Change to Diet: 3 week round up

Well the 3 week challenge is up. To be honest I find it hard to tell if the things that have changed are due to the diet change or the seasons, or the ages of the kids . . . or a combo of all three!!

Positive health/health related results:

* Z's rash on her face has cleared away and most of mine have gone, besides the contact dermatitis on my hands
* Emily is now (mostly) sleeping in her own bed all night and also not needing to get up to go to the toilet during the night
* Z has slept through a couple of times
* I haven't noticed my tinnitus nearly as much as normal
* Pre Menstral Symptoms non existant (normally I am ripping heads off in the few days before my period arrived, but it snuck up on me this month!!)

Things Unchanged:

* Sinuses are still stuffed (including with my lactose free trial week)
* One migraine (that absolutely knocked me for six) and a few headaches
* Foggy head (but more often when tired)
* Lack of concentration/motivation - trying to study but just can't get into I like I used to

Regardless of whether it was food related or not, there are some permanent changes that I am going to be making.

As often as practical artificial colours will be out. There is no need for them and alternatives are available. It does no alter the taste of the food in any way so is unneccessary in my book. That said, if there are lollies at a party, I wont say no to the girls eating a couple(but will likely provide a naturally coloured option as well).

I will be ruling out as many preservatives as possible, mainly done by making food from scratch. I was dissapointed that the one type of wine I drink is preserved with 220. We found some on the shelf wich didn't have 220, but it stated that it were preserved with sulphates - same thing different name! Since I drink so rarely, I am going to allow that to slip through. I now have frozen squeezed lemon juice in the freezer so I won't use the preserved stuff again.

MSG and other Glutamates (flavour enhancers, yeast extract) are gone from my house. I have found a few pre-mix jars that do not have any for easy meals and have a stockpile of, well, stock in my freezer so I don't have to rely on the store bought variety. I am missing vegemite though :( And having a hard time finding a suitable BBQ sauce. Anyone have any ideas??

Naughty things that will be making their way back are pork products (nitrates), Coke (yes I know I deserve a slap on the wrist for that one) and 'flavour' although I will be looking for natural flavours over random unknowns.

I am disappointed that my sinuses showed no improvement to be honest. It is my one health issue that bothers me the most and since I am still breastfeeding I can't take my previous medication for it - quite frankly though I am sick of NEEDING medication for it!! I guess it is something I need to keep exploring to find my solution!

Change to Diet: Week 2 review

There have been a few slip ups this week. I discovered that the lemon juice that I had in the fridge has preservatives 211 and 223 plus flavour . . . after I used it to make cupcakes(on Friday), I've been drinking coke again :( and on Friday night I had some bacon in my (home made)fried rice. I have remained snuffly all week, Z's rashed on her face have flared up again and on Saturday night I had a horrible migraine, complete from being blinded to throwing up - lucky me. other things that may bave contributed to my migraine was that I was ovulating (hromones?) adn very tired after only 4hrs sleep the night before.

This week I am going to try going lactose free to see if that changes my sinuses.

This is a list of somethings I have been eating (brands included) that have none of the excluded ingredients:

Sauces and Condiments:

Masterfoods or Rosella Tomato Sauces
Woolworths select Mayo 97% fat free
Heinz Capsicum and Chilli Sauce
Trident Sweet Chilli

Spreads:

Woolworths Homebrand Peanut Butter
Woolworths homebrand Nut Spread (their Nuttella)
Woolworths Select Strawberry Jam
Honey
Golden Syrup
YLC Dairy Blend

Biscuits etc:

Arnotts Milk Arrowroot
Arnotts Saladas
Quite a few of the red rock deli chips

Jars/packet Mixes:

Woolworths Home Brand Taco Mix
Chicken Tonight Lite butter Chicken
Maggi Cottage Pie Packet

Maccas: (needed to find something I could eat while out - still waiting to hear back from subway about the ingredients in their products)
Chicken Nuggets
Ketchup
Garden Salad
Apple Slices
Water (obviously!)
Nudie Drinks

So that is a few things that I found I just had to change brands to still be able to eat the same foods :)

Change to Diet: First week review

One week down, two to go!!

I don't know if this is helping, but I am determined to see out the 3 weeks. Most probably I have a cold which is what is making me feel a bit yuk this morning but geez I could go a coke right now . . .

The rash on my eye has cleared up, but now my fingers are covered. but I think that is from now wearing gloves when washing up a few days ago. I haven't had a migraine this week, which is good, but I certainly am not breathing any better :( At the end of these three weeks, if my sinuses are not any better I might try Lactose free for a week or two and see where that gets me.

Emily has had some ups and downs this week. She had her first sleep through in a VERY long time - a whole night in her bed!! It was great! Although Z has been waking once or twice a night and feeding for about an hour at a time!! ARGH!! So still very little sleep going on. At about 5am this morning Em found her way into our bed again though . . .

We have had numerous meltdowns from Em this week, one of the biggest being because I couldn't get her some water from the magic fountain in the Barbie 12 Dancing Princesses movie. Yep, that will do it - over an hour of screaming . . . nice. Also simple things like not being in the same room as her when a song came on to dance to would set her off. Time out has been used MANY times this week, mainly for hitting :( Both Z and I have copped it from Em this week :( At times she can be a little angel, but at others . . .

I am learning very quickly not to assume things. For instance we had a BBQ at my Dad's place yesterday for a combined birthday get together (mine and my SIL to be Laura) We took Plain Doritos and Spicy Bean Salsa dip, Natural Confectionary Fruity Chews and a pack of Australian Gold International cheeses. After getting into the cheeses, I had another look at the packet and while some of the cheeses were preservative free, others were not :( Also, according to the book Friendly Food, potato flour and arrowroot are amongst the foods listed as okay, and many of the recipes call for them. But when I got them home both had preservatives :( I also seem to be missing the word "flavour" when I am reading labels, but out of everything it is probably the best to miss!

Shan is not impressed with my change of eating habits. I have tried to explain that the trial is only temporary and that I am doing it to try and get to the bottom of my ongoing list of problems, but he just isn't listening. I think he thinks I am doing it to be difficult. I made a cake to take to the BBQ because someone was just going to pick one up at woolies on the way and I didn't want the girls to miss out. He spent most of the trip there cranky at me (even though I made it while he was still asleep so didn't affect him at all) and then made fun of me and said that my cakes taste like crap in front of everyone . . . happy birthday to me.

I also got NOTHING from my siblings, not even a card. We normally do a card and scratchy for birthdays and I just feel like no-one could even bother to do anything for mine even though I have never missed one. It was Laura's 21st and we all got her a gift voucher and she gave everyone else a hug except me and Shan . . .

Anyway, I will try and post later a bit of a more upbeat post about other things I have gotten up to this week, but right now I am feeling kind of invisible.

Change to diet: Day 4

Great day life wise, BAD day food wise . .. oops!! But hey, it was my bithday, and if Nn decides to surprise me with a Cheesecake Shop white chocolate mudcake (drool) I'm hardly going to blow out the candles and then not have any . . . and if he has already made a booking for Hogs Breath Cafe, I'm not going to turn that down either (he also bought me 2 bottles of wine preserved with 220 - but I haven't opened them yet!)

I was spoilt rotton for my birthday. Cake, flowers, subscription to Organic Gardener Magazine and an IOU on a bracelet that he wants to buy me on the weekend - PLUS a $100 dinner at Hogs Breath - good ness me! Add this to the Twilight Harcover Boxset which came with a $40 bookshop gift voucher 'the girls' got me for Mother's Day and he has set the standards pretty darn high for Father's Day and his birthday. I haven't given (nor been asked for) any hints either!!

Okay, so the damage for yesterday was:

Ricebubbles and A2 milk for breakfast, Natural cupcakes for morning tea, steak and salad sandwich on baker's delight bread for lunch (with Masterfoods tomato sauce), a crunchie (which I did look at the label but didn't notice 'flavours' listed) for afternoon tea (first oops of the day), Cheesecake shop white chocolate mudcake (whcih I found out after calling them today contains 'flavour', preservative 220, Antixidants 320, 319, also 322 and 307 but they are not on my list to avoid. I imagine that the writing on the icing would also have artificial colours). I did only have a tiny slice (and so did the girls) but there is more in the fridge . . .

As I have already said, we went to Hogs Breath Cafe for dinner - YUM!!! I am waiting for an email back about what is actually in their food, but we shared a jug of orange juice, a finger food combo and I had a Hickory Sauce Steak with vegies and fries.

This morning I woke up sluggish - food related or just tired after being up with Z twice last night?? I have a slight headache, sinus-y and feel foggy headed. Em has been screaming a lot for no reason again today too - not a fan.

All I can do is get back to it today and go from there :)

Change to diet: Day 3

It has occured to me that although I write Day 3, in reality I am talking about day 2, but meh! I'm sure you can all handle that okay lol

Well yesterday I can certainly say I did not go hungry lol

Rice bubbles with A2 milk for breakfast, homemade hamburgers (organic mince) on baker's delight country grain rolls with heinz capsicum and chilli sauce and woolies homebrand light chips (as in hot ones) with masterfoods tomato sauce for lunch, cupcakes made my a beautiful girlfriend of mine with natural sprinkles and strawberries and creamy chicken pasta from here made with homemade pasta made with the pasta machine that said gf brought me as a pressie for my birthday (which is today!). I also drank 3 glasses of magic cordial with sparkling mineral water and a couple of glasses of plain water to boot.

No headache last night, but my rashes are flaring up a bit (the one on my eyelid is driving me nuts!!) and Z has one on the side of her face which has flared up again and she has scratched it until it bled :( Since she is still breastfed, maybe something that I had been eating was going through my milk and affecting her too??

Hopefully this eating change will benefit my girls too!

Change to Diet: Day 2

I have to confess, anytime I start on a new way of eating (be it weight watchers before my wedding and post babies, or just this) I find that I eat very poorly in the first couple of days because it all seems too hard. I KNOW I have suitable food in the house, but the whole thinking aout it gets to me.

So in this theme, yesterday I ate:

4 Arnotts Milk Arrowroot biscuits
1/2 a pack of Woolworths light potato chips (less than 10% fat, but also less than 10% taste! YUK - The girls ate most of them!)
2 x toad in a hole
2 small glasses of 'Magic Cordial' from the book Fed Up mixed with sparkling mineral water
1 small glass A2 milk
and Potato and Leek soup for dinner (made with homemade chicken stock I did over the weekend) with 2 slices baker's Delight Country Grain Bread (yum!)

Not the best start to the week and I must make an effort to try harder and eat more regularly and not just graze during the day.

I also had a shocking headache last night, which could be from lack of caffine and/or sugar (remember I have dropped from a 2-3 can of soft drink a day habit + juice to none!) or even just lack of fluids in general.

Off to see what day 2 has in store!!

Change to diet: Day 1

Starting today I am eliminating all artificial colours, flavours and preservatives from my diet. I was looking at going completely Failsafe (see here)but thought that I'll start with this as a baby step and see if it makes a difference.

The reason I am doing this is that I am never really 'healthy'. I suffer from excema, dermatitis, tinnitis, mood swings, migraines, constant rhinitis and sinus problems (to the degree where I have had surgery which helped a bit but not enough!) and gyno problems as well. I am hoping that by changing what I eat I might be able to feeling good not just okay.

I am going to trial this for 3 weeks, if there is no difference then I'll move onto the very strict elimination diet outlined on that website and through Sue Dengate's book "Fed Up" and I will record my journey on here. :)

So what am I cutting out?? A LOT!!

Colours:
102 tartrazine
104 quinoline yellow
107 yellow 2g
110 sunset yellow
122 azorubine, carmoisine
123 amaranth
124 ponceau, brilliant scarlett
127 erythrozine
128 red 2g
129 allure red
132 indigotine, indigo carmine
133 brilliant blue
142 green s, food green, acid brilliant green
151 brilliant black
155 brown, chocolate brown
160b annato, bixin, norbixin (a natural colour that causes reactions in some people_

Preservatives:
200-203 Sorbic Acid, all sorbates
210-219 benzoic acid, all benzoates
220-228 sulphur dioxide, all sulphites, bi sulphites, metabisulphates
249-283 all nitrates and nitrites
280-283 propionic acid, all propionates

Synthetic Antioxidants:
310-312 all gallates
319-321 TBHQ, BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole), BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene)

Flavour Enhancers:
620-625 glutamic acid and all glutamates, MSG (monosodium glutamate)
627 disodium guanylate
631 disodium inosinate
635 ribonuleotides
Yeast Extract, HVP, HPP

Flavours:
Anything listed as just "flavour" because who knows what they are!!

also, 951 aspartame, not included in the list in the book but something I personally won't consume.

All those things put in foods to make it look better, taste better or last longer . . . what about eating just good quality, fresh ingredients?? I tell you what, since reading labels carefully I know that there is a lot snuck into everyday products - I must be consuming a LOT of this junk! YUK!

And what does any person about to embark on a major diet change do the night before?? Eat EVERYTHING they aren't meant to . . . STUPID!! So I have started today feeling rather worse for wear!

I think drinks will be my big downfall. I have been building up my home cooking but I normally drink far too much coke and some fanta, which are now both out . . . you never know I might lose some weight out of this too!!

Wish me luck!!