Completely additive free foods for kids! With challenges ;)

[Pholi]

I'm so sorry you're having such a hard time with this. My sister struggled for a long time with behavioural issues in her kids, before realising that they could level everything out by just avoiding colours. I'm not saying your kids are necessarily the same, but sis the hotdogs have red shells? and Poptop drinks? Red colours? Blu is also especially bad.

You may not need to avoid additives entirely, as many 'e numbers' are actually natural, and well tolerated by most sensitive kids. The trick is to learn which is which. Once you work it out, you may realise that different brands are ok, my sister's kids can eat CCs, but not Doritos, or the other way round... I forget which, but believe me, she doesn't! There are some awesome lists and reference guides for additives which really help Mum's in your circumstances. If no-one else chips on with useful info, I can ask my sister for names and authors and web addresses for you.

Note that 'health food aisle' stuff is not always very healthy either. You're better buying single ingredients, rather than any kind of processed foods.

[~clover~]

I know a lot of that Pholi. I won't do colours at all. I'm talking apple juice poppers. DD2 is more sensitive to yellow & oranges than reds. DD3 just seems to be sensitive to EVERYTHING :/

I know a lot of B&G things are ok. We usually do B&G hot dogs, but even that stuff I limit. Maybe once or twice a year, because its processed food. These were a different brand. I was given 2kg of them... I think I'll be giving some away & using some for the big kids lunches. DD won't be getting them again.

I'm just maybe looking for suggestions for dinners & things that will be eaten.

I will definitely look in to the failsafe diet MadB. I've looked at leaky gut, but honestly, I think my kids would starve on that. That's the only reason I haven't tried it.

Thanks ladies.

ETA - Good to see rice bubbles are ok!! Just wish they were cheaper!

[~clover~]

What's interesting, is that a lot of those foods I'm already choosing.

But no sauces etc will be where we have to change. She likes rice, so that'll be easy.

Going to have to check my bread, but she doesn't really eat bread. Fail safe should be reasonably easy. That's pretty much our diet already. We don't have supermarket branded butter/marg, so that could be pricey. I usually buy B&G or ETA. But the rest of that we can do.

Pears are the only fruit we don't eat, yet the only fruit on the list! Oh well She might like them.

[MrsFabuloso]

My DS1 is sensitive to high salycilate foods. Things like strawberries, green grapes sulatanas (and lots of other thing, but these are the ones which send him bat s**t crazy)...send him bananas. He will be fine one moments then within minutes of eating something high in salicylates, and boom, he's a screaming, twitching, nasty, violent crazy thing.

[~clover~]

Yep... that's us. But she's over the top 24/7. Its just a steady stream of mischief, that reaches points of bat **** craziness.

She's had our usual bread, with our usual butter & is still sitting for peppa pig, so I might be ok with them... The butter has 202 in it, so will have to find something else, but our usual bread is all good

[onthefly]

Yeah, don't bother with the failsafe not-tomato sauce. there's no way anybody would ever fall for it.
meat and three veg is pretty much what we did for dinner. you can do crumbed chicken pieces if you read labels on crumbs carefully or make your own (we bought gluten free stuff as also gluten & dairy free). With plenty of salt and pepper they're quite tasty.

[~clover~]

I usually crumb myself anyway. If I can be bothered. I assume sausages are out though? I can afford sausages...very rare for me to be able to buy chicken that isn't drumsticks

And I'm forgetting, DD doesn't really do sauce. Not tomato sauce anyway. We do marinades & stuff, but that's easy enough. She's like this 24/7 though. She just hits crazy when there's something different. Like a juice or hot dog. She's still all over the place all the time. She's the same as DD2 with impulse control... a little worse. Mum has said that we're lucky we live here, because she'd be lucky to still be alive anywhere else. She'll run out on the road with out looking. Run off at the shops. Climb onto anything if she wants something. There is nowhere in this house out of her reach.

No type of discipline seems to work... until I lose my **** & completely snap :/ I've tried the positive parenting thing the health nurse thinks cures all, but its just not enough over here. I wish she could see that & give up on it. Not saying that it doesn't help, but its not enough. I'm not even sure she's in control of her behavior half the time, but other times its like she's getting to me on purpose (tipping the dolls bath water on the floor while watching for my reaction... that was last night, in her craziness though)

I don't think its going to be as simple as just cutting out additives now I've looked into it, because the majority of the time, that is us. Now I've finally looked at our every day foods, like the brand of bread we eat, I see that I'm doing the right thing & have chosen the right brands & its still not enough :/

Can jelly, water ice blocks etc be eaten on the fail safe diet? I could freeze my own lemonade I guess? Since nearly all fruits are out. Might look more into that. Its 40 degrees right now & we have no air con. Just fans & cold baths.


ETA; As I typed that she emptied the full bottle of tomato sauce onto her legs & my shaggy mat in the loungeroom... *sigh*
She knows its not ok. She has been in trouble for exactly this so many times before :/ Shampoo's, eggs, creams, soaps. If she touches it, she empties it... Even if we're not at home...