FAILSAFE STORIES
Readers are invited to
contribute to this section. Please send your stories and opinions to suedengate@ozemail.com.au. Some names
have been changed to protect privacy and surnames are not used. My mailing
address is PO Box 718 WOOLGOOLGA NSW 2456
All 648 previous stories from Food Intolerance Network members
that have been published since February 1999 have been collected into a single
316 page PDF file (1.6MB) so that it is easier to download and search using
Control/F or the PDF search function: http://www.fedupwithfoodadditives.info/stories/failsafestories.pdf.
[684] One-liners (September 2008)
·
We
have been failsafe for two weeks and my shopping bill has gone down by about
$100 per week with no junk or frozen convenience food anymore. – Maria, NSW
·
I
wanted to try the elimination diet for my stepsons but they go to stay with
their mother every second weekend and she would not support such a diet (she
gives them cordial now, just because I have said to the boys they shouldn't
have it) - by email
·
I
enjoyed your recent presentation. I took my mother along who until that night
could not believe that I was not allowing my son to eat fruits and vegetables,
which are all good for you!!! Now she
asks what he is allowed and we are achieving so much. –Sandra, Qld
·
My
8-year-old son has improved so much in the past month (additive-free) and is so
much calmer that my husband thought he must be ill, because he never sits
around so calmly usually! – Julie, by
email
·
I
think your book is fantastic and should be on the
·
I
just purchased your updated cookbook and I am having a ball with it. I made my
husband the custard (he loves custard and buys commercial custard) and he had
to admit it was pretty good. - by email
·
I
have a 24-year-old son who had ADHD and could not believe the change in him
when we controlled the colourings in his diet - FRUIT
LOOPS should be banned. – Carol, by email
·
I
have changed to A2 milk and no longer get any 'bloating' which pleases me
greatly. - Jane, by email
·
Thanks
for your comprehensive and life-saving website! – Rita, by email
·
Being
failsafe has given us the power to question so much more now about what our
kids eat and what medication they take. –
by email
·
We
started our 1-year-old on the elimination diet, and it has been an absolute
bliss. He changed from being an irritable, screaming baby, to a content playful
little boy. - Jeanette, by email (see
full story [651])
·
Watching
your DVD was like sitting in a dark room and having someone open the blinds to
the let the sun shine in’ - Carmel, by
email.
[683] The truth about peanut bans –
by the father of an allergic 6 yo (September 2008)
We have a six-year-old son
with life-threatening multiple food allergies to nuts, dairy, sesame and egg.
We are concerned about the
lack of allergy awareness in our state. While peanut bans initially sound like
a positive move they are actually not recommended by ASCIA as they set up a
false sense of security. It may only take 1/2000th of a peanut to kill. It
takes up a huge amount of our time with phone calls and food label reading to
try and establish what foods contain traces of nuts - and in our case other
allergens. The ban is impossible to enforce, puts other parents offside, some
parents and teaching staff refuse to adhere to the bans and it overshadows
other allergens which are growing in number and severity like dairy or egg.
The most common allergens
vary from country to country and city to city. For instance in
Rather than bans, we'd like
to concentrate more on students being encouraged not to share food and to wash
hands after eating. We hope these preventative measures would eliminate the
need for the next step of using the epipen, but of
course we would also require teachers to be knowledgeable in this area and be
comfortable in using an epipen - something that was
not in place at our school.
Some big changes in NSW and
VIC occurred after deaths from anaphylaxis at schools. Luckily deaths have not
occurred in our state yet and hopefully they will make the necessary
improvements shortly and not wait for a death to occur before they do. – Geoff, by email
[To see Geoff’s suggestions
– a letter sent home to parents and an allergy awareness page http://www.fedupwithfoodadditives.info/newsletters/peanutallergy.pdf
note that nut bans are encouraged in childcare centres
where children are too young to understand]
[682] I was pushed to control cry my son (September 2008) [COURAGE AWARD]
I just wanted to tell you
about the startling difference we have seen in my son since removing salicylates. He is now 18 months old and the difference is
profound - removing apple alone reduced nearly all of his night wakings, and removing avocado and corn as well has stopped
his moodiness, screaming and irritability. His reflux is more under control and
he no longer screams during the day and most especially at night. If he does we
know it means either he or I have eaten something we shouldn’t by accident.
I’ve also determined that he reacts to a lot of additives as well. 160b
produces aggressiveness, defiance and screaming within 24 hours. I now have a
really happy well behaved little boy. I was pushed to control cry my son due to
his poor sleeping, but I knew something deeper was wrong. I'm SO glad I went
with my gut instinct that it was food related. – Taryn, Vic
[681] My 14-year-old son thought it
was a conspiracy theory (September 2008)
We have been on failsafe
eating for just over 2 weeks. I am already starting to notice an improvement in
my 6-year-old’s behaviour and picking up on certain
foods that send him off the wall. I attended school last Friday with him for a
picnic lunch and had to ring my husband to tell him how great our son was and
it was actually a pleasure to be there with him. It is like I have my beautiful
boy back again. I noticed he has been laughing at things on the tv which I haven't heard for a long time. Even his older
brothers have said they thought he has been better.
By the way my 14-year-old
son who thought it was all a conspiracy theory between mothers to get their
kids off junk food came home from school and said ‘mum I know I didn't believe
you but I actually had the best day at school today, I felt happy I could
concentrate and had heaps of energy, maybe there is something to this eating programme’, and that's from my cruisy
easy going child. – Maria, NSW
[680] Nocturnal enuresis (bedwetting) due to diet (September
2008)
We have seen some huge
improvements in my 6-year-old son’s nocturnal eneuresis.
He had not had any dry nights since he was 3 years old. After making the changes below he started to
have some dry nights (3-4 a week). Now he has been dry for the last 9 nights.
·
we
have started him on A2 milk
·
we
used to have a jug of diluted orange juice in the fridge, now the kids drink mainly
water with the occasional magic cordial.
·
he
was eating broccoli almost every night and we have not had any for 4 weeks now
·
I
have been more diligent in not buying any products with preservative 282 in it
·
generally
more aware of products full of additives, colours and
preservatives since hearing you speak and reading your books
·
our
son did love to eat salami and ham (deli), so he has not had this for 4 weeks.
His bladder capacity is so
much bigger and he can hold on for longer in the day. His mood swings are
virtually resolved and you can reason with him if he is wanting something that
is not appropriate, food or otherwise. My husband and I can both see that he is
more confident in himself and sociable, making him a lovely child to be around.
He usually has redipred once or twice in winter for
exacerbation of asthma symptoms, but so far has not required any this winter,
despite having a cold last week, so that is looking positive. Thank you for
motivating me to review what I was putting in my family’s mouths. We don't have
access to fast foods living in the country, so that was never an issue. With a
few simple changes to my son's diet, the improvements have been remarkable. The
whole family is now reaping the benefit of these changes and so will continue
to be more aware of what is in the food that we are eating. Thanks again for
your passion and drive. – Paula, NSW
[679] Menopausal symptoms, hot flushes and failsafe
(September 2008)
I put myself on the diet
five years ago as I was suffering severe hot flushes, was continually tired,
felt sick most times after I ate, felt fuzzy in the head, got cranky for no
reason and did not sleep well at all. My life changed - I now sleep well, I am
not tired all the time, the hot flushes stopped, my head is clear and I very
rarely get sick. If I have a lousy day or night I can always trace it back to
something I have eaten the day before or two or three days before. The worst
offenders are additives and salicylates. I have
always been a big fruit eater especially watermelon, and it has been one of the
hardest things to give up, however if I do binge on fruits high in salicylates especially watermelon I pay for it with hot
flushes and a sleepless night. I also get hot flushes if I eat chicken that is
not organic which I avoid at all costs now.
I see a lot of women I work
with suffering with menopausal symptoms and I think myself extremely lucky that
I found and was prepared to give failsafe eating a try. Unfortunately you can
take a horse to water but you can't make it drink. These women as many other
people I talk to don't believe it could be that simple and are not prepared to
give it a go, silly them. - by email
[678] ‘Postnatal depression’ due to fish oil capsules
(September 2008)
I've recently noticed that
I get really grumpy when taking a certain brand of super strength fish oil
capsules. I started thinking I was suffering from post natal depression as I
could feel the anger start inside me and build really fast and grow bigger. A
bit hard to describe but I had never had this feeling before. I forgot to take
them for a while which is what made me realise it was
the capsules. - Carole, by email [see our supplements factsheet
for similar reports http://www.fedupwithfoodadditives.info/factsheets/Factsupplements.htm#fishoilsupps]
[677] ‘Postnatal depression’ due to diet coke (September
2008)
I noticed that I have a
dramatic reaction to diet coke. If I drink it, I get depressed and mood swings
within 24 hours. So what we thought was emotion due to having bubs, was really
the diet coke I was drinking as a pick-me-up due to lack of sleep. The
challenge was eye opening. I did a
benzoate challenge and was fine. I did another challenge with Diet Coke and the
mood change is profound. The next day I was depressed, despondent and my
husband said it was like turning off a light. – by email
[676] Salicylate reaction to NSAIDs and Cox 2 inhibitors (September 2008)
I just wanted to let you
know that some people with salicylate sensitivity do
not just react to NSAIDS. Cox2 inhibitors such as Celebrex
can also be a concern in 5-10 per cent of people. I fall into this group and I
am unable to take any prescription anti-inflammatories
apart from prednisolone. Fish oil (if tolerated in
high doses) is an excellent alternative for me and thought your readers may
benefit from this. It was known that I had reactions to NSAIDS and aspirin yet
when I was trialled on Cox 2 no mention was made that
there could be a possible cross reaction (http://www.allergy.org.au/content/view/105/117/). I was basically told that I was unusual
without any explanation other than for me to try others would be life
threatening. If it helps one other person to know that this is possible then
what I went through is worth it. – by email, Vic [For more about fish oil supplements, see http://www.fedupwithfoodadditives.info/factsheets/Factsupplements.htm#fishoilsupps.
The writer of this email does not react to amines and is using Blackmores fish oil]
[675] Alzheimer’s, asthma and apnoea
(September 2008)
I thought I would share
with you briefly my experience of treating my wife who was diagnosed with early
onset Alzheimer's. Apart from the Alzheimer's diagnosis, she suffered from
asthma, sleep apnoea, was unable to speak more than
one word at a time and was going down hill very fast. After a lot of research I
decided to put her on to a 90% + raw food diet and after one month, she started
to speak the odd phrase. This was marvellous and only
encouraged me to continue. However the amazing thing was after a few months her
asthma symptoms began to disappear and she was able to reduce her dependence on
puffers. After six months even the preventer puffer
was reduced to almost zero and a year later in consultation with the doctor
stopped using puffers altogether. Two and a half years later, she has been
symptom-free for two winters so confidently predict it has gone forever. Oh, by
the way her sleep apnoea has gone as well. This
experience of curing asthma with raw food is not unique as I have subsequently
found out. When visiting your website I realised the
raw food diet was eliminating additives. Commercial raw food has other problems
i.e. pesticides, growth promoters etc but the experience of using commercial
raw food has been worthwhile. Would like to eat organic but currently that's
not possible. When visiting, we eat normal food and don't expect others to
provide the food we use at home. – John,
by email
[674] Two naturopaths write about failsafe eating (1) (September
2008)
I have been in practice as
a naturopath for 22 years. Your failsafe information has completely revolutionised the way I look at food and how it affects
children and adults. Gone are all my old elimination diets and theories, I work
purely with chemicals, natural or otherwise, in the diet. Thanks for all the
support and your great website and books, they give my patients an instant
network to hook into when they are not with me. – by email
[673] Two naturopaths write about failsafe eating (2)
(September 2008)
Our son has been
progressively more moody and ADHD since 3 yrs-old and we couldn’t understand
why. We know now! We were used to wheat, dairy and numbers sensitivities and
have worked with them in our family for years. Plenty of healthy foods. We had
no idea about salicylates or amines and have had to
shift from a diet abundant previously in fruits and veggies.
We haven’t done well with
elimination - most weekends since we started we have either been travelling or having birthday parties and have mucked up
the diet - and even so we have seen great changes in our son. He has become
quite the sleuth in reading labels and monitoring other children’s lunches. He
has been very compliant. Better than my husband who we’ve seen great changes in
too.
My husband is a naturopath
and worked a lot with sensitivities and this has unfolded a whole new awareness
and interest for him He has definitely seen proof in the salicylate/amine/number
free pudding!!! My daughter’s eczema is much better too than on the previous
wheat and dairy free approach. My husband would like to incorporate this
awareness into his work with clients and we shall get the DVD to show clients
and family and friends. – by email
[672] Profound migraine, trigeminal neuralgia and the cream
cheese diet (September 2008)
I stumbled upon your web
page by accident. I have lived the last 30 years with profound migraine and
trigeminal neuralgia. I am on some powerful meds and am trying to put off MVD (microvascular decompression) surgery. My headaches are
chronic and have absolutely stolen the best years of my life. I have almost
learned to expect and just deal with the incessant pain. But I think I just may
have accidentally made an odd discovery. I wanted to lose a few pounds and I
decided to do Dr. Atkins Fat Fast for a few days - which is simply cream cheese
and nothing else. Within two days my head was pain free. So I am thinking this
is very strange: is eating food giving me headaches??? I began to research and came upon histamines.
I am amazed as I have never been ‘allergic’ to anything and never had sinus
problems. I did note to the doctor that I was certain oranges had triggered
migraine attacks - and wine or alcohol and dark chocolate. He told me to stay
away from them but never mentioned histamines. I used to have friends … a life
... I have contemplated suicide many times. I have been told to put ice packs
on my head. I fantasize about somehow being present at my own autopsy and taking
a hammer and beating my own head and face to pieces. Now I think I am on to
what might have caused this pain all these years. – by email,
[671] Extreme reaction to local anaesthetic
(September 2008)
On the second day of school,
my 12-year-old cut his knee badly exposing the tendons. The doctor said he had
to really pump him full of anaesthetic as it was so
bad. The effects seemed to really throw him out. Instead of getting physical
though as he would have a few years ago, he brought it into himself. He just
sobbed his heart out and couldn't talk. He had very bad headaches and the
shakes. He slept non-stop for about two days before we started getting him back
on track. At school the teacher said that my son had been so happy before but
after his accident he turned into into a sullen,
seldom speaking young lad. - by email, Qld [Local including dental anaesthetic
injections usually contain preservatives that can cause worse problems when
injected than consumed by mouth. It is possible to get preservative-free local anaesthetics if you ask - S]
[670] Behavioural reaction to
medications in hospital (September 2008)
Recently my failsafe
6-year-old son went into hospital to have grommets in and his adenoids removed.
Right up until he went into the operating theatre he amazed us with his great behaviour and how he dealt with the whole process. The
minute he woke up he was so aggressive, rude, would not co-operate and was back
to our little monster again. We couldn't
wait to slink out of the hospital with him and get home. The next day he was
still agitated and demanding. Do you think the anaesthetic
and medication he received for this procedure could cause these sort of
reactions? I know kids do react to going
into hospital etc but the change in him from before and after was so dramatic I
just have to wonder if it could affect him. –
by email, NSW [General anaesthetics are usually
OK but medications before and after the procedure can cause bad side effects.
You can discuss this with your anaesthetist beforehand, see the free introduction to Friendly Food on www.cs.nsw.gov.au/rpa/Allergy/default]
[659] WOW! Big turnaround in three weeks (September 2008)
My son started kindergarten
this year and was at the principal’s office within weeks. He had stabbed his
classmate with a pencil, he had run away on a school excursion, been incredibly
rude and obnoxious to teachers and hit other children. He was defiant, easily
frustrated, blamed others for everything under the sun, he was aggressive with
his siblings and parents, socially he was not improving either.
After the disastrous start
to school I picked up your book which I thought was going to just talk about colours and preservatives and could not put it down. It
made so much sense and I just had that gut feeling we had found a possible
solution. We started failsafe eating almost immediately and we made many errors
but finally worked through those. Before the diet he would have avocado, banana
and berries in his lunch and he would come home to spinach and tomato lasagne!!
During the diet my son
slept and slept and slept. His behaviour improved
very slowly but once we were in the third week we noticed a big turn around.
One morning he surfaced at
When he returned to school
for term two his teacher and school counsellor were
in disbelief. During the whole of term two he did not even once have to go to
the time-out beanbag in his classroom. WOW! He has started to make friends and
has picked up some awards along the way.-
by email
[658] Tachycardias, falling blood
pressure, red nose (September 2008)
For many years I have had tachycardias, a feeling of being ‘unplugged’ (as if my
heart had stopped, blood pressure rapidly falling and I was going ‘out’) and
inexplicable cold in my hands and feet like ice even in the summer. And the
same thing on my nose. It turns bright red at times for no reason as if the
capillaries dilated and it remains that way for a long time - it burns as if it
has been held on the stove. Since changing my diet, my nose is normally coloured, I am nice and warm all over and no one has been
‘pulling my plug’. It seems that food
chemicals affect my vascular system and blood flow. – by email
[657] Open message about Smarties
sent to Nestle
Regarding
my dissatisfaction with Smarties. I've just discovered that the
Nestle, you are a world
wide company making profit at the cost of your consumers health. Isn't it YOUR best interests (including your
shareholders pockets) to try to ensure your customers live a LONG and HEALTHY
life (so they can buy more of your products of course!) And the only way to accomplish this
profitable long term bottom line is to ensure ALL your products meet the
highest of standards to ensure they are as healthy and natural as possible. Not to mention that it is a marketers dream
to have their company turn ‘green’ during the current healthy, green and
natural consumer push. – by email
[656] Effects of mixed pink and white marshmallows (September 2008)
The girls very rarely have
marshmallows but tonight I bought a packet of mixed white and artificially coloured pink ones. Older daughter had 4, younger had 3 and
they both went right off! My younger daughter started biting again, something
she hasn't done for ages and they were both shouting and went stupid. They have
settled now, a couple of hours later but I realised
they are not ok and threw rest of pack out. I try so hard with everything and
then make a silly mistake like that which is very frustrating! - Tania, by email
[655] 'She screamed most of the time' - behaviour
and bedwetting (September 2008)
I can't express how elated
my entire family was to discover failsafe eating about five years ago. We have
all benefited especially my granddaughter Zoe who was
around three (and eating lots of bread with 282) at the time and out of
control. She screamed most of the time, threw tantrums, tried to hurt her baby
sister, threw anything within her reach, was so so
angry with the world and wet the bed most nights. My daughter who was a single
mum at the time would ring me up in despair and I would go and help her to give
her a break. One day Zoe just sat on the floor and
screamed and screamed. I asked her what was the matter, why was she so sad and
she said she didn't know she just couldn't stop crying.
I was working as a
Teacher's Aide Special and I happened to mention Zoe's
behaviour to the teacher I was working with and she
told me about your book Fed Up. She brought the book in for me to read and it
was like a gift from heaven. Zoe's mum started her on
the diet straight away and what a new child we had within days. The screaming
stopped, the tantrums stopped, the bed wetting stopped and she started to smile
and laugh again. A happy little girl at last. She is almost nine now and a most
delightful intelligent child who puts all her energy into dancing and singing.
However, on occasions when she does eat ‘Cranky food’ she goes off the deep end
or ‘cuckoo’ as her sister says. Zoe is now aware of
what she can and can't eat. When we went shopping she would carry the list of
‘Avoid these Food Additives’ but now she just remembers them.
I put myself on the diet as
well as I was suffering severe hot flushes (see story [679] Menopausal
symptoms, hot flushes and failsafe]. ...
My entire family believes in Failsafe and we all avoid the nasties
and live a healthier happier life. The funny thing is I am like a tester for Zoe: if I react then so does she.
I will just add that my
daughter now has a 5-week-old baby boy - she stuck to failsafe while she was
pregnant and she is still on it now while she is breast feeding and her little
boy is the best baby, feeds and sleeps. -
by email
[654] 635: Flavour enhancers and a
breastfed baby (September 2008)
Thomas was born a very
healthy full term baby. A couple of days later he had little red pimples on his
face that after two weeks became quite red and covered a quarter of his cheeks,
Clinic nurses noted that it was a bad hormonal rash, but it never went away, it
only got worse. Thomas was also an irritable baby needing feeding at least
every two hours he didn't sleep for any more than 2 hours at a time.
With two other children and hubby to feed,
time was precious, so I started whipping up quick casseroles to feed the
family. In the casseroles I would put in meat and fresh veg
I had in the fridge, and for the flavour we were used
to I would throw in a packet of beef & veg cuppa soup and thicken it with Gravox.
Things were going from bad to worse. Thomas was covered all over in a red rash.
The doctor diagnosed eczema and gave creams for it but it only got worse and
infected.
On one particular occasion
I remember vividly, I made the casserole for dinner on Friday night, and while
having a cuppa and chat next day noticed that Thomas
became quite irritable and his little head came out in beads of sweat, which
later became a crusty layer. It suddenly dawned on me that this happened every
time I made the casserole, I would eat it about
When Thomas was 4 months
old we got into a Dermatologist who listened to our story and nearly laughed at
us and explained about Cuppa soup (flavour enhancers) and Gravox (salicylates) his words were ‘it's like a time bomb’. We
discovered from that trip that Thomas was allergic to dairy, eggs, peanuts, and
probably intolerant to the nasty food colourings,
preservatives and additives given his reaction to flavour
enhancers and salicylates. Although he had never
ingested these foods directly, he had got it all through my breast milk. Thomas
was weaned onto Neocate Formula then to soy at 12
months of age. He has since developed allergies to soy, all nuts, potato,
gluten, house dust, cats, dogs, horses, many grasses and weed pollen. He also
suffers from asthma. He now drinks rice milk and is on a strict egg-free,
dairy-free, nut-free, potato-free, gluten-free low salicylate
diet. Now at six years of age Thomas is a healthy active boy despite all this.- by email.
[653] Everyday we are being lied to, tricked, conned, call
it what you will (September 2008)
I had been giving Cottees Fruit Cup Crush to my 3-yr-old son and 2-yr-old
daughter for the past week, knowing I had checked the ingredients and thought
it was safe because there were no additive 'numbers' listed in the ingredients
list!! I knew it contained a preservative called sodium benzoate, but it wasn't
listed as a 'number' and therefore I thought it was harmless. I thought
‘finally something my kids could drink!’
To then realise
this morning after reading your article in the Sunday Examiner that sodium
benzoate is actually preservative 211. I was horrified! Not only do you have to
look for additive numbers, BUT ALSO NAMES!!!!!!! How can companies do this to us ... knowing
WHAT they are doing??? !!!
I am now learning and
understanding your outrage at this, and your consequent plea and cry for
desperate measures to be taken to reach mums and dads. To reach everyone,
everywhere for that matter, because everyday we are being lied to, tricked,
conned, call it what you will! But this is impacting my kids and their future!!
Even us adults! – Katherine, by email
[652] A2 and UHT milk better tolerated than fresh (September
2008)
My stepson has suffered from
black rings under the eyes, continually stuffed up and asthma attacks since he
was a baby. After speaking to you in
On A2, the rings cleared up
straight away, the snorting stopped and after a while we realised
there had been no asthma attacks. Then he spent a few months living with us
overseas where A2 is not available. However, there is also no fresh milk - all
milk is UHT (mainly Pauls). There were no side
effects.
On returning to
[651] Salicylates and breastfeeding:
from irritable screaming baby to bliss (September 2008)
We started our 1-year-old
on the elimination diet, and it has been absolute bliss. He has changed from
being an irritable, screaming baby, to a contented playful little boy. So far we have found that he is very
sensitive to salicylates.
For the first ten days of
Noah’s life, everything seemed to be all right, but when he was 11 days old I
had a bout of mastitis, and that was when his crying - or rather screaming -
started. He seemed to be in pain when feeding, pulling away from the breast,
arching his back and screaming. He almost never slept, wanting to feed every
two hours, sometimes even more frequently. His worst times were from
By the time Noah was five
months old, I couldn't take his constant screaming anymore, and he still had
all the above symptoms. He was reaching his milestones, but wasn't interested
in playing on his own. I was carrying him around for most of the day, and even
then he was still moaning away. I tried some baby rice cereal, but he would
vomit after each feed, so I stopped that. I introduced some other baby food
(oats and fruits) which he seemed to tolerate better, but he was still
screaming most of the time. Reading a lot on the internet, I came to the
conclusion that he might have a food allergy. (This seemed quite logical as I
have a 9-year-old daughter who is allergic to numerous things and has
anaphylaxis reaction with peanuts). I
eliminated all dairy, egg, wheat, and soy from my diet as well as Noah's. His
rash went away in just a few days, and he seemed to be crying a little bit
less, but other than that there was no real difference.
When he was six months old
I convinced my GP that I needed to see the paediatrician.
What a disappointment, the paediatrician told me that
I was just imagining things as Noah was looking healthy and growing well. He
told me to come back when he was a year old if I still thought there was a
concern. So the next few months we
stayed on that ‘homemade elimination diet’ of mine, taking everyday as it came.
Noah was not interested in playing with his brother (7) or sister, crying most
of the days, and sleeping poorly at night. A few weeks before he turned one I
decided to talk to my GP again, tell him I want to see an allergist, because I
was more convinced than ever that Noah had some kind of allergy. That was the
best thing I could have done. Noah was tested and we found out he is allergic to
egg, and the doctor explained to me about food intolerance, which I knew
nothing about.
We were put on the
elimination diet and within three days we could see the amazing changes in
Noah. He was actually playing with his siblings and on his own, not wanting to
be picked up the whole time, and sleeping through the night. What a joy it was.
We introduced the salicylates first, and by the
morning of the second day he was back to his old self. That night he screamed
the whole time and for the first time in a long while he pulled away from the
breast again. We went back to the basic diet again. It went all right but after
a few days he was again irritable. After searching for the problem I came to
the conclusion that it was the vanilla in the vanilla soymilk he had been
drinking. I cut that out of his diet and things went smoothly again. We seem to
be on the right track now. Thanks for the great books, they’re a really big
help. – Jeannette, by email
[650] Bernard's arthritis story (February 2008)
The most remarkable story
comes from Bernard in
'If you think that the time
span of the food effects on children and their behaviour
is long you should try solving the rheumatic and inflammatory disease problem.
You are looking at an abstinence time of up to 12 weeks before challenges,
symptoms that could take more than a week to identify, and challenges that
could take four months or more to complete. I am still improving after eight
and a half years on low chemical foods. NOTHING will make me eat the foods I
once loved so much.' ...
When Bernard challenged salicylates, on the morning of the eighth day he found his
arthritis had returned with such a vengeance that it took him an hour to get
out of bed. Artificial food colouring took two days
to aggravate his arthritis.
After so many years of
needless pain and suffering it is not surprising that Bernard and others like
him feel angry about misinformation from experts. When a well-known Australian
nutritionist wrote that there is no truth in the rumour
that people with arthritis should not eat tomatoes, Bernard added his own
comment: 'like hell there isn't!'
You can read about the
effects of additives and natural chemicals in fruit and vegetables in Bernard's
"My life with arthritis" story: "I have suffered with the pain
and swelling of arthritis in my arms, hands, neck, back, legs and feet for
almost half of my adult life. At times my condition was so bad that I was only
able to walk about 50 metres without a rest. The
constant pain I suffered was unbearable ... " on the website: http://members.ozemail.com.au/~btrudget/
[649] Arthritis
one-liners (February 2008)
My husband has severe and crippling arthritis
- failsafe foods have given him relief and mobility. – by email, NZ
My daughter was diagnosed
with juvenile arthritis when she was three. By the time she went to school, at
five, she was crippled with it. She's now 25. Three weeks after she started her
elimination diet, she told me: "Mum, the pain's gone. For the first time
in 23 years, I have no pain". - by email, NT