Beyond Inexcusable

I probably should start off with a warning - I'm on a rant tonight! (Just in case you hadn't figured it out from the title, you can consider yourself warned! I promise to try and keep this G-rated though. :-) )

To start with a little background on this rant - as we have been dealing with Ian's sensory issues and seeing improvement from a few dietary changes and occupational therapy, it has made more and more sense to look into further dietary changes. Ian is obviously still reacting to certain foods, and I have had a hunky-dinky-jamboree of a time trying to figure out what he is reacting to. I was talking with Mindy, a good friend of mine, recently and she mentioned the Feingold diet.

To be honest, when she mentioned it, I was thinking it may be a bit beyond what we needed to explore with Ian. However, she and her kiddos have a very similar allergy profile to Ian (all the way down to apples!), and she is a pretty smart cookie. So I started researching it. The Feingold diet takes out all artificial flavors, preservatives, and colors from your diet in both Stage 1 and Stage 2 (there are only two stages). No problem there. In fact, I have been getting pretty irate reading about all the junk food companies are allowed to put in our food that other countries (like England) have made illegal.

Stage 1 also calls for the removal of all foods containing salicylates in addition to the artificial stuff I had to look up salicylate on Wikipedia. They are natural pesticides that plants produce to protect themselves from insects. Still didn't help. (I have since read the use of chemical pesticides may affect salicylate production in these foods.) Then I found this chart. And I couldn't believe what I was seeing! Every. single. food. that Ian is allergic to is on that chart. Plus all the foods I had been wondering if he was reacting to. And then there are a ton more....ayiyi!

Instantaneous relief swept over me as I read this chart. Dealing with a child with food sensitivities is harder than I could have ever imagined. We rarely know if Ian is refusing a food because he isn't hungry, is being picky, or somehow knows it is going to negatively affect him. Any time he puts his finger in his mouth, I wonder if his mouth hurts (it often does, but due to lack of language and high pain tolerance, it has taken me a long time to figure out accompanying signs). It's hard putting my baby down for bed knowing he has reacted to something and wondering if it will affect his breathing. Even worse is the helpless feeling I get watching a rash develop across his body and not knowing what caused it or what I can do to prevent it.

Thankfully, we have never had a breathing issue due to an allergic reaction. Ian has a high pain/discomfort tolerance and it is actually his behavior that suffers more than his personal comfort from all the reactions. And thankfully, I now know what the common ingredient to his reactions are. It makes me glad that we have never forced him to eat anything he didn't want to and let him have popsicles whenever he requested them.

Needless to say, we will be buying the Feingold materials and starting the program ASAP. My poor baby currently has a very red patch on his chin, an excema spot flaring up on his ankle, and a light red scaly rash over his back and chest. I am looking forward to him feeling better and I know he will be happy to feel better too.

Now for the rant... What in the world makes it okay for these companies to poison our food?!?!?! Ian may be at the high end of chemical sensitivity, but I know he isn't the only child that reacts. People complain about the number of kids diagnosed with ADHD and autism being on the rise, the vaccination companies have gone through intense scrutiny, but the food companies haven't even been touched. If these food companies just served crap all around, it might be one thing. But because England passed laws, these companies make food with food based dyes instead of chemical based dyes for England. Their chemically altered food is messing with my baby and I ain't a happy camper!!! I said on Facebook tonight that if I had the time, energy, and money, legislature would rue the day they allowed this crap to be put in our food and I meant it.

Think of how many kids really might be reacting to this stuff!! Even if only one out of every four kids that entered the juvenile delinquency system was there because of behavioral issues due to food sensitivities, that would drastically reduce the amount of money taxpayers are spending on courts and detention facilities. There are amazing articles out there that talk about the difference changing school lunches has made in the overall well-being of the students. Crime rate has gone down, grades have gone up. It's maddening when you look at the facts and see what the horrible additives are doing to our kiddos.

End of rant. Sigh. It really makes me more sad than anything. We've gone through so much this past year with Ian and I know he has gone through a lot too. It makes me really sad to think about how much of this might have been avoided if I had known about these additives and salicylates earlier on. :-(

Of course, we haven't even started the Feingold program yet, but I think we have more than enough evidence to know it is going to work well for him. I'll keep you updated!