Low Chemical Diets

[SylvieA]

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.

[sherry lynn]

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......

[sherry lynn]

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

[hrk]

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

[hrk]

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. 

[deb]

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.

[~Karen~]

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.

[Peek-a-boo]

Eloys--you're doing this for LO, right?  Have you noticed a difference for yourself since making the changes?

[~Karen~]

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.

[huntersmummyinoz]

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 )

[deb]

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.

[EloysH]

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.

[Peek-a-boo]

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. 

[EloysH]

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.

[SylvieA]

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.