I was in your shoe many years ago…desperate and frustrated.

I know something is wrong, but I don’t want to get her tested and diagnosed. Somewhere deep down inside me know there are better options, and medication is not one of them.

Since the beginning, I figured she is different.

My daughter was super active since she’s started moving. She started walking around seven months and was climbing up and down everything. She never sits still. The only time she is not moving is when she’s sick. She’d dash out into traffic or runoff in stores. It scares the crap out of me. One second you see her, next second she’s gone.

I’m those people who think parents who put their kid on a leash are loser parents, and I wouldn’t do that to my child.

Man, am I wrong?

Then, there’s the constant crazy crying and screaming. I didn’t know what my daughter wanted. She would scream and cry for no reason and I couldn’t console her.

My daughter was out of control when she was a toddler. She’s always on the go, climbing up and down every piece of furniture, pulling things off of shelves and tables, and breaking everything in the house.

Every morning was an ordeal. I, a grown woman, and her dad, a grown man, could not get her out of her pajama. We would have to drop her off at the daycare in her pajama with her change of clothes, so the nice aunties at the daycare could change her later.

And I feel so sorry for the lovely ladies at the daycare every day dealing with her. My daughter would cry from the moment we leave the house on the 20 minutes car ride until we arrive at the daycare.

The ladies at the daycare were so sweet and always reassured me that “don’t worry, she usually cried for about 20 minutes, then she’d stop.”

Bless her heart.

The crying started again when I picked her up from daycare because she realized it was so much fun there; she did not want to leave.

So again, crying all the way home.

She also didn’t start talking until almost two years old, and her first word is “apple.” I wish I’d know to teach her sign language back then, so she could communicate better. She was in speech therapy for a few years, mostly for speech delay. She is also behind in reading compared to her peers.

We had multiple ER visits for broken bones for playing too rough in the playground. One time she’s jumping on her bed, fell and hit her head on the wall and made a big hole in the wall. Luckily, it’s only drywall, so the impact wasn’t too bad.

And multiple times she tried to swing on the towel rack in the bathroom like monkey bars and tore the bars off the wall while falling. Luckily, she wasn’t injured.

The ADHD symptoms become more obvious in elementary school. She takes a long time to finish homework. We stay up late until midnight every night. I have PTSD when I hear “homework.” She could not read at, and she could barely write at her grade level. I feel so frustrated because I was comparing her to her peers.

Why can’t you just finish the sentence? Why can’t you pronounce the word?

Then, I started working in the Feeding Clinic alongside the speech pathologist and other pediatric developmental specialists. That’s when I learn that children who cannot focus usually have speech and language delays because they cannot sustain their focus long enough to pay attention to learn the words or sentences.

We enrolled her in every reading and writing program during school breaks. I signed her up for piano lessons hoping that the music will help calm her down and sitting still. She was an outstanding and quick learner. But she didn’t have the patience to practice. She played the piano like it’s a typing speed contest.

She also started playing tennis to let out energy at the end of the day. She’s an excellent tennis player but made many simple mistakes because of her lack of focus.

I felt like a bad mom every day because I was constantly screaming and yelling at her for every little thing she did wrong and not listening.  All I wanted was to spend quality time together doing mother-daughter stuff.

I started to specialize in children’s nutrition and started seeing many kids with special needs, such as inborn error of metabolism, genetic disorders, autism, ADHD, oral aversion, etc.

Most of the kids with ADHD I see are for failure to thrive (problem growing and not growing weight). I started to notice one particular psychiatrist was doing something different than other doctors and psychiatrists.

He was prescribing coffee and this new prescription fish oil. This fish oil was marketed for heart disease prevention in adults.

So I started looking into coffee and fish oil for ADHD. What I discovered blew my mind.

That’s when I realized “coffee is a stimulant just like ADHD medications, so why are we giving kids such dangerous drugs?”

That was my “aha” moment.

When you have high blood pressure or pre-diabetes, your doctor often gives you a warning and suggests that you start eating healthier and exercising.

Why don’t they do the same for kids with ADHD?

Did you get a warning first to change your child’s eating?

Why is every doctor so quick to start ADHD medication, which has more severe side effects?

If parents are concern about giving children coffee because coffee causes stunt growth, you should be even more concerned about giving children ADHD medications.

ADHD medications cause stunt growth, sleep disorder, mood disorder, personality changes, facial tics, etc…and, even death.

In March of 2006, an FDA panel reported that 11 sudden cardiac deaths in children taking Ritalin and Concerta between 1992 and 2005. Both medications contain the stimulant methylphenidate. They also reported 13 sudden cardiac deaths among children taking the amphetamine-containing stimulants Adderall and Dexedrine.

Coffee is a natural stimulant similar to ginseng, passionflower, ashwagandha, rhodiola, etc.

ADHD medication is a synthetic (man-made) stimulant in the same drug category as amphetamine (“ice”). Just because a doctor prescribes it does not make it safer or better.

I started doing my research and experimenting with my poor child, and I discovered many possible causes of ADHD, which can easily be corrected with dietary changes.

And you know what?

It worked for us.

My daughter graduated from one of Hawaii’s most prestigious private school with honors. Her public school teacher told us that she would not make the cut to be accepted to this school. It’s a very competitive and selective school.

Not only did she graduated with honors, but she also received a hefty merit scholarship to attend Loyola Chicago University. She’s currently a junior majoring in pre-med, with plans to continue onto medical school to become a pediatric cardiologist.

This result was not pure luck. It was a long journey of trial-and-errors, believing and not giving up.

These are no magic potion. And you don’t need to be a Ph.D. to figure out what to do. You just need the right strategy.

I am not bragging here. I just want to share my experience with you, so you know there is hope and what is possible for your child.

Your child deserves the best, and you can help.

Stay strong and keep believing your child. He or she is doing their best. Your child just needs one person to believe in them, and that’s you.

I’ve helped hundreds of my own ADHD patients improve their symptoms with my signature Eat to Focus Program, which you’ll learn in this book.

Having the right strategies is like having Neiman Marcus Chocolate Chip Recipes. You don’t need to go to a fancy French pastry school for years to figure out how to make the best cookies in the world.

It breaks my heart to see children suffer. Parents worry about caffeine stunt growth. I’ve never in my 18 years professional career know a child with stunt growth because of caffeine.

But I can look at the growth chart of any child with ADHD and tell you exactly when the child started ADHD medications.

Caffeine is used as a lung surfactant in brand new premature babies in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) every day. So giving children caffeine is not a new or unusual practice. It’s a common practice in all NICUs everywhere.

So why can’t we try some caffeine or other natural stimulant first before ADHD medications?

Unlike the common belief that coffee makes you hyper, it does the opposite for kids and adults with ADHD. Caffeine helps them to calm down and focus.

If you’re a coffee drinker yourself, you know what I’m talking about.

I just want to be clear here. I’m not advocating coffee as “THE ALTERNATIVE” ADHD treatment. Besides, you build up a tolerance to coffee quickly.

Coffee or caffeine is just a quick fix for ADHD symptoms and could be an alternative to synthetic stimulants.

One of the doctors in my clinic drinks 10 cups of coffee a day. No kidding…he told me himself. He has a Keurig next to him on his desk.

One of my previous supervisors drinks 2 liters of diet Mountain Dew a day.

Yes, I counted it every day.

There are better ways to get your child to calm down and focus naturally without ADHD medications.

If there are no other options, and ADHD medications are the only choice. That’s a different story.

Have you ever tried a supplement that you read about in Facebook groups and recommendations from friends, who swear that such supplements work for their children, but do nothing for them?

Does the supplement improve your child’s ADHD symptoms a little, but not the explosive and aggressive behaviors?

Most people’s idea of alternative approaches to treating ADHD symptoms is limited to behavioral interventions, neurofeedback, taking some fish oil, magnesium, and some multivitamins. They merely replace the dangerous ADHD meds with a perceived “less dangerous” herbal natural alternative and call it natural ADHD treatment.

There’s more to natural ADHD treatment than just popping some vitamin pills and going to therapy. I’m not saying these do not work …it’s just may not work for your child.

Our Eat to Focus framework focuses on identifying and correcting the underlying causes of ADHD of the individual child.

Even though everyone gets diagnosed with ADHD is diagnosed based on the same set of observed symptoms, not everyone has the same underlying causes.

That’s why even the current conventional treatment does not work for everyone either.

ADHD medications work by hijacking your child’s control center (the big brain in the head), which explains why the typical personality change “not feeling like myself” seen in kids taking ADHD meds.

If you feel like you’re randomly throwing spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks, the conventional treatment is just about the same by targeting the neurotransmitters in the brain and see if it works for your child.

Conventional medicine focuses on treating the symptoms of ADHD. Here, we’re going to teach you to use clues (signs) to identify your child’s underlying causes.

If you’re just focusing on finding the next “natural pill of the day” for your ADHD treatment, you’re missing a massive piece of the ADHD puzzle.

We all know the ADHD brain is different, but did you know there’s also an ADHD gut?

Scientists are now learning more about the gut-brain axis and have established that our gut is possibly our second brain, and is as essential as the first brain on our shoulder.

Many kids with ADHD do well with the standard ADHD supplements for the usual ADHD symptoms, such as lack of focus, poor memory, fidgeting, etc.

However, the more explosive and aggressive ADHD symptoms, such as anger outbursts, impulsivity, aggressiveness, agitation, anxiety, and emotional meltdowns, seem to originate from the ADHD gut, which requires drastic dietary changes to correct.

If ADHD medication makes your child’s ADHD symptoms worse, chances are the causes are in the gut.

Taking nutritional or dietary supplements without making dietary changes is like eating poison daily while also taking antidotes daily.

It’s just a matter of time that the body stops responding to the antidote.

If what you’ve just read makes sense to you, keep reading. The best has yet to come.

Even though every doctor starts anyone with “ADHD” with the same stimulant no matter what their ADHD symptoms are, they are hyperactive or inattentive or whatever.

All children with ADHD get the same treatment because they all have the same diagnosis (or label), right? That’s our medical system right now.

In my book, there is no “one size fits all,” then there’s certainly no “one diet fix all” either.

I’m used to looking at an individual’s unique biology and symptoms to see the best treatment to start.

I applaud you for choosing the arduous journey to help and support your children in the most natural ways.

Natural ADHD treatment is not just about finding the right diet or the right supplements for your child.

It’s not about getting your child to sit still through a boring class to please the school or the teacher.

It’s about doing what is best for your child. This journey is all about your child’s future.

I’m not against ADHD medication. Some children need it. But there are better alternatives for others.

I hope with this book, I can empower you with information to make the best treatment choices for your child by better understanding the underlying causes and natural treatment options available.

A lot of heartache and lives can be saved just by being an informed medical consumer.

Knowledge is power.

Aloha with love,

Anna O. Tai, RD, CD, CSP.