Friday is often the end of a busy week so it's nice to cook something super simple, this week it was homemade pizza.

We never buy pizza takeaway as 1) it's expensive, 2)who knows what's in the ingredients as they don't have to label their ingredients and 3) in the time that it takes for you to call, order and and wait for it's arrival we would have devoured our homemade pizza!

I used to make our pizza bases as I never could find a base that was purely additive and preservative free. Did you know that the leading frozen brand here in Australia has L-cysteine (920) in it - and it's derived from animal and human hair! Ewwww....

The brand I found that we could safely consume was Pomodoro Bros. Stone Baked Pizza Bases Twin Pack, but while I was cleaning up after dinner last night I noticed the packaging stated "New & Improved Stone Baked Recipe". The red light went up instantly as change isn't always a good thing.

Disappointingly this came to be the case. They have added Preservative 281 or Sodium Propionate in it. This is unfortunate as now I will not be buying their product anymore, it's one less good product on our shelves and instead of singing their praises I now am writing this. 

I know that I shouldn't be naming and shaming, but I was just so disappointed ... and don't worry I'll be letting them know my disappointment with a succinct email.

So what exactly is wrong with Sodium Propionate (281)? Take a read:

• It is used as an antimicrobial agent in bread to prevent germination of some types of bacteria which causes sticky yellow patches to occur. Occurs naturally in fermented food, human sweat and stomachs of cows. 
• In tiny amounts it's not harmful but, as with other additives, the effects are dose related. Very few consumers will be affected immediately by the amount of propionate preservative in one slice of bread for example, but effects are cumulative, and can build up slowly over days or weeks, varying with the dose. This makes identification of the cause of symptoms extremely difficult.
• First Australian researchers reported that propionate preservatives can contribute to hyperactivity in children. They have also found it can cause irritability, restlessness, inattention and sleep disturbance (difficulty settling to sleep and/or frequent night waking) in some children. 

Other reported symptoms include:

• migraine and headaches • gastrointestinal symptoms such as stomach aches, irritable bowel, diarrhea • urinary urgency, bed wetting • eczema and other itchy skin rashes • nasal congestion (stuffy or runny nose) • depression, unexplained tiredness, foggy brain • speech delay, impairment of memory and concentration • tachycardia (fast heart beat) • arrhythmia • seizures • growing pains • loud voice (no volume control) • adult acne

Reference: (Dengate and Ruben 2002)www.fedup.com.au

Earlier this month we celebrated Fathers Day! It was a veritable moving feast but I wanted to share with you what we enjoyed for brunch. My father couldn't join us as he was sick with flu but this is what Mr Taylor enjoyed - Pancakes all perfectly preservative and additive free of course - even the ice cream (unlike the blocks of chocolate he inhaled later that afternoon courtesy of the younger Taylor's)!

I have put the recipe below (super easy) and it will also be in the upcoming Cookbook (currently with the Editor).

By the way they were stamped with approval by the Quality Control Team as well - Enjoy!

This is my beautiful daughter, Taylor No. 2! She's gorgeous huh? So bubbly, funny and smart. She is the reason this site is here.

Just like regular mums I thought I was feeding my children healthy nutritious food that would help them grow and thrive. In fact I was feeding them the kinds of foods I grew up on and well didn't I grow up fit and healthy?

However, I was wrong. My five year old daughter was floundering. She didn't have the relaxed happy go nature of her older brother, in fact quite the opposite. Interest in books and reading did not come naturally and her defiant attitude had us all in a spin.

Think, does this sound familiar in your household with one of your children? Firstly they are hard to rouse in the morning. In fact if you let them, they would sleep to lunchtime! When they do wake they’re grumpy and grizzly, argue about breakfast, school uniform, hair brushing and then it only goes downhill from there.

Tummy aches after meals, short tempers and tears over nothing. Then there’s the anxiety over new situations and sibling squabbles, and the inevitable fight to get them to bed at night.

Physically my daughter displayed itchy, pale skin, had dark circles under her eyes and a general lethargy. I've since read some people explaining it as having a fog over their brain.

My daughter had started primary school and it wasn't the stellar start to academia that we were hoping for. She had little interest in books and scared of things like school plays and sports. It was baffling as her overall attitude to school was excellent and when she wasn't acting like a three year old she was the most intelligent, insightful, kind little girl you could hope to meet. So why did we still need time outs and reward lists?

The impetus to seek answers for this behavior came because of two events. Easter school holidays were approaching and I was secretly thinking there was no way I could go through another school break like the one we had at Christmas, someone wasn't going to make it out the other side alive!

The second event was the most worrying of all. It occurred when my 5 year old precious child announced to me while she was having a particularly low moment that she wanted to die! I was horrified, it’s surely not normal for a 5 year old to be depressed and suicidal.

My first step was to take her to a GP and ensure there wasn't a medical reason for her tiredness, as I thought this was the reason for the cranky behavior. Her iron levels were tested but all was fine. I changed her shower gel to soap free and started making my own washing powder to ease the itchy skin symptoms, but there was no change.

My next thought was that we would have to see a Paediatrician to discuss behavioural issues. But before we did this there was one more route I wanted to attempt, diet changes.

I remembered a mother from playgroup that had changed the diet of her 2 year old son. She was the kind of mother who never got to sit still because she always had to run around after him.

In only two weeks this little boy went from a child who never sat still, wasn’t talking and generally destructive to a pleasant little boy. He was able to sit still and play with others, started speaking and looked you in the face when you spoke to him.

So what had his mother done? She had changed his diet and limited his T.V. screen time after reading the website www.fedup.com.au by a lady named Sue Dengate. After a brief look I realized this was definitely for us.

The testimonials were like a hidden camera had been placed in our house. After reading the site through we decided to make some changes in our home and it was easier than you would have thought. Believe me if it wasn't easy I wouldn't have done it. I’m pretty lazy like that.

And if I hadn't seen the changes immediately I wouldn't have persevered. Just like when you start a weight loss diet, it’s easy to lose heart if you don’t see results immediately.

So, if we could do it,  you can do it too. Does any of this sound familiar? Tell us about through the Your Stories page or comment below. I'd love to know what your doing to cut the chemicals in your child's life.

It's true! You are a smart parent. You found your way here and you cared enough to look for us. You want to ensure you are doing all you can to make good food choices for your family and the first step to doing that is reading this site - so well done!

I hope that you will join us regularly as this site is just beginning! We hope to eventually be a vast reservoir of all fonts of knowledge on this topic, your one stop shop when you have a question and if the answer isn't here yet ask us and we'll find it for you!

So check back soon or better still sign up for our newsletter or like our facebook that way you can see all the new developments as they happen.

I had this site in mind for a while as there are lots of little bits of info here in Australia but certainly not a comprehensive collection in one hub for a world wide audience so here we are! Let me know if you are happy with the site and the direction it's going, I'd also love to hear what you want to know more about and what we should add to the site so please take a moment and give me your thoughts.

Now must run, the kiddies are stirring!

Happy Eating

Bec