Apples? No. Spam? Yes.

Here is, a sampling of the Feingold "approved" items that I bought at the store today. It is so interesting because this food plan is not like any other. It is not a diet of just organic foods (although a lot of organic products are by nature, free of food additives) or glutten-free or of cutting fats, salt or even high fructose corn syrup. It specifically cuts certain chemicals that have been shown to be problematic in certain people. Specifically, it eliminates artifical dyes (blue #1, red #40 for instance), artificial sweetners (aspartame, etc.), artificial flavorings (vanillin, etc.), and artificial preservatives (BHT, BHA) and finally, naturally occuring salicylates (asprin related compounds which can also be found in fruits like apples, grapes, tomatos and oranges). In the first phase, you eliminate everything. Then, slowly, add in the salicylates. BTW- don't worry if you have never even heard of salicylates. I hadn't before I started this. The difficultly is that these chemicals are hidden everywhere from vitamins to cheese and most cereals. I thought I was doing fine by reading labels for these buzz words, but when I received my PDF of the Feingold approved food list, my heart sank. I didn't recognize hardly any of the brands of food and some items that I bought thinking they were OK were not on the list (Mom's Best Cereal, for example). Ironically, Hormel spam was acceptable...I guess it has enough salt to preseve it naturally. Don't worry, I didn't add spam to my grocery list. When I asked about this on the Feingold forums, I was told that many items are not on the list because
1) The larger companies haven't been cooperative in filling out paperwork to get their item approved (in other words, it could be OK, it just hasn't been officially researched and approved)
 2) Sometimes an item will have these chemicals in the packaging (BHA in cereal for instance) and companies are not required to put the packaging information on the item
3) The companies are only required to put what they added, but if they buy from a supplier who uses the chemicals they are not required to include that. (They gave the example that a certain yogurt company uses strawberries from a supplier that put red dye in their strawberries).
4)Salicylates (like apples or grapes) are often found in "natural" flavorings that are listed in the ingredients, but are not individually listed.
Naturally, this was a freak out moment for me! But, I downloaded my Foodlist pdf to ibooks and set off to the store. I was most pleased to be able to get Aunt Jemina pancake mix because we eat a lot of pancakes in this house! Who Hoo! I also decided that if it seemed OK on the label that I wouldn't freak out about every item. I would buy as many of the approved products as possible. If it were a matter of life or death because of a severe allergy it would be one thing, but this is different. It won't help my son too much if his mom ends up in an insane assulym because she spent half of her waking hours driving to a mom and pop grocery store 50 miles away to find approved chicken nuggets. For right now, I'll take my chances with the non-approved, preservative free Rold Gold pretzels and stick with plain chicken tenders. After all, I do have a life, too!