Food-Issues

Unsolicited free stuff, a serious complaint.

by Veronica on March 4, 2013

This morning I received unsolicited free products in the mail. My children were excited – since I stopped saying yes to PR stuff, the packages here have dropped off and they’ve been unimpressed with their lack of free stuff. Even when that free stuff was a handcream I was never going to blog about.

We opened up the box and discovered Kellogg’s new liquid breakfast drinks.

Now, I need to state, Kellogg’s have, in the past, been incredibly good to me. They’ve sent me cereal when Isaac wouldn’t eat anything except cereal. They’ve sponsored me to attend conferences and flown me around the countryside.

But this time they’ve missed the mark. In fact, they’ve missed it by so much that they’re no longer even playing in my ballpark.

Firstly, the two breakfast drinks I was sent were CocoPops and Nutrigrain. Both cereals I refuse to buy because they have too much sugar to not enough good stuff ratio.

Secondly, we’ve recently started Isaac on the FODMAP diet. Kellogg’s didn’t know this, so they get a pass. In fact, hardly anyone knew this yet, because I’ve not really spoken about it. So while I wasn’t going to give the sweetened milk drinks to my children for breakfast, I was kind of hoping they could have them as a treat. I’m not averse to treats. I have them all the time.

I read the ingredients though and was a bit flabbergasted. Firstly, low fat milk? LOW FAT MILK? Geez. I know we’re currently in a food culture swing of “fat is bad, OMG FAT”, but it’s not true. Children especially need fat for their brain development and therefore, in my opinion children should always eat full fat dairy.

The second ingredient on both products was sugar.

Head, desk.

You know that there is something wrong when we’re removing fat from food and replacing it with sugar.

Listen, I’m not anti-sugar. In fact, I happen to adore sugar. But having sugar as the second ingredient in a product designed to be a kids breakfast drink?

No. Just no.

The ingredients then go on to list a whole host of other things, including stabilisers, flavours, added minerals and vitamins (FYI, adding extra calcium and vitamin D doesn’t get you past the sugar debacle) “flavours” and acidity regulators. All this in something that is essentially chocolate milk. For breakfast.

I mentioned to Mum that it was terrible, but that I wasn’t going to say anything because let’s face it, Kellogg’s has spent a lot of money on me in the last 2 years. But then, she asked, doesn’t that effectively mean that they’ve bought my silence?

I don’t want to be that person who plays down the negatives of something because of brand loyalty, or fear of opportunities passing by later down the track.

So, Kellogg’s, hear me out.

I think these breakfast drinks are a ridiculous product. You’d be better off marketing them as pure chocolate milk, rather than something nutritious and suitable for breakfast every day. That’s my honest feedback and you’re welcome to it.

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Not recommended: Getting stoned before visiting a medical professional.

by Veronica on March 1, 2013

in Food-Issues, Gotta Laugh

It’s not a new thing for me to get carsick when we travel. What is new is the increasing severity of my motion sickness and the limited amount of travel it takes to make me want to puke. When I was a kid, provided I had eaten breakfast and we weren’t driving for more than an hour, I would be fine.

Post third baby however, I feel like throwing up a mere 10 minutes into our drives. Bear in mind that we live at least 30 minutes from the supermarket and even further away from our myriad of doctors. You can imagine where this is going, can’t you?

Yesterday I knew that we needed to travel an hour into the city to see Isaac’s dietician for the first time. He’s starting a low FODMAP diet for various issues and we needed to put a plan in place. I was already feeling queasy at the thought, so I made myself eat buttered toast and a piece of fruit – my go-to cures for a wobbly tummy. I also rather sensibly took a maxalon (anti-nausea tablet) that I’m prescribed.

But then, I was stupid.

Self, I thought. Self, you’ve got some travel sickness pills in the medicine cabinet.

I really didn’t want to be puking sick for the first time meeting a professional (I save that for visit three) so I read the directions. “Take 1-2 tablets 30 minutes before travel.”

Seems sensible, right? I popped two tablets (my first mistake), finished my cup of tea (probably my second mistake) and finished getting ready (definitely my third mistake.)

By the time we were thirty minutes into our car trip, my mouth felt weird. My fingers were tingling and I had the driest throat, ever. I was having a hard time resisting the urge to squeal “WHEEEEE!” around all the corners and my inner ears were so messed up that while I had a headache and a bit of dizziness, I was not feeling sick in the slightest.

By the time we parked the car and headed to our appointment, I was smashed. I wanted to giggle at everything. EVERYTHING. THAT TREE IS SO FUNNY OH GOD KILL ME NOW.

Our wait time was 30+ minutes and I was hoping while we were waiting that I might start to come down. Oh yeah, laugh at the stupid stoned girl. The baby was fussy so we paced the waiting room – Evelyn sadly chewing on my shoulder (omnomnomnomnom) and me trying not to walk like an astronaut during the moon landing. I also had to bite my lip to keep from dying laughing when Evie grabbed Nathan’s cup of water, spilling it all over his pants. It wasn’t really that funny, in hindsight.

During the appointment I tried to keep my brain on task, carefully listing all of Isaac’s liked foods and listening intently to all the things he can no longer eat. I promptly forgot everything. Luckily she wrote notes for me all over the information package she handed to us.

In the car on the way home, I fell asleep. I haven’t slept in a car since I was ten years old (and thinking about it, probably high on the same travel sickness pills).

I was in bed at 7.30pm last night, unable to stay awake any longer. Things weren’t funny anymore. Actually, things were decidedly unfunny. (GO TO SLEEP CHILDREN, FOR THE LOVE OF GAHHHHHH MUMMY IS DYING)

This morning I have a hangover.

But hey, I didn’t puke in the car.

Next time though, I am taking half of ONE tablet. Stupid tablets.

Internet, you’ve been warned. I do these things so that you don’t have to.

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So we’re going gluten free again.

by Veronica on June 11, 2012

in Food-Issues

And not because of Amy this time – although I expect it won’t do her concentration levels any harm.

No, this time it’s Nathan. He’s been feeling progressively sicker over the last few months and standard blood tests have shown nothing. Originally we suspected Rheumatoid Arthritis, due to the increasing severity of pain in his joints, among other symptoms. We know that he has degenerative bone disease in his back, as well as osteoarthritis in the same vertebrae, but the aches in his shoulders and wrists were baffling us.

I’d wondered for a while if he might be having issues with gluten – Amy has the Coeliacs gene and I do not, therefore we know that Nathan has the Coeliacs gene – but we hadn’t really investigated it, until the stomach pain got really bad sometime last week.

So I suggested that we swap to gluten free meals for a bit and see how he feels.

Lo and behold, four days in, he’s feeling loads better. He’s not had the official tests or diagnosis at this point, but if being gluten free helps, then who are we to argue? He’ll be seeing the doctor sometime this week to have bloods drawn to test for coeliacs antibodies and we’ll go from there.

In the meantime, he’s feeling better and I’m trying to get my head around cooking gluten free again.

At least I know from last time we were gluten free as a household that it’s only the first fortnight that is difficult and then everything becomes second nature again.

Luckily, I have no problems with gluten, so I can still eat all the delicious things in the house.

Muahaaahaa.

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Roasted Capsicum Bruschetta

by Veronica on May 7, 2012

in Food-Issues

Early in this pregnancy, I couldn’t eat a lot of anything that didn’t involve salad. Recently, it seems that we’re moving back that way again, with salad, toast and tea making up a good portion of my diet. Throw in the occasional piece of fruit and I’m calling it a balanced diet.

Balanced ish, anyway.

But this recipe? This recipe I love.

Ingredients:

baguette
olive oil
clove of garlic
1 red or yellow capsicum
a punnet of sweet cherry tomatoes
half a red onion
green top of a spring onion
1 tspn red wine vinegar
sugar
salt
parmesan shavings to serve, or other delicious cheese

Method:

Preheat the oven to 220C.

Slice the cheeks off your capsicum and coat in olive oil, before throwing into a hot oven and leaving for 20 minutes, give or take.

While the capsicum cooks, slice the red onion finely and toss into a bowl with halved cherry tomatoes, spring onion, red wine vinegar and salt and sugar to taste. Set aside.

Once the capsicum is cooked, throw it into a small bowl and cover tightly with clingwrap. 5 minutes in its own steam will make it easier to take the skin off.

Split your baguette and rub with a clove of garlic (split), before toasting under the grill. Drizzle with olive oil (and more garlic rubbing if you like).

Take the skin off the capsicum, before slicing into pieces and tossing through the tomato and onion mixture.

Serve individual portions on pieces of toasted baguette, topped with parmesan, or other cheese.

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