Why everything I thought I knew is being turned upside down...

Big apologies for not posting recenly... I know I promised a blow-by-blow of our pre-conception detox, but things got a bit de-railed, and we went off on a journey of discovery that has solved lifelong mysteries (mostly of the bumps on your skin, pains in your tummy type) and turned my world upside down and inside out.... I don't have time to go into the details now (I never do, which is why I never post, so I figured something was better than nothing)...

So, to give an idea of what I don't have time to post about (and may never, but you never know...), I have recently discovered, through the course of doing an elimination diet and subsequent research, that:

-Organic food can actually make me sicker (in the short term.... but conventional food will still kill you in the longer term) because it is naturally higher in salicylates, a naturally occuring chemical to which I, and my organic toddler are both very sensitive.

- Far from being healthy, fruit is one of the worst things I can eat, especially organic fruit, because of the aforementioned salicylates. The only fruit we can eat at the moment is peeled pears... (recipes for pear crumble, pear muffins, pear pancakes etc to come...)

- I have been diligently avoiding sun in the middle of the day for years, when actually that is the best, and safest time to get much needed sun exposure, as the beneficial UVB rays are highest and the harmful UVA rays are lowest in intensity... I had been doing the opposite, and exposing myself to more damage in the early morning and late afternoon when UVA is higher, and missing out on the important UVB rays that help make vitamin D!

- Microwave ovens are still evil, but using them to cook and defrost meat (which should still be organic, no matter what... if you can't afford it then eat less meat!) can help to control the breakdown of protein into amines, another one of those "naturally occurring" chemicals that makes me and my whole little organic family sick!

So, as if all this wasn't enough, I am now in the process of feeding my beautiful baby (who is of course no longer a baby) gluten every day for a week, so that he can have a blood test for coeliac disease, even though the gluten is clearly not reacting well with him. This is a very painful thing for a mother to do... to keep feeding something to your child that you know is not good for them, but if he doesn't have the gluten in his system then the blood test won't work...

I'll let you know how we go.