Heading toward Feingold

Okay, okay, okay... I'm putting us on Feingold. Mike is pushing HARD to hold off starting until after our trip out of state. Meanwhile, I feel like if it will help our son's behaviors (which admittedly could have nothing to do with food--he's been through hell with us this last year as the family has suffered trauma after trauma) ... then we'd be better off starting now and hopefully making the trip easier.

The fresh foods we have to eliminate that will hit us hardest are going to be apples and tomatoes. They're like staples in our house. :(

BUT, I did sit down and figure out what we could eat for snacks that was acceptable. It was the snacks that were the issue since our main meals aren't affected quite as much. No more pasta unless we do it aglio e olio (pasta with olive oil and garlic).

Thankfully, there ARE plenty of options left for snacks--I just need to actually plan better. I think the biggest task is going to remove the forbidden foods from the house. Once that's done, it's really not hard. I just need to have a food shopping list with me and the "forbidden" list with me.

Stage 1 is only 4-6 weeks. I may keep us on it for 8 weeks. But after that, we can reintroduce these things one by one and see if there's a reaction. If there's not, then we can just add them back in permanently.

I'm all the more driven at the moment because someone on a message board noted that apples were causing her child's bedwetting. I'm wondering if it's possible that the salicylates could be causing Matthew's excessive bedwetting, too. Actually, I'm wondering if they could be the cause of my own "tiny bladder" issues. :)

So far, I've removed almost all of the tomatoes and apples. Those were the major offenders for us. Next is oranges--which weren't really a large portion of our diet, but a much-loved one.

Matthew is still getting bouts of pity party moodiness. At the moment, life is so chaotic that I'm wondering if it's just missing life as we knew it. :(

Gotta run....!!!