Not to make the rabbit hole any deeper, but pesticide use is a biggie as well. I was reminded yesterday when I bought a pair of shoes and the box contained micro-pak..... Micro-pak is in a lot of consumer products. Home - Micro-Pak (micropakltd.com) It may be better than what they had been spraying down boxes with, but I still wouldn't want it lingering in the house.
We are partial to Dr Bronners as they are one of the most transparent ones out there, and we buy Sals and Castille soaps in gallon form which last quite a while.
Dishwasher tabs: Seventh Generation tabs and dishwashing rinse agent
Laundry detergent: Dr Bronners Sals suds, about 2 tbsp in a full load in our HE washer
Laundry Drying: wool balls
General Cleaning: Dr Bronners Sals suds diluted to about 1tsp:32oz water
General Cleaning for Hard water stains: Dr Bronner Sals suds diluted to 1tsp:32oz vinegar
Toilet disinfecting: Hydrogen peroxide (yes the standard stuff you can pick up for under a buck per bottle)
Hand washing: Dr Bronners Baby Mild Castille soap diluted with water in foaming hand pumps
For hard floors, we have a steam mopper which works well without any soaps/surfactants. When they do need a wash, it's literally 1tsp sals in a bucket of warm water.
If you have any specific questions or suspicions about interior air quality, I am in building sciences and can probably point you in the right direction. Living in Europe is certainly beneficial over the US, but there are a host of things to consider.
Just another few data point for you all, my 8yr old experienced a sudden flare in her TS tics within about 8 hours of the pfizer covid vaccine #1 in November 2021 which lasted a few weeks.
For me, when I got my Covid booster in November 2021, an old lumbar spine L4 nerve compression issue that I had (and had not acted up in the previous 8 months) flared within about the same timeframe (8hours) of receiving the booster.
Not saying not to get the vaccines, but there is definitely an inflammation thing going on.
I totally agree. It takes a lot of work and certain products may cost more but we have found it's worth it. One big hurdle is understanding exactly what you're eating. For example, MSG is hidden by giving it so many different names.
Mom2three's posting about what foods have hidden MSG in them gave me the thought to compile the list of foods I have found, over the past 1 1/2 plus that my son Daniel can tolerate. These foods do not have any MSG, HIGH fructose corn syrup (they may have regular corn syrup but very few of them), and no artificial dyes (obviously this information is all based on the best of my knowledge. So make sure you read the labels for yourself!).
These foods do not take in any consideration of any other allergies. They also do not take into consideration salicylates that some may be sensitive. As always keep an eye on the labels over the years because ingredients do change in foods we buy at the grocery stores. I compiled the list in five sections (Breakfast) (Lunch and Dinner) (Snacks/Desserts) (Beverages) and (Eating Out). I also included on the list the places I purchase my food at so hopefully these stores are near you!
At the bottom of the post is information about MSG in general and what to avoid. Also some helpful websites I have found.
There are several stores I do the vast majority of my shopping Costco, Sprouts, Trader Joes, and Wal-mart.
Lunch/Dinner
*Spaghetti Noodles (any regular brand)
*Egg Noodles (any regular brand)
*Pasta Noodles of any sort (any regular brand)
*Chicken (I prefer Sprouts all natural chicken but regular chicken is ok too)
*Organic Free Range Chicken Broth (Costco) (DO NOT buy any regular chicken broth. It will have MSG (autolyzed yeast extract. You need to buy organic and still make sure to check the ingredients)
*Peanut Butter any brand regular kind
*Jelly (I have been using Flavor Swiss Preserves but just look for one without colors or high fructose corn syrup)
*Homemade Salsa
*Sprouts Lil' Smokies (do not buy any Little smokies or any other sausage that does not say MSG free I guarantee it has MSG in it)
*Frigo String Cheese (Costco large pack) (probably any brand string cheese is ok)
*Cheddar Cheese (All natural no yellow dyes. Does not say artificial coloring. The kind I buy almost always say annatto used for coloring. Just as a side note Costco has a large block of cheddar cheese that says "All Natural" but when you read the ingredients it says artificial coloring)
*Tortilla's
*Homemade Pizza (I use Hunts's 100% Natural Tomato Sauce with just a teaspoon or so of white sugar mixed to make sauce)
*Hormel 100% Natural Deli Meats
*Parker House Style Frozen Rolls (Wal-Mart freezer section) (I love these rolls. They do have other additives but they do not seem to bother Daniel. I use them to make homemade donuts (After raised poke hole in the middle and fry them in canola oil. Cover in white sugar or make a cinnamon/sugar mix yummy!), little individual pizza's, hot pocket type sandwiches with the Hormel Deli Meats and cheese inside, and obviously dinner rolls)
*Hamburgers (I like Sprouts Ground Beef. I wait until the beef goes on a great sale like $1.89 or so and we BBQ (be careful not to use BBQ sauce unless you read the labels real well for unfavorable additives). We individually wrap them and freeze them. Then we just bring them out and heat up for a quick hamburger. Also I cook up a bunch of the ground beef and store it individual ziplocks. We freeze it and then we can quickly defrost it for making taco's, spaghetti, or lasagna)
*Lasagna Homemade (do not use Parmesan Cheese it is naturally high in MSG)
*Roast Beef
*Homemade mashed potatoes
*Ore-Ida Fast Food French Fries (Walmart) (I am avoiding tator tots because they are "seasoned")
*Trader Joes All Beef Hot Dogs
*Homemade fried chicken
*Homemade biscuits
*Trader Joes Pancake Mix to make biscuits
*Fresh Fruit
*Fresh Vegetables
*All Natural Butter (Wal-mart or Costco)
*Bread (I buy mine at Sprouts cracked wheat) (Look for one without caramel coloring or high fructose corn syrup)
*Olive Oil (Trader Joes has great prices)
*Canola Oil (Wal-Mart has cheap off-brand)
*White Flour
*Wheat Flour
*White Sugar
*Brown Sugar
*Jasmine Rice (Trader Joes and Wal-Mart)
Breakfast
*Great Value Homestyle Waffles (Wal-Mart freezer section)
*Trader Joes Uncured Bacon
*Applewood Bacon (Trader Joes)
*Trader Joes 100% Pure Maple Syrup (I think Costco also carries a 100% product)
*Jelly (I use Flavor Swiss Perserves but just look for one with out high fructose corn syrup and no artficle colors)
*Trader Joes Honey O's cereal
*Eggs
*Kix Cereal
*Cascadian Farms Vanilla Almond (Wal-Mart)
*Envirokidz Koala Crisp (Whole Foods)
*Cream of Wheat Regular (Wal-mart)
*New Morning Fruit O's (Sprouts)
*Cascadian Farms Oat's and Honey Granola (Walmart)
*Homemade French Toast
*Cheerios
*Honeynut Cheerios
*Cream Cheese Regular not flavored
*Bagels (make sure they do not have high fructose corn syrup. Trader Joes does not I am pretty sure)
*Fresh Fruit
*Fresh Vegetables
*Brown Sugar (for toppings)
*Trader Joes Pancake Mix
*Any fresh plain meat. (Make sure it is not "seasoned" from the store and be careful of breading unless you are doing this all yourself)
Snacks/Desserts
*Homemade Popcorn (we have a "Whirley-Pop" pan and we add our popcorn/canola oil/olive oil and salt after. Makes great popcorn. Our family has become quite famous for this when our friends come over)
*Pretzels (Wal-Mart Great Value Brand. They are $1 a bag)
*Unflavored potato chips like Lays Original or Ruffles Regular (ALWAYS unflavored chips anything else I can bet $$$ on will have a form of MSG. Also avoid any Doritos lots of MSG)
*Oyster Crackers (I buy Trader Joes)
*Saltine Crackers
*Organic Quack N' Bites (Whole Foods). (Can you believe that good old regular fish crackers have MSG (autolyzed yeast))
*Cashews with salt (Costco)
*Peanuts with Salt (Costco)
*Almonds
*Corn Chips with Flax (Trader Joes) (Do not buy regular corn chips because they are made with corn oil which has an MSG type of molecular structure)
*Joe-Joes cookies chocolate or vanilla (Trader Joes)
*Cheese Puffs Reduced Fat (Trader Joes) (DO NOT buy regular cheese puffs they have yellow dyes and I think they might have MSG I would have to read a bag to see. It has been a long time since I bought regular)
*Cheetos All-Natural cheese puffs (Wal-Mart)(again DO NOT but the regular)
*Mi Ranchito Blue Restaurant Style Tortilla Chips (Costco)
*Raisins
*Trader Joe's Vanilla Chocolate Chips (my son loves to eat these just like candy)
*Trader Joes Peanut Butter Cups
*Great-Value Brand Peanut Butter Cups (Wal-Mart)
*Rice Cakes Lightly Salted (Wal-mart or Trader Joes) (DO NOT buy seasoned rice cakes MSG)
*Ghiradelli Chocolate Chips for baking or for just eating (just don't over eat chocolate because it does have tyramine's)
*Cat's Cookies (they are like animal crackers) Trader Joes
*Cape Cod Potato Chips Regular (Costco)
*Waffle Cones Keebler (Wal-Mart)
*Breyers All Natural Ice Creams
*Homemade crepes with white sugar and lemon juice
*Blue Berries Frozen (Costco) (My children love eating frozen blue berries - they are just very messy and if you are sensitive to salicylates these could be a problem)
*Claussen Deli Style Kosher Dills (Wal-Mart)
*Cottage Cheese Regular
*Kozy Shack Puddings
*Squirrels Nest Candies (I have not ordered but other's on the forum have) http://home.squirrels-nest.com/
*Use real vanilla when making cookies
*Use all natural butter
Beverages
*Hansen's Regular Soda's drinking 1/2 can. Whole can has a lot of sugar and I noticed increase in tics after drinking whole can.(Costco, Trader Joes, or Sprouts) (NEVER DIET because of the aspartame)
*Simply Lemonade (Wal-Mart near the orange juices)
*Capri-Sun All Natural 100% Juice (Costco. Make sure you do not buy the regular Capri-Suns because they have high fructose corn syrup)
*Milk (I am learning you want to use 2% or higher because the lower the fat the more the milk is processed which can create a molecular change. My son seems to tolerate the 1% but I am switching just to get it out of his diet anyway)
*Donald Ducks Orange Juice (Wal-mart)
*Crystal Geser Juice Squeezes (Trader Joes)
Eating Out
*I have attached a link that I found helpful to avoid MSG (I don't know if the author took in consideration with the dyes or high fructose corn syrups) http://www.migraineweb.com/page6.html.
*What I have started doing is going to the restaurants web sites and reading the ingredients lists prior to going.
*One thing Daniel seems to tolerate is the Burger King Kids Hamburger Meal with French Fries. Get the regular milk instead of a soda. The bun does have high fructose corn syrup though!
*The other thing we are doing, lets say we go to the mall, is taking a Hansen's Soda with us. This way he feels like he is getting a "soda".
*Harkins Theater Popcorn (Do not use butter topping or any special salts just regular)
*Cold Stone Creamry Ice Cream (Regular Sweet Cream only (no low sugar)). You will need to check the ingredients on the mix ins you would want to add.
*******************************************************************************************************
Here is the information about MSG that I said I would include.
Here are the common names for MSG. I would keep a card or piece of paper with them on so you can carry them around to check labels *** MSG, Monosodium glutamate, monopotassium glutamate, glutamate, glutamic acid, gelatin, hydrolyzed vegetable protein (HVP), hydrolyzed plant protein (HPP), autolyzed plant protein, sodium caseinate, calcium caseinate, textured protein, yeast extract, yeast food or nutrient, and autolyzed yeast.
I have to say I have yet to figure out exactly what yeast food or nutrient would be. Gluten products do not seem to bother Daniel so I am a bit confused by this name. It must be something that has been used on a label at some point to disguise MSG.
Here is a link I created on Latitudes about MSG http://www.latitudes.org/forums/index.php?...p;mode=threaded .
You really want to avoid anything seasoned, canned soups, ANY soy sauce product (this includes any products with Soy Sauce at Trader Joes/Sprouts/Whole Foods. It is naturally high in MSG even if MSG is not added. It is the way it is manufactured), parmasean cheese (naturally high), and pretty much any thing processed.
You really need to also avoid school lunches. School lunches prepared at the school are more then likely going to be high in MSG. You need to go in and look at the labels. Don't trust that the "lunch staff" know that they do or do not have MSG. I tested this out at my son's school because they thought there was no MSG. Probably 70% of the lunches had hidden MSG names (no fault of the lunch staff they were purchasing what the State of Arizona government told them to buy!!!!)
Here is a link to companies claiming there food is MSG free but are not http://www.truthinlabeling.org/nomsg.html .
This explains what MSG does in the body http://books.google.com/books?id=UxDNkhvIc...qDkVbrdH-X-fsTc .
Here are some other websites that might be helpful http://www.msgmyth.com/hidename.htm , http://www.msgtruth.org/sulfite.htm , http://www.msgtruth.org/whatisit.htm , http://www.msgmyth.com/discus/messages/247/247.html , http://www.msgtruth.org/why.htm
I hope this list helps some. I know it is VERY overwhelming trying to figure out what to feed children who do not want to feel like they are being left out. But the effort of making the changes is SO WELL WORTH IT!!!
Just another few data point for you all, my 8yr old experienced a sudden flare in her TS tics within about 8 hours of the pfizer covid vaccine #1 in November 2021 which lasted a few weeks.
For me, when I got my Covid booster in November 2021, an old lumbar spine L4 nerve compression issue that I had (and had not acted up in the previous 8 months) flared within about the same timeframe (8hours) of receiving the booster.
Not saying not to get the vaccines, but there is definitely an inflammation thing going on.
Just another few data point for you all, my 8yr old experienced a sudden flare in her TS tics within about 8 hours of the pfizer covid vaccine #1 in November 2021 which lasted a few weeks.
For me, when I got my Covid booster in November 2021, an old lumbar spine L4 nerve compression issue that I had (and had not acted up in the previous 8 months) flared within about the same timeframe (8hours) of receiving the booster.
Not saying not to get the vaccines, but there is definitely an inflammation thing going on.
Atex got a reaction from Chemar in Looking for hypoallergenic cleaning products