failsafe diet

[Guest Guest_efgh]

Some of you use the failsafe diet.. I read the website for failsafe diet. It was interesting. It says avoid high salicylates and amines BUT I don't see any table or list that says WHICH FOODS CONTAIN high salicylates and amines? Cabbage, potatoes and brussel sprouts for example - should they be avoided or consumed as per failsafe diet???? would appreciate more insight into this.

what are amines? as per failsafe should they be reduced? which foods contain what amount of amines??

 

thanks.

[Caz]

It's hard to put into a few paragraphs, as the info is contained in a whole book. I have read the book, and am eliminating as much as possible by way of artificial preservatives/flavours/colours and bad antioxidants like bha and bht and aftificial sweetners etc, then we will move onto the others, the salicylates and amines.

 

In a nut shell, vegies that are low in salicylates are:

green bean, brussel sprouts, cabbage, celery, chives, choko, dried beans, dried peas, garlic, leeks, lentils, lettuce iceberg, white potato, shallots,bamboo shoots, mung sprouts, swedes.

 

Therefore no corn!!!!! or tomatoes.

 

Fruits are: (only) pears, peeled, juicy ripe or canned in syrup.

 

Grains: avoid all corn prodicts because of salicylates.

 

Ok are rice, oats, wheat, barley, and numerous other varieties of flours etc.

Avoid all breads with mould inhibitors etc

 

Meat: beef, veal, lamb, chicken with no skin, and some seafood is ok. Avoid all processed meats, because of amines.

 

Amines are found in food when it ferments or is cooked for long periods of time.

 

Dairy: milk and milk products are ok, and natural yogourt, and icecream as long as they do not have artificial colours and preservatices. cheese has amines in them, but cream cheese/ricotta/cottage etc are ok as long as no preservatives.

 

Eggs are ok, as are soy milks etc, butbe careful of soymilks with certain oils in them. avoid soy sauce, miso, tempeh or tamare as they have amines and glutamates.

 

Drinks: water and soda water are ok, as is milk. Aviod all cordials (coolaid) and juices or flavoured milks.

 

Decaffinated coffee is ok, but avoid herbal teas and normal teas.

 

Canola, soy safflower or sunflour oil is ok, or margarines made from these, but avoid all other oils.

 

Snacks: raw cashews and plain potato chips (as long as no preservatives), and pretzels. Avoid muesli bars, honey flavours, other nuts and spicy flavours.

 

Sugars: white, brown, icing and caster are ok, as are maple, and golden syrup, and most baking aids like baking soda etc are ok, but avoid raw sugar, chocolates, honey and strong flavours like mint.

 

Avoid saliylates in asprin. Avoid colurs flavours in household products like toothpaste etc.

 

Really, it takes so much more to explain the whole thing, and I myself am just getting a grip on it, as there is so much to take in.

 

Apparently the book called, Fed up with ADHD is available at amazon.com.

 

The jist of the diet, is to eliminate everything for 3 - 6 weeks or so, or until you have had 5 good days in a row, then you give a challenge, eg salicylates, overdose them on the high salicylate foods for up to 10 days, and note any changes. If all is ok, then you can reintroduce these foods. Same for amines, and glutamates, then do the food additives in their groups, like colours/sulphates/nitrates/mould prohibitors etc. Go back to original died for however long it takes to settle down after a negative challenge, then try the next group etc. Only do one challenge at a time so you can see what foods do what.

 

The idea behind this is to find out what things your child is sensitive to, so hopefully you will not have to restrict things that are not an issue for them.

 

 

It all seems a little daunting to me, but we have to try these things to get our answers. The book is great as it gives the authors story about doing this with her own children, which is really motivating.

 

Caz

[Claire]

Thanks Caz, you are always so informed.

 

One thing that many of these concepts have in common: Elimination until you find a baseline, then reintroduce/test to see what the trigger is. This is really the way to go. It sounds like a very systematic process.

 

The comment on fermentation avoidance meshes with diets to eliminate yeast overgrowth too. In fact I wonder if this is related to the success. Also, for yeast elimination, pears are basically the only fruit allowed--the yeast don't feed of it for some reason. So this was my son's only fruit for many months (I would give him diluted grapefruit juice occasionally). Now I add strawberries because of the natural antioxidants. Though they aren't good for yeast.

 

Our individual food allergies make this whole process so much more of a challenge. Corn was a problem for my son. He went without it for 5 months and now we rotate. He seems to be okay with it now. Because corn syrup is in so many things, and corn flour replaces wheat in most things. And he is allergic to wheat and milk. Susanna's child can't have white potatoes, and someone else's here can't have rice. A number here are allergic to soy or milk or eggs.

 

Whatever the diet plan, I sure hope that healing the gut means that the restrictions can be loosened. This is the whole IgG approach. Avoidance for a time, then rotate it in. It seems to work for us, except of course you must test it.

My son still can't take wheat. I am afraid to try peanuts due to the stories.

 

I really want to get him retested for the others (it has been 7 months), but our doctor is hesitant to draw blood so often--I understand, but I would feel better about him eating them now if I had this info.

 

Claire

 

ps How did you find this Latitudes site by the way? We are sure glad to have you here.

[Caz]

I may be informed, but that is only because Ausclare told me to buy the book! I don't personally have any experience with it, as I am only just beginning.

 

I love to read - problem sometimes is putting it all into practice. There is so much info out there, I wish someone put it all together.

 

About fermented foods, I do not believe they are restricted in the diet because of yeast, it is more that they are high in amines, which some people are sensitive to. Actually Bonnie G says to avoid certain types of amines in her diet for ts. (Is it tyramine?) I read that on her website long ago.

 

Interestingly in the failsafe book it says not to try and do a yeast free diet and failsafe at the same time - I guess if you try to exclude all they both tell you too, you would only eat rice! Failsafe says wheat and dairy are fine, so if you already know that for your kid they are not, then the failsafe diet is probably too restrictive.

 

Simply starting to read labels has been a big jump for me. I always thought we ate quite healthily, and I tried hard for my kids to avoid coloured lollies, etc, but now from reading this book I see that there are many "hidden" additives in things you would least expect. Just about all yogourt here in Australia contains 160b annatto - even the soy yogourt. I guess once you do the diet and elimination then you know if this particular colour is an issue for your kid.

 

This forum is sooooooo helpful! I probably would have carried on thinking I was doing the right thing, if it was not for people here raising issues like failsafe.

 

Last night I actually had my husband read the post about computers/gameboys/tv, and together we discussed it. When I tell him we should try something, he probably thinks oh yes, here we go again. When you put all those stories together it gave so much credibility to the suggestion of a trial. Now we just have to talk with the 12 year old! Wish us luck.....