Let me start by saying that Rebekah is not at risk of death from ingesting certain ingredients, and with that I can not relate. But for us our biggest challenge is proving to be the dyes and now the preservatives when we attempt to eat out. Thankfully we are not a family that eats out often, but we have had two occasions within a week (very rare) and we are realizing that it will be a long, long while before attempting to have Rebekah with us again.
After reading a blog which enlightened me to TBHQ in all of McDonald's cooking oils - except of course in their European chains where TBHQ is a banned from any foods - I did a little research. To the best of my knowledge, McDonald's uses oils with TBHQ in the United States so that it can remove the saturated fat. Lower fat = healthier to the unknowledgeable American. Finally, after months of not knowing why, I had an answer to why Rebekah reacted the three times we let her try McDonald's chicken nuggets. Their nuggets are dairy free so I had thought they were safe, but after her third reaction to them I thought maybe there was dairy cross-contamination... little did I know at the time of the bigger underlying issue.
So we went out to eat for Cathan's birthday at a Mexican restaurant - his request. I immediately asked if I could see the oil at this place and was allowed to do so. There it was, big as day, the oil they use contains TBHQ. I had some hope remembering that "Food Babe" just posted on a Chipolte Restaurant chain win, so I went back to that article this morning. Good thing the oil eliminated everything at the restaurant we went too (not a Chipolte, but I was comparing), because the corn chips would have most likely contained benzoic acid. The Mayo Clinic's information on this one automatically puts it on our avoidance list.
So with having to keep Rebekah off all artificial preservatives, there is just going to be no way we can have her at restaurants right now. I ended up walking Rebekah back to the van on Friday while the rest of the family enjoyed Cathan's birthday dinner and surprise dessert. :) She is just reaching for everything on the table right now, and this being her second outing in a week (Matt's parents had taken us out to eat the week before as a special treat) - Rebekah was being much more persistent about eating what we had.
Plus, after reading and learning so much, it is getting harder and harder to eat any of it myself. I walk through a store and my thoughts go "red 40, BHA, BHT, TBHQ....." Oh, and yeah, acronyms are a huge clue. Speaking of, Cathan found a new acronym in his chocolate. PBPR. I was in the van with Rebekah while Matt ran in the store and he called me to quickly look it up. I instantly said that an acronym can not be good, but apparently Hersey's thinks so. The company decided cocoa butter is too expensive so they found a replacement... here is a blog on that http://becausenooneasked.com/2009/12/27/pgpr/.
This gives you a little insight to our challenge and it is growing... but so our the quantities of good nights of full rest for both Rebekah and her parents. :) Having a healthy child not itching and twitching and squirming and cramping is so much better than the challenge of finding real food.
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