Some months ago, I started making sure my 6 year old daughter was eating zone proportioned meals. I gave her zone breakfasts and zone snacks to take to school, then zone evening meals and educated her and encouraged her to make zone favourable choices for her school lunch.

One of the supposed benefits of being "in the zone" is improved concentration, attention span and mental acuity. Because of picking up and dropping off times, we rarely get to actually speak to her teacher, so I considered that the next parents evening I should ask her teacher if she'd noticed any changes in my daughters behaviour.

Though I'm sure every parent says this, our kid is pretty well behaved and does quite well at school anyway: she's in the top groups for English and maths, and never gets told off (as far as I'm aware) so I wasn't sure that there would be much to say. She can sometimes be a bit slow and distracted, but that's about it.

Anyway, it so occurred that I picked my daughter up early one day about a month later, and her teacher was there. Upon seeing me, she stopped what she was doing and crossed the room for a talk. What she said was astonishing:

"I just wanted to say, how well your daughter has been doing recently. Her work has noticeably and significantly improved. She's working hard and faster than ever before. I don't know what’s happened, it's like she's suddenly turned a corner and everythings clicked into place!"

I was and still am astounded by that. She had no idea that I had changed my daughters diet. In fact when I mentioned it, she'd never heard of the Zone diet and was really quite interested in what it's all about and how it works. I asked the teacher when she noticed this seemingly amazing change, she replied: "About a month ago, give or take a week."

So I decided to quiz (and praise) my daughter about the things her teacher had said, and I asked her what difference she had noticed, she said: "I don't know, I just want to work." That from a 6 year old! So it seems that the Zone diet really can and does have an effect on the mind as well as the body.

That is truly awesome and amazing!

Thanks Tiffany, I was suitably impressed that's for sure.

I'm always glad to hear about a child who is in the Zone. There just aren't enough parents informed about the Zone! Considering that the Zone Alimentary plan has had excellent results even with ADD children it would seem logical that it helps even those who are just happy, normal run-around little ones.

You, as a mother, have given your child a new lease on life and I know that she will consider these changes part of her daily life schedule as she grows up. She will learn to make conscious choices about eating as she grows into the program.

A fundamental part of the Zone is also MEDITATION...have you been teaching her the importance of QUIET TIME? It will all fit into place slowly but surely -

How much OMEGA3 are you giving her - and is your family in the ZONE with her...so important!

Keep in touch with this thread so that we can hear your and your daughter's progress!!!

If you want to fix her ZONED muffins or ZONE bars you could check out the first section of threads on the home page...the second thread on bars has a couple of really good recipes (if I say so myself since I posted them) which are really tasty family snacks or breakfast additions!

That's great! You should post it as a testimonial!

> You, as a mother, have given your child a new lease on life

*ahem* I shall have to remember to lower my voice when posting in future. ;-)

> A fundamental part of the Zone is also MEDITATION

I don't agree that meditation is a "fundamental" part of the zone.

> How much OMEGA3 are you giving her

She's getting about 1.3g of EPA/DHA not quite every day.

Hello Colin...
Hope you are still around, since I just read your post regarding your child success...Thank you, I like it. I have two kids both have ADD... so I started working with them and giving them zone diet. I haven't talk to her teacher (she is 7 ) but she started to bring very good notes and even 10 (max note available) in conduct... since she was in kindergarden (3 1/2 years on that school) she always got 7 or 8 in conduct (I am not sure about translation, if it is same meaning in US)....but I can not give her omega3... how do you feed your daughter with the fish oil? liquid in smooties?? and she drop one pants size too... thank you, hope you can help.... Bernie

Bernie,

I have a daughter who has ADD. If you want to give your children fish oil, it seems to go down best in a smoothie.

Hi Bernie!

My son has ADD and has had excellent results with Omega Rx fish oil and the Zoen diet. He's been taking Omega RX for years and is now age 23 and graduating college. He's taken the liquid since he was a child, and switched to the capsules just recently. He could detect the taste of the liquid in any food he tried it in, so his preference was to hold his nose and quickly put the spoon of Omega Rx at the back of his mouth near the throat, and swallow it in one big gulp. Then he'd immediately drink a glass of water. The dose of a Zone labs fish oil or equivalent poroduct for a child or adult with ADD is 2 tablespoons (24 capsules) daily.

I wish your kids the best!

My experience has been that it isn't the taste that is so bad. Rather, it is that icky oily texture that just about gags me (and my daughter). Therefore, mixing in the shake makes it go down just fine, there is no taste to detect, and the oil mixes in with the other ingredients in the shake.

Everyone's different. I know a person who's been taking a tablespoon of liquid Omega Rx daily for years and has actually liked the taste of it from the start! (She must be taste bud challenged! ...jk!)

this is very interesting! My son is also ADHD and he will be 12. He has asked me to stop taking meds but he truly needs them for school, we dont give it to him otherwise. I would really like to find more info on this food change and the vitamins to help him perhaps instead of the meds since they truly are used only to help with concentration (he is a straight A middle school student). However, because of the meds mostly he requires a diet a bit higher in fat than us. This is why he ALWAYS gets a carb, mac in cheese, baked fries, any other pasta. He eats a small portion of meat, his choice, mostly the carb (his favorite is any kind of pasta) and always a veggie. I wonder how i could incorparate this into him without it being about weightloss at all. He is very healthy, very active, and very thin (his dad is almost 40 and 5'9 and has always been about 130 pounds, I am 5'1 and at my hughest weight 134 so he has "small genes".)
any help would be super. thanks ya'll

Hi Cheryl!

To do the Zone diet without losing stored fat you simply increase the amount of monounsaturated fat added to you meals. Here are the basics of how fat loss happens with the Zone diet. You eat to maintain a more stable blood sugar level (you avoid blood suga spikes). This results in lower insulin levles which, among many other things, lswitches the body burn burnign carb to burning fat to produce all it's evergy. These lower insulin levels unlock the body's fat cells so stored fat can be realeased. On the Zone diet we eat a little less than the actual amout of fat we would burn in a day. Since the lower insulin levels have unlocked the fat cells the body is able to get the rest of the fat it needs fromit's stored fat. If your son does not have excess stored body fat, he would simply add extra monounsatyurated fat to his Zone meals and snacks. My son has always been at a low ideal body fat, a very slim and sturdy build. When he began eating the Zone diet (about age 9) he simply ate more fat in his meals and snacks and remained lean and strong as he grew. Here's another plus to children eating in the Zone. Throughout his all of his middle and high school years my son missed a total of only several days of school due to illness.

Good luck!

I started the Zone this year, and thankfully my kids are very happy to eat nearly anything I give them. But after finding this forum I feel I have more knowledge to raise very healthy children. So thanks everyone for sharing.
One thing I attribute non-picky eaters to is rarely eating processed food, but also, finding NAET (Nambudripads Allergy Ellimination Technique) It detects hidden allergies. The treatments elliminate allergy to food and other things. Once my boys finished being treated for allergies healthy food tasted delicious to them. Picky eaters tend to be allergic more often than not.
The reason I post this is that if you hope for your kids to be off ADHD medication, and for the ZONE diet to benefit to the maximum, find a NAET practitioner. ADD runs in my family and when tested my 3 year old had all allergies that indicate ADHD. After a handful of treatments for B vitamins, sugar, and grains, and minerals, he is a pleasant and happy kid now. There is a book, "Say Good-Bye to Allergy Related ADD and ADHD". By Devi Nambudripad. Good luck...hope it helps. Disregard if not interested...thanks.
However, I honestly believe this is why I'm successful at feeding my children in the Zone.