Eliminating HFCS and Artificial Dyes for ADHD

About 2 months ago, our younger son, Levi, was diagnosed with ADHD, early signs of Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Sensory Integration Disorder, and speech articulation problems.  We are just finally coming off the waiting list and starting speech therapy and occupational therapy which will hopefully improve speech and help with some of the sensory issues.  The doctor encouraged us to try medication, and we did for a short period of time.  It wasn't really an idea I was comfortable with, and the side effects (mostly occasional grogginess) weren't worth the minimal change we were seeing.  We decided to take him off the medication and try a more natural approach.  This is where we are just starting now.

Many people have seen success in treating their child's ADHD by eliminating certain foods from their diets.  Two of the common and very unhealthy ingredients to eliminate are high fructose corn syrup (or corn sugar) and artificial dyes (especially red dye #40).  It amazes me how many food contain one or both of these ingredients!  I just cleared out almost everything in my well-stocked pantry that contained either.  The few exceptions that I kept were teriaki sauce, cake sprinkles, jelly until I can buy replacements and the box of cake mix and icing that I ended up not needing for my daughters' birthdays back in December.  I filled a whole box of unopened stuff to get rid of and gave it to a friend.  Anything opened or expired went in the trash.  Now the fun part begins...changing my grocery shopping habits and reading every label!  I found out that the Prego Pasta sauce I had was fine, but the Hunts sauce I had stocked up on was loaded with HFCS.  Most peanut butter brands have HFCS, but Smucker's Natural and most of the other more natural brands do not.  I'm also looking for an alternative for tomato soup or a good recipe for it since soups are a staple around here in the winter.  Nothing beats grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup on a cold winter day.  

I guess this is just the beginning of our journey to healthier eating and lifestyle.  There are some other ingredients that I would like to completely eliminate like hydrogenated oils and MSG, but that will be done gradually since I can't really afford to just throw out everything in my pantry and replace it all at once.  I'll share updates, improvements, and replacements and recipes as I try them.