Recently, the corn article where it was discovered that corn caused one lady’s son to become irritable, irrational and easily angered, has been going around again (showed up twice on my desktop yesterday). I got thinking about the role of food in our human growth and development one night when I was supposed to be sleeping.
Various naturopaths and integrative doctors recommend elimination diets to figure out what foods are and are not aggravating certain conditions. For people who suspect allergies, food sensitivities, leaky gut aggravation, etc, the elimination diet is a potential no-brainer for those with the time and funds to devote to this task. It typically takes at least a month, because of the 3 weeks spent on the rudimentary diet that has been identified to cause the least number of adverse health reactions in sensitive people. After those 3 weeks, the food that is deemed to be the culprit is added back into the diet for a day, then several days go by before eating it again, watching for any reactions. If no reactions, another food is added back, and so on. It can take up to 6 months before a person is back to their regular diet this way.
The keen parent who watches what their kids eat and drink, and pays attention to their shifts in behaviour, such as the mother who wrote the corn article, can skip the elimination diet because they immediately see the problem’s cause or in the author’s case, know to go searching for it and find it in short order.
There is another side to this to keep in mind however, because God created us body, soul and spirit. We already know from stories around us of those who drink alcoholic beverages, that when someone gets drunk, their prohibitions are often removed, revealing what is really going on inside. The person may become overly mushy, overly jovial, overly talkative, or alternatively, become very sad, become depressed/suicidal, or become angry and/or violent. The removal of the prohibition by the alcohol reveals deeper issues that the person normally kept hidden from everyone when they were sober. Those who work in rehab know that you can’t just get someone to stop drinking cold turkey and expect positive, longlasting change. The person’s lifestyle, habits and environment both physical, social and relational all need to be taken into consideration and adjusted as well, so that life as it happens, doesn’t drive the person back to the bottle. Alcohol is often a coping mechanism, so to reduce the dependency, reduce the causes.
In the case of children where various foods cause various negative social, physical or emotional side effects and behaviours, the same questions need to be addressed alongside removal of those foods. What is the home environment the child is growing up in? Are they allowed to witness violence on TV and in movies when parents think they aren’t watching or hearing what is going on? (such as a movie playing on the other side of the bedroom wall) What do they witness between other members of the household, either visually or audibly? Is the home environment socially, relationally, and emotionally safe and secure? Is the home safe physically or are there needles and other harmful stuff such as broken glass, half-drunk alcohol, etc, left laying around? Is it a clean environment? I’m not referring to dust bunnies laying around, but food gunk or hygiene practices going by the wayside in bedding, clothing, the kitchen and bathroom, etc. What is the environment at school and on the playground? The social/emotional/relational environment provided by classmates, teachers, monitors, and others can be toxic and has caused some parents to discuss how their kids come home not wanting to go back to school or pretending to be ill to stay home or wishing they were dead.
The environment the child finds themselves in can create a hidden, growing problem within the child’s soul and spirit, that while they may try to hide it on the surface, all it takes is a biological tweak of an offending food to send them over the edge into the child the parents don’t recognize.
This discussion would not be complete without one final cause of aggravation that I have personally seen in various homes, including my own as a child growing up. While no home is 100% perfect in the above scenarios where the parents are doing their best to ensure a safe, healthy home environment, the spiritual aspect of the home can have negative impacts on the child too, without the parents doing or allowing anything wrong. (and if the parents ARE involved in potentially harmful spiritual practices, they are strongly advised to stop, for the sake of the household)
In this scenario, my younger sister developed a stomach ulcer that would NOT go away! Mom as a former RN was working with the medical system to treat her and adjusting her diet accordingly, and this thing just wouldn’t budge! Mom was also head of a private school we’d founded as a family, based on the A.C.E. Curriculum from the US. One Wednesday morning chapel, my sister went to the front for prayer and suddenly we discovered the cause of and reason for the unhealing ulcer! A demon had attached itself to her ulcer and was not letting go! Now we know that the born-again believer cannot be possessed by a demon, but they can be oppressed, like one holding your hands behind your back so you can’t function as well. Well, the demon was cast off her body and her ulcer healed up rapidly after that!
In other, repeated scenarios that took place before and after I got saved at the age 7, demonic activity next door would sometimes spill over through the shared townhouse party wall into our home via my bedroom. I learned from an early age how to address demons as a result, and how to send them packing!
Therefore, the holistic approach to dealing with a difficult child includes all these things:
- Diet sleuthing – is there a food or food additive that is causing behavoural trouble?
- Home/School environment – Is it safe or are there things going on / situations present that need to be addressed and changed in the home, classroom or playground, that will give the child a safer space in which to grow and develop?
- Spiritual environment – Is it a Christian, God-fearing home or an unsaved home? What are the neighbours like? Are there spiritual influences entering your home from them? If so, do you know how to deal with those influences in a firm and home-cleansing manner?
Your child was created in God’s image, body, soul and spirit. We must consider the whole child and the environments they live in, when addressing behavioural challenges.
