Height/Weight: Re: [geeks] quiet

[Tim H.]

I have a theory that a lot of kids are allergic to certain artificial food products.  When I was a kid it wasn't sugar that bounced me off the walls it was artificial colors, and some artificial flavors.  I could drink a glass of coolaid, and would immediately become useless, my attention span dropped to zero, I got extremely physically hyperactive, rather short tempered, generally a prime candidate for "calming" drugs.  Fortunately my mom was a weirdo, and tried the health food thing on me, and by process of elimination arrived at the guilty substances.  An interesting by product of this was my dad discovered that he was allergic to them also, but his symptoms were stomache/headache.  As I have aged I have learned to pretty well cover up the hyperactive symptoms, so I don't have to be a jerk and ask about ingredients in public, but I have also developed my dad's symptoms.  The upbringing has made me relatively chemical-phobic, I try not to use drugs except as last resort, i!
n fact, if I get a headache, it has to put me on the floor in pain before I'll do a tylenol.  The advantage I see is that 1 extra strength tylenol will knock down any headache.  I also have developed a nasty sensitivity to MSG, approx. 5 minute turn around on a nice headache.  

The other thing I got out of the health food diet is a real appreciation of the taste of food itself.  I don't care for tons of flavor enhancements on most foods, I don't care for excess salt, I don't eat sugar on my cereal, with the two exceptions of puffed wheat and shredded wheat.  I am convinced that the combination of chemical reactions and 5 minutes between commercials on TV are the two biggest culprits in the general trend toward ADD and related problems.  I also think that many times the people making the diagnosis look at the symptoms and see ADD, when actually they just have a kid that doesn't fit the mass production education style we use.

Tim

On Sun, 9 Jun 2002 00:38:28 -0500
Bill Bradford <mrbill at mrbill.net> wrote:

> On Sun, Jun 09, 2002 at 12:29:54AM -0700, Geek wrote:
> > I took Ritalin for about 3 months at the end of Grade 7, which is
> > when they diagnosed me, and stopped taking it because it was in my
> > opinion not worth the extreme costs and addicting possibilities. 
> 
> IMHO, 'ADD' is a politically correct term for "kids who've had too much
> sugar". 8-)
> 
> Bill
> 
> -- 
> Bill Bradford     
> mrbill at mrbill.net 
> Austin, TX        
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