Nutritionist Jill Castle with the Facts About ADHD and Nutrition in Kids

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​For this episode about ADHD and nutrition, I spoke with one of America’s leading experts in the field of childhood nutrition, Jill Castle. Jill is a registered dietician / nutritionist with over twenty-five years of experience working with babies, toddlers, children, and teens, in a variety of settings from private practice and consulting to author and writer. Her specialty is taking the current research in pediatric nutrition and shaping it into practical, sane advice for parents and healthcare providers. Jill writes the blog, “Just the Right Bite” and hosts a childhood nutrition podcast called The Nourished Child.

In today’s conversation, Jill shares her insights about what we know about the relationship between ADHD and nutrition, the impact of nutritional deficiencies in kids, and how to not get overwhelmed at the thought of making changes in your family and, more specifically, your child’s diet. She also shares some great tips for how to get started in making small changes that can have a big impact. Jill truly is an expert in her field, and I learned a lot in this conversation. I hope you enjoy it!

 

About Jill Castle

Jill Castle is a registered dietitian/nutritionist and a childhood nutrition expert. With over 25 years of experience with babies, toddlers, children and teens, in a variety of settings from private practice and consulting to author and writer, and as a mother of 4, Jill is sought after as one of America’s leading experts in the field of childhood nutrition.

 

Things you’ll learn from this episode

  • What the current research says about ADHD and nutrition
  • The common types of nutritional challenges and deficiencies faced by kids with ADHD
  • How to address nutritional concerns with your child without getting overwhelmed
  • Thoughts on dealing with shame or guilt surrounding a child’s nutritional habits
  • Whether or not good nutrition can be a substitute for medication when it comes to treating a child with ADHD
  • Tips for making small, positive nutritional changes in your home and with your ADHD child
  • How we can get our kids invested in their own nutritional well-being

 

Resources mentioned for ADHD and Nutrition in Kids

 

Episode Transcript

Jill Castle  00:00

When we talk about nutrition and ADHD, there’s a big checklist that I am personally going to go through and I’m going to look at each child uniquely and individually because there really isn’t one diet for every child, but there are some things that you want to think about nutritionally and that should be top of mind when you’re working with a child with ADHD.

Debbie Reber  00:26

Welcome to the Tilt Parenting podcast, a podcast featuring interviews and conversations aimed at inspiring, informing, and supporting parents raising differently wired kids. I’m your host, Debbie Reber and today’s episode I know many of you are going to be excited about because I’ve been getting requests from listeners to cover this topic, and that is ADHD and nutrition. To get into it all I’m bringing onto the show one of America’s leading experts in the field of childhood nutrition. Jill Castle. Jill is a registered dietician nutritionist with over 25 years of experience with babies, toddlers, children, and teens, in a variety of settings from private practice and consulting to author and writer. Her specialty is taking the current research in pediatric nutrition and shaping it into practical, sane advice for parents and health care providers. Jill writes the blog Just the Right Bite and hosts a childhood nutrition podcast called The Nourished Child. In this conversation, Jill shares her insights about what we know about the relationship between ADHD and nutrition, the impact of nutritional deficiencies and kids, and how to not get overwhelmed at the thought of making changes in your family and more specifically, your child’s diet. She also shares some great tips for how to get started making small changes that can have a big impact. Jill truly is an expert in her field. I learned a lot in this conversation. I hope you enjoy it. And before we get started a quick note, if you like what we’re doing on the Tilt Parenting podcast, I would like to invite you to support our Patreon campaign. Patreon is a tool that allows people to support the work of artists, musicians, and yes, even podcasters. donations made through our campaign help fund production costs associated with the podcast help which is very appreciated as it allows me to spend more time focusing on the other pieces of finding and researching great guests to bring on the show. It’s super easy to help out and every little bit helps. If you’d like to support us, please visit patreon.com/tillparenting. Thanks for considering and for being a part of our audience. And now let’s get on with the show. Hi, Jill, thanks so much for coming on to the show today.

Jill Castle  02:40

Oh, you’re welcome, Debbie. I’m glad to be here. 

Debbie Reber  02:42

Well, before we get started, I will fess up that well, I make an effort to practice good nutrition as a whole. Like I think we’re doing a pretty good job, you know, both for myself and for our family. I am not one of those people who has fully dived into the issues of food and nutrition, especially as a tool for helping us with issues related to my son’s ADHD and Asperger’s. And I will also admit to having some guilt about that. I know for many people; nutrition can be a game changer. So I’m just personally really looking forward to our conversation today. And this is also something I know is important to a lot of members of our community. So thank you again for being here. 

Jill Castle  03:24

Oh, my pleasure. I I totally get it. There’s a lot of guilt sometimes with nutrition and feeding. And there’s a lot to learn about children with ADHD and nutrition. So I’m excited to be here to help. Hopefully, your community learns a little bit more. 

Debbie Reber  03:39

So as a way to get started, could you tell us a bit about your background, kind of who you are and what you do. And I always like to learn a little bit more about why you got into this line of work? Sure, sure.

Jill Castle  03:51

So I’m a pediatric dietitian. I’ve been in the field for I’m going on almost 26 years now. And I started out sort of in the traditional route. I did my internship in Boston. So I trained there. And I had my first two jobs in pediatric roles within hospitals there in Boston. And that was wonderful and great. And so I worked as a clinical dietitian for about 10 years and then had my family and I have four children, two of which are almost adults now and two in high school. So that’s sort of when we had a larger family that sort of put the brakes on my working situation. So I did full time motherhood for about nine years and then went back into pediatric nutrition as a private practitioner. So I had a private practice and I still do as well as a coaching practice. And I do a lot of speaking around the country on different topics in pediatric nutrition, and I’ve written books and I’ve done pretty much, I wear a lot of different hats in the field than when I first got into the field of pediatric nutrition And I mean, one thing, I love kids. And I think that’s a must when you’re working in a field that is solely related to children. So I love children of all ages. And I love the field and the science of nutrition. It’s scientific enough, but it’s very practical. And I was very drawn to that. And I think my why over the years has, you know, changed from that initial just wanting to be around kids all the time and helping parents to now a more, I guess, a bigger driver, related to the fact that I see day-in and day-out in my online business and in my face-to-face business, that there’s just a real need for an understanding about nutrition. And there’s a lot of fear about nutrition, whether it’s about, you know, starting solids, or raising teenagers and preventing unhealthy eating and possibly eating disorders to families that are living with more challenging conditions, and how nutrition can play a role in helping them raise their children in a healthier way. So that fear, and that confusion drives me to help parents have a better understanding about nutrition and feel more empowered. When it comes to, you know, the day-to-day chore of feeding kids. And it is a chore for many of us, me included sometimes.

Debbie Reber  06:24

Well, I appreciate that you use the word chore as soon as you said I’m like, Yes, yeah. And then when you add that layer of the especially within communities of parents raising differently wired kids where there’s so much conversation, you know, you go on to any parenting forum for kids with ADHD, or autism or anything going on. And there are so many people sharing research and studies about this, and that, you know, supplement the diet and all of these things. And it is it feels overwhelming. So where do we start here? And before I actually dive into that question, I I also can imagine that, that this is a field that’s always changing.

Jill Castle  07:04

Yes

Debbie Reber  07:05

There’s increasing interest among people in general, I would imagine and then also the fact that the science is constantly changing, and you’re learning more, that must be very exciting work to be doing.

Jill Castle  07:17

It is and I, that drives my desire to obviously learn and continue to remain in the field. But it also really helps me inform parents and I, I honestly believe that, you know, staying on top of the research is something essential for somebody in my position. And I often tell my clients and my readers and my listeners that if you need extra help find somebody who is on top of the research, because it is constantly changing, especially for different wired children or children with ADHD or on the spectrum, there is always stuff coming out. And you really do need to have somebody who is familiar with that information. Because what we know changes, it changes all the time.

Debbie Reber  08:03

That’s such a good reminder to getting help, you know, it’s I need to remind myself sometimes, but if there’s something that we need to do or want to explore for our kids, there are always people out there who can help us go down that path. And so that’s a nice reminder, we don’t have to do all the research or become the experts ourselves. There are experts out there like you who, this is what you do. So that’s great. So okay, I’m going to ask the giant question, and, and we’ll see how we can parse it down. So we’re talking about ADHD, and nutrition. So could you kind of give us an overview about what you know, maybe kind of the most important factors as nutrition relates to ADHD?

Jill Castle  08:45

Sure, there’s a couple of things that I sort of think are very important. Number one, nutrition is important for any child, whether they have a learning challenge, a behavioral challenge, or no challenges whatsoever. The important job of childhood is growth and development. And that doesn’t just mean the growth of the body, it also means the growth and development of the brain. So nutrition is always going to be important to that. We know that with children who have ADHD, there are certain things that they’re a little bit more potentially challenged with, appetite being one of them, body weight, being another one and that can be underweight, and it can be overweight. In fact, in ADHD, we’re seeing more and more children who are overweight with ADHD and that has health implications later on potentially. We also see nutrient deficiencies in ADHD and those are sort of the three top line things that stand out as a nutritionist when I’m working with somebody with ADHD to look for. But beyond that, there are other things that children with ADHD can be experiencing, and it can make them more unique as a child to manage in terms of their nutrition. Number one, if they have sensory issues related to food, if they have trouble with their bowels, their bowel movements, constipation, for example. If they don’t sleep well, that can affect their appetite and it can affect their growth. And then, of course, the issue of anxiety or stress management can also play out around the dinner table and can influence you know how I would go about working with a family who has a child with ADHD. So when we talk about nutrition and ADHD, there’s a big checklist that I am personally going to go through and I’m going to look at each child uniquely and individually because there really isn’t one diet for every child. But there are some things that you want to think about nutritionally. And that should be top of mind when you’re working with a child with ADHD.

Debbie Reber  10:59

It’s so interesting, I had no idea these three factors, you mentioned the potential, you said appetite is that mean either having a low appetite or hyperactive appetite?

Jill Castle  11:11

If you look at the clinical trials and the research about 60% of children with ADHD report low appetite, and that’s generally from their medications. And it can be from all categories of medications, like for example, and I don’t want to get into a lot of the medications because that’s not my area of expertise. But, for example, some of the medications are a little bit more are bigger contributors to a lack of appetite for example, Concerta has been known to be a medication that might influence or reduce a child’s appetite.

Debbie Reber  11:49

Are the nutritional deficiencies, then, is that a reaction to not eating enough or just eating the wrong kinds of foods?

Jill Castle  11:57

Both. Absolutely. So the nutrient deficiencies that we commonly see in ADHD are things like iron and zinc, potentially magnesium and is essential fatty acids. So iron is a big one. And, you know, that comes from a reduced appetite that can come from poor variety of foods or poor iron rich foods in the diet. And if a child does have a deficiency of iron, we do supplement, we use supplements, and I’m a food first girl, in general, with all my clients, I’m going to always try to address any gaps in the diet with food. But there are certain nutrients like iron that we just can’t replace through food alone. And those children do need a supplement, because we want to get those iron levels back up into the normal range. We also know, you know, in the first couple of years of life, that iron is intimately related to the cognitive abilities and development of children. So we know there’s research on children who did not get enough iron in their diet in the first couple of years of life. And they have cognitive deficits, we see that research mostly in countries where, you know, there’s hunger and malnutrition, but there’s a definite link between iron and cognitive development. So we always want to treat iron deficiency, we want to get those levels up to normal. And then we want to make sure we’re teasing out foods in the diet that are going to keep that level normal.

Debbie Reber  13:33

Can you talk about the correlation between or what kind of correlation there is between, for example, these nutrient deficiencies and the behavior of a kid with ADHD? I mean, we’re talking about body weight, being over or underweight and then what’s actually going on inside the body. But how does that manifest from a behavioral point of view? 

Jill Castle  13:55

Sure, that’s a great question. So as I mentioned, with iron cognitive development, mostly, but also there’s research that indicates iron deficiency can reduce the effectiveness of medications. So that’s another reason why we want children to be iron replete. Zinc is associated with inattentiveness, so a zinc deficiency is associated with inattentiveness, so we supplement low zinc levels as well. And a blood level of zinc can be difficult to get, and it can be difficult to interpret. That’s why it’s really important to have a nutrition professional on board who can really look at the child’s diet and do an assessment and see whether that child is getting enough zinc day in and day out in their diet. For example, if a child’s not having meat or beans in their diet, it can be challenging to get enough zinc. A nutrition professional is going to be able to analyze that diet and see if there indeed is a high risk for a zinc deficiency, magnesium is another one. And that is related to neural transmission and nerve neuron regulation in the brain. And so what we see with a deficiency is distractibility, and hyperactivity, and this is stuff that is, you know, outlined in the research. With magnesium, we just want to make sure kids are getting great sources of magnesium in their diet day-n and day-out. And magnesium can be found in a lot of different foods. I actually have a list on one of the blog posts on my website that I’m happy to give you the link to that, that does go through all the different food sources of these nutrients to help parents sort of hone in on the types of foods that might provide these nutrients a little bit better. And then the fatty acids, the essential fatty acids like ecosa penta noack acid, we call that EPA for short or docosahexaenoic acid, we call DHA, your listeners might be more familiar with EPA and DHA. EPA is really involved with the brain and blood circulation through the brain. And so we see better attention and better reactive or less high hyperactivity and less impulsiveness, when children have good levels of EPA in their system, and with DHA, we see better literacy. So there’s great research, a lot of it, that is evolving and outlining these benefits, or these associations really, of how these specific nutrients play out in a child’s behavior.

Debbie Reber  16:43

So this is a lot more complicated than just, you know, avoid your sugar makes your head hyper, which is, you know, I think the default response, you know, gosh, you know, you let your kid eat chocolate, no wonder they’re bouncing off the wall, there’s a lot more going on.

Jill Castle  16:57

There is a lot going on. And there’s you know, there’s a whole category of additives like food dyes, I just on my own podcast, just interviewed a food dye researcher and, and the link between food dyes and behavior. And there’s just a lot, there’s, there’s a lot with sugar, there’s just, it’s so layered. And so what can I think, get really overwhelming for parents. And I want to make this point because your listeners are going to be like, oh my gosh, I’ve got to check all these nutrients and my child’s diet. Yes, but at the same time, there’s some really great approaches and, and high level thinking, practical thinking that you need to be that parents really need to want to want to pay attention to and that’s you know, variety of foods and a child’s diet, regular timing of meals and snacks, plenty of opportunity, but structured opportunity to eat during the day, especially for those children who are having appetite issues where they’re not hungry at certain meals during the day, you’re going to do make up meals, or you’re going to do beefier snacks to make up for that potential deficit during the day. So there are a lot of things, we get picky with the nutrients and the additives when it’s glaringly apparent that a child is missing out on something. As I mentioned before, if a child’s not having any meat, poultry, or good iron and zinc sources in their diet, we’re going to address that and we’re going to get nitpicky about iron and zinc and really do a deep dive and try our best to correct a deficiency if it’s there. And, you know, really get more of those nutrient rich foods into the diet in a reasonable meaningful way.

Debbie Reber  18:45

Well, it’s funny, as you said, the word overwhelm you said this could be overwhelming. I was writing the word overwhelm and my notes here. Because I think that is a big issue for parents. So I appreciate that you address that. And I want to talk about that more. The other word that popped into my head is shame. You know, I can just imagine that nutrition is one of those issues that there’s a lot of judging that happens in forums of parent groups for neurotypical kids, kind of like screen time in that way you let your kid watch that you let your kid play that you let your kid eat that. Sure. So I imagine and tell me where I’m wrong. I might totally have this wrong. But when parents come to see you, is there, that kind of sense of almost embarrassment but you’re it’s kind of like peeling back the curtain? Here’s what’s really going on in our family. You know, how do you address that with parents who are feeling guilt about maybe some really not so great nutritional habits they’ve developed?

Jill Castle  19:48

That’s a great question. And I will say that probably everybody who comes to me with any problem, and I treat lots of different problems have that same feeling. So it’s not just isolated to families who are dealing with ADHD, but the good news is when we peel back the curtain, yes, we see the ugly stuff, but there’s so much we can work on. And I think that that’s where I try to keep the focus on the positive aspects of, hey, you probably didn’t know this. So we all make mistakes from a lack of knowledge. And that is, in part, why I do what I do, because I don’t feel that parents have ever been well equipped with nutrition education or knowledge from the beginning. So they’re already you know, parents today have babies, and they’re at a disadvantage. When it comes to nutrition. We don’t do anything as a country to really educate those first-time parents about feeding and proper nutrition. And we sort of go about it in a reactive way, hey, you have a problem. So go see a dietitian, and then well, hey, you didn’t feed your baby any iron fortified foods in the first year of life? Well, that’s why there’s a problem. And it’s a reactive way of addressing issues. And so I acknowledge, and I’m very empathetic to the embarrassment, and the shame and the guilt that can go with this. But I like to, you know, acknowledge it, but hey, that’s behind us. And let’s just work to help your child be as healthy as we can help them be and be as functional as we can help him or her be. So I don’t think it’s fair to say you’re not going to have shame or guilt. Because I think anytime you learn something new, that’s an aha, and oh, my gosh, I’ve not even thought about this, you’re naturally going to feel that way. But if you don’t know, you don’t know. It’s when you know, and you do nothing about it. That’s the real shame and guilt in the end. That’s the real area. I think that’s a shame as a professional as well, that, you know, we do have a lot of information out there. It’s not all correct. And I’m sure you see that in your own work as well. There’s a lot of misinformation out there. And it’s very confusing. That’s why it’s so important to find professionals who know their stuff, who stay abreast of the research, but who can translate that rate research into making it very practical for parents to implement.

Debbie Reber  22:10

And I imagine it’s also one of those things that it’s never really too late to start. It’s not like, well, it’s too late, I screwed up with their nutrition, you know that at whatever point a parent decides to make these changes, it’s going to benefit the child.

Jill Castle  22:25

Absolutely. Absolutely. And I’ve worked with many children who are older children who’ve had, you know, ADHD for a while, and we even putting them on a structured feeding system, where they are, their brain is exposed to nutrition every three to four hours. There’s a vast improvement, because remember, the brain relies on glucose. It relies on fatty acids; it relies on nutrients to function well. And when we bathe the brain, so to speak, in a regular predictable bath of nutrition, there’s going to be better functioning. They’re always me and this is anecdotal, but I always see better functioning calmer, kids better functioning, more pleasant to be around.

Debbie Reber  23:12

That’s inspiring to hear. So I have a son who he’s 12 and a half, and he is not on medication for ADHD. He’s not interested right now. And I’m homeschooling him. And so it works for us that he isn’t, but he gets frustrated with himself, and his own distractibility. And so we talk about nutrition and other things, you know, if we’re not going to try medication, then we should really try everything else to see what we can do to positively impact what’s going on with you can change is in a child’s diet potentially be as impactful as a child going on medication? Have you seen that? Or is it something that works well when it’s supplementing medication?

Jill Castle  23:56

So as I mentioned, there are some studies that indicate that supplementation and better nutrition improves behavior and the effectiveness of medication. But I do not know of any research that says nutrition in and of itself, all alone is going to get the same results. And most health care professionals who work with children with ADHD will say that they’re complementary approaches. So a child will do best with probably both on board because they complement each other.

Debbie Reber  24:30

Yeah, right. I want to ask a question that I think is probably what some of our listeners are thinking as they’re listening to this. And certainly what I’ve thought over the years is I considered what we do here and in fact, right before we moved to the Netherlands, I had taken Asher to see a nutritionist for you know, a blood test and to kind of see what was going on. And unfortunately, because we were moving, we weren’t able to stick with that person and kind of go down that road with her and I haven’t sure found that right person here yet, but one of the things I used to say was, you know what I’m picking and choosing my battles you I have a child who’s really super skinny has always bordered on being underweight, severely underweight. And everything, you know, especially when kids are in those years between like six and nine, when, you know, as I say, the crap really is hitting the fan. And so many things can feel like a struggle and a battle. So we have to kind of pick and choose what we are going to focus on? You know, and if food is going, okay, then, you know, maybe we’re focusing on other things. So what would you say to parents who are in that kind of space? Who are feeling like I just can’t deal with this right now? That’s going to be too hard? You know? Does it have to be that hard to make some changes? Does it have to be this completely life altering thing that’s going to disrupt the whole family? Or are we kind of making it more difficult than it really is?

Jill Castle  26:00

Well, that’s a great question. I really have never seen an overhaul work like a, okay, we’re flipping everything 180. And we’re starting over. I’ve never seen that work, what I see work is a whole family approach, which means that everybody’s eating the same way and at the same time, and, and there’s a structure and rhythm to family meals together and meals apart. But there’s a rhythm there, and you’re picking off one small change at a time, instead of taking this huge bite, you’re taking little nibbles. And I think where parents can really, you know, sort of think this through, look at your child, if your child is having trouble growing, if they’re having trouble keeping weight on, if they’re under nourished, then nutrition is probably something you should focus on, because it’s not only going to help them be better nourished and grow better, but it’s also going to help them behave better. And that’s sort of an easy one, then pick the low hanging fruit. If your child is only eating three times a day, try to work in another eating session based on those peak times of the day, when hunger is there. And when you’re feeding your child during the day, make sure that you’re, you know, really selecting the most nutritious foods that you can, that snacks are not chips, but they are, they might be peanut butter, toast, and milk. So something more nutritious, more substantial, heftier. And, you know, get those feeding times nailed down, sit down and look at the times of days that your child’s eating. Be a little bit more strategic. If your child is not a breakfast eater, then figure out the first time a day they’re going to eat. Hopefully, it’s not two o’clock in the afternoon, hopefully there’s room for a mid-morning eating session. But try to get strategic with that. And with the foods that you are offering at those times, set up some structure with your family meals, make sure there’s one meal a day if you can, where at least one parent is sitting down with the child and eating together making it more of a social positive atmosphere as opposed to an isolated experience for the child or a negative experience for the child where the parents are on the you know, child to eat this and eat that or eat more but to try to keep it really positive. You know, those are some of the little itty-bitty changes. And I really think for families that just one little change at a time and just chipping away at it. You’ll get there. It is overwhelming to do it all at once. And my experience has been that children, you get a lot of resistance from children when you try to do it all at once. Or when parents decide they’re going to take all the sugar out of the house. Well, that’s a recipe for resistance. And that almost never works. But you can be strategic with things like sugar, like making your own desserts, for example. And you can easily cut the sugar down in many dessert recipes. So little steps like that can really make a difference over time. If you keep making these small changes, and they build up. 

Debbie Reber  29:20

Those are great tips. And they do it seem absolutely doable and not overwhelming. Just changed everything for us. Thank you. You’re welcome. What about in terms of getting our kids invested in making these changes? Asher is as I said he is 12 now and I don’t know how I’ve done this, but I’ve somehow managed over time to get him really interested in nutrition and to the point where I just posted about this on my blog. He decided last week that he wanted to start eating more inspiring breakfasts and he’s started something called the better breakfast initiative. He also really wants to learn how to cook his own breakfast, which all sounds great to me. So he’s been making these, you know, this morning, he had eggs and toast and raspberries. And he made it all, he was so pleased with himself. And I was very pleased with the quality of what he was eating. I don’t know exactly how I got him to that point. But do you have any suggestions for how to get kids invested in making these changes, you know, you talked about not removing all the sugar from the house and you know, maybe baking together some, some yummy snacks that are higher quality, but any other ideas about that?

Jill Castle  30:32

Well, I think, you know, when you have a younger child, it’s really getting your food system down, and your feeding system or your feeding strategy arranged so that your child is just going to by nature, you know, follow the leader, if you will. So, it may be that, you know, we have dinner every night at six o’clock. Well, if you’re not hungry, you don’t have to eat, but you do have to join us at the table. And you have to be present. So some simple things, like just getting your food system, you know, when I say food system, I’m really talking about what are you buying? And what are you stocking, and what are your go to foods for your child. And so that might be some rearranging gradually, which we talked about a little bit earlier, in terms of snacks and, and more nutritious quality foods. That’s something when a child is younger a parent can do and oftentimes the child will just follow the parent when your child gets older, as you were mentioning your son, you know, there needs to be more dialogue, there needs to be more conversation. And what I have learned over the years is that, you know, tying that conversation to how a child feels, how they’re performing in school, how they’re how they’re able to focus or stay calm, really, sort of constantly having these conversations about how they feel after they eat, do they still feel hungry? Do they feel agitated, maybe they need to eat. So making those connections gradually and over time will help build the interest, particularly with children your son’s age, who are middle school age and entering into the teenage years. Again, letting them loose in the kitchen is hugely beneficial. It’s a developmental skill, all children should be learning. And it’s a high touch area where kids are looking, touching, smelling, feeling experimenting with food. So if there’s any sensory stuff going on with the child or pickiness, it’s a great way to to help move that child along in that area as well. But as you mentioned, your son is so proud that he could do that. That is the response that many children that age will have when they are allowed to experiment in the kitchen, a great sense of pride. And, there’s some research that even suggests that cooking helps build self-esteem in children. So it’s, again, a good thing to be doing

Debbie Reber  32:58

In terms of parents who are listening who want to get started making, you know, it sounds like I’d like to hear more about what you offer on your website and your blog. And if you have any other favorite resources that parents looking to explore these topics can kind of, check out.

Jill Castle  33:13

Sure. So as I mentioned before, just do due diligence on research and make sure that you’re getting information that’s current and up to date, and from qualified professionals who actually work with children with ADHD. And you know, I do have a few resources that I find are really good. Judy Converse a dietitian out of Colorado. She’s written a few books, mostly dealing with autism, but she includes the whole spectrum. And so she does do some writing and some teachings on ADHD, I find her work to be very good and very research based. And then there’s another book called eating for autism. But it also again, includes some recommendations for ADHD as well by Elizabeth Strickland. But I will say I was struck when I dug in to see any new information out there. And there are quite a few books that are written but I couldn’t, I don’t know the writers, or the authors and I have not reviewed them. So I don’t know what the angle is. And I think that that’s the most important piece is I think what your listeners what I would like them to understand is that every child is different. So no one diet is going to be right for every child. No one approach and to just be curious about your child, your knowledge of your own child, as a parent is hugely, hugely important to the health care professional that you end up working with. That is enormously important because it helps really structure and steer the approach. In terms of my own resources. Thank you for asking about that. I do have a blog post called The Healthy ADHD diet. And within that post, there’s a download link for is like a cheat sheet that covers the different nutrients and some of the food sources. But in the works is a course that I’m developing for parents that will be available online, hopefully in the next three months that will really go through not only the food piece that we talked a lot about here today, but it will also talk about the feeding piece. So that, you know, how do you deal with a resistant child at the table? How do you deal with, you know, setting limits? How do you deal with, you know, children who want to snack all day or this, that and the other. So more of the challenges of actually getting food into your child, not just picking the right food, but getting your child to eat the foods and to enjoy eating the foods and learn along the way. So that course will be available in a few months. But it will be just for children with ADHD.

Debbie Reber  35:54

That’s fantastic. You’ll have to let us know when that’s available. And I will share it on our Facebook group and with our community. And I will be signing up for it. It sounds like a great resource. And listeners, I will leave links to the resources that Jill talked about and also for Jill’s website, which is www.jillcastle.com. I’ll leave that on the show notes page. So you can check all of that out. So Joe, I just want to thank you we’ve covered so much. And this has been such an insightful conversation for me and I know it’s going to benefit our listeners greatly. So thank you for coming on and sharing all your wisdom with us.

Jill Castle  36:35

My pleasure. Thanks for having me.

Debbie Reber  36:39

You’ve been listening to the Tilt Parenting podcast for the show notes for this episode, including links to Jill’s website and the other resources we mentioned in our conversation, visit the show notes page at tiltparenting.com/session52. If you’re not already signed up for our newsletter, I would love for you to join our Tilt Parenting online community. I send out short weekly updates with links to new content on the tilt website, articles and resources just for you. And lastly, here’s my weekly pitch to ask you to leave an honest review or rating for the podcast on iTunes. It only takes a minute, and it really helps us get more visibility in the crowded podcast space. Thanks again for listening. For more information on till parenting, visit https://tiltparenting.com

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