Sugar–studies have demonstrated that hyperactive children’s restlessness and aggression go up significantly with their sugar consumption. Although this does not necessarily mean sugar causes hyperactivity, it does give us enough reason to explore ways of trimming back the amount of sugar children consume. One idea you can try in your classroom is replacing refined sugar treats such as candies and chocolate bars with natural sugars like trail mix, raisins, banana chips, fruit leather, and carob bars; or try nuts–they’re sugarless.
If you run into a parent who insists you follow through on a dead-end diet, C. Varley in his article “Diet and the Behavior of Children With Attention Deficit Disorder” (1984) recommended you (a) try to find out how they interpret their child’s behavior; (b) listen to their ideas and refrain from immediately telling them they’re wrong; (c) review with them the research done on diet therapy; and (d) if they still choose to go ahead, offer to monitor their child’s response.