Low Sugar Diet & Researching What's REALLY in Our Foods

About a month ago, I noticed that my boys behaviour was getting icky, they both have behavioural issues but I had noticed it didn't seem to be letting up. It seems to come in cycles but this cycle was ever-lasting....

So I decided to put ALL of us on a low sugar diet and see what happens. I know that MANY other mums of autistic kids swear by these types of diets and I felt I had nothing to lose.

Over the past few weeks I've gradually made small changes. I went from 3 Sugarine (like Equal) tablets in my (decaf) coffee to one NatVia (a natural sweetener from a plant), and I've cut back my coffee intake by heaps.

Aspartame is TERRIBLE stuff and I've been using it for over 20 years!! It is linked to all sorts of neurological issues.... argh!!

I weaned the boys from unlimited cordial to one a day, and now they've gone two weeks and haven't even realised they've given it up!! They are drinking tons of water and a little more milk than they used to. And they aren't even asking for cordial anymore even though there's still half a bottle in the pantry, I think their taste buds are adjusting.

I cut back the sugar on cornflakes to the lightest sprinkle, and in my baking I halved the sugar and sometimes even less. I have also changed to wholemeal flour, the first lot of baking I did was half and half (white and wholemeal) and the next when the white was used up, I went straight to all wholemeal flour.

Surprisingly the boys have loved the baking I've done and not complained about the lack of sweetness. I chopped up apples and added sultanas to give the sweetness and they are VERY morish!

Muffins - yum!!

I've also stopped buying white bread, we have mostly wholegrain breads, those ones with all the seedy bits in them.

I've cut out cold meat from the deli as I read that some of those have the worst preservatives and icky stuff in them.

I'm trying to stick to lots of fruit and veg and foods that are not processed.

Now in saying that we still have take away about once a week/fortnight and I still have things in the cupboard that once they are used up I won't be buying anymore, such as 2 minute noodles. I won't waste things, I just won't buy again. It's a long and gradual process.

I have definitely noticed a difference. The boys are a lot calmer but in particular they are enjoying the healthy foods and when we do have take away, I see the effects immediately. For example, I rarely let them have Coke, but I have noticed they also react to Fanta, yet when they have lemonade it's not as bad, it must be something to do with the orange coloring.

So when we have take away it's only lemonade now, not anything flavored.

One of the biggest things that have shocked me, is that once I started reading and researching about what goes into our foods and how they are made, it's no wonder kids are out of control and people have all sorts of health issues. It's really shocking. Just get on YouTube and see the way our meat animals are treated, animal cruelty goes hand in hand in many cases with being a meat eater.

And I also looked into products tested on animals, again, just look on YouTube, it's shocking!

I can't save the world BUT I can do a little bit for my boys and me. I can make US healthier which will have a small flow into the community around us.

I love putting out my bin each week and it's barely half full some weeks, that's because of the less packaging from all the crap foods I used to buy.

I think that'll do for today, I could sit here for hours and type about what I've learned, but that will do for today.