Eliminating processed foods - any tips?

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Hi,

My 6 year old daughters behaviour is off the scale, I'm at a loss as to how to help her at the minute, today has been the worst day we have ever had, she has huge outbursts that last for hours and this has happened three times today, my 12 year old son has said today that he can't go on living like this anymore :( She told me this afternoon that she was going to stab me. She also hit her older sister in the face with a shoe. She follows me around screaming and hitting me and is out of control - today I cried because I feel lost, like the worst mother ever and she laughed when she saw me.

Anyway, I'm going to try and cut out all processed food from her diet, from tomorrow I plan to give her no artificial colours or anything that has additives in it, she and everyone else is going to have to accept it because none of us can go on like this anymore.

So I'm looking for advice and recommendations as to which foods I can offer her, she loves yogurts and usually likes the squeezy tubes, I'm going to replace these with natural yogurt and fruit puree, no more squash - milk or water from now on. I do generally cook meals from scratch but she does have pizza, and chicken nuggets ect but I'll have to find the time to make these too.

Today she had fruit for breakfast, noodles for lunch and pasta with garlic doughballs for dinner, shes also had cookies (mcvities) a twix (one finger) and some yogurt.

Can anyone give me any other tips or advice?

Thanks

Squash often has artificial sweeteners, so good call there.

How is she with veg?

I'm not sure what you mean by processed? Do you mean trying to eliminate additives? If so, id suggest doing some research if you haven't already to see what it is exactly you need to avoid.

I mean that I'm going to stop buying any food that is commercially prepared. So I'll know exactly what she is eating. I've done a small amount of research which led me to deciding to try this.

She eats lot's of fruit and veg and really isn't a fussy eater at all, it's just that she will ask for things, sweets and crisps ect and sometimes when we have after school clubs or have to collect my son from senior school there just doesn't seem time to prepare and cook a meal from scratch, so a pizza will get shoved in the oven ect. I work full time which doesn't really help me out.

I was wondering if anyone else had taken this route and could give some good alternatives to baby bels and frubes ect. Stuff that isn't full of nasties but doesn't taste too bad. I'm thinking of buying an Easiyo yogurt maker as the reviews are very good.

Yeo valley do frube like yoghurt sticks - still full of sugar but no nasties.

Have you spoken with your gp or her school about her behaviour? The foods she is eating don't sound too bad.

How is she at school or when out and about?

Also, batch cooking and freEzing is your friend for when you need quick meals - I freeze things like leftover mac and cheese, lasagne, all in small potions that can be bunged in the microwave quickly.

I batch cook huge vats of tomato pasta sauce, fortified with whatever veg we happen to have on hand. I freeze it in portion sized bags, so a very quick (and reasonably healthy)meal with some pasta and a sprinkle of cheese on top or some tuna thrown in.

Google about gluten too. It can cause issues apparently.

Make it easy for yourself. Making your own chicken nuggets might be a pain. What about traditional foods like mince and potatoes/shepherd's pie etc?

What is it in processed foods you want to avoid? For example, M and S do gluten free chicken nuggets made with chicken breast. Whereas home made pizza is wheat based which might be the issue.

I do think sugar doesn't help. DD was at a party today and her behavious after was bloody awful

There's quite a lot of quick release (high GI) carbs in that day of meals. Try sweet potato / brown rice as the carb and see if that helps? She'll be getting sugar highs / lows from the carbs. Porridge for breakfast ?

Today's diet was pure stodge. You need to look at a low GI diet for better ideas.
How much protein does she eat? There wasn't much in today's meals.

What behaviour curbs do you have in place? What were the consequences for her meltdowns today? If she can keep a lid on it elsewhere, then I think you need to look closely at behaviour in and of itself and forget diet. Maybe probe into problems like bullying in school if she behaves well there, or look at simply how happy or otherwise she is with friendships or the pace of learning expected of her in the classroom.

Has she been taught to express feelings in words or have alternatives to hitting been modelled? Does she know that feelings are normal and natural and that we can express them in ways that might be more productive than hitting?

What sort of sleep is she getting?

Does she have eczema or has she ever come out in hives or had an episode of wheezing from household cleaners or a reaction to chemicals, scent, colours in items like soap or shampoo?

An old and possibly out of print book you might like to look at if behaviour alone doesn't seem to be the issue and behaviour modification methods don't seem to be cutting it is 'Is This Your Child?' by Dr Doris Rapp. It deals with all sorts of allergies and sensitivities and how they can be dealt with.

Is she exhausted with moving up an academic year?

Chicken nuggets are easy to make, bread crumbs, egg, chicken, it's really not hard, my dcs make their own because I won't buy them. Paxo breadcrumbs have less additives than shop bought bread, so I would opt for that. If you make your own bread...just crumb the stale bits and freeze, you can use them frozen.
Slow cooker roasts are easy. I'd tread lightly with any one food, try not to have too much wheat based food, variety is important. Get her to help you make some cakes and sweet treats, they mostly freeze well too.

Rooner, don't be daft, chicken nuggets are ridiculously easy to make, you can do them in batches and freeze them too.

I would recommend the easiyo, I use mine all the time, and you can use UHT milk to keep costs down if you find the packets too expensive.

For snacks I make raw chocolate brownies which I keep in the freezers long with grapes on a skewer dipped in yoghurt, both delicious and easy. You'll find the brownies recipe on the deliciously Ella site. Also try making almond milk as she suggests if you find that dairy is a problem, it's very simple.

Bit harsh *mcfox^!

I work full time and have two young kids and am pregnant and we are all gluten and dairy free.

So believe me, there are some nights when you need an easy option and my recommendation of the M and S chicken (gluten free) was far from ridiculous - it is breast meat with g-free breadcrumbs. For a diet to work, you need sometimes to have a short cut you can buy and chuck in the oven.

(If you do try gluten free, then paxo bread crumbs are not gluten free. You would have to make your own using rice/potato flour)

We tend to eat stuff you can make one night and it lasts 2 with extra for lunch eg mince/tatties, spag Bol (gluten free pasta), lentil curries in slow cooker. Kids currently love lamb steaks which I pan fry and serve with red currant jelly! Mashed potatoes (with olive oil of coconut oil) always go down well, and sautéed white fish takes minutes.

Just to add the raw choc brownies are a great idea BUT raw chocolate stopped by 4 year old sleeping at night.

It took me a few days to work out why but it really did not agree with her. I ate the lot, though :)

Gluten free nuggets - use ground almonds with a pinch of dried garlic or onion instead of breadcrumbs. Beware of gluten free processed foods they can contain a huge amount of over processed ingredients. I can't comment on M&S nuggets, I've never looked at their ingredients list but if I was feeling very lazy I'd just fry chicken pieces in butter.

Thanks lux! Great tip.

Wish I had not mentioned the nuggets :) my mother in law bought them and they were a god send one night. The ingredients I recall, were Ok ish as M and S tend to avoid shitty fats.

However this thread has inspired me to try g-free nuggets and freeze the little sods!

I am always on the look out for nut free recipes for lunch boxes (school policy) so I will tinker with the nut free flour and report back any success!

Apologies for the curt 5am post Rooners.

I didn't consider the cocoa keeping little ones awake, hmm.

Another thing that you can do with yoghurt is to soak gf oats and frozen berries in it overnight, it's delicious and filling, you can add seeds, maple syrup etc too.

No worries mcfly. You made a reasonable point.

I'm a bit boringly evangelical about going gluten free ever since I ditched it last year (for tummy reasons). If I have it now, it leaves me feeling grumpy and tired. So I do wonder if it doesn't help kids' behaviour.

The dark chocolate didnt affect my 2 year old, only the older one.

OP does your DD have any other issues eg tummy problems/eczema/glue ear?