Are you or your ADHD child addicted to sugar? Is your child’s sugar addiction so bad that they’re sneaking candy into their bedroom? And you’re resorting to locking your pantry or hiding all the sweets in the house?

I know how frustrating it is for everyone in the family.

Your child is starving. Not starving because there’s no food. But starving in a physiological sense because of poor food choices and/or poor digestion. I know you’re feeding your child at least 3 meals a day, but their growing body is not getting the essential nutrients it needs either because their body cannot digest the food properly or the food they eat does not have the nutrients they need. They are not starving of energy. They are starving of micronutrients like vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.

This drives the body to search for alternative sources of energy. Since the beginning of time, humanity has learned that the “sweet stuff” has all the nutrients the human body needs. The “sweet stuff” used to be fruits and berries, but today the sweet stuff is all kinds of processed carbs and sugar that have no nutritional value but are loaded with brain-altering chemicals.

That’s why your child keeps eating, and their body keeps wanting more because they’re missing the essential micronutrients their growing body needs and craves. Sugar and other high-carb foods boost dopamine levels in the brain, leading us to crave them more often when dopamine levels are low with or without ADHD.

Since kids with ADHD have chronically low levels of dopamine, which not only makes you not focus and drop your marbles all over the place, but it also creates an unsatiable appetite and cravings for anything sweets! This makes kids with ADHD more likely than other kids to crave and eat sugary or carbohydrate-heavy foods.

However, the craving does not stop after eating sweets. The sugar cravings get stronger and stronger because the brain eventually develops tolerance, meaning you’ll need more and more sugar to curb the cravings.

Also, the sugar used in processed factory foods is super sweet and it changes your child’s taste buds to prefer the super sweet processed food. Yes, you’re right! It becomes an addiction. The worst sugar is high fructose corn syrup.

Do you know what makes sugar and sweets even more appealing and addicting?

Not allowed to have sugar or sweets.

Parents often think that if they don’t allow their children to have any sweets or candy, then they’re in control. But let me tell you from my experience working with thousands of family and individual adults.

Restricting access to sweets is the number one reason why kids sneak candies and sweets behind their parents’ backs, and they continue to crave sugar and sweets into adulthood, which evolves into emotional eating.

I’ve seen so many parents who try to keep a secret stash for themselves in the house. My advice is if you don’t want your child to eat something, don’t have it in the house. IF you really want to have that food in the house, share it with your child. No matter how good you think you stash it, they will always, always, always find your secret stash.

If you share your snacks or sweets with your child, at least you know how much they ate. When they sneak food behind your back, you have no idea how much and how often they eat, especially older children who have access to money.

Parents often worry that if they say “yes” and allow their children to have candy, their children will binge eat. But that’s their own fear because the parents are the ones without control over that food. If you let your child have candy here and there, at least you know how much they ate. And because the sweets or candy are not restricted, they’re not desired anymore.

If they sneak behind your back to the sweets or candy, you’ll never know how much they ate.