My Monster Kids

I have three and 2/3 children; Caden (7), Ellie (5), Vince (2) and Gender-Unknown, appearing around August 9th.  For reasons unknown to me, this is the first time I've used my kids names on this blog.  Two college friends write a blog, Not Raising Brats, and have takes great care NOT to use their kids names, using nicknames instead.  I'm not sure WHY they chose to do this, but I figured they probably had a good reason and I should probably do the same.  After a year of blogging, I still have yet to come up with a good reason not to use my kids' names so I decided to post them.  (I also realize that most people reading this blog already know my kids' names.) So this post is about them, Caden, Ellie and Vince. 

I have a bachelor's degree in Psychology.  I am aware of the placibo effect, single-blind and double-blind studies, as well as the reasons to conduct each of them.  I am aware that much of what follows is influenced by what I've been reading in Robyn O'Brien's book, The Unhealthy Truth.  Despite that, I STILL feel that it warrants comment.  This past weekend I witnessed my children change from the monkeys that they usually are to monsters, which I attribute mostly to their diet over said period of time.  You know my kids are generally fed a whole food diet, sugar and junk added occasionally, but for the most part, their little systems are pretty preservative and additive free.  This weekend, because of the North Canton Jaycee Fair, Ellie's dance recital, Father's Day/Grandma's Birthday party and our traditional Sunday Morning Coffee and Donuts, they ate MUCH differently than they normally do, and I was AMAZED at the change in their behavior.  Candy bars, theater popcorn, pop, cupcakes, restaurant food, donuts, brownies, cake and ice cream, late dinners and fair food took it's toll.  First, let me say that my kids are generally kind of wild.  Caden LITERALLY climbs the walls on a regular basis.  But this weekend they took it to a different level.  They lost total control, Caden and Vince just couldn't relax to go to bed at night, they were fighting, crying,  Ellie almost threw up at the restaurant after her dance recital and we had to leave before our food came (but not before she guzzled root beer), fighting, wrestling, fighting, crying...Worst Father's Day Ever!  In full disclosure, in addition to eating crap for two days, they were also up late on Saturday after the recital, adding tired into the mix. 
The whole experience was very eye-opening for me.  My kids can tolerate a little junk food, but clearly a weekend of eating poorly is more than their little systems can take.  It was nice to see that what I've been reading, not only in O'Brien's book, but also from Dr Sears and a multitude of other sources, about diet having a direct effect on behavior is true for my kids.  After our lunch of hummus, veggies, berries, yogurt with wheat-germ, cottage cheese and vegetables, water, and celery with peanut butter and raisins, they're doing much better.  There's still the normal fighting and crying, but just the kids, not me this time.