Just Lie Back & Think of England...

Mmmm Marmite, Mmmm Pubs, Mmmm Curry, Hmmm Coping with our Wheat-Fructose-Free way of eating in a holiday environment & company of well-meaning relatives.  I'm fearing to even think about the newly ventured additive awareness or possibility of the Failsafe Elimination diet.  Its so exciting to be heading back to the homeland & taking the little ones to meet friends & family but it does open us up to food choice "struggles" & criticism.

I've finished reading Fed Up... & am now perusing the Failsafe Cookbook, also by Sue Dengate.  I have booked a consultation with a recommended paediatric dietician & am open to what this may bring. I have no illusion that Failsafe will be an easy way of eating, but if we can use it to determine if there are food intolerances or causes behind certain behaviours then I'm willing to give it a shot.  Afterall if I can personally give up Wheat & Fructose & mostly manage the kids foods this way then I have a head-start.  The exceptions in the vision will be parties, I just have to be stronger on playdates, kinder & day trips when its become the norm that other kids get "party" food & "treats" are food-linked as opposed to the actual trip being the treat.  The trip to England will be a good test.  Though maybe harder with people that know me well, where I don't want to offend their life choices or my own upbringing, than with strangers or people that I'm not particularly phased if they think I'm being extremist.  At the end of the day though, my kids health & my wellbeing are paramount.

.....  So we had the dietician appointment today & she has recommended that my son follows the RPAH / Failsafe Elimination Diet STRICTLY as there are so many potential causes in his current diet that could point to certain behaviours he's exhibiting.  And that was said taking into account what we currently eat is pretty healthy, with the infrequent takeaway or occasional convenience meal.  This will mean eliminating even healthy foods (inc. fruit & veg) at first to determine whether he is affected by salicylates, amines, glutamates, preservatives, colours, flavours, gluten or dairy...

The dietician realised the difficulty of starting this immediately so we plan to do it the day we get back when I'm in full control of their intake.  The aim will be to do this as a whole family, not just my son.  I certainly glean to gain some insight from it for myself & am hoping that maybe it might pinpoint things to avoid for my daughter too.  It would be unfair to expect him to be limited so much & the rest of us still feast on his favourite foods.  Also its so full-on it will be wasted time if we don't do it right, to only have to repeat later if issues persist.

Meantime I will RELAX, "Read Labels" & pack!!!  With all this buzzing in my head it will be hard to switch off but necessary I think to deal with the flight, kids & emotions of seeing everyone we've missed for so long.

Its 4 years since I've been to England & I expect much has changed, it had the previous time.  I know I will be blown away by the choices in supermarkets & convenience options.  That said last time I found just GF hard to come by, I'm hoping they are more readily available now & that I will be able to find some sugar-free options too.  I just hope Mum is ready for me to make a mess of her kitchen as I expect I will need to be cooking & baking to limit a complete month of eating out & takeaways "just because we are on holiday".  To me a week, or two, is a holiday, a month is living, you can't sustain the gluttony for that long, without the sloth-like feeling kick-in.  I've undone good work at both Christmas & Easter & its taken me until now to get back to the pre-xmas weight.  Before when I've been back, there were sweets, crisps & chocolates bars I had craved & then indulged upon.  This time I will just fill my boots on marmite stocks (hmmmm maybe not for Failsafe homecoming) & proper English Indian Curries... if thats not a confusing concept to non-Poms.  One dish I'm salivating over is a Shaslik.... I have not been able to get one similar here in Australia.  Also some good Rogan Josh, Jalfrezi, Chat & poppadums the size of dinner plates.  I understand many English curries are uniquely created for Brits, they do not even exist in India or migrate to other parts of the world.  One restaurant visit per week should satiate that desire (who said you can't sustain gluttony when on holiday??!)

So before I head off to pack, here's a few good things I've discovered on my journey this week:
> Additive Alert - free app which is great for checking ingredients whilst at the shops
> Bakers Delight will happily print out ingredients of their bread... & even better do not contain nasty preservative 281/282.  The baker was very helpful & explained they don't add any sugar/oil either
> My son happily ate celery sticks I packed for kinder (an option for the Failsafe eating)