The Beginning.

The beginning seems like a good place to start.
I'll give you a bit of a background in another post but, the short of it is:  we are desperate. Desperate for some sleep, some sanity and a happy cheerful daughter. There are lots of things that have come before, but this is where we're at now. And that is the beginning of our FAILSAFE diet.

Basically we will be cutting out all preservatives, colours and flavours as well as many natural chemicals.

Yesterday we emptied the fridge and cupboard, ate the last tomato, drank the last of the wine, finished the chocolate biscuits. This morning we had our last coffee and enjoyed a mango.

I then sat down and wrote a meal plan, herbed lamb, chicken salad, french toast, chicken sandwiches. This doesn't sound so bad! I read the shopping list - chokos? What on earth a chokos? Bamboo shoots - I wonder where I find them? Citric acid - will I really need that?

And then, I hit the shops, on new years eve. While everyone else was busily stocking up on party food and mixers, I was reading labels, looking for those sneaky little numbers. The first thing I saw when I walked in was a huge stand on mangoes - not for us. Then bananas - maybe soon. Apples, oranges, grapes - all out.  Carrots, tomatoes, pumpkin - oh this is hell!! Where are the damn chokos?

I made it out of the veg section and decided that I don't want to have to visit the supermarket again for a very, VERY long time. So, anything that will store well, I stocked up on! Tins of chickpeas, kidney beans and pears stacked in the trolley. Flour, sugar and oats flowing over the sides. Thankfully we've decided not to cut out dairy to start with so yogurt, milk and cream cheese joined the ranks.

I felt a little strange loading my limited variety of items onto the belt. Surely people were wondering what I was going to do with 4 cans of pears, 3 leeks and 4 packs of plain saladas? Even the checkout boy had to ask what the chokos were! Off to the butcher to get some fresh meat for dinner and then I'm out of there.

We decided to make some dips to get started so that we'd always have a quick easy option of hommus on bread/saladas. Hommus, mayonnaise and cordial were all whipped up easy enough.
For dinner we marinated some lamb, made a quick coleslaw and served with steamed green beans and potato wedges. It went down a treat.   - The only thing missing was some mustard and a glass of wine.


I think for me the hardest thing will be eating on the run. I'm so used to buying a muffin or sandwhich when I'm out. It will be hard to resist. Probably better to stay in for a while.

For Rhys it is definitely the beverage side of things. No beer, no coffee not even tea. He's been wandering around the house a bit listless all day. And as I sit here typing he declares "I hate water"

Thali doesn't really know what she's missing out on yet. But for us the enjoyment of watching her try new things will be gone for a while. She had recently tried olives and loved them, unfortunately she won't be having them again any time soon.

Well now I'm off to complete my food and behaviour diaries. Which I'm sure will be nowhere near as much fun as blogging. I guess I'd better find out what to do with these chokos too! And for the record yes we did need the citric acid! We used it in the hommus, mayonnaise, cordial and lamb marinade.

Have a great new year. We're hoping ours will be much calmer, less frustrating and full of lots more sleep!