Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention--And How to Think Deeply Again

Nutritionist Dale Pinnock explains that eating foods high in glucose, a form of sugar, causes repeated “energy spikes and energy crashes”—a “rollercoaster” that prompts people to seek more rushes from glucose and carbohydrates, and compromises their ability to pay attention for long periods of time (198).

Over the last several generations, the Western diet has been transformed to include more processed foods that contain preservatives, dyes, stabilizers, as well as increased sugars and fats. A Dutch study found that over 70% of children who ate a diet free from preservatives, dyes, and additives had improved focus. These results were repeated when the team replicated the study with a larger group of children. Nutritional psychiatrist Drew Ramsay maintains that food and focus have a “fundamental connection” because “[t]he brain gets built from foods” (200).

In another study, children who routinely drank common food additives were much more hyperactive than those who did not; this led European countries to ban these substances. However, the US has failed to act on this research and the additives remain commonplace in American foods. Pinnock notes that populations with the lowest rates of dementia and ADHD have very varied diets, but the commonality is that they do not eat processed foods: “That’s the magic bullet—Just go back to whole foods” (201).