Fed Up Roadshow August-September 2010

Here are some notes from the Roadshow, to be updated as it happens. Thanks to all the dedicated organizers who are helping make this year’s tour such a success in helping people struggling with food intolerance.

Toowoomba QLD, Tuesday 3 August

Most attendees at the Toowoomba talk were new to diet but there were also some longterm failsafers – one couple had driven for over 3 hours to be there – they had discovered Fed Up 5 years ago for their oppositionally defiant son and ‘it has made a HUGE difference to our lives’. Another mother described how she found Fed Up in a bargain bin 10 years ago when she was at the lowest point with her 3 yo daughter – not one of the many specialists she had consulted had been able to help but the book turned her life around. Constipation is one of the many conditions that can be associated with food intolerance and I was appalled by one attendee’s report concerning chronic constipation in her 10 year old son: a doctor’s recommended regimen of a high fruit diet with daily laxatives, fibre supplements and weekly enemas is not working to prevent leakage and consequent social stigma – and no one has ever suggested food intolerance, despite a strong family history. The mother was only too pleased to hear that salicylates and other food chemicals may be contribute (‘he lives on fruit’). In our experience, children with this problem usually improve within days of starting the diet. Thanks to the team from Child Safety Services for organizing this talk.

Brisbane QLD, Wednesday 4 August

The Brisbane talk at the Mansfield Tavern was a very friendly and supportive meeting with many members of FinB and others who have been doing diet for a long time as well as some newbies. Many of the attendees were concerned about allergies or autism – both conditions that are increasing although experts do not know why. According to US CDC data, 1 in 110 children today can expect to be diagnosed with ASD by the age of 8, which is ten times the rate in the 1970s. Autistic children are typically fussy eaters –one mother at this talk was shocked to see that 80% of the foods her difficult autistic son eats were displayed as food to avoid - ‘but how am I going to get him to change? she said. (The mother of an autistic child for whom diet has made a huge difference says ‘they’re in a rut – you just have to ease them out of that and into a failsafe rut’). We also recommend avoiding VOCs with autistic children and I was fascinated by this inspiring report: the mother of an autistic child who has been failsafe for ten years described how her daughter then aged 7 always used to wake up screaming until one day the mother removed all fragranced and plastic products from the daughter’s bedroom –and the very next morning the daughter quietly appeared at the breakfast table, calm, smiling and already dressed for school. Thanks to the Hurman family – Anne, Cameron and Scott – for hosting this talk and to Anne for organizing a failsafe food display.

Bingara NSW, Thursday 5 August

The Bingara talk was held in the marvellous art deco Roxy theatre with the audience from Bingara and surrounding towns. One family described how they moved to Bingara – with no fast food outlets – from a much larger town with many fast food outlets (‘we had to let them eat there, because “everyone else does”’) and have noticed that now their children eat only home-cooked food, they are much, much calmer. Another mother said she was ‘riveted’ by the talk – ‘about 40 lights went on in my head - my son ticks all the boxes for the restless ones’. She could hardly wait to get home and start on the diet. Thanks to organizer Tanya Heaton and her daughter Rachel, Samantha and Rose (pear jam and ketchup makers, email: lacaldera@optusnet.com.au), many local business sponsors for an extensive failsafe food display and delicious supper including some of the best failsafe sausages we’ve ever tasted (from Meat on Maitland), and Roxy manager Sandy for making this an evening to remember.

Inverell NSW, Monday 9 August

Thanks to exceptionally supportive preschool director Jan Carr, Tracey and IDFS (Inverell District Family Services) for organizing this talk at the IDFS preschool. It was good to meet preschool parents and some long term failsafers, including one who did the elimination diet with RPAH in Sydney for a baby with severe eczema with great success more than ten years ago. Also a mother who attended my talk in Inverell last year and started the diet after that (‘it made a huge difference’). It is frustrating to hear from yet another family who had attended numerous GPs and paediatricians for a child with major food-related behaviour problems but hadn’t managed to find anyone who knew to refer them to a supportive dietitian for a trial of the RPAH elimination diet. Our new Inverell contact is Jane, email: rowjane@bigpond.com, phone 02 67223354

Gunnedah NSW, Tuesday 10 August

There was a capacity crowd (120) at the Gunnedah Services and Bowling club. Some attendees had come from properties or other towns and one had flown back specially from the Gold Coast. Thanks to our facebook group member who wrote ‘Fantastic talk at Gunnedah – thank you for coming’. Comments from the audience included the mother of a 2 yo who has seen her son react to apple juice - ‘it’s like rocket fuel’ - and the mother of a 4 yo who grizzles constantly and is always unhappy. After the talk this mother commented: ‘Now I know why – he lives on strawberries, sultanas and Vegemite sandwiches’. Another mother of a 2 yo reported that her son suddenly developed sleeping problems 2 months ago – can’t get to sleep, wakes frequently, is always tired during the day but won’t go down for a nap and is always so exhausted he falls asleep within ten minutes when driving in the car. What had happened two months ago? According to the mother there was no change of diet but the child had started taking children’s vitamin supplements with orange or blackberry flavouring. A reaction like this often indicates salicylate intolerance.

Newcastle NSW, Wednesday 11 August

This talk was booked out two weeks before the event due to an excellent article in the Newcastle Herald (28/7/10, pp 36-37) by Anita Beaumont (‘Beware the menace in the meal. Fed Up with those terrible tantrums? The answer could be on their plates’) including the story of Newcastle mother-of-two Kim Wood. Like most mothers, Kim did not realise that certain foods were causing her then two year old son Zach’s frequent tantrums, inconsolable crying and inability to listen to instructions – until her local supermarket ran out of the flavoured rice cakes that Zach ate every day for morning tea. ‘When the ricecakes went off the shelf and he wasn’t eating them, you’d tell him to stop and he would stop, you’d say ‘no’ and he’d accept it – he wouldn’t have a meltdown or a tantrum’ said Kim. Zach was also vomiting five nights out of seven and they didn’t know why but when they cut out certain other foods, that stopped too. The culprits for Zach turned out to be flavour enhancers (621, 627, 631, 635) and fruit such as grapes and strawberries.

There were many failsafers at this talk saying ‘thank you for your books, they changed our lives’ at this talk. Some explained that the diet made a huge difference when they first did it but as they have slowly reintroduced salicylates and amine foods the diet ‘stopped working’ – this means you have introduced too much and need to get stricter again. Failsafers need to remember that symptoms of food intolerance can come and go and change throughout life. For example, it is common for early itchy rashes to disappear and later reappear as behaviour problems or hyperactivity – and that can come back as depression later in life – and there are many other possibilities. A person who has early problems with salicylates is likely to need to be careful with salicylates (with varying tolerance) for life.

Thanks to the extraordinary organisation by Lenora and Katrina of the Hunter Alliance for Childhood, also to Kim Wood for the failsafe display. Our new Newcastle Contact is Kim, email: kimdmurphy@gmail.com, phone 0413 994 334. Failsafe contacts can help with recommendations regarding dietitians and places to buy failsafe foods such as bread and sausages.

Castle Hill (Sydney) NSW, Thursday 12 August

Nearly 200 people attended this talk, coming from as far away as Wollongong and the Central Coast. Also at this event there were several families who had moved from the UK to live permanently in Australia, reporting that their children’s behaviour had worsened after the move. It is common for mothers from the UK and Europe to notice a worsening of children’s behaviour and/or asthma after the move to Australia – this can be due to the increased number of additives such as the bread preservative, high levels of sulphites in dried fruit, and increased consumption of fruit, fruit juice and dried fruit.

Thank you to the number of preschool staff who are attending these talks, concerned by increasing behavioural problems in their students including rages, silly noises, lack of cooperation, and inability to follow instructions; canteen managers who are concerned that the list of approved products they can buy contain so many additives; psychologists who are concerned that some of the behaviours they are asked to deal with are in fact related to foods; and dietitians who are happy to chat to attendees after the talk.

According to our surveys at this and other talks in this series, the majority of attendees feel that current labelling of MSG-type flavour enhancers is misleading. A proposal in 1996 by the US FDA to require labelling of free glutamates - such as hydrolysed vegetable protein - was withdrawn due to pressure from the food industry but would have made life much easier for consumers. A food technologist who attended this talk commented: ‘I am a food technologist – and I am unhappy about the way food technology is going: I have sat in technical meetings discussing what to call the MSG that we want to put in a product.’

Canberra ACT, Monday 16 August

Well over 200 people attended this talk in at Fadden Primary School.

‘The diet saved my life – literally’, said one mother, explaining that it worked brilliantly at first. Then – like many others – they let too much stuff back into the diet, not worrying so much about salicylates and amines. Eventually they realised they had to tighten up again: ‘within 3 days we saw dramatic changes’. The family is determined not to make that mistake again.

Another mother at this talk described how her daughter was diagnosed with autism at the age of 5 but all her symptoms went away on the strict elimination diet. ‘You’ve written about food-induced autism’, she said. That’s what my daughter has.

We are noticing many more adults with health problems attending these talks than in previous years. One woman explained how she had ‘lost 5 years of her life’ with what doctors thought was lupus, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue or some other autoimmune disease but eventually turned out to be intolerance to a combination of dairy and salicylates. A man described how he was ‘absolutely desperate’ due to bloating and other irritable bowel symptoms – by the end of the talk he had realised that he ‘lives on’ tomatoes and also consumes other high salicylate items such as beer. Another asked about infertility – in medical journals both female and male infertility problems have been associated with coeliac disease or gluten intolerance but other intolerances can also contribute to infertility: several previously infertile couples have introduced their new babies at talks after trying the diet for other reasons and finding themselves unexpectedly pregnant.

Thanks to tireless organiser and Canberra contact Sheryl Sibley for yet another great Canberra talk. Sheryl’s interest is severe food intolerance and chemical sensitivity; we now have two more Canberra contacts: Helen (coeliac disease and gluten intolerance, phone 02 6282 9805, email helenmarywilliams@hotmail.com) and Alicia (young children with behaviour problems, salicylate and amine intolerance, phone 02 6255 7278, email ajtoohey@gmail.com). The finACT group run by Darryl can help with failsafe sausages orders and where to buy other failsafe foods: email with subscribe in the subject line to finACT-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

Yass NSW, Tuesday 17 August

Thanks to husband-and-wife organisers Sky and Dallas Silcock for this friendly talk in the pretty country town of Yass. As in the Canberra talk (head banging after annatto containing yoghurt in a baby starting with introduction of solids) there was a report of head banging in an 18 month old after eating cheese slices with annatto 160b. Another mother had also seen annatto-related head banging and behaviour in her two children, and in another family, three out of four of their children suffered from annatto-related asthma (in ice cream). Although no one ever told this mother about the asthma-sulphite connection, she worked it out for herself when her 3 yo asthmatic daughter was rushed to hospital in an ambulance 4 hours after eating 6 dried apricots. A previous survey at our talks showed that less than 20 per cent of parents of asthmatic children are aware of the asthma-sulphite connection. There was also interest in coeliac disease and gluten intolerance which is becoming more of an issue, due to increasing understanding that coeliac disease is not as rare as previously thought. There were several recent unexpected diagnoses of coeliac disease (you don’t have to have a lifelong delicate stomach plus be very short and skinny to be a coeliac as was once thought). There was also a report of a ten month old baby failing to reach developmental milestones who improved dramatically when gluten was removed from his diet (despite current advice that gluten does not pass through breastmilk, some mothers do not agree). And a comment from a smiley grandmother at the end of the talk: ‘where were you when my children were little?”

Wagga Wagga NSW, Wednesday 18 August

Attendees had come from as far away as Cootamundra, Lockhart (a big contingent) and Junee at this big talk organised by Simone Harmer from the Henschke Primary School P & F and introduced by assistant principal Sandra Gunning. During question time, one mother told the story about her son diagnosed with ADHD at age 4. Now 6, the child is on diet and people refuse to believe the diagnosis. ‘The first six months were hard’, she said, ‘but it is well worth it. The improvements have been huge.’

Several mothers reported toddler diarrhoea as a problem – none had heard of the finding from US paediatricians that that fruit juice is strongly related to this condition and all were giving their toddlers juice: ‘isn’t it OK if diluted?’ Nutritionists say that fruit juice is no better than coke in terms of obesity. They recommend drinking water and eating fresh fruit instead. Filtered water may be best – I have been surprised by the terrible quality of the tap water in some areas. The next step after eliminating fruit juice is to consider other salicylates in the diet.

Some questions:

Q. What can people do if they are sensitive to ingredients in multivitamin supplements (or medications)?

A. you can ask a Compounding pharmacist (see under Compounding in the Yellow Pages) for a supplement or medication custom made for you.

Q. Is Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis related to diet?

A. Yes! For one girl, her only problem turned out to be MSG and other related flavour enhancers but for most it will include salicylates, see our joint pain and arthritis factsheet.

Q. Have there been any diet trials in detention centres?

A. Not that I know of in Australia, but at one talk to detention centre talk, the staff were amazed when they heard about the effects of colours and preservatives in cordial – it turned out that they had recently banned cordial for a week as a punishment and all had noticed the improvement. At the time they had said ‘the punishment is working!’ but during my talk they realised it was the lack of additives and as I left they were cancelling their standard supermarket order for cordial.

Albury/Wodonga NSW/VIC, Thursday 19 August

Over 200 people from Albury and the surrounding area attended this talk in the Commercial Club organized by Rebecca from Cooinda Family Services. Most were new to food intolerance, but some were enthusiastic returnees. There were also a lot of teachers. My favourite story was from a mother who had been so excited by our previous talk that she had hauled her husband out of bed when she got home at 10 pm to watch our DVD. They went on to report big improvements in their child.

Parents of children with special needs may think that all behaviour problems are due to their child’s condition, but the mother of a Downs child reported massive improvements on diet and the mother of a child with an unusual chromosomal abnormality said that the presentation had helped her to understand that at least some of her child’s problems are almost certainly related to foods.

‘When is the best age to do diet?’ one mother asked. According to Dr Anne Swain who developed the RPA elimination diet, the best age is at introduction of solids in a baby because you have total control over what goes in their mouth – with the proviso that you should be supervised by an experienced and supportive dietitian (ask for our list at confoodnet@ozemail.com.au)

‘Can I do the diet when I have shared custody of the children (with their father on the weekends)’? asked one mother. Only if your ex agrees to do it too. Or if you write the diet into the custody agreement. It is not unusual for a vengeful ex to deliberately fill the kids full of junk food and return them off their heads. This is one reason why our food regulators’ idea that you can read labels and choose to avoid foods without additives doesn’t work.

New Albury contact: Nicola ph 0417 062 134 email nnhobbs@westnet.com.au. Nicola would be happy to arrange a group order of failsafe sausages

Launceston TAS, Wednesday 25 August

There were some very happy failsafers at this talk, some who had traveled a long way in bitterly cold rain, and see new contacts below. One mother had put her asthmatic 10 year old on an additive free diet because his asthma inhalers were causing such a problem (‘he was bouncing off the walls’). As a result of going additive-free, his asthma went away and he hasn’t had asthma for two years. Another couple reported the worst case of head banging I have ever encountered – from introduction of solids at 4 months, their daughter had been banging her head not just 10 or 30 times a day as reported by others, but more or less continually – to the point of making her nose bleed constantly and even deformation of the skull (‘always covered in big bruises’ – it was so bad we could never go out, I couldn’t even leave her alone to go to the toilet’). After 18 months of this her desperate parents discovered our website 3 weeks ago and found she was eating heaps of annatto 160b in Kraft products such as yoghurt and cheese as well as some other suspect foods. After a drastic change of diet, the head banging has now stopped

Thanks to the irrepressible Debbie and Tracey from the Playgroup Association for organizing this talk.

New Launceston area contacts:

Belinda phone 6327 4759 belindagriffiths@live.com.au

Jo (longtime failsafer in Westbury) phone 0400 089 725

Hobart TAS, Thursday 26 August

The first person to arrive at this talk was a happy failsafe grandmother (see photo) who had attended my talk in St Helens 9 years ago about an oppositionally defiant grandchild – ‘it changed our lives … what would parents do without you and Howard?’ she asked. Several Hobart mothers reported almost identical stories.

Another desperate story with a happy ending concerned a man who was not diagnosed as a coeliac until his twenties, then found out about salicylate and amine intolerance ten years later. Some signs of an undiagnosed coeliac family: the older generation developing bowel cancer; and unexplained nutritional deficiencies such as calcium or iron.

A common question: yeast in baked products such as bread is failsafe; yeast listed in foods such as Vegemite, flavoured crackers, rice cakes and chicken nuggets is a source of free glutamates (MSG) and is NOT failsafe.

A feature of both Tasmanian talks so far is the number of parents who are angry about the way they have been treated by health professionals with no knowledge of food intolerance. ‘They thought I had Munchausens’ said one mother, and another said ‘I would really like to tell that paediatrician what he has done to my life’. With food intolerance, a bad dietitian (or other health professional) can be worse than no dietitian. I strongly recommend our list of experienced and supportive dietitians (and others including a newly listed supportive paediatrician) available from confoodnet@ozemail.com.au - and consider traveling to get someone who really knows what they are talking about. Don’t forget, you can phone or email first to ask for more information before you part with your money.

Thanks to organizers Michael and Wade and to Kingston High School for hosting this talk.

123 Magic instructors:

Lucy email lucy@headhearthandstas.com.au

Loni (Pittwater Family Support Services) email lonikube@bigpond.com.au

Hypnotherapist and counsellor who is failsafe herself and works with children: Sandy Winstanley phone 6239 6172

Burnie TAS, Monday 30 August

Howard’s favourite quote: a woman at the book table after the talk saying ‘I want the set – I came here to rule food out as a cause of my child’s behaviour – and I was wrong!’

This talk at Ridgley High School was attended by a capacity crowd of 220 people. It was great to see so many teachers in the audience including not just one but two school principals and also a broad range of community organizations from child care to the justice system.

There were failsafe parents and grandparents (‘I just wanted to say thank you - I came to one of your talks years ago, and we saw a huge change in our child/grandchild’), plus parents of children with problems, as well as a lot of adults interested in health problems. Reports included a 3 yo with salicylate-related sneaky poos and an adult with salicylate-related depression.

One mother dismissed the idea that it is too difficult to cook for your children: ‘I am a sole parent working full time and my kids only eat home-cooked food. Every weekend I cook a batch of biscuits or slice plus cake and freeze if necessary. That’s what they take as their treat (they have no commercial lollies or chocolates)’. Her children report that their friends have been ‘drooling over my biscuits’.

More information about failsafe foods available in Burnie and surrounding areas from our contacts Ruth 03 6435 3404 arbentley@internode.on.net (Wynyard) and Caroline, 03 6432 3223 tasallergy@trump.net.au (Burnie) and see details in our next newsletter about how to join the new Tasmanian failsafe email group. Also thanks to Leon and Kristin from Burnie Wholefoods in Cattley Street who stock a number of failsafe foods and are prepared to order more (leon@southcom.com.au) . And a big thank you to organizers Principal Denise Witherspoon and her team from Ridgley Primary School.

Melbourne (Beaconsfield) VIC, Thursday 2 September

Sue’s favourite comment - during question time: ‘Next time, please book a bigger hall … lots of my friends wanted to come too but they couldn’t get in’ (the presentation in the lovely Beaconsfield Community Centre holding 220 was sold out two weeks in advance)

Howard’s favourite comment - from a failsafer: ‘I just want to say thanks to you and Sue. For the first time, we are enjoying being parents’.

A report from the mother of a 9 yo asthmatic child: ‘She eats some of those foods you put up [foods high in sulphite preservatives such as dried apricots and sausages] every day. I didn’t know about that. It’s really scary.’ We hear this so often. Mothers need to know about the asthma-sulphite connection. It’s not good enough to have a label saying ‘contains sulphites’.

A mother asked ‘Could additives have anything to do with the recent appearance of facial tics in a 15 yo girl whose diet has suddenly changed to include lot of diet drinks and flavoured packet snacks?’ Yes, this can definitely happen in teenagers who consume a lot of junk food due to peer pressure. Similar effects have been reported in a teenager ‘living on’ junk food – the culprit turned out to be the 600 number flavour enhancers - and in a university student ‘living on’ diet cola and Burger Rings which between them contain benzoate preservatives, artificial sweeteners, artificial colours and flavour enhancers. (A laboratory study found that combinations of these particular food additives were potentially more toxic than additives ingested singly. Lau K and others, Synergistic Interactions between Commonly Used Food Additives in a Developmental Neurotoxicity Test http://toxsci.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/90/1/178)

‘Thank you. I came because I needed to hear it all again,’ one failsafer said. ‘I know what I am supposed to do but we have slipped’. This is common. There seem to be lots of people in denial about salicylates – either not prepared to avoid fruit in the first place despite strong evidence that there is a problem – or having avoided salicylates for a while and then somehow convincing themselves that they have grown out of it (and usually into a different problem ….)

Thanks to organizers Mim Gillespie and Sue Howart from the Beaconsfield Community Centre, and also to Melbourne contact Jenny R (03 9802 0973, jenny@additiveeducation.com.au) and Kathleen from Additive Education.

Millicent SA, Monday 6 September

Millicent is a small town near Mt Gambier in SA – which is pretty isolated anyway, so I could understand why so many people said ‘thank you for coming to Millicent – we really need to hear this’.

In one fascinating report, a man who had previously lived on a remote indigenous community near Turkey Creek in Western Australia described how he noticed only three processed foods were consumed there - powdered milk, preserved bread and meat. When they switched to preservative-free bread as he suggested, ‘the older kids stopped fighting and the little kids stopped head-banging’.

Some other interesting reports:

* head banging in a toddler due to chicken crimpys

* recurrent tonsillitis related to MSG and other flavour enhancers

* a child who has many of the problems listed in the blue brochure and eats 10 high-salicylate apples per day as well as some other fruit (six apples per day is considered to be a salicylate challenge)

This audience was particularly remarkable for the number of people who liked Brussels sprouts – nearly all of them!

Many thanks to organizers Mardi Watts, Angela and the team from the P&F at St Anthony’s Catholic Primary School, including Principal Kieran for a wonderful introduction, and the P&F team for a big display table and failsafe supper (my apologies for a few non failsafe items that slipped through when the supermarket included alternatives such as a packet of pink and white Pascall’s marshmallows – definitely not failsafe even you only eat the white ones as the red colour and flavour seems to be spread around - and the ‘all natural’ icecream cones contained annatto 160b).

LOCAL CONTACT Tracey Maney from Mt Gambier 0417 823 826 tamaney1@bigpond.com – my apologies for not introducing Tracey – I didn’t realize she was in the audience.

Failsafe sausages now available for this area in Mt Gambier: Colin’s Court Butchers, 174 Jubilee Highway Mt Gambier 08 8725 7060

James Street Quality meats, 32a James St, Mt Gambier 08 8723 3700

Adelaide SA, Tuesday 7 September

Politician David Pisoni, member for Unley, again introduced me at the Adelaide talk (this time over 400 people). David is a very important politician – he is aware of food additives because of their effect on his own child, and he is also the Shadow Minister for Education!

This talk was like a failsafe fair, with failsafe sausages, pear jam and other goodies for sale as well as a failsafe display organized by Marianne Orgran.

More interesting reports:

* The mother of a 6 yo with long term sleeping problems was delighted to report that her son slept through the night on the second night of the diet

* the mother a 10 year old with a lifetime of chronic constipation (even doing only one poo every ten days as a baby), variously diagnosed as spastic colon or lazy colon - just like the story I use in the presentation, previously on daily laxatives, fibre supplements and a high fruit diet and it simply wasn’t working - reported that her son improved within 4 days of the diet

* Another ‘vengeful ex’ story, this time from the stepmother of a ten year old with behaviour problems: ‘his mother feeds him up on junk food before she sends him back - he says to me “what can I do, Mum tells me to eat it”’. We both agreed that this is a form of child abuse and our food regulators are utterly failing to protect children in this difficult position.

* There have been many enquiries about food-related seizures or absence seizures. The medical literature is clear that in people with food intolerance, seizures can certainly be related to foods. As with other food intolerance symptoms, the culprit/s depend upon individual sensitivity. As with any symptom, the best way to find out what is happening is to do the full elimination diet with challenges, supervised by a supportive and experienced dietitian. See more details in our Epilepsy factsheet and also the Pets factsheet.

* I came about my 18 month old but during the talk it suddenly hit me ‘OMG I’m affected too!’

* A question about frequent night waking in a 12 mo – two most favourite foods are yoghurt (check for 160b annatto), and bread (check for the bread preservative 282) …

* I came for my son (one of the ‘restless ones’) but now I realize my daughter is affected just as badly, she’s one of the quiet ones …’

* And many people said “I just came to say thank you – you have made such a positive difference to our family’.

Thank you to Adelaide organizer and failsafe contact Bron Pollnitz, the feedback coming in is that everyone loved the talk – ‘the two main things that have emerged were how positive and down to earth you were (providing heaps of information but not forcing it on people) and how dodgy the labeling on packets is’.

Bron’s contact details: 08 8299 9208, 0407 299 920 peterbron@optusnet.com.au

Thanks also to The Small Food Catering Company for pear jam and many failsafe treats. Contact Debbie Kelly 08 8298 8482 mail@catering.net.au.

Whyalla SA, Wednesday 8 September

Our first ever talk in Whyalla, a remote SA town ‘where the outback meets the sea’, was attended by over 100 people. Some had driven for more than 4 hours to attend the talk. Many expressed their gratitude to us for coming – ‘we have no help out here’ or my books. Some comments:

* ‘I’m sure your books have saved lives, I personally know of at least three’

* ‘I used to love my son but not like him if you know what I mean – your book made a huge difference and now we are a happy family’

There were many reports of improvements due to my books in behaviour, sleeping, stomach aches, rashes and other problems and although I normally say the diet is too difficult to do with teens, I was privileged to meet an impressive teenager who did the diet at age 14 and has seen improvements in health, sporting ability, and school results: ‘I feel so much better’.

Supports:

R&E Butchers (in the City plaza, Patterson Street Whyalla phone 8645 0990) do delicious failsafe sausages and brought some to the talk. Also good for failsafe meats because they don’t have cryovacced meats and can do additive-free hams on request for amine non-responders.

NEW LOCAL CONTACTS:

Deb 0448 546 842 debndave2@bigpond.com

Anne-Marie anne-marie.shaw@sa.gov.au

Thanks to the three enthusiastic failsafe organisers Deb, Anne-Marie and Kath (see photos), and to R&E butchers (see Kylie in photo holding failsafe sausages).

Port Lincoln SA, Thursday 9 September

Our first ever talk in Port Lincoln (so remote that a nearby spot was used as a location for Australian Survivor) was attended by over 120 people. Again there were many reports of improvements in children by grateful parents who had read my books, including ‘I want to give you a hug for helping our family so much!’ and ‘the improvement in the quality of life for our family has been huge thanks to you. Also due to an administrative problem we also had to contact some people who have bought books during this roadshow – all of them were happy to report that they have already seen positive changes.

Feedback from organizer Liz Desart: “I wanted to say how fantastic last night’s seminar in Port Lincoln was – I have had many positive comments both last night and today – thanks!’

Thanks to organizer Liz and also Sheree and other very supportive staff from the Poonindie Childcare centre.

Due to the incredible remoteness of the Eyre Peninsula talks, it can be difficult to find a supportive dietitian – don’t forget, you can request more information on a wide range of topics, such as Salicylate and Amine Mistakes information sheets and Medication information sheet (suedengate@ozemail.com.au).

We have a volunteer as a new failsafe contact: Pamela (stand by for further details)

Failsafe Sausages are now available in Port Lincoln thanks to Barry and Jodie (stand by for further details)

SOME GENERAL COMMENTS

As our 2010 Roadshow approaches the end (one talk to go! – Mildura on Tuesday) here are some general comments that apply to more than one talk.

* I have been disappointed by the number of failsafers at most talks who have reintroduced a few high to very high salicylate foods from olive oil to mandarins. While insisting ‘but we can cope with that’, they simultaneously ask for help about strange new symptoms. Don’t forget that food intolerance symptoms can change throughout life, so your child may seem to have grown out of their previous reactions to salicylates. But it is highly likely that the new symptoms are due to a slow cumulative build up of salicylates as has often turned out to be the case.

* Pears: failsafers are getting anxious regarding the availability of pears canned in syrup (the only failsafe kind!!!) – please make sure you register with our pear petition, see breaking news on our website www.fedup.com.au.

* I was interested to hear a report of an autistic child who is sensitive to smells and insists on one particular kind of fabric conditioner and screams if exposed to anything else. I know how he feels. I have found SA the ‘smelliest’ of all states with regard to fragrances in public toilets and especially fabric conditioners in nearly all of our SA accommodation - and have had to use my own pillow case etc washed in Omo sensitive. Fabric conditioners, air fresheners and other perfumed products are not permitted on the RPA Elimination Diet.

Mildura VIC, Tuesday 14 September

As our 2010 comes to an end we are feeling overwhelmed by the amazingly positive feedback that is pouring in. From the final (Mildura) talk:

- ‘awesome’

- ‘so glad I came’

- ‘the best money I ever spent was coming to Sue’s talk last year .. the whole family are now free of asthma’

- ‘thank you both for the work you do’ (we have heard this from many, many people!)

And an email from a Port Lincoln mother: ‘Unfortunately I was unable to attend your seminar in Port Lincoln. A few of my friends went and told me how wonderful you were. I borrowed your book Fed Up from a friend, and read it in two days - unreal!! Your book has been like a light switched on in my head! I also borrowed the DVD and watched it twice the same day!! Thank you so much for opening my eyes to what the big companies have been doing to my children.’ (Note for people in Port Lincoln, the new failsafe contact is Pam phone 8685 4441, and Sarah Munslow, senior dietitian at the Port Lincoln hospital is happy to supervise the RPAH Elimination Diet).

Thanks to the Mildura local failsafe group and contacts – Failsafe Sunraysia Families

* Monica 0400 899 706 monhoppy@ncable.com.au

* Peta 0427 083 337 bailey_26@optusnet.com.au

Since Mildura is the centre of a huge fruit growing area, we have been receiving reports for years from fruit farmers about problems for themselves or their children due to high consumption of fresh or dried fruit (salicylates, amines, sulphites) and/or sulphite exposure. As well, there were the usual health and behavioural problems.

There was another question about the food link to juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. One of the currently recommended dietitians in Victoria supervised a full elimination diet and challenges for a 12 year old girl with this condition whose only problem turned out to be MSG and other glutamates in highly flavoured processed foods, as described in our joint pain factsheet.

It is the same answer for most questions: for anyone with a serious problem or diagnosed condition, the best way to find out exactly what is happening is to do the strict elimination diet and challenges supervised by an experienced and supportive dietitian. However, most people are so unwilling to give up their favourite foods that they would prefer to muddle through using guesswork than commit themselves to an elimination diet.

The first rule of food intolerance applies:

Whatever you are most reluctant to give up is most likely to affect you …

OR

If you like it you can’t have it! :<)

The single most fascinating case I met on the entire trip was a perfect example. A woman with a strong family history of coeliac disease (‘I’m about the only one in the whole family who can eat gluten’) introduced her problem as alopecia (‘I don’t have a single hair on my whole body’). What is the most likely cause for that? Gluten! In my experience, relatives of coeliacs may pass the blood test but often do much better when avoiding gluten. ‘But I love my bread - it’s my favourite food!’ she said. Yep. Whatever you are most reluctant to give up is most likely to affect you.

During the entire trip, I have been surprised by the number of failsafers who have reintroduced some very high salicylate foods from Nutella, olive oil, or mandarins to bolognaise sauce. While insisting ‘but we can cope with that’. They simultaneously ask for help about strange new symptoms. Don’t forget that food intolerance symptoms can change throughout life. You or your child may seem to have grown out of a previous reaction to salicylates, but it is highly likely that the new problem is salicylate-related due to a slow build up when reintroducing salicylates. Don’t jump in at the very high end, be careful and stick to moderates with a few highs.

Many failsafers are anxious regarding the uncertain availability of pears canned in syrup (the only failsafe kind!!!) Please make sure you register with our pear petition, see Breaking News on our website www.fedup.com.au

And finally: During this tour we have talked to well over 3,000 parents, friends, relatives, grandparents, teachers, psychologists, doctors, nurses, police and a few extraordinary young failsafers in 20 locations spread over six states. Howard and I are always amazed by the friendliness, generosity, support and willingness to share experiences that we encounter along the way, and I’d like to say thank you to those who made this tour such a memorable experience for us. I hope you will be joining us on our email newsletter list. The newsletters come out 4 times a year, are free, contain product updates and so far reach over 7000 families. The more members, the more credibility we have when lobbying food manufacturers for change. You can join by emailing with subscribe in the subject line to failsafe_newsletter-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. If you gave your details at a talk you will hear from us in the next few weeks to confirm your subscription.

Note that some of the situations mentioned above have been changed to protect privacy.