BabyWhispererForums.com
EAT => Food Allergies => Topic started by: sherry lynn on August 19, 2010, 17:59:35 pm
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For months now I've been thinking about having the family do a low chemical diet.
Wow, I didn't know how detailed this could be.
At first I was really just thinking about cutting back on artificial attributives and preservatives. I didn't realize it can get much much more complicated that that.
DS 1 is a VERY VERY picky eater. There are really only about ten things he will eat. And ALL of them have preservatives, etc. They are almost all processed foods. So that has been bothering me for a long time.
DS 2 came a long and has known food intolerance, and I can't help but wonder how much DS 1 is also effected by food, but to a degree that is hard to recognize.
So I thought we could share resources, recipes and just talk about all these things.
On other threads the ladies have been a wealth of knowledge and I'll share some of those links here.
Does anybody else have success stories or experiences they would like to share?
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thsi is interesting, joining in. We mainly do non-processed foods, but who knows what we eat as I just am not a label reader
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Ok, so here are the resources I know about so far:
These links are from Eloys - thanks :)
http://www.fedupwithfoodadditives.info/
http://www.sswahs.nsw.gov.au/rpa/allergy/
I just printed out this booklet today: The Failsafe Booklet. But, for some reason the site is down right now, so I'll post the link later. The booklet is 31 pages. I recommend printing it. It seems to have some good recipes and seems a good place to start a low chemical diet.
Does Anybody have access to the Fed up DVD?
Hi Mukta :) That's why I haven't done it yet :) I am already having to read labels for milk and soy, and that is hard enough. Now, adding this :o Yikes. But, why now :P
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Ok, now it's working:
http://www.fedupwithfoodadditives.info/extras/Failsafebooklet.pdf
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Hi I have been on the RPAH diet for 6 weeks at the moderate level ( you can do "low" "moderate" or "simple" approach) and with eliminated all allergins dairy.soy.nut.gluten.egg (you don't have to eliminate all).
Before that I was on the "simple" approach for about 8 weeks and before that I was just dariy/soy/gluten free. All in all I have been on one form or another for the past 5 months.
I am breastfeeding, and touchwood, may just have found the baseline of tolerance for Ds2 - he is the reason I have been on the ED.
There are some fact sheets on Fed up detailing success stories:
Success stories
http://www.fedupwithfoodadditives.info/stories/story10.htm
Behaviour and autism:
http://www.fedupwithfoodadditives.info/factsheets/Factautism.htm
More recipes other than the booklet can be found here:
http://www.fedupwithfoodadditives.info/information/recipes.htm
There is a newsletter that can be subscied to latest product alerts, latest research, success stories, recipes etc
http://www.fedupwithfoodadditives.info/newsletters/FAILsaf48.html
I have the DVD, it is full of success stories. Sue Dengate went into several schools and got parents to take on the preservative and additive free diet for just two weeks. The results were amazing, teachers said that classrooms went for unruly zoos to calm tranquil places with little angels around the place ;)
I can post it to you for a loan of you like, but I need it back as borrowed it from SIL, but she said I can send it away. Or else if you want to buy it from the website, if they don't ship to the US, you can ship it to me and I will ship to you.
Also If you want to do something but are overwhelmed I would start with just additive and preservative free. That way you can learn the numbers how to read labels etc. Then if that is going ok after a month or so, try for the low food chemical diet with low/moderate salicylates, amines, and glutamates.
Info on above simple approach:
http://www.fedupwithfoodadditives.info/failsafe.htm
How to start step by step
http://www.fedupwithfoodadditives.info/factsheets/Factstart.htm
The one essential item that I have found that one needs to do the diet is the RPAH handbook (see below) Again, I can get my hands on them here they cost $25.00 the booklet contains menu plans, shopping lists, food charts, recipes, and preamble on how to choose the level of the diet right for you.
You can buy it form this website. I would say the cookbook called Friendly Food is essential too. Most recipes are yummo, I could not have survived this long on the diet without it.
http://www.sswahs.nsw.gov.au/rpa/allergy/
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Joining in.
We do our best to avoid food additives and chemicals but I know we could do much better. It's hard when your first start because there is so much you take for granted when you're used to eating whatever you feel like. Will be back later to have a look at those links.
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Thanks Eloys :)
I have been reading a lot about it of the last couple of days. There are some good websites that explain some of this in a little more detail. And of course it always comes back to the RPAH.
Thanks for the links. I think I am going to start with the preservatives, etc. first.
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Following along with interest...we do organic on alot of foods, but I know that isn't enough. I worry. :-\ My homeopath eats ONLY whole foods, if you can imagine. ONLY what grows from the earth! :o
I am almost scared to look at those links. :-[
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There is a good cookbook ( I harped on about this on another thread - I'm not on commision - honest!). It's called 'Friendly Food' and is published by the allergy experts at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital Allergy Unit. It's got loads of advice, is very clear and the recipes are really nice (lots of snacks and sweet things too!). I got it from Amazon. I found it had all I needed to do the diet, including really useful shopping lists of foods in the back.
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Sherry, cool if you could find those websites that would be good I kinda only use the Fedup one at the mo ::)
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Those sites will make your head spin! I find it very hard to wrap my mind around the scsalicylates/amin information.
Just being dairy free has eliminated so many processed foods for us and therefore preservatives, but, ugh, have just started reading labels on a few things--like our dairy free spread, and there are preservatives.
Anne--I really enjoy this cook book. It is an entry level whole-foods cook book: http://www.amazon.com/Feeding-Whole-Family-Cooking-Foods/dp/157061525X It would eliminate preservatives, but doesn't take into consideration the salicylates /amin type stuff. Everything I make from it turns out well.
I have ongoing issues with depression and anxiety and every time I read about these extreme elimination type diets, I wonder if perhaps they would help. But, to be honest, my husband would think it was crazy--he's had enough trouble with us going dairy free as a family, which DS's clear intolerance necessitated. I also struggle because I read such conflicting information and salicylates are in high concentration in foods that other sources tout as healthful. Ugh.
This is horrible, but ADD runs in my family and a little part of me hopes that one of my LOs is diagnosed with it to justify trying such an elimination diet, so I could try it too!
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the worst part about salicylates to accept is that they are in all healthy foods. That's why so many people leave it till the last elimination, but strangely enough, sals intolerances are probably much more common than other intolerances such as additive and preservative free, amines and glutamates. Even probably more common than some of the allergies too.
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Lizzyr - that is the same cook book that Eloys is talking about :) It is the cookbook written by the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.
Is this the one you are talking about? Friendly Food: The Essential Guide to Avoiding Allergies, Additives and Problem Chemicals? On Amazon there is also a Friendly Food Gourmet Cuisine cookbook, but I don't think that is the one you are talking about.
They want 50+ dollars on Amazon for that cookbook!!!!
I forgot to mention that I did by Fed up. It is on back order. And I did but the fed up cookbook. Are there some good recipes in there?
I found the Friendly book on a different website for about 35 dollars so I just have to come up with the money for that.
Eloys - do you know which region your DVD player is in. I've made that mistake before. The UK is region 2. So if you buy a region 2 DVD it won't play on my DVD player. Having said that Chris has a really nice DVD set that is region 2, so we do need to order a region 2 DVD player at some point.
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Of course I have to follow along here.
Discovering to my dismay that just because it's "from scratch" still doesn't mean no issues. I have personal issues with GMO foods, and they are literally EVERYWHERE. The ONLY way to avoid them, at least here in the States, is to buy organic, and even then there's no guarantee that something wasn't mislabeled. You have to hope, sadly. GMO's are grown as food AND cereal crops - most of the corn, wheat, and soy grown here are GMO - sugar beets (the US's main table sugar source) are mostly GMO (although I think there's now a moratorium since the courts declared the USDA or FDA, I forget which, had no business approving them ::)), GMO crops and crop by-products are fed to cows (which should be eating grass anyway, which is a whole other issue) so the meat and milk contain GMO DNA along with the corn protein and antibiotics and hormones, and even mainstream veggies like summer squash more and more often are GMO. Anyone with a corn allergy is seriously seriously screwed in this country, barring growing your own food from certified organic seeds.
And then of course there's the processed food, most of which includes the (GMO) grains and grain byproducts (e.g. high fructose corn syrup) and soy byproducts. It's also overly high in preservatives, artificial colors/flavors, and those processed carbs, meaning people not only eat a lot of bad stuff, but TOO MUCH carbs without even realizing it, so in addition to the artificial stuff there's a huge balance problem that's too heavy on the bad carbs.
Dairy....ah, dairy, as much as I love to drink milk, I hate what it does to my family and me. Intestinal and digestive problems out the wazoo, behavioral issues too. The exceptions have been cultured dairy - yogurt and kefir - and the time we had raw goats' milk. Haven't yet tried raw cows' milk, as it's not even legal in our state, but next time we go to PA (grandparents live there), planning to pick up some raw cows' milk and see how we react to that. Store-bought milk often contains growth hormones, and Monsanto (who basically got farmers started using them so has a vested interest) was suing the FDA to keep dairies from being allowed to label their milk hormone-free; the compromise reached was that they could keep labelling it that way but had to include a disclaimer that no difference has been found between milk with and without the hormones (which is not true, BTW, but the USDA allows it >:(). I buy organic milk when I can and make my own yogurt from it, a gallon at a time, SO much tastier and less expensive than store-bought yogurt.
I completely defer to Eloys on the salicylate information, as that's not the stuff we seem to need to avoid; she's a wealth of information there! :) But mostly we do our darnedest to cook from scratch using only ingredients we can pronounce and things we know the source of. Lots of good cookbooks out there to help you do this, and slow cookers are KEY for this! Highly recommend the book Nourishing Traditions too - recipes and information galore.
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Been doing low salicylate for a year now (most here probably know that already ;-). Have been avoiding preservatives by making most everything from scratch most of the time.
The usual things include: making our own bread, pizza crust, noodles (sometimes), pie crusts (for veggie pot pie with beans, carrots, celery), spaghetti/pizza (sauces, pizza crusts, popcorn (on the stove), baked tortilla chips (whole wheat tortillas from the organic store and baked in oven to make chips), using white cheese to avoid annatto, etc. We never use store bought soup broth/cubes, but substitute regular salt. Fed Up suggests that using salt is fine with their diet, as you are eating so much less sodium if you are eating unprocessed foods (to keep that in mind). It is time consuming. I made our own pickles (for dh and I). We avoid dyes; pickles and lots of processed foods are dyed. We have purchased grass-fed beef from a local farmer, and stocked the freezer. I'm sure there are other things we are doing, but you forget over time and it becomes regular routine.
I used this site a lot for low salicylates; www.salicylatesensitivity.com . I do like it as it "splits hairs" on some of the food categories, as it goes in to five categories instead of only four with RPAH. It may be a good place to check out too, and it has a forum for specific help on that. ;-) And I think people forget with salicylates, that anything on your skin (or breath like anything scented) is a factor too. You need to consider that as well (and are getting mixed results). I think RPAH has a section on that, too. Most "natural" products are high in them. We used california baby products for some time, and they have TONS of things that could be or are high in salicylates. Avocado for example, and who knows the salicylate count for juniper berries???
So, just a reminder that if you are doing low food chemical and your lo is chemically sensitive, it is a good idea to really start looking at cleaning products, hygeinne products, dish soap, laundry soap, etc. Most will not need to take it that far. but they are factors to consider if someone is sensitive.
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Very interesting, will be reading along. We've been trying to stay away from (overly)processed foods and preservatives. Although DH doesn't share the same idea of processed as he keeps buying things that to me aren't considered as food. I find it really hard to stay away completely from processed as there are things we can't avoid. I always read labels to see what's in it. Takes me forever to at the supermarket.
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Deb - thanks for popping. I hope you will continue to contribute. :) What was the special diet you did awhile ago? I remember reading on another post that your family was NEVER sick on that diet.
Would you please please share your yogurt recipe. That is the #1 food I am most worried about for Lyle.
Jean - I have been "worrying" about soaps since I told you about that link about eczema. I get some bad eczema sometimes. I thought the soap I use is ok because we use environmental friendly "clear" stuff. But, still giving that a whirl in my head.
I have to say...... I am becoming the biggest "hippie" I know. I've been laughing about it for days......
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Sylvie - I went grocery shopping with all this in mind yesterday. I went to the more health food store to find some things. And I most say. I got so overwhelmed. It was just so much, and so crowded. I'm going to try to go during the week next time.
I'm trying to find sago. I have no idea what that is.
I did buy tapioca flour though, and DH made home made rice noodles yesterday. They turned out really well for a first time. And he said they weren't too hard to make.
I have been doing my own pizza dough/pancakes/waffles for awhile. Bread and yogurt are my next tasks :)
Speaking of. Jean. I forgot to say. The bread recipe you shared awhile ago, that I lost track of had maple syrup in it. I do not have a bread maker :)
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Sher, I was thinking, what are Lyle's favorites, you mentioned? Maybe we could help find some recipes that would be good matches that may fit the bill. What do you think?
Saw you just post; I know, I wonder what has happened here? LOL, I am quite a hippie, too. I don't try to mention too much, as other moms seem to look at me crazy. Although one of the mom's in my play group is a dietician. She has done a bit of the same reading, and we have had some good conversations.
I am now looking at how to make my own soap. I did get a book at the library called The Soap Maker's Companion. I think I may start a post about making soap. I will perhaps come back and post a link here. ;-) http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=177110.0
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Oh, and I will find that bread recipe. I was from allrecipes, but I substituted maple syrup (low salicylates) for honey (high salicylates). I also use butter (as I never buy shortening).
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Honey-Wheat-Bread-I/Detail.aspx
I have tried a range of breads, and do breadmaker recipes by hand also. My favorite bread is a breadmaker recipe, though. I will see if I can post it here later.
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Oh, yes, definitely worth looking into what cleaners you can make at home.
Chemical-wise, the thing I'd like to be able to use NONE of is ant spray, but NOTHING else has gotten rid of them, nothing: none of the usual home remedies, no essential oils, ant traps have only drawn them out of the walls but they keep coming endlessly for weeks on end till I give up and gas them. :'( I try to at least do it on days when I can open windows and aim a fan outside, but we're stuck either using it from the store or having the pest guys come in and do more of it (which we can't afford anyway).
For yogurt, I use a gallon of milk, heat it to about 120F, add powdered milk (which I found out later may contain some salicylates due to processing :(), let it cool to about 105-110, and pour it into jars with some yogurt as a starter (has to be lower than 120 to prevent killing the good bacteria.). Stacy sent me a link for crockpot yogurt though that doesn't use the powdered milk; I have to clean out my crockpot and give it a try when I've used up more of this current batch. http://richfoodleantimes.wordpress.com/2010/02/18/crock-pot-yogurt/.
And the diet we did was the Body Ecology Diet - http://www.bodyecologydiet.com . The idea was to treat systemic candida by killing off the yeast in the body. I should do it again, since I also lost about 30 pounds in 2-3 months on it.
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Joining in as need to make more of an effort in the kids food department. Will read some of the links later but just wanted to mark the page for now.
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Eloys--you're doing this for LO, right? Have you noticed a difference for yourself since making the changes?
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Eloys - do you know which region your DVD player is in. I've made that mistake before. The UK is region 2. So if you buy a region 2 DVD it won't play on my DVD player. Having said that Chris has a really nice DVD set that is region 2, so we do need to order a region 2 DVD player at some point.
Sherry, Mark just goes online and gets codes for DVD players to make them region free. He did it over there at my cousins house so the kids could watch our English dvd's.
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hi ladies, have been doing moderate elimination diet with occasional high and very high foods (sals and amines) for bfing ds2 who has multiple food intolerances.
just wanted to add quickly, have been told that organic foods are often much higher in salicylates and amines as organic foods tend to contain higher levels of natural chemicals in order to cope without pesticides etc etc. at the same time totally get why you'd want to eat only organic too. i was definitely surprised that cooking from scratch wasnt enuf to be on a low chemical diet!
sherry, sago is tapioca (took me a while to work that out too :-*)
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And here the reason I wanted organic was because they DO have all the stuff they're supposed to have - like vitamins and minerals too!
Do you then have to specially find sal-free vitamin-mineral supplements to make up the nutritional difference? My mind is boggling about this.
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Bethany: I have noticed a couple things for me - my biggest complaints are my acne - that has COMPLETELY cleared up, I used to get painful wind & bloating - haven't had any for months. I used to get really bad PMS - however I can't comment on that yet.
I think the acne was due to dairy free though, it cleared up within 3 weeks being off dairy and that was the first thing I did. As for the wind and bloating - who knows?
As for anything else, I have been pretty stressed and tired since ds2 has been born so can't tell!
I think all the intolerances come from DH's side, he has alot of issues with allergy/intolerance/hayfever/reflux so I am not seeing too many benefits.
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I guess it's important to remember that these sacilcates aren't inherently evil for everyone (right?) just a problem for people whose bodies are intolerant of them, yes? Versus something like, say, transfats--that everyone agrees are bad for everyone.
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yes an important point to remember for sure :) salicylates are only 'evil' if you are particularly sensitive, and those who are sensitive to them are usually sensitive to more than just salicylates. the Fed Up book quotes that parents are usually driven to eliminate salicylates aove and beyond additives and preservatives for pretty severe symptoms seen with their children such as ADHD, unexplained defiance and grouchiness or kids with chronic unhappy bowels and sore tummy complaints. Then it is the parents that get the kick back/flow on effects from putting the family on the diet... and they realise inadvertantly that their quality of life has improved.
My DH is really benefiting from the diet, (even though he eats whatever he likes for lunch) his chronic sneezing nose snd snorting/wretching (TMI) has pretty much disappeared (except for hayfever seasons). We know he is sensitive to salicylates, (but can tolerate quite a bit of them now) but now we have learned its glutamates as well- MSG in particular.
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Sherry, I'm with you becoming a "hippy" My family and friends started calling me crunchy. For me things have changed when I had kids. I've even got rid of all harsh cleaning products and started making my own. And I'm even tempting making my own laundry detergent.
I knew some preservatives were bad for the bowels, msg for one, I have to stay away or I feel like a balloon the next day. And I do notice it if DS has any preservatives at all. It makes him very irritable and it's not good for his senstive nature.
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I was a little bit of a "closet" hippy before having kids. But, yes oh yes did it come ten fold after that. For me it all started with doing cloth diapers, and well.... it's just progressed from there. Lol.
I agree though that all this stuff can make your head spin and make you feel like banging your head against the wall. :)
On a possitive note. Lyle has been juice free for almost a week, and you can't even tell.
Jean - with switching things up, I have to be very, very careful.
Remember the veggie burger incident? The same thing happened with veggie chicken nuggets. MIL bought regular ones because, well. I don't know why. But, she tried to serve them to him..... he hasn't had a chicken nugget since.
This has happened with soooo..... many things.
Green beans, peas, apple sauce, horizon veggie yogurt blends, mac and cheese.
SPD in full force, I guess :-\
I was so excited to see that snyder pretzles are a safe food. Those are one of Lyle's favorite thigns.
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Sher, it sure can be hard to recreate those favorite foods in forms he will tollerate. Maybe it is better to not mess with those foods. I remember reading that even the change of oil in the product can be sensed by some kids. So, maybe it is really about finding new foods that he will eat rather than messing with the ones he currently eats. What do you think about that? I know you have bent over backwards while standing on one foot to move forward. Any ideas from the ot on how to proceed.
Do you then have to specially find sal-free vitamin-mineral supplements to make up the nutritional difference
I have seen some suggested in RPAH book, but I can't remember what they are, atm. I will have a peek there. I don't know if they are available here. I have bought several varieties from the natural food store, but then end up not using them b/c I think I can see a difference in behavior. I did use Kindervital for a bit; Eloys was using it. But it does have things that would be salicylate.
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some new great links: esp if you really want to know more about the low chemical diet and how it works, also effects on babies and also how to do the food challenges:
Babies and intolerance
http://www.plantpoisonsandrottenstuff.info/content/elimination-diet/babies.aspx
Amine rules – how to buy and eat meats
http://www.plantpoisonsandrottenstuff.info/content/elimination-diet/minimising-amines.aspx
Allergy versus intolerance
http://www.plantpoisonsandrottenstuff.info/content/allergy-versus-intolerance.aspx
How to do food challenges
http://www.plantpoisonsandrottenstuff.info/content/elimination-diet.aspx
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So interesting . . . what are you guys doing for meat? That part of it is the hardest for me to wrap my brain around.
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I find the meats really tricky too :P
I eat alot of (tasty) meat patties of mixed chicken/veal/beef mince mixed up with finely shopped shallots, diced carrot, celery, parsley, leek, 1 garlic clove, cooked rice and egg replacer. I thne coat it all really well in rice crumbs and pan fry. That way the crumbs get browned and not the meat.
I also eat roast lamb and don't eat the juices or the yummy charred outside bits. Same for roast chicken. I roast all sorts of cuts so they are just brown/cooked on the outside but not charred KWIM. It is recommended to add water to the pan - yuck! the meat goes grey :(
Also make simple stir fries, just make sure that the meat doesn't get browned and more cooks in the juices of the stock in the stir fry.
I make poached homemade sausages in stock, they are tasty too without browning the meat. Just can't eat aged scotch fillet anymore or anything with a yummy BBQ flavour :(
Fish is easy, fish can be crumbed, steamed with some shallots for flavour or pan fried quickly. I also eat a fair bit of calamari - shallow fried in potato starch batter - it goes nice and crispy, and also make veal spring rolls - they can be pan fried without worrying about the meat part. Fresh oysters are allowed too.
Buying meats is easy now as I go to same butchers that I trust, they know me and my wierd diet ::) But I have fond that most butchers when questioned all comply to the rules for hanging, freshness and storage, most don't put preservatives in their mince either. Its just the supermarket meats that don't comply.
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Oooh, I've passed along that info to a friend of mine with symptoms that she and her docs can't sort out.
I totally did not know that about supermarket meat. I mean I figured it wasn't slaughtered in the back of the supermarket fresh, and i know that some aging can tenderize meat nicely, but EWWWW, that is a LONG time to keep meat! And ROUTINELY!!! I can't imagine why more people aren't sickened n the States! :o :X
Oooh, I did try that yogurt in the link below - no need to add the powdered milk and it came out SOO SOOO SOOOOO thick and creamy!
'm trying to work out the difference in that list between yogurt and probiotic yogurt. As long as there are active cultures I thought they were all probiotics, but I guess some of the commercial ones have other cultures added. Live and learn.
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I am a meatless eater, so I don't miss meat. ;-) H wouldn't eat meat for the longest time, as it would sit in his mouth for about a half hr. I make my own walnut burgers, but of course that is a problem if you are no nut or egg or dairy. It has all of those. I replace with beans for about everything. We did buy some grass fed beef from a local farmer. I am not sure on how long until it is processed. I think we are going to buy in Oct again, so dh will ask how long until it is processed.
The yogurt sounds good. I need to peek back at the link. I saw a yogurt making machine at a garage sale and passed it up. Did you need something like that?
Multivitamins suggested for children by RPAH: Pediatric Seravit and Orthoplex Children's Formula. One is high in calcium, the other low with other vitamins. I would look online to see what you need.
Here are ones that are children/adult, but you need to use 1/4 a tab for up to a year in age, half tab for ages 1-7, and ages 7-14 on tablet; adults one tablet. I don't know if I would do it unless I checked w/ the dr, but here are the brand names:
Amcal One-aDay
Cenovis Multivitamin and Minerals
Natures Own Multivitamin & Minerals
Vitaminorum
Herron Multi Vitamin
Myadec Capsules
Blackmores Multivitamin
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I heat my yogurt in a dutch oven on the stovetop and put the milk and yogurt starter in big glass jars and keep them next to my fridge covered in a towel for a few hours. (My fridge is old and inefficient and is a heat source. ::))