Thursday, September 28, 2006

Tomatoes out, pears in

The new diet Elf has imposed on Marcus seems to be working well. We have been concerned about his temperament - he will blow up suddenly over very small things. Elf is following a book called Fed Up by Sue Dengate, which says on the back;

"Added and natural food chemicals can cause
• irritability, restlessness, 'a short fuse' when things go wrong
• poor reading or school performance
• 'restless legs', slow to fall asleep or night-waking
• headaches or stomach aches
• itchy skin rashes or bedwetting
• disorganisation, lack of energy
• some symptoms of ADHD and oppositional defiant disorder
• frequent ear infections, asthma, stuffy and runny nose"

Marcus has shown the majority of these symptoms at some stage in the last twelve months. He is doing fine at school but we are aware that his reading ability goes up and down with his mood. So far a few food exclusions have seen an improvement. Elf thinks tomatoes might be a main culprit. The book also advises to feed kids a lot less fruit than we generally do. The safest fruit is pears. I have not read the book myself, and I acknowledge that the author may perhaps have shares in pears, but Marcus is certainly pleasant company more of the time at the moment.

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