not spend any time thinking about this fact, aside perhaps from the occasional amused glance at a food label spelling out the name of some obscure third world country. Our forebears couldn’t help thinking about the origins of their food – especially since they had to gather, hunt or cultivate it themselves. Our foods often have much more ‘interesting’ stories but we can afford not to worry too much about where it came from. Or can we? Foods shipped from the other side of the world are a) often grown with the help of pesticides that are banned in North America and b) Preserved with chemicals that could have a marked negative effect on optimum brain function.

The cost of ease of preparation: We spend less and less time preparing for mealtimes. On one level this is perhaps not a bad thing as it frees up time for other activities. We need to realise however that the trend towards ‘food on the fly’ is not without consequences. We need to remember that: a) Faster methods are often much less healthy (think slow cooker vs. deep fryer!) b) ‘Ready meals’ can contain ridiculous amounts of salt and saturated fats c) In some cases ease of preparation is down to the addition of chemicals to aid the cooking process or to act as preservatives.

I think you will agree, after weighing up the cost, that easy does not necessarily translate into good! It is for this reason that I strongly believe that we have to recapture something of the old ways of thinking about food. It is, of course, a bit of a challenge to think about food as ‘difficult’ when you know full well that access and preparation is relatively uncomplicated. Next week’s article will focus on ways in which we can rebuild our lost ‘connection’ with food that will allow us to value it as a precious and life giving gift. I believe it is possible, as I will show, to do so without having to engage in the back breaking work and long hours in front of the stove that used to characterise food cultivation and preparation. See you next week!

Last week we began our exploration of the issue of ‘Food Superabundance’. I pointed out that the easy availability of food in our society is something that previous generations would have found very hard to even begin to comprehend. It is unfortunately the case that the fact that most North Americans do not have to give a second thought to where the next meal will come from is a decidedly mixed blessing. No one can lament the fact that actual instances of starvation have largely been eliminated. The rising incidence of bad food choices, obesity and food related health problems is a bit more difficult to get excited about however.

It is my opinion that food superabundance has a particularly negative effect on those struggling with the effects of ADD/ADHD as the kinds of food that are the most abundant are often precisely the kinds of food that should be avoided because of their effects on human attention and brain function. So how to best live in this world where it is much easier to be a contented ‘grazer’ than the ‘lean mean hunting machines’ that we were designed to be? Some suggestions (continued over two weeks) for doing so are the following:

Listen to your body: Our bodies have very specific ways of reacting to the oversupply of food. The most obvious sign that you are overindulging is obviously the one that you see as you get on the bathroom scale every morning! The signals that your body are sending goes way beyond weight gain however. The following can sometimes (although not necessarily always) be messages from your body that you should change your eating patterns:

A bad taste in the mouth: This can often be due to the prolonging of the digestive process due to excessive amounts of food.

Heartburn: Heartburn could have many underlying reasons but can in many cases be blamed on overeating.

A heavily coated tongue: A coated tongue can often be nature’s way of signalling the fact that the nutritional system is overcrowded and that intake should be reduced. This is because it is an indication that the tongue has been ‘roped in’ to assist with the dispatch of waste products.

A ‘muddy’ skin: This occurs with ‘big league’ overeating and is a sign that the body has to get rid of so much waste products that it attempts to release some of it through the skin!

Dull eyes: If too much bile is released into the bloodstream it can affect the whites of the eyes, usually by making it dull or giving it a greenish tinge.

It should be emphasised again that all of the symptoms mentioned above can have causes other than overeating. The point is, however, that excessive food intake should at least be considered as an option if you experience any of them.

Avoid the ‘Temples of Superabundance’: One of the most visible results of the food superabundance in our society is the proliferation of ‘fast food’ outlets. It is no secret that many of these establishments work on the principle of the lowest common denominator by offering the largest possible portions at the lowest possible price. This is mostly done at the expense of quality and nutritional value. It does not make sense to ‘rejoice’ in the fact that you got so much food for so little if you have to count the cost in terms of negative nutritional and emotional outcomes afterwards. I realise that going out for ‘fast food’ is almost a ritual in our society but we really need to begin counting the cost of this habit. This is especially true in the case of families who are struggling with the management of ADD/ADHD in one of its members. The average fast food meal could almost have been custom designed to exacerbate ADD/ADHD as it usually contains:

• Highly refined carbohydrates at the top end of the Glycemic Index
• Very high amounts of saturated fats that could seriously impede brain function by limiting the absorption of ‘good’ fats.
• High levels of sugar, guaranteed to shoot blood sugar levels through the roof and set the ‘Blood Sugar Rollercoaster’ rolling.
• High levels of caffeine in soft drinks. This could lead to a worsening of ADD/ADHD symptoms or even to an ADD/ADHD misdiagnosis (Due to sleep deprivation being mistaken for the condition)
• Many different kinds of additives and preservatives that could interfere with natural digestion and absorption processes.

The list above should make it clear that limiting your ‘fast food visits’ to special treats, rather than twice weekly occurrences, can be one of the easiest ways to tune out of some of the more destructive effects of food superabundance.

Please check back next week when I will continue with some more suggestions on how you can live a nutritionally balanced life in a superabundant world. See you then!

For most of the history of the human race food security was one of the top concerns of just about every man and woman alive. This was because food was a perishable, finite and scarce resource. These facts manifested itself in the cycles of ‘feast and famine’ that most societies went through on a regular basis. The feast part of the cycle usually coincided with harvest time or the conclusion of the hunt. People would very often eat to excess at these times as they knew that the lean times were on their way. Lean times did indeed appear with clockwork-like regularity. They could normally be traced back to:

• Changes in the season
• Failed harvests or hunts
• The inability to keep food from spoiling
• Ongoing struggles to move food from places where it was plentiful to where it was not

The fact that food was scarce inevitably led to it being viewed as a precious commodity that should be used wisely. This does not mean that previous generations were ‘food saints’, they did however strive to use the food they had in the best possible ways. These included:
• Using as much of a particular food source as possible
• Efforts to minimise waste (“Waste not, want not!”)
• Adjusting consumption patterns to coincide with times (particularly certain seasons) when certain food sources were plentiful.
All of the above factors often translated into remarkably healthy eating patterns, especially when you consider that very few people had the opportunities for the kinds of overindulgence that are so prevalent in modern society.

It is, of course, no secret that the consumption patterns discussed above belong firmly in the past for most people. There are several reasons behind this shift:
• Improved transport links ‘shrank the world’ to such an extent that we now think nothing of eating food produced in several different countries with almost every meal.
• Pesticides and fertilisers dramatically increased agricultural yields (This did not come without a price tag attached! Please see the previous 5 articles for more information on this issue).
• Greenhouse and cooling technology allow us to virtually eliminate seasonality. We can now eat anything, anytime, anywhere.
• Industrial production methods were increasingly applied to every step of the food production process. This is nowhere more apparent than in the so-called ‘fast food’ industry where every step of the production chain is automated in the service of producing super cheap, and superabundant, food.

The purpose of this article is not to romanticise and glorify the past. No one in his or her right mind would choose to live in a society where the majority of people are not certain where the next meal will come from. The fact is, however, that the superabundance of food that most North Americans currently experience did not come without some severe consequences. The most damaging of these consequences is the ‘devaluing’ of food in our culture. The perception that food is ‘just there’ (and not a valuable resource) led to many people being much more careless in thinking about what they put in their mouths and what it is likely to do to them.

The problem is compounded even further, especially from the perspective of those who battle the effects of ADD/ADHD, by the fact that the types of food that lend themselves to successful mass production are often exactly the types of foods that should be avoided. The best way to confirm this is to pay a little visit to just about any ‘fast food’ outlet. The products on display are the result of intensive industrially inspired production and preparation methods. They are also very likely to be a) high in saturated fats b) high on the Glycemic Index and c) filled with preservatives and other additives.

It is perhaps quite easy to decry the effects of food superabundance. It is, however, much more difficult to decide what to do about it. It would surely not be advisable to wish for a return to the kind of ‘hand to mouth’ existence that many previous generations were used to. We should however recognise the fact that having so much more than what we really need is harming us in some subtle, and not so subtle, ways. Our response to this recognition should translate into some practical steps on the road towards enjoying the abundance around us without being seduced into patterns of consumption that could be very harmful over the long run. The next article will focus on ways in which this can be achieved. See you then!

The first, rather obvious, statement to make is that soft drinks contain sugar. Wait, let’s rephrase that, they contain a LOT of sugar. So much, in fact, that soda’s definitely deserve their description as ‘liquid candy’. The average 12oz can of non-diet soda have 40 grams of sugar in it. This translates into 10 teaspoons! This is just for a standard can, think for a moment how much sugar one of the ‘supersized’ glasses at your favorite restaurant must contain…and then add up all the ‘free refills’.

The calorific impact of sweetened drinks on the North American diet is so significant that the US Government identifies it as being responsible for 10% of the total calorific intake of the US population. This figure represents a seismic shift in the national diet. In 1950 Americans drank four times as much milk as soft drinks. By 2000 that ratio was exactly reversed! Is it any wonder that obesity rates more than doubled over the same period?

Is it really fair to point to sweetened drinks as one of the main culprits when it comes to diet related health problems, including the extreme moods swings associated with sugar rushes? The answer is an emphatic yes! I have already alluded to the first reason why this is the case: Sweetened soft drinks contain so much sugar that they can easily tip your daily calorie intake over the edge. For example, a single extra-large drink of the kind sold in most fast food outlets contains enough calories to supply in a quarter of an adult women’s daily energy needs.

The problem (lots of sugar) is compounded by the way in which the body responds to a massive injection of energy in liquid form. Human appetite is controlled by a complicated mix of hormones. Some of them have the job to let you know that your stomach is full while others (including a hormone named ghrelin) controls the hunger reflex as a way of letting you know that it is time to eat again. Eating ‘solid’ food causes the level of ghrelin to drop for a time, therefore suppressing the hunger reflex. ‘Liquid’ energy simply does not have the same effect on ghrelin levels. This means that soft drinks tend to add massive amounts of calories to someone’s diet without necessarily making that person feel full or satisfied. It is therefore quite possible to drink a large soda and then follow it with a large hamburger (that contains about the same amount of calories). However, many people will struggle to ingest the same amount of energy in ‘solid’ form by eating two large hamburgers in a row.

The sugar in sweetened drinks not only adds massive amounts of energy to the diet, it also triggers intense appetite cycles. This is because the calories come in the form of concentrated sugars that are rapidly absorbed into the blood stream, leading to a significant blood sugar spike. In non-diabetic people the body would normally respond to such a spike by releasing massive amounts of insulin in order to bring down the blood sugar levels. This release of insulin can often be so large that it will take the blood sugar level below what it was in the first place. This causes the classic responses to low blood sugar to kick in with the body releasing ghrelin and other hormones to stimulate the hunger reflex, causing us to eat even more! This effect explains why eating a huge meal with soft drinks on the side can leave you feeling so deflated and hungry after a very short period.

Avoiding dramatic peaks and troughs in blood sugar levels should be one of the top priorities for anyone who has to deal with the effects of ADD/ADHD. This is because low blood sugar levels will almost inevitably lead to the brain (as the top energy consumer in the body) functioning well below par. When you consider that some of the most dramatic blood sugar spikes are caused by massive amounts of sugar that were drunk as part of soft drinks, it therefore makes perfect sense to consider eliminating such drinks from your diet altogether. Doing so could be an important step on the way back to equilibrium and will, as a significant side-benefit, do wonders for your waistline at the same time!

Plan and record your ‘eating day’: Keeping a food journal in which you record what you intend to eat and what you actually ate can be an excellent way of gaining control of you dietary habits. Doing this for a few weeks will help you to determine the width of the gap between perception (how you think you are doing) and reality. It can also assist you in identifying times when you are especially susceptible to the lure of the sugar high. This strategy will work best if you keep an actual journal (perhaps in a small notebook that you always keep with you) rather than just composing mental lists.

The simplest explanation for the role of carbohydrates in the human diet is one word: Fuel! There are three so-called macronutrients from which we can derive energy: They are proteins, fats and carbohydrates. Of the three carbohydrates is the most efficient energy source since it can be easily and efficiently be converted into glucose which can, in turn, be utilised directly by both nerve cells and muscles as an energy source.
Carbohydrates can be divided into two main categories. They are:

Simple Carbohydrates: This is carbohydrates made up of only one kind of sugar (e.g. fructose, glucose, sucrose, lactose or maltose). These sugars are often found in fruits, nuts, certain vegetables, cane sugar and honey. Simple carbohydrates are turned into glucose very rapidly after consumption which means that energy from it can be available very quickly to different parts of the body. However the effects of simple sugars can be compared to that of a small fire that burns intensely before going out just as rapidly as it started. This means that the bloodstream can be flooded with sugars one moment while being energy starved the next. This is the reason why it is very important that we also get sufficient quantities of the other type of carbohydrate namely ‘Complex Carbohydrates’.

Complex Carbohydrates: Complex carbohydrates are composed of several kinds of sugars (They are therefore sometimes called polysaccharides). The body takes a little longer to digest these sugars and release it as glucose into the bloodstream. This means that the energy derived from complex carbohydrates will generally last longer than that gained from simple sugars. One way of measuring the energy release from carbohydrates is the Glycemic Index (GI) which has already been discussed at length in previous articles. Suffice it to say here that GI can be a very valuable indicator of which kinds of carbohydrates will keep brain and body ‘powered up’ for longer.

The link between energy availability and proper brain function is well established. Simply put, nerve cells cannot function properly unless there is a constant stream of energy available. Consider the following:

•    Nerve cells do not store glucose. They can therefore only derive energy from what is available in the blood stream.
•    Neurons (nerve cells responsible for communication) are in a state of constant activity and do not have ‘rest periods’ like the cells in muscles or in the digestive system. Even while you are sleeping your nerve cells are busy with repairs to their structural components and the manufacture of enzymes and neurotransmitters.
•    A core activity of the nervous system is communication (i.e. the sending of ‘messages’ from one part of the brain to another or from the nervous system to another part of the body). This communication takes places through the use of bioelectric signals and is extremely energy intensive.

All of the above leads to the astounding fact that although the brain makes up only about 2% of the body weight of an average person it consumes 20% of the energy in that body. The critical importance of a continuous and reliable energy supply to the brain is further illustrated in the fact that the body will automatically prioritise the brain’s energy needs during periods of extreme trauma.

It is interesting to note that the energy usage of the brain is not on a constant high but that it can range from high to very high. Studies have shown that mentally demanding tasks like solving a puzzle or negotiating a maze actually drain away glucose from the hippocampus, an area of the brain associated with learning and memory. The implications of this fact for the design of school lunches and snacks should be obvious. If clear and intense thinking are going to be required over a long period then it would be very beneficial if the available energy can come from ‘slow release’ carbohydrates. This is where the Glycemic Index can be so very helpful as it allows us to pinpoint the types of carbohydrates that can keep us from ‘running on empty’ very soon after eating.

There are many symptoms associated with ADD-ADHD, but perhaps the most frustrating can be the lack of focus and impulsivity that often comes with the condition. It is possible that these symptoms could be traced back to a brain starved of energy. Asking questions about nutrition and specifically about the kinds of carbohydrates that you are eating should therefore be one of the first steps that you take in taking control of ADD-ADHD. This is such an important topic that it will be further investigated in further articles, please check back regularly!