"Failsafe" eating

For the past few weeks I have been looking at the food we eat, and making changes. We always ate what I would have thought of as a reasonably healthy diet, but after chatting to one of the other Mums at Alfie's school, I did a bit more research and started to wonder.
The first big shock was to find out that many of the additives which have been banned for years at home are perfectly legal and very commonly used here. So in looking through my larder imagine my horror when I discovered the "straight to wok" singapore noodles I had in stock were coloured with not only Sunset Yellow, but a dash of Tartrazine for good measure. Both illegal in the UK. That was enough for me, we had a mass clearout and I am now very careful as I do the weekly shopping, reading labels as I go while I get used to what's safe and what isn't.
Next was the serious web searching with reference to behaviour in kids etc. Alfie, although reasonably bright, has the concentration span of a gnat which can impact his school work and regularly gets him in trouble. The teacher says words to the effect of "I know he's able to do the work, he's just too busy chatting, or watching the fly that's buzzing around, anything, it's such a shame" Add to that the silly and often extremely defiant behaviour at home from both of them and I find I'm at the end of my tether quite often. I know they're only little, but they seem to be a lot more difficult to handle than some of the other kids I meet.
I found a website by a lady called Sue Denham, and a book by her too called "Fed Up". She talks about not only nasty additives, but also the fact that children can be affected by natural chemicals in foods (such as salicylates and amines) leading to big problems for some, and having no effect whatever on others. The website can tell it all far better than I can,
http://fedup.com.au/
but suffice it to say we've been having a bit of a go at following the ideas behind it.
 It seems very odd, because we've actually had to reduce the amount of fruit the boys would normally eat, but keep up with certain veggies ( the old fashioned ones like cabbage and swede) and other normal things. It would be hard to be very rigid with it I think, but I guess if you had a child with serious issues it would be worth a try.
Anyway, Alfie's teacher has called me over at pick-up a few times recently to say he's been much better at getting on with his work/ eating his lunch etc. Then last Monday after a particularly slack weekend when Brian was away and we went, amongst other places, to McDonalds, she called me over to say she didn't know what had gone wrong, but he'd had a dreadful day. He'd even been in the naughty corner. Only then did I tell her about the food thing, she'd had no idea, and we had to conclude there may be something in it.
So I'm baking my own fairy cakes and oaty biscuits called Anzacs that are popular here. It's actually great as it reminds me of my own childhood days, and I'd got rather lazy about such things. The boys of course love it too. Licking out the bowl, nibbling warm cakes or biscuits, and getting to add ingredients or give a stir. I'd forgotten how lovely that all is.
So here's to food of all kinds, but particularly stuff without the additives (or too much salicylate). And here also is to my being able to keep up the momentum of a somewhat restricted diet for long enough to really, really test out if it works.
Wish me luck!

Dear Blog......

... Allow me to apologise. I have been incredibly innattentive recently. And not even because I've had nothing to write. Just a lack of impetus to sit down and get it on paper, so to speak. So, where were we??

Well, since last writing we've been "down South" to Busselton for a long weekend. There were 4 families from school who went down but stayed in different places and got together for a bite to eat or a swim each day. The boys had a ball because even when we were at our own cabin the site had lots of other boys staying too, and they joined the "gang" for a cycle or scooter round the park.

While there we visited :

    A lighthouse....

   A very cool maze....

 A Brewery...

  A reptile park where B got to hold a snake (not sure he realised that was part of the bargain when he suggested the reptile park but there you go!) ..

Brian and Mildred the python.

and most exciting of all, went whale watching.

Mother and calf side by side.

This was a real highlight as the whales are heading back to their feeding grounds in the antarctic after breeding in the warmer waters to the North. Lots of mothers with their calves and they really are an awesome sight. Best of all from the boys point of view was the very jolly captain giving them a chance to "drive" the boat (that was better that the whales for them I suspect!)

Alfie.

Ru.

In the two weeks since then Brian has spent a week in Singapore, we've been to a birthday party, had a day at the maritime museum and very excitingly attended Alfie's sports day at school. Brian even managed to slip out of work for a couple of hours so he could take part in the piggy back race ( he was at his desk at 6am so he could be there, don't know how he had the energy to run when it came to it!)

In full swing..

Piggy back time.

Certificates being awarded.

After such a busy couple of weeks we spent yesterday in the garden, pruning, mowing and generally tidying the place up. While we worked the boys did "experiments" with lemons from the tree (using half my kitchen equipment to squeeze and grate them, plus salt, sugar and sand for the mix).  It was a beautiful day and very satisfying to get the place looking tidier as it was very overgrown when we moved in, and we hadn't done much since. One of the things we have to think of here is the possibility that if the place is too overgrown it might be possible for snakes to be hiding in the long grass, and it's almost certain that spiders would be too. So for everyones peace of mind, and for the love of it, it was a good job done.

And now here we are on a Sunday afternoon and I'm just back from the airport with two very tired, somewhat miserable boys. Daddy has had to go off once again. This time to Norway for the week, and understandably he'll take the opportunity to nip home to Kerry while he's in Europe. That means we won't see him for a whole ten days. We have lots of plans to try to keep busy while he's gone, but it's never quite the same when he's away.
Ru said it best when saying goodbye at the airport . "But I'll miss you" he wailed. And so will I.