FAILSAFE #46
Newsletter
of the Food Intolerance Network
October
– December 2005
|
The Food Intolerance Network supports people worldwide using a low-chemical elimination diet free of additives, low in salicylates, amines and flavour enhancers (FAILSAFE) for health, behaviour and learning problems. |
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THIS MONTH
Food
in cinemas
Asthma
and additives
Schools
peanut ban
The
rise and rise of supermarkets
Food
additives and dementia
Inauguration
of the Nasty Food Awards
Research: Gluten free diets and
depression, Reduced sulphite wines, Bagged salads
In brief: Flavours not safe, Spam website, Sunset yellow risk, Another major food chain bans additives, Australian flour not bleached, Demand for preservative, additive free foods, Popcorn flavour damages, Bovine Growth Hormone
Now
targeting… BHA 320 (synthetic antioxidant)
Readers' stories: [377] - [381]
Product updates: detailed help and information.
Questions: detailed help and information.
Cooks Corner: Tweedie Pie,
PBJ sandwiches, Failsafe trail mix,
Max's MEMMs
(mini expresso melting moments).
Hi everyone
Apologies
for the lateness of this newsletter and thanks to all those who have written
regarding my broken arm. It happened while Howard and I were hiking the 19 day, 230 km remote
Larapinta Trail from Mt Sonder to
In this newsletter, there's
some good news about cinema food as well as yet more confirmation of the
importance of additives in asthma, a sad reminder to take peanut allergy
seriously as an increasing numbers of young children including failsafers are
being diagnosed with this condition, a look at the power of supermarkets, and a
thought provoking report about the effects on food chemicals on dementia in the
elderly. As usual, there are some startling reader stories about the effects of
food chemicals, this time particularly with babies and young children. When
does a salad contain more fat than a burger? See our Q & A for answers. For
failsafers, there are more groups, contacts and dietitians
than ever, so take a look at our failsafe support section. And finally, if
you're a teacher looking for a failsafe-friendly part time job, see details of
the
Happy failsafe eating - Sue Dengate (sdengate@ozemail.com.au)
Food
in cinemas
The Greater Union ban on taking your
own food into cinemas has been overturned, due to the large number of
submissions from people who need to be on a diet which does not include any of
the foods available from a cinema kiosk. Thanks to Anaphylaxis
Asthma
and additives
For most children - although not all
- getting rid of asthma can be as simple as switching to an additive free diet,
and we saw this in Jamie's School Dinners. After one month on Jamie's
additive-free food, the teacher who supervised asthma medication at
Schools
peanut ban
Peanut products have been banned in
many schools because of the growing incidence of children with life-threatening
nut allergies. Last month, the NSW State Government advised public schools to
‘avoid the use of peanuts, peanut butter or other peanut products’,
particularly in lessons such as cooking or science. The ruling came after the
deputy state coroner, Jacqueline Milledge, found that
13-year-old schoolboy Hamidur Rahman
died of anaphylactic shock in 2002 after eating peanut butter during a trivia
night challenge at a school camp, despite a known peanut allergy. Hamidur's parents had told a teacher of his allergy but had
not been informed themselves of the potential seriousness of peanut allergy and
Hamidur did not have an Epi-pen.
An estimated 2 per cent of pre-school-aged children are allergic to peanuts and
80 per cent have the allergy for life. The coroner recommended immediate proper
training of all staff and students in the state's schools and childcare centres
and correct emergency treatment of acute reactions including the use of Epi-pens. In another tragic incident last year 4 year old
Alex Baptist died of anaphylaxis in a Victorian kindergarten, despite carrying
an Epi-pen which staff were not properly trained to
use. Many schools have now banned peanut butter, Nutella,
muesli bars and satay-flavoured noodles and some schools are supervising
children so that they do not swap lunches.
More information: www.allergyfacts.org.au,
phone 1300 728 000.
The
rise and rise of supermarkets
Over the last thirty years, a
handful of supermarket chains have slowly taken control of about 80 per cent of
our food. Consumers are now starting to feel the crunch as supermarkets dictate
to us what we can and can't eat.
Did you know:
* bagged salads made from lettuce
and other green leaves are washed in chlorine, dried, sorted and packaged in
plastic bags with modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) where low levels of
oxygen and high levels of carbon dioxide keep it looking fresh for up to ten
days or even a month but destroy vital nutrients (see research below).
* in the UK there are more than
6,000 varieties of dessert and cooking apples but many have been lost to
production and survive only in the national fruit collection because
supermarkets stock only ten varieties.
* growers are pressured to overprune, use more fertiliser and pesticides, and to pick
earlier than they want to achieve supermarket imposed standards of shelf life
and appearance in fruit and vegetables, accompanied by a decrease in flavour
and an increase in salicylates.
* supermarket tomatoes advertised as
vine-ripened have been picked at the ‘breaker stage’ - meaning they are a good
size and should be ready to turn colour - and ripened artificially with
ethylene gas.
* in Australia, over the next two
years Woolworths and Coles supermarkets plan to delist familiar brands in
favour of own brands in a bid to increase own label brands from 12 per cent of
supermarket sales to about 40 per cent. This is mean specialty items may go out
of production, we will be less likely to find out about unlisted BHA, and it
will be harder to buy plain staples without added colours, flavour sachets and
profit margins. We know this because in some US supermarkets it is already
impossible to buy plain rolled oats without added colour and sugar or rice
other than small packets with flavour sachets; our Woolworths supermarket has
already delisted lentils and soy butter; and we rarely receive a satisfactory
answer about ingredients in own brands from Coles or Woolworths.
What you can do: buy from your local
butchers, bakers and fruit stalls if they haven't already gone out of business;
buy from farmers markets www.farmersmarkets.org.au
(the 'real food revolution'); and read 'Shopped: the shocking power of British
supermarkets' by Joanna Blythman, Fourth Estate,
London, 2004 or 'Not on the Label: what really goes into the food on your
plate' by Felicity Lawrence, Penguin, London, 2004. Tomato reference: http://www.hydroponics.com.au/back_issues/issue72.html.
Food
additives and dementia
The effects of food chemicals on the
elderly are generally overlooked although senior citizens become more sensitive
to food additives because of the decreasing ability of ageing livers and
kidneys to filter out toxic chemicals. We receive frequent reports of
irritability in men when they start taking daily doses of aspirin for heart
disease. 'We've been married for more than 50 years but the way he is now, I
don't want to live with him any more', one woman said sadly. As with children,
brain dysfunction will be aggravated by food reactions. A failsafer who is caring for an elderly
relative with dementia has reported the following reactions after infractions
due to others in the household:
‘After artificial colours such as a
finger bun with pink icing or a cheap own-brand cream biscuit with artificial
colours and synthetic antioxidant she becomes very oppositional within hours;
after tomato sauce at lunchtime, that afternoon she tried to put her used
control pants down the toilet, rather than in the nappy bucket, although she
was aware she had done something wrong; after iced donuts on both days of the
weekend she had a terrible week, introspective, restless, agitated, didn't do
what was asked. Ultimately she had a fall and is now very depressed. I can now
understand what living with a child with oppositional defiance must be like. I
am sure she would have loved to hit me the other day!’
Inauguration
of the Nasty Food Awards
The Food Intolerance
Network is pleased to announce the opening entries in the Nasty Food Awards, where use of
nasty additives or tricky labelling can be put on display for all to see and
marvel over. There’s a new button on the
website. Your nominations are welcome!
Inaugural winners: Home Brand Tropical Fruit Drink
Devondale
Light
|
Research |
Gluten free diets and
depression
Gluten free
diets can alleviate depression and disruptive behavioural disorders in
adolescents with untreated coeliac disease, according to Finnish researchers
who found a significant decrease in psychiatric symptoms after 3 months on a
gluten-free diet compared to patients' baseline condition. Pynnonen
PA and others, Gluten-free diet may alleviate depressive and behavioural
symptoms in adolescents with coeliac disease, BMC Psychiatry.
2005;5(1):14.
Reduced sulphite wines
Good news
for sulphite-sensitive wine lovers: a simple and inexpensive method for
reducing the sulphite content in wines has been developed using wheatgrass to
convert potentially harmful sulphites into innocuous sulfates.
Sulphites in commercial white wines were reduced from 150 ppm
to under 7.5 ppm within 3 hours and a 93% removal of
sulphite in commercial red wines was observed within 45 minutes, suggesting
that wheatgrass could be used to remove sulphites from beverages prior to
consumption. Lin SC and Georgiou G, A biocatalyst for the removal of sulfite from alcoholic beverages. Biotechnol
Bioeng, 2005;89(1):123-7. Full text
at http://www.eng.uq.edu.au/files/course/files/CHEE4020/reid.pdf.
Bagged salads
Bagged
salads are convenient but not nutritious. Researchers tested blood samples of healthy
volunteers after eating fresh lettuce and the same lettuce after three days in
MAP (modified atmosphere packaging) storage. Plasma levels of healthful
antioxidants such as Vitamin C and beta-carotene rose significantly after
ingestion of fresh lettuce but there was no change after eating MAP stored
lettuce. Serafini M and others, Effect of acute
ingestion of fresh and stored lettuce (Lactuca sativa) on plasma total antioxidant capacity and
antioxidant levels in human subjects, Br J Nutr.
2002;88(6):615-23.
Diet not working as well as you'd hoped?
One tiny mistake can make a huge difference. For
fine-tuning, see the Checklist of common mistakes. Readers tell us
this list is very useful.
|
In brief |
Flavours
not safe
– despite continuing reassurance from Australian and NZ regulators, Europe’s
watchdog continues to wade through the risk assessment of 1000 flavouring
substances, concluding that seven out of eight in the latest batch need more
data to determine ‘reliable exposure’.
http://www.foodnavigator.com/news/ng.asp?n=63411&m=2FNEO26&c=jzvifzfdcuywjqo
Spam
website
– a spam website fedupwithfoodadditives.com appears to have just been created
by the food industry to draw web traffic away from the Food Intolerance Network
and has infringed copyright on the use of the term Failsafe. It seems we have
their attention so maybe they’ll soon start taking nasty additives out of our
food too!!
Sunset
yellow risk – food additive 110 has just been found to contain traces of
banned cancer-causing Sudan 1 colour in the UK, whose Food Standards Agency
have alerted colour manufacturers. http://foodnavigator.com/news/ng.asp?id=62974
Another major food chain bans additives
– On top of the UK Iceland chain and the huge Birdseye company
in the
Australian flour not bleached –
the Bread Research Institute confirmed that the only use of chlorine in
Australian flour is in some commercial high ratio sponge flours and even this
use is decreasing. It has been phased out in the
Meeting the demand for preservative, additive free foods
– in the first half of 2005, food processors released 564 products in Europe
labelled as without preservatives http://www.foodqualitynews.com/news/printNewsBis.asp?id=61984
Popcorn flavour damages – IFF has
been fined $US15 million for damage to employees caused by butter-flavouring fumes,
bring total fines to $US54 million…http://www.foodproductiondaily.com/news/printNewsBis.asp?id62339
Bovine growth hormone – BST, a copy of
a natural hormone injected into cows to increase milk production with attendant
mastitis and other welfare problems is not approved for use in
|
Now targeting…BHA 320 |
This section
is for the growing number of people who ask “Can I do anything to help?” These people
phone food company hotlines and write letters to politicians and food
companies. Judging by the bread preservative reversal, this strategy works. We
have agreed to team up with Western Australian-based www.additivealert.com.au to target
a different additive in each newsletter.
Thanks to all who have been targeting annatto 160b
colours this year by complaining to manufacturers. We can definitely see a
difference when do our supermarket surveys. We're also pleased to see that Devondale has taken some of the nastiest additives (635 and
320) out of some of their spreadable butters. We are
making an impact! For the next six months, we will be targeting BHA 320, so please phone or email any manufacturers who
are using this additive in a product you would otherwise buy. Soy and ricemilk
drinkers, especially, please contact Vitasoy about
their unlisted BHA: phone 1800 653 303 in
|
Readers' stories |
[381] One liners (November 2005)
A big thank you for your
recent informative and inspiring seminar, I bought your book ‘Fed Up with Asthma’
that night and have not been able to put it down - Qld
My son was a chronic biter
and after seeing several shows on TV about the additive 282 I took him off that
bread and he stopped biting. - by email
My little girl child is
diagnosed with autism and in the last two weeks I've eliminated all of these
numbers from her diet and she's already looking healthier. - WA
I am continuing to stick to
low sals vegies and I think it has made a big
difference for my son's sneaky poos, his stools are
now firm and well formed and he has been going to the toilet everyday
(finally!) - failsafer, Vic
Almost all the bread over
here has 282 in it. They call it calcium propionate and everyone thinks it's
calcium. Trickers!!! - failsafer,
Thanks for talking to my 8 yo daughter when she came to your presentation here last
year. She still remembers being a ‘Star’ for a day and it helps with her
acceptance of what we ask of her with diet. - failsafer, Vic
I got your book ‘fed up’ a
few years ago and since then I have tried the diet off and on but never with
much success due to a lack of commitment on my part. My sister had real success
with her daughter on the diet. Having recently reevaluated how my children
react to food chemicals, I am intending to do the diet again. - by email
When I read your book ‘Fed
Up’ I wished that I had read it when my children were younger. I spent
thousands of dollars and hours at doctors. In the end I worked everything out
for myself and some doctors admitted that I knew more than they did (and some
doctors did not admit they were wrong). - Qld
Some days my 16 month old
daughter was very hyperactive, followed by a horrendous temper. Your books have
saved me - she has been on the elimination diet for 3 weeks now, and I have
fallen in love with her all over again, she’s the angel I always knew I had. -
by email
[380] 635: Lasted two weeks and was agony
(November 2005)
Recently I suffered an
extremely itchy rash that kept me up at night and became very inflamed and sore
from scratching. I consulted the doctor and all he could tell me was that it
was a rash, and it could be a virus. That was all he could tell me. That and he
asked if I'd ever had chicken pox ... this rash was nothing like a chicken pox
rash. The rash itself lasted two weeks and was agony, to say the least. I still
bear marks on my arms from scratching. I went through the usual what did you
eat routine and nothing out of the ordinary - although I did have Hungry Jack’s
in the 30 hour time frame.
(Later) As I tend to avoid
most overprocessed foods, I can honestly say that my
rash after 3 weeks is much better. The rash I developed was small, intensely
itchy bumps over my stomach and back, and my arms. These bumps were constantly
itchy, antihistamines helped but did not alleviate much. I couldn't sleep and
felt irritable although that had a lot to do with no sleep. However I still
have some marks on my arms where I scratched too hard - reader by email.
[379] Behaviour due to hairspray, airfreshener (November 2005)
I stopped wearing hairspray about
6 months ago when we went totally failsafe and saw great results with our
children's behaviour. Two weeks ago I was going out without the kids, so after
putting them to bed I sprayed on some Sunsilk
hairspray and liked the way it looked. So the next day I did it again and
within a couple of hours my 3 year old son's behaviour changed. He was
overactive, very fidgety, hitting and kicking, and headbutted
his sister hard enough to give her a blood nose. As time went on he was crying
a lot with loud silly behaviour and wanting demands met immediately. That night
he could not get to sleep. I wore the hairspray for three days not putting two
and two together then we realized it must be the hairspray as their diet is so
failsafe it couldn't be the food he was eating. I stopped wearing hairspray and
his behaviour returned to normal. I have also noticed that when I visit my mum
who uses airfreshener - lots of air freshener - my son's behaviour deteriorates after a few
hours. - Vic
[378] Mr Revolting due
to dairy (November 2005)
Thanks for your Fed Up book
which was recommended by the allergy clinic - we have been searching for years
and getting nowhere but now it seems we have found a large part of the answer
to our 6 year old son's behaviour problems. We are still working through the
challenges, but to our surprise, the first challenge we did (dairy) was a
definite FAIL! We almost didn't even eliminate dairy, because I was sure that
was not a problem for him, however I decided to err on the side of caution and
I'm glad I did! He became progressively grumpier, looked pale, seemed tired and
complained of tummy aches. After a couple of months of beautiful behaviour and
no tantrums, we were back to ‘Mr Revolting’. We are
now dairy free again, and it has taken about 10 days for him to get back to
normal. - NSW
[377] I thought we were low salicylate
(breastfed baby) (November 2005)
I cried when I read the
stories on breastfeeding babies because that's our world since my son was born
16 months ago - screaming and arching his back until sore big farts release all
day and night. I thought we were low salicylate (citrus, broccoli, tomato...)
but it turns out it's all the things we were eating - grapes, watermelon,
spinach - a difference is already obvious since cutting out high salicylates. -
MORE READERS' STORIES on the website
|
Product updates |
Good
news from Brumbys - Failsafe white iced finger buns are
now to be standard items in all stores. Thanks to all those (especially
Kathleen Daalmeyer) who encouraged me to ask for this
when speaking at the recent Brumbys conference in
***Warning*** the ‘Fail-Safe’ snacks
recommended in the 7th November Women's Day are definitely NOT failsafe. Thanks
to Sue Black
R&R Bakery (
Betta Natural icecream cones. Betta Foods
assure us that the vegetable oil used in their Betta
Natural cone range does not contain antioxidants and the oil used is sunflower
oil.
Yoghurt: Yoplait Petit Miam Simply Vanilla Yoghurt (ingredients: milk, cream, mild
solids non fat, sugar, vegetable gum (pectin locust bean), natural flavour,
milk mineral complex, citric food acid, live yoghurt cultures, rennet, vitamin
D contains soy ) is failsafe. Always check labels especially for annatto
extracts (160b). Thanks to Julie Muller. Nestle natural vanilla is also
failsafe. Easi-yo premixes are technically failsafe
but I find them quite sharp particularly the organic natural. To be failsafe,
yoghurts need to be fresh and mild. Vanilla flavours can also be a problem if
eaten too frequently, see the Checklist of Common Mistakes on the website.
A2 milk: reports of improvements
related to A2 milk continue to come in, like this one, ‘We've switched to the
A2 milk. I noticed the difference in Ryan when we didn't bother to get it one
week (because it's so expensive) - Ryan was cranky and irritable and both boys
woke up with phlegm on the chest’. But it's not for everyone. Another family
has reported that A2 doesn't suit them and the children are better on ricemilk.
A2 is available in an ever-widening range of locations, see www.a2australia.com.au
Rice and soymilks: So
natural rice milk is failsafe (ingredients: water, brown rice, canola oil, calcium
phosphate, sea salt, emulsifier (471) mineral salts (501 and 509)) the
manufacturers confirm the canola oil is not cold pressed and contains no
antioxidants. - thanks to Michelle. Vitasoy rice milk and
soymilk are not failsafe due to unlisted BHA.
Beautiful
failsafe sausages, all lean meat
with very little fat and quite delicious for $5.25 / kg can be made on request,
but orders need to be at least 4kg, Eagle Vale meats, Shop 2 Cnr Gould and Eagle Vale Roads, Eagle Vale, NSW. Ph 9820
8330. - Kerry Whalen
Smiths crisps now contain potato, palmoleine, canola and or sunflower oil. The company
assures us there are no antioxidants in the oils. The technical people say the
oil is actually Sunola. - thanks to Susan Bragg. The plain Smiths Classic Crinkle Cut, Smiths
Selections Thinly Cut and Red Rock Deli Chips Original should be failsafe.
Please let us know if you have problems. UPDATE
Japanese soba noodles are made from buckwheat
therefore failsafe and gluten free. Thanks to Louise Baczkow
(Shanghai). I managed to find Spiral Foods Japanese Noodles (ingredients: buckwheat
flour, water) in a supermarket in Melbourne. Phone 03 9429 8655, www.spiralfoods.com.au
Duck River Soft Salt
Reduced Butter does not contain any antioxidants in the canola oil used for this
product. Thanks to Mary Anderson (Hobart)
Pampas Puff Pastry currently contains
citric acid 330, Vitamin E 306 and betacarotene 160a
which are all failsafe. The Filo pastry
is not OK because is contains 223 sodium metabisulphite.
***WARNING*** McDonalds French fries again contain BHA 320, but they are not
suitable for doing the antioxidant challenge because many children react to the
beef flavour.
For
sulphite sensitive wine drinkers: Hardy’s now make a range of preservative-free (not
failsafe) wines that are available in most bottle shops for around $15 bottle.
'They taste great and no headaches! I won’t drink anything else after trying
this wine.' Thanks to Jacqui Vanderzee
Place your Smashi
lolly orders with carlene@smashi.com
for Xmas before 25 November!
New failsafe colours in lollipops (and candy
canes: orders for Xmas close Friday 11th November) – contact Sam Tinsley 07 3820 8350 or stinsley@optusnet.com.au
Check out the updates page on the website for latest
product information.
|
Your questions: |
Q. Could nausea and vomiting
be due to fluoride? Our 3 year old failsafe daughter has been suffering
regular, unexplained bouts of nausea since we moved from Brisbane to Canberra 6
months ago. The vomiting has waxed and waned in accordance with other illnesses
but became particularly bad after a bout of gastro a few months ago. She was
vomiting about once a week for about five weeks after recovering from the
gastro. We went to see a paediatrician who could find
nothing wrong. Eventually, we remembered that she had reacted with nausea
during breastfeeding every time I had taken fluoride tablets. A similar result
occurred when we tried to give her fluoride drops in her water after weaning. I
tested my theory numerous times during breastfeeding and afterwards with very
obvious results and although taking fluoride was recommended by experts, I
decided that it was not worth it as it obviously made my daughter ill. My
husband noted that Canberra has fluoride in its water while Brisbane does not.
Although we have always filtered our water, we have found that carbon filters
do not filter fluoride. We put our daughter on to bottled water about 4 weeks
ago and she has not had any vomiting since. We have also noted a marked
improvement in her health, not just in the areas of nausea, and she is
generally a more contented child.
A. It
is estimated that most people currently ingest about four times as much
fluoride as they did during the early days of water fluoridation, approximately
equally divided between drinking water, food, other beverages, and dental
products, so fluorosis (illness due to excessive
intake of fluoride) is increasing. Abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting can be
some of the first signs of fluoride toxicity. Small children are more
vulnerable than adults. At follow up a year later, the child above was still
happy and healthy on fluoride free bottled water and dentists have advised that
fluoride is not necessary as long as her diet is good and she has good dental
hygiene. Further reading: Das TK and others, Toxic
effects of chronic fluoride ingestion on the upper gastrointestinal tract. J Clin Gastroenterol. 1994;18(3):194-9; http://www.diagnose-me.com/cond/C627523.html.
Q. Just wondering if others
have experienced their girls getting sore vaginas? Most afternoons my little
darling cries her eyes out, I have been putting it down to not wiping properly
or very concentrated urine as she does not drink huge amounts, but could it be
connected with salicylates? She only drinks water and nothing else but she
adores fruit, especially canteloupe, watermelon,
grapes and apples. The doctors are
saying it is sensitivity to urine and is common amongst small girls.
A. You're
right, sore vaginas in little girls are often related to salicylates and
generally improve when families go failsafe.
Q. How healthy are the new
'healthy' choices (salads etc) that McDonalds now offers?
A.
In
Q. My 4 year old daughter is
doing well on a low salicylate/amine diet with absolutely no preservatives but
sometimes, even when her diet has been constant, she has mood changes,
irritability etc. especially after days at kindy
although she has none of the food from there. Can she be reacting to
environmental chemicals?
A.
Most common would be colours from coloured playdough
but you also need to consider smells of perfumes, solvents etc. See the playgroup factsheet on the website
for suggestions.
Q. Is Massel
stock powder failsafe (ingredients: salt, rice, flour, sugar, dextrose, yeast
extracts, vegetable flavours, vegetable protein extract (wheat derived),
dehydrated onion, pure olive oil, chilli)?
A.
The first five ingredients are failsafe; the next three contain natural
glutamates (flavour enhancers); the last three contain salicylates.
Q. I recently started my two
year old son on an elimination diet as advised by my paediatrician
to see what effects foods are having on his behaviour. We were going quite well
over the last four weeks until his doctor prescribed antibiotics for an ear
infection and his behaviour started to deteriorate. My paediatrician
also put my son on an iron supplement Ferro-Liquid (Ferrous Sulfate Oral Liquid
Solution 30mb/ml) and Roche Pentavite Liquid which
says it has no artificial colours or preservatives but has a citrus fruit
flavour. Since his ear infection he has had a cough from a runny nose at night
and in the early hours of the morning.
A.
Many doctors, paediatrians and pharmacists do not
seem to understand that children's flavoured vitamin, antibiotic and other
medicinal syrups are never failsafe and will prevent the diet from succeeding.
The Ferro liquid is particularly bad because it contains both sulphite and
benzoate preservatives that could be causing your son's cough and nasal
problems. Plain unflavoured adult tablets instead, using a half dose for
children, are more suitable, e.g. Amcal One-a-day
multivitamins and FGF tablets for iron. See the vitamins and supplements
factsheet on the website for how to get tablets into kids.
Q. My 4.5 year old son has
been eating failsafe for 5 months with amazing results. I have read all your
books, belong to your discussion groups and have done the PPP program. Thanks
to you and only you, when failsafe he is a loving and compliant angel with a
dry nose and no physical problems. When he is not failsafe he is aggressive,
defiant, never satisfied, loses his temper, discipline is ineffective and he
has difficulty falling asleep, along with continual runny nose, recurrent ear
infections, bright red ears, sore tummy etc. Our doctor said that so long as I
kept my son failsafe, I would keep his behaviour at bay but suggested I would
not be able to do this forever (tiring, time consuming, school canteen etc),
and because of that, he would probably be diagnosed with ADHD in the long run,
where other strategies would be looked at - I'm presuming medication. I would
love to hear your opinion.
A.
My kids are at university now, living in a hall of residence where they have to
cater for themselves. They choose to be failsafe, still with amazing results,
so it can be done. Only a few years ago most doctors said diet didn't work, so
it is a big step forward to find a doctor admitting that diet is effective. The
next step is for doctors and schools to help us with our loving and compliant
angels by minimising the use of nasty food additives
and supporting failsafe food for those who need it. The more we spread the
word, the sooner it will happen.
Q. I was watching Today
Tonight on TV last night and a story on Flavours came on. One of the pictures
they aired was of a person with a red rash on the body. I have been getting a
rash like that, as well as swelling on the eyes and mouth for the past three
years and doctors, allergists and skin doctors can not find the problem. Could
you please tell me what flavours are most likely to cause this reaction?
A.
Flavour enhancers 627, 631 and 635. See the Ribo Rash
factsheet on the website for more information.
Q. The list of ingredients in
our sunscreen sounds pretty nasty but unfortunately it means nothing to me. What
should I be looking for? Sunscreen plays a daily part in our life on the Gold
Coast, and I have always been concerned about what I am been putting on our
children's skin.
A.
Laboratory tests suggest that some of the ingredients especially methoxycinnamate can provoke cancerous growth in test tubes
(not necessarily in people), so I try to minimise sunscreen use by sun
avoidance and covering up - widebrim hats, sunshirts, long pants. Failsafers also need to be wary of
perfumes (salicylates) and benzoate preservatives. However, there are times you
have to use sunscreen. It is important to avoid sunscreens based on PABA (Para AminoBenzoic Acid) as they contain large amounts of
benzoates similar to what you get in preservative sodium benzoate (211). Hydroxybenzoate
preservatives can also affect failsafers through skin absorption especially if
you get large doses and continuous exposure but it is not possible to get
sunscreen without. Sunscreens for toddlers or sensitive skins are generally
best tolerated, e.g. from the Ego sunsense range. We
use the Cancer Council Everyday Lite because the
smell isn't too bad.
|
Around the groups: getting in touch |
Can you help?
Readers have requested more stories from people with
migraines, eczema or sneaky poos who have successfully managed these conditions
by going failsafe.
Failsafe Support
It is a good idea to consult a dietitian regarding
your child's elimination diet and nutrition but we all know that some
dietitians are much better than others, see story below. There are new
dietitians joining our list all the time. Write to confoodnet@ozemail.com.au if you need a dietitian recommendation.
'I saw a dietitian who is
recommended by many ADHD specialists, why I don't know because she was no help
to me and didn't explain anything; the dietitian you
recommended spent two hours and gave my husband and myself a full understanding
of what foods do and explained to us what to do in the diet. My daughter's
writing isn't messy anymore and she has improved so much in only a week that
the teacher thought she was back on Ritalin. When I said she wasn't, the
teacher was shocked that food could change a person so much.'
Need a failsafe-friendly lactation consultant? See
our local contact list for details.
New Canberra Group: email finACT-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
New Rockhampton Group: Renee, email frenchvillecc@tpg.com.au
If you live in the
1-2-3
Magic resources
Books and DVDs are now much cheaper (about $30 and $60
respectively), and Train-the-Trainer programs are available: next session in
Sydney, March 2006. More details from Parentshop
phone 1300 738 278, www.parentshop.com.au
Talks
Only two more: Sue has addressed
over 4,000 people this year in a marathon effort.
ARMIDALE NSW Tuesday 15 November
TAREE NSW Thursday 17 November
Brochures
Printable trifold
brochures on food intolerance and oppositional defiance are available. We'll post
two free that you can copy, or you can buy bulk copies at cost $A0.22 each plus
postage. See instructions on the website for accessing pdf
versions. Email confoodnet@ozemail.com.au
with enquiries. We loved this comment from one satisfied failsafer: "Ah,
the answer to my prayers. I had no idea the brochure even existed, but thanks
so much for directing me to it. I am not very Internet savvy, however I found
it easy enough. Regarding possible opposition to failsafeing
within the child care setting ... now all I have to do is hand over a copy of
this and let them ask questions! Thanks again. I highly recommend everyone
print this out if you don't already have a copy, it sure cuts out the "but
WHY can't your kid have (insert food here)?" questions. Great for
grandparents too."
|
Cook’s corner |
Tweedie Pie
2 shallots of 1 leek,
finely chopped
2 sticks celery, finely
chopped
1 clove or more of
garlic, crushed
1 tbsp failsafe oil
500 g preservative free
chicken mince
1 tsp chopped parsley
sea salt to taste
2 tbsp cornflour
dissolved in 2 cups water
In a heavy-based frypan
or large saucepan, stir-fry shallots, celery and garlic in oil, remove from
pan. Add mince to pan, stir until cooked. Drain fat if necessary. Add shallots,
celery, garlic, parsley, sea salt and cornflour mixture, stir until thickened.
Make into a pie in your pie maker or serve on mashed potato with steamed green
beans and cabbage. - Sharon Delpol
PBJ The failsafe equivalent of the American PBJ (peanut butter and
jelly) sandwich.
2 slices failsafe bread or 2 plain rice cakes
home-made failsafe
cashew butter or Freedom Foods soy butter
Birgit's home-made pear
jam
Make into a sandwich.
This travels and keeps well. - Thanks to 16 year old Daniel from New York whom
I met on the Larapinta Trail for this inspiration, it became my favourite
gluten-free dairy-free failsafe trail food.
dried pears from www.begadriedfoods.com.au (you can
easily trim the pear peel off with scissors)
raw cashew nuts
Chic nuts (garlic
flavoured roasted chickpeas)
Mix together equal
quantities of all ingredients and store in a ziploc
bag. Limit 3 handfuls per day.
Max's MEMMs (mini expresso melting moments)