The News On Food

The Failsafe Cookbook – why use it

The Failsafe Cookbook by Sue Dengate, is specifically designed for those suffering from food intolerance symptoms or allergies. For those who have food problems but do not know what the cause is, I highly recommend you purchase The Failsafe Cookbook and conduct a food elimination diet.

So, what does “failsafe” mean? It is a bit of an oxymoron really but Sue Dengate has used it as the title of The Failsafe Cookbook as an acronym to mean; free of additives, and low in salicylates, amines and flavour enhancers. In dictionary terms, you can read it here.

The Failsafe Cookbook will provide you with a combination of information related to food intolerance symptoms and recipes. I have often been asked the difference between The Failsafe Cookbook and Fed Up which were both written by Sue Dengate. My response would be to say that Fed Up is more information based with a few recipes and The Failsafe Cookbook is more recipe based with less information.

The Failsafe Cookbook – the review

We used The Failsafe Cookbook daily and to be honest, I don’t know how we would have gotten through our food elimination diet and food problems without it. Read on for the run down.

1. The Failsafe cookbook is a soft cover so you need to be a bit more careful in the handling and you WILL handle it a lot. Click on cookbook holder to buy one of your choice. This will help protect your cookbooks whilst cooking.
2. The Failsafe Cookbook has some great information on food intolerance, food additives and how Sue Dengate did her food elimination diet.
3. Most of the recipes are doable with little error, if any at all.
4. There is a handy additives list on the last page of the The Failsafe cookbook that you can cut out and put in your purse. This food additives list is not as thorough as the one contained in Additive Alert by Julie Eady. The additives list in Additive Alert is cardboard in comparison to The Failsafe Cookbook where the wallet list is only paper.
5. The recipes in The Failsafe Cookbook are easy to prepare and very family friendly.
6. On the down side, there are no glossy pictures in The Failsafe Cookbook so you have to create a visual in your head of how the recipe should look as an end result.
7. As a result of my research into food, I understand that processed sugar is very bad for your body. Those who are suffering from food intolerance symptoms or food problems are recommended not to have unrefined sugars as they are higher in naturally occurring chemicals. There are quite a few recipes in this book that contain processed sugar as an ingredient because it is considered more tolerable. My suggestion is that you use golden syrup or Spring Tree Pure Maple Syrup – Grade A, 32 oz as a substitute where possible.
8. There is a great index at the back of The Failsafe cookbook referenced via food intolerance symptoms. For example,  you can look up Tantrums and you will have an explaination and a possible cause.
9. The Failsafe cookbook has recipes for breakfast, lunches, snacks, main meals (including vegetarian meals), something sweet, food for special occasions, some alternatives for gluten free cooking including dips, sauces, etc.
10. The down side of The Failsafe cookbook, in my opinion, is that it still allows things like gelatine and white sugar in recipes.
11. The Failsafe cookbook  is focused on staying on a restricted diet indefinitely. I believe we need to use The Failsafe cookbook to aid us until while we work out, from our food intolerance symptoms, where we have a problem. Foods that we can tolerate should be consumed until we can heal the body but our body needs nutrients from all raw foods and our aim should be to eat from the tree of life freely.

The Failsafe Cookbook – contents

The Failsafe Cookbook contains over 305 pages of information and recipes. From inside the book:

The Failsafe Cookbook Contents:

• Page 1 – Are you Affected by Food Chemicals?
• Page 5 – What Every Parent Should Know About Food Intolerance
• Page 15 – Avoid these additives
• Page 17 – How we did our elimination diet
• Page 23 – A rating scale
• Page 25 – The 13 Commandments
• Page 26 – The Fridge List
• Page 27 – Failsafe substitutes
• Page 28 – Weights and Measures
• Page 31 – Breakfasts
• Page 39 – Lunches and snacks
  • Page 40 – Lunches
  • Page 49 – School lunches
  • Page 52 – Snacks
  • Page 59 – Finger food for babies and toddlers
  • Page 60 – Drinks
  • Page 66 – Icypoles and icecups
• Page 69 – Main Meals
  • Page 69 – Soups and Stews
  • Page 73 – Meat
  • Page 90 – Chicken
  • Page 99 – Seafood
  • Page 102 – Vegetables and vegetarian meals
  • Page 118 – Salads
  • Page 121 – Eggs
  • Page 124 – Pizza and Pasta
• Page 132 – Something Sweet
  • Page 132 – Desserts
  • Page 158 – Muesli bars, muffins, cakes, biscuits and slices
  • Page 173 – Sweet treats

  Page 183 – Others

  • Page 183 – Fats and oils
  • Page 185 – Spreads
  • Page 188 – Dips
  • Page 190 – Sauces
  • Page 194 – Odds and ends
• Page 199 – Food for Special Occasions
  • Page 199 – Birthday parties
  • Page 202 – Christmas cakes and puddings
  • Page 204 – Easter
  • Page 204 – Salicylate and amine recipes
  • Page 209 – Eating out
  • Page 211 – Failsafe weight loss
  • Page 214 – Travelling, camping and hiking
  • Page 218 – Failsafe gardening
  • Page 221 – Medications and remedies
  • Page 224 – What about nutrition?
• Page 228 – Gluten-free Cooking
• Page 247 – Shopping List
• Page 255 – Checklist of Common Mistakes
• Page 262 – Frequently Asked Questions
• Page 269 – Symptoms of Food Intolerance
• Page 297 – Support and Further Information
• Page 299 – Notes and References
• Page 305 – Index
• Pate 315 – Nasty Additives Wallet List

The Failsafe Cookbook – where to get your copy

On the whole, I believe The Failsafe Cookbook has  been a life saver during those times when we had food problems. If you use The Failsafe Cookbook in conjunction with Friendly Food, you will have ample resources during those difficult times when you are suffering from food intolerance symptoms or food problems. You can purchase your copy by clicking on the picture of The Failsafe Cookbook at the top of this post or by clicking here.

I would love to hear  your comments or feedback after using The Failsafe Cookbook so please, buy your own copy today and tell us what you think.

Disclaimer:

I’m no medical expert and information contained on this blog is written through my own experience. Please consult an appropriate professional about your situation.

Friendly Food – food for life Cook book – why use it

Friendly Food – part of the Food for Life series published by Murdoch Books, was written by the allergy experts at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital Allergy Unit in Sydney Australia. The people behind the Friendly Food cook book are Dr Anne Swain, Dr Velencia Soutter and Dr Robert Loblay. Friendly Food was first published in 1991 and the latest edition is 2006 (Green cover shown here available to purchase).

Friendly Food is very popular in Australia and certain parts of the world, with those who suffer from food intolerance symptoms, food allergies symptoms, gluten intolerance and various other food reactions.

When we were conducting our food elimination diet to find out what our food intolerance symptoms were linked to, we used Friendly Food. I had an earlier version of Friendly Food (purple cover) and while I found this earlier publication of Friendly Food to be worthwhile, the 2006 edition is much more appealing. So, I actually have an old copy and the latest edition on my book shelf and I still use them today even though we do not have the food intolerance or leaky gut  issues we had eight months ago.

Friendly Food – the review

In my opinion, Friendly Food is a must have book for those who have food intolerance symptoms or various food reactions. Listed below are the good, the bad and the reasons I like using Friendly Food and why I highly recommend it overall:

1. Aesthetically appealing; the pictures contained in Friendly Food are professional, clean, appealing and tempt you to try the recipes contained there in. While there is not a picture for every meal, you will still feel encouraged to experiment with the recipes in the book simply because everything about the book is luscious. I would class the photography in line with a Donna Hay or Marie Claire cookbooks.
2. There is a section at the front that talks about understanding food intolerance, naturally occurring chemicals, food additives, food intolerance symptoms, allergies, coeliac disease and general information. A great introduction to the book.
3. Critical to this book is a selection of charts that list food and the level of naturally occurring chemicals in each. For example, Friendly Food provides a food chemical chart for vegetables and shows a rating of naturally occurring chemicals in common vegetables. To explain further, Friendly Food may list Green Peas on the chart and show a symbol of “G” and “S” next to it thereby telling us that green peas have naturally occurring glutamate (MSG) and Salicylates  in the column marked “moderate”. The benefit of this is that you can vary your diet based on the charts. Hence, you may have green peas in your meal once a week and use vegetables listed in the “low’ column for naturally occurring chemicals for the remainder of the week.  This all depends on what the results are after you conduct your food elimination diet.
4. There are ample recipes to choose from and if you use this book in conjunction with The Failsafe Cookbook (Updated Edition)
   and  additive alert as we did, you will find meal times less stressful. While Additive Alert is not a recipe book, it contains a much more comprehensive list of food additives to avoid than Friendly Food.
5. The recipes are easy to prepare and the key is in having the ingredients handy to use this recipe book successfully.
6. Friendly Food also has a section on environmental sensitivities.
7. There were a select few recipes in Friendly Food that I found either did not work or did  not appeal to me.  The Buckwheat pancakes turned out like cardboard pancakes and neither the kids or myself liked them. You need to make sure you don’t overcook the golden syrup slice. The potato souffle was temperamental; but then, aren’t all souffles a bit like that? The sugar glazed potatoes did want to stick to the pan and the crumpets were great but watch they don’t burn on the bottom. There were a few other little things with the Friendly Food recipes but on the whole, I would not be without this book.
8. One down sides of any change in diet based on food intolerance symptoms or food reactions in general is that you do need to access ingredients that are not always found easily. So, you need to start to stock different products in your pantry to successfully change your health by changing what you eat.
9. There is a brilliant index at the back of Friendly Food organized into recipe categories such as “dairy free”, “nut free”, “egg/dairy/gluten/nut free” to name a few. It is also ordered into “low chemical”, “moderate chemical” for example so you can select recipes based on the level of naturally occurring chemicals in food. This allows you to plan a week’s menu around the levels of naturally occurring chemicals in foods.
10. The recipes themselves tell you the chemical rating and whether the recipe is nut or gluten free for example so you don’t need to turn to the index at the rear of Friendly Food to double check. Very handy for when you want to select a meal quickly.
11. The outer cover of Friendly Food is a cross between soft and hard cover. It is a flexible cardboard front with a lovely smooth, low gloss cover.
12. The size of Friendly Food is appropriate so easy to grab and flick through. Size is 19cm  / 7.5 inches wide when closed, 23.5cm / 9.25 inches high and 2cm / .85 inches thick.

Based on my review above, you can see that Friendly Food cookbook is a valuable resource to have in your kitchen. It will also help you understand your own food problems a little better and assist you in your dietary changes until you can heal your body.

Friendly Food – Contents

Friendly Food contains over 245 pages of information and recipes. From inside the book:

Friendly Food Contents:

• 6 – food allergies and intolerances
• 26 – breakfast
• 48 – light bites
• 82 – mains
• 120 – sides
• 138 – breads and pizzas
• 150 – tea time
• 184 – after dinner
• 214 – kids
• 234 – basics
• 240 – useful information
• 245 recipe lists

Friendly Food – where to get your copy

The picture of Friendly Food at the start of this post is also a link. Otherwise you can  click here to buy your copy now.

Please leave your own feedback on recipes from Friendly Food in the comments section so others may read and learn or offer their own advice.

Disclaimer:

I’m no medical expert and information contained on this blog is written through my own experience. Please consult an appropriate professional about your situation.