~Recover from ADD, ADHD, and depression without drugs~

Concurrent with this pharmaceutical boom, we have also seen the rise of the ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) diagnosis. According to the National Institute of Mental health, 3 to 5 percentof kids have ADHD, but some experts believe that figure could be as high as 10 percent. Yet there are no lab tests to confirm ADHD in children or adults. Instead, doctors rely on the patient's response to questions, the family's description of behavior problems and a school assessment. Once a diagnosis has been made and the patient is put on ADHD medication, the medications usually have troubling side effects. Those may include headaches, upset stomach, dizziness, toxic psychosis and even death, among others.

Many individuals are reporting that diagnoses for depression and ADHD - along with their attendant pharmaceutical treatments - are being handed out like candy. "I don't think you can make a diagnosis of depression in a 10-minute doctor visit, you just can't," said Dr. James Parker, a child psychiatrist at Group Health Cooperative in Seattle. Frank Barnhill, M.D. is a family physician and author of "Mistaken for ADHD". He writes, "Insurance companies often try to squeeze the last penny of profit out of medical care and push doctors even harder to provide that care in less time and for lower costs."

Kerri Kasem knows this experience personally. The radio host was battling depression in her early 20s when she sought medical attention for it. "I'd get really high highs and really low lows," she says. "The doctors wanted to put me on drugs. I walked into an office and 20 minutes later, with him asking me just a couple questions, he told me I had ADD and he gave me Ritalin. He didn't ask me if I had any food allergies or 'What's your diet like?' There was not one question about my health."

Trusting his advice, she began taking Ritalin, but "at the end of one week, I was so sick that I gave him back his drugs... I felt ill." Kasem decided to have her blood tested and learned she had some pressing nutritional issues. "I was very low on iron, I didn't have enough vitamin D. I had all these deficiencies. So I started taking supplements. I got off the sugar completely and that included all the pastas and breads. All of a sudden, my brain started working a little better."She started taking supplements for the brain and noticed a marked improvement in her ability to focus. "My head was like a calculator; I was quick on my feet. I never had that before." This prompted her to research possible food allergies, and she discovered that she was allergic to gluten. After eliminating gluten, her thinking became even clearer. These changes proved to be a professional game changer for her too. "I can do radio!" she realized. "I wanted to do talk radio more than anything. It was something I wanted to do but I never thought I could." With her new focus, Kasem began interning at radio stations and taking classes. She's now been doing radio since 1997, and you can hear her on the K-pod and Sixx Sense. She is a wellness advocate who promotes natural approaches to disease such as juicing, and eating a plant-based diet. Kasem reflects, "There's always another option, despite what the doctors say."

Sources for this article include:

http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/10/19/more-than-1-in-10-in-u-s-take-antidepressants/

http://thekpod.com/?p=2900

http://holisticvoice.org/kerri-kasem-vegan/

About the author:

Allison Biggar is a writer and filmmaker who believes in using the media to empower people to make a difference. Currently, she is directing a documentary on people who have cured themselves of disease naturally without drugs, surgery, chemotherapy or radiation.

Learn more:

http://www.naturalnews.com/035272_ADHD_depression_natural_remedies.html#ixzz1pTMpc2wh

~What's In Your Food?~

I just found this amazing site. Plug in the type of food or the brand and see what's in it. It has some fast food listed too.

Food Facts is your best source of the information you need to keep your diet safe and healthy. Here you'll find everything you need to know about what's really in your food: nutritional information on thousands of different products with their ingredients, food label information, nutrient content information, protein, fat and carb information AND you'll be able to track your own food allergies and sensitivities for things like peanut allergies, egg allergies, dairy allergies, gluten sensitivity and gluten content.

They also have a blog...http://blog.foodfacts.com/

~MSG~

For those of you who are not seeing results with cutting out  wheat, dairy, or soy, you might want to look at MSG. I just read this book. In Bad Taste MSG Syndrome. I believe MSG is why Johnny can’t eat and In-N-Out Burger (Here’s the post to what happened to him ). I called and asked if there was any soy wheat or dairy in his fries or protein style burger and the said no, but they would not answer the question about MSG. Doing my own research I found their Meat, special sauce, and ketchup have MSG in them.

Second only to salt and pepper in popularity, MSG (monosodium glutamate) is a chemical used to hide unpleasant or stale tastes. It causes toxic, not allergenic, reaction in all people, adversely affecting the digestive, circulatory, and central nervous systems. This book covers the chemical's history, the medical symptoms of toxicity, dangers in its use (it is frequently present in restaurant and prepared grocery foods), strategies shoppers can use to avoid it, a restaurant guide that lists specific menu items from fast food chains, and recipes that avoid MSG. This controversial treatment is highly recommended.