Sue Dengate…. Part 1

Tonight I was very lucky to go to a talk at the Library by Sue Dengate, who is the lady behind the ‘Up’ Series of books and the Food Intolerance Network.

This is a two part blog series on Sue Dengate/Fed Up – Part 1 being a bit of background…

Now I first heard of Sue and her work about a year ago when she was mentioned in a preschool newsletter. But being a notorious label-reader, buying organic food where possible and feeding my kids freshly prepared home cooked meals every night I didn’t think I was doing anything wrong.

Fast forward to March this year when my 5 year old began school and started having some pretty dire behavioural problems. It was in desperation I turned to Sue’s book to try and find some answers. It turns out according to her – everything in his lunchbox that day (cheese and vegemite sandwich on wholemeal bread, strawberries, blueberries and grapes, dried fruit and mandarines) were on the no-no list of foods when it came to food intolerance.

Mason’s behaviour was pretty random: he was aggressive, defiant, hyperactive and disruptive in class. At home he wasn’t so bad but he did frequently hit his little brother without provocation or reason. And he was sneaky about it and often lied.

I immediately went on a full elimination diet and yes, it was ridiculously hard and sometimes exhausting. For the first 3 weeks he seriously ate nothing but pears, rice crackers and bean sprouts. Okay maybe I am exaggerating but it is close to the truth.

Nowadays his behaviour has improved completely out of site. He is calm and focused; he had an almost perfect school report and has started getting awards at school. He is a lot happier and SO much easier to get along with.

Without a doubt, this is all thanks to Sue Dengate.

MORE on Sue Dengate and the Failsafe Diet in Part 2…. (in the meantime check out the website www.fedup.com.au)