YES List of Healthy Food Choices for ADHD Child

Diet
Mother and daughter holding shopping bag

A Quick Food Guide...  Keeping You Sane When Your Kid Prefers Pop-Tarts To Real Food

I’ve helped many moms of ADHD kids with diet.  After they wrap their heads around needing to lighten the digestive load, they ask me this,  “OK,  but what EXACTLY do I feed my child?!?”  I find when I show them what I feed Charlie, it’s a nice starting place for them.

The items and recipes listed below are part of Charlie’s everyday foods.  By keeping this list in mind, I can make a multitude of simple meals. For those items that may be a bit more time consuming—I always make in bulk and freeze.  (If I can freeze it, I’m definitely making it in BULK!)

Remember!! The goal is to make mealtime EASY!  When things get tricky, know that YOU’RE DOING THE RIGHT THING and setting your child up for success in the future.  You will see results as you lighten the load on your child’s system. It’s a game of patience. Take it slow and everyone’s a winner.

DISCLAIMER: I am NOT a gourmet chef or baker. I’m just a mom who needed to figure out how to feed my kid so his body’s inflammation and gut issues could heal. I steal shamelessly from any website I can find so that I can present my child with something other than grilled chicken and brown rice each day.  I ask you to start simply and NOT go overboard with tons of new recipes each week.

And trust me, your child can live on grilled chicken and brown rice for a little while.

UNexpected BONUS.  NOW I understand why baking u0026amp; cooking from scratch is such a trendy thing.  Ha!   I did NOT grow up baking with my mom. Quite the contrary, my mom had a “get er’ done!” mentality. She was also the mom of 6 and didn’t find baking relaxing but rather one more chore on the to-do list. I grew up not seeing the JOY in cooking, but the DRUDGERY of it. (Sorry mom! I love you!! 😊)

Once I got over the hurdle of knowing what my child could eat, I very slowly started to get excited about new yummy recipes. (This surprised me!)  After a while, my boys would ask for something yummy I had baked or prepared in the past. (Say what?!?)

AND THEN it really got cool… Charlie started asking to peruse my Nourishing Meals website (I say ‘my’ website, but what I really mean is the website I use ALL THE TIME–I really must send that Alissa Segersten a thank you note. )

SOOOO it took me a while, but cooking is no longer another chore on my To Do list,  but rather a Fun Activity to do together with Charlie. My once severely ADHD kid with absolutely no presence of mind will now decide to peruse a recipe website when he is bored and find something for us to make. He’ll even go through our pantry to pull out all the ingredients and note which ones we need to shop for. (WHAT?!?) Talk about the Frontal Lobe at work mamas!

Moms of Yeasty Kids Listen Up!!

Before you use my current YES LIST— Please pause if your child is in yeast eradication mode! When I was healing Charlie’s gut, the Body Ecology Diet (BED) was my guide. It is a monster of a book, moms. But the author takes you through it slowly and carefully.  IF you have been trying to eradicate yeast like I had, you MUST READ The Body Ecology Diet by Donna Gates. And you can visit her support site for mamas (BEDROCK) so you can KNOW you’re not alone in curing the imbalance in your child’s gut.  If you’re unsure if yeast is an issue, take a moment to see Charlie’s change after yeast eradication. This being said, Charlie did NOT eat sweets and carbs during that 15 months of BED. (But don’t get discouraged– it’s ONLY TEMPORARY!!)

And if you need my help in getting your child on a yeast eradication diet, just join my Facebook Group with other awesome moms and ask me anything you want. I’m happy to hold your hand on this journey.

OK, so let’s get to it Moms!  The list below is a guide to how I shop and prepare meals for Charlie (and for the rest of my family now too!)  Use my EASY STRATEGIES TO KEEPING THESE FOODS ACCESSIBLE so you’re not RACKING YOUR BRAIN EACH DAY to satisfy him!

By the way, Charlie is permitted to eat other foods aside from those on his YES List… IF ONLY he liked them.  Ugh.  I am still very much in Sneak Mode when it comes to getting his veggies in!

Our ‘YES’ LIST

(With These Foods on Hand, Charlie Never Has To Sneak Wrong Food!)

If you’d like to see a SAMPLE MENU that charlie currently uses, please take a look here.  STEAL SHAMELESSLY MAMAS!

 

BEVERAGES

  • Water (Yea moms- let’s embrace filtered H20!)
  • Lemonade (Water with fresh lemon and a few stevia drops)
  • Chocolate Frosties (hot cocoa recipe blended with ice)
  • Fruit smoothies with frozen fruit, almond milk and a smidge of maple syrup
  • Hot cocoa

For more creative beverage ideas, please do what my Charlie does. Go to NourishingMeals.com

 

MILK

  • Non-dairy milks (almond/rice/cashew) Always Original flavor, Unsweetened!

 

BREADS

 

FRUITS

  • Apples (Golden Delicious easiest on digestive tract)
  • Avocados
  • Bananas
  • Blueberries
  • Clementines
  • Golden Delicious apples
  • Green grapes
  • Lemons
  • Pineapple
  • Strawberries
  • Unsulfured golden raisins (from nuts.com; great when making vanilla ice cream)
  • Unsweetened applesauce (make in your Instant Pot with stevia to sweeten)

VEGGIES & GREENS

  • Salad (Lettuce with olive oil, lemon juice, sea salt)
  • Cucumbers and carrots (great for dipping in hummus or nut butters)
  • Mushrooms, green beans, cauliflower (add others here dependent on your child’s tastes and tolerance)
  • Kale, spinach (to be hidden in smoothies, meatballs, chicken nuggets etc.)

SPREADS,  OILS, SAUCES, HERBS

  • Guacamole (avocado, garlic, sea salt)
  • Ghee, butter, Earth’s Best Soy Free spread
  • Hummus (classic, plain)
  • OILS: extra virgin cold pressed olive oil, avocado oil, unrefined coconut, grapeseed, sunflower (high oleic only!), flaxseed
  • Homemade marinara (onions, crushed tomatoes, basil, sea salt, garlic)
  • NUT Butters: Almond, Cashew, Tahini, Sunflower (Always unsweetened, and with fewest ingredients)
  • Garlic u0026amp; Onions (fresh, sautéed or in powder form)
  • Variety of herbs are used in Charlie’s food- of course you’re always safe with sea salt 😊
  • Nutritional yeast (in moderation)

CHEESE

BAKING PRODUCTS

(These are my most used products. I trust NourishingMeals.com and generally follow her recipes when baking.)

  • Chia seeds
  • Agar Agar (for thickening, vegan form of gelatin)
  • Cocoa/cacao powder (use the latter if fighting yeast)
  • Cinnamon
  • Eggs (if your child can’t tolerate eggs, I would put “flax eggs” here)
  • GF flours such as brown rice, arrowroot, almond, coconut, teff, sorghum
  • Dates/Prunes (Used in moderation– amazing sweetener in many hot and frozen beverages)
  • Almonds, Macadamia nuts (great for cheese recipes), Raw cashews (not cheap but we use cashews ALL the time!  When put in your blender, these make any item thick and creamy. If using a Vitamix, no need to soak either!)
  • Coconut Sugar
  • Coconut oil
  • Vanilla extract (use non-alcoholic if eradicating yeast)
  • Real Maple Syrup (in moderation)
  • Stevia
  • Apple Teff Pancakes

SALTY SNACKS

  • Beanitos or Beanfields black bean chips (always plain versions with sea salt only)
  • Homemade popcorn (Bob’s Red Mill non-GMO kernels -made on stove with olive oil and sea salt)
  • Caramel corn

Popcorn Note: I noticed a HUGE reaction when my kids had movie theater popcorn. But when eating non-GMO kernels made at home- No Problemo!! Just smuggle your large Ziplock into the movies. 😊)

STARCHES

  • Brown rice (You can always make a meal with brown rice!!  Make a whole pot with olive oil and sea salt and divide in 2 ziplocks. Keep one in fridge and freeze the other.)
  • Brown rice pasta (lovin Tinkyada or Jovial)
  • Red potatoes or Hanna Sweet potatoes (so easy if sliced and cooked in olive oil in skillet, or can be cut up and drizzled with olive oil and garlic and roasted in oven at 425.)

MEATS

  • Burgers (You can go bun-less, or use Deland hamburger rolls)
  • Chicken (grilled with olive oil, garlic and lemon is our Go-To recipe!)
  • Chicken nuggets (cooked chicken breast, then put in blender with eggs, garlic and sea salt. Sneak in kale or spinach. Mixture then made into small patties brushed with egg and coated in GF 4C breadcrumbs and browned in olive oil in skillet. Reheating tastes best in an oil-less fryer.)
  • Meatballs (ground beef with eggs, onion, garlic and GF 4C breadcrumbs)

SWEET TREATS

(In moderation!  Go to NourishingMeals.com for more 😊)

I promise I’VE BEEN where You Are.  I didn’t know the first thing about reducing inflammation through diet.

This doesn’t have to be complicated and This Will Get Easier As You Go. Once you understand the simple rules behind cleaning your child’s diet, it gets easier.   Join my free Facebook group and let me know how I can help.

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