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I am wondering if anyone has noticed a connection between behavior and nutrition. I discovered that at least two of my kids are super sensitive to food coloring and it severally affects their behavior. The first time I noticed it was when my daughter was three. She's very sweet and had a huge vocabulary, but one night  she woke up screaming and I couldn't consol her. She was shouting hold me!  Then she would shout "don't touch me!" Then "help me I can't breath!" But she could breath.  It was so strange that I thought maybe a night rage, but when I googled it, I learned about food coloring allergies. Later, my son who is usually super sweet and obedient was screaming and kickIng because I wouldn't buy him a $3 water when we were walking to the car from an event and I had his water bottle there. (People who know him had a hard time believing this strory because it was so out of character for him). But it turned out to be food coloring. My husband has BPD, but I've noticed that when he's eating clean  and no coffee and getting enough sleep, he seems to cope much better. Anyone else have any experience with this?

I don't know of any studies have ever been done linking the two. I do know that in children with autism changing their diet by removing certain dyes can make a HUGE difference in behavior.

For myself personally I have seen a connection between my H's food and his behavior. Within 2 days of eating chicken nuggets from McD's, he rages. I don't know if it's the sauce he uses or something in the chicken nugget itself, or the grease it's cooked in, but it is almost a guarantee. I also notice that when he eats a lot of gluten he gets grouchy.

A few years ago we began doing an elimination diet called GAPS (Gut & Psychological Syndrome diet).  As his body was detoxing out it got really bad (my behavior got bad too  ) but after about a week on it,  his behavior issues decreased to almost nothing. Then we began eating almost 100% paleo and things were really smooth sailing until we fell off the wagon. We keep trying to get back to eating like that again, but it's hard to stick to.

My H recently got diagnosed with diabetes, so I know that his rage and his blood sugar are linked.  Many of his worst rages come at a time when he is simply seriously hungry and his sugar is very low.  I have also observed his mood can improve when he is eating better versus crap, but I hate playing food police as it just gives him another thing to call me the bad guy about.  I bought him small candy bars as a caveat to his diabetes but still have a sweet tooth.  A friend ate a few, and he flipped out on me, getting mad I was rationing him.  He has not shown me he has self-control with sweets... .it's kinda important he gets the sweets under strong as he has lost some functionality in his legs due to all of this and the sugar needs control for it to get better.  But I can't do it all for him. 

Yes, food in some way can trigger some.  It all depends on personal body chemistry and any other underlying health conditions.  I think I H's case, he is already prone to being ragey at times, and low blood sugar just increases the likelihood of it, as his body feels crappy, his mood goes south.  If he eats garbage for the weekend, he will not feel well physically, and therefore is terrible emotionally. 

Interesting. Thanks for all the input. I do know that I asked at Mcdonalds once and they said almost everything has food coloring, especially the sauces I would imagine. I noticed the low blood sugar issues with rages right away when I first got married (it's been almost 18 years now) so protein definitely helps, but it's so interesting that you guys have the same experience as me. Knowing it's an issue and getting them to actually change their eating habits are two different things.