Hello, and welcome to Foodditive. My name is Suzy and I am one of the contributors to the website.

Let me start by saying that I have a very personal interest in food additives and how they affect my family. I will tell you why, and how we came to our 'discovery'.

I have an 8 year old son and a 3 year old daughter, and my interest and concern was focused on my son. After several years of frustration, heartache, and concern we have finally arrived at a reason and thus a partial solution to our problems.

Let's start with my very active, loud, happy, tireless and adorable son. It didn't take me long after he started walking to work out that he was more work than most kids his age. He was tireless, he just didn't stop, he was constantly into everything, he was loud and at times out of control. I couldn't quite understand why this was happening, because at times he could be quiet, sit still, and behave beautifully. Many people suggested that I feed him healthy foods instead of junk – this was quite appalling to me as I was only feeding him good food – food that I was cooking myself from fresh fruit, vegetables, and meat. My thought was how could this good food I was cooking be doing this?

We had visited our family doctor and several 'child' specialists and most of them wanted to put him on medication without really delving into what was causing this problem. At this stage the word ADHD was being thrown around with abandon. I was not at this stage interested in medication without first exhausting all other avenues. At school he was having major problems concentrating and he got on better with younger or older kids and teachers, but seemed to be having trouble with his peers.

After talking to doctors, specialists, researching the internet, reading a few books, and talking to some other mother's I was finally given the contact number for something that could really help – The Royal Prince Alfred (RPA) Allergy Unit, in Camperdown NSW. I rang and made an appointment and managed to get in and see the specialists there (there is a long waiting list but worth it!). After our consultation, it was suggested that we put my son onto the Elimination Diet. It was very hard at first – it was very limiting (as the name suggests), but I can tell you now more than a year later, it was the best thing we ever could have done for our son.

It is a fairly lengthy process, but basically we got to the bottom on his 'wild' behaviour. My son was extremely intolerant to several food types and mildly intolerant to others – nitrates (in luncheon meats), salicylates (strawberries, tomatoes, watermelon, etc), MSG and flavour enhancers (E621-625), and colours. Let me tell you that I was devastated that all the good food I was feeding my child was contributing to his behaviour. Looking back now, I can see the patterns, but the connection was simply not there.

After being on the most basic part of the elimination diet after several weeks, the effects of not eating these foods was noticeable not only to me, but to all around my son – at school, at the park, with relatives and friends. Now came the harder part - putting him through the challenges which would pinpoint the exact food types that he was intolerant too. This again took a few months to do. It was a slow and long process, but I can't emphasise enough that it was well worth it. Once we had worked out exactly what he was intolerant to and what he could eat in small amounts, we had our foundation for a new 'improved' eating plan. But this is where the fun really began!

Now that we had found the reason for my son's behaviour, finding ways to feed my family was the next challenge. I had to find and use foods that didn't contain the food types that affected my son. This was hard because most products didn't state that they contained nitrates and salicylates on the label. Avoiding colours and MSG was easier as they are stated in the food labels of products. The first time I went shopping with my paper list of foods and additives to avoid, I spent hours in the supermarket reading all the labels and trying to make informed choices on the food that my son was allowed to have. Once we have found a brand of food that suits us, we tend to stick to it and the next trip to the supermarket becomes a lot easier. Having said that, we still need to check the labels on a regular basis in case the manufacturer changes the ingredients. We also found that our food bill increased to accommodate my son's special dietary needs.

We realised that some foods had to be avoided completely and some could be eaten in small amounts. It then became a balancing game with the 'cans', 'can a little', and the 'cannots'.

When I was feeding my son at home and packing his lunch for school he had a controlled food environment, but when we were out and about or at family and friend's houses, the food was not controlled. His reactions either came hard and fast (reacted quickly and over just as quickly) or slow and steady (where he worked his way up into frenzy and it would take much longer for the reactions to subside).

Going out became a problem, especially going to parties (full of lollies and coloured drinks and chips!) as he would eventually become loud and mischievous.

It became apparent to us that if we were to go out, we had to know what foods we could safely buy from the food court/fast foods and we had to ask family and friends what they put into their foods. I would always have something in my bag for my son to eat in case none of the provided food was suitable. Some took that really well, others I think were a bit taken aback.

I have found that the more the public is aware of these types of food intolerance, the more people are understanding to those that need to avoid these foods and make more of a conscious effort to help accommodate them. More public awareness of these types of additives also pushes the manufactures to remove them from their products, which in most cases can benefit us all.