Friday 7 December 2012

GIVEAWAY - Putting Real Food Where My Mouth is - Get Additive Free

THIS GIVEAWAY HAS ENDED. Thanks to all those who entered and thank you to Melanie Avery! Keep an eye out for another giveaway in 2013.

Congratulations Angie Boylan!


Let's Celebrate Christmas by Melanie Avery provides a guide to creating festive foods for both children and adults. What makes this book unique is:

All the recipes are additive free

Melanie has self-published this book. No easy feat! But she was inspired when her family starting reaping the benefits of going additive free: no more restless nights, mood swings, rashes, belly aches, asthma and the list goes on. Pretty amazing when you think about it and a huge wake-up-call for me, who can see a few of those things in my little man when he eats particular foods.

Now when I read the 'Let's Get Serious' section at the start of the book, I can tell you now, I was horrified with what I read. I started reeling off all these sentences to my husband that started with "Did you know...?" And no, he didn't know! Here's a couple for you. And if your mouth does not form an 'O' for 'OMG' then I will be surprised.

* Grated cheese is not just cheese. It often contains an anti-caking agent and/or preservatives.

* Some additives are listed as 'natural colour' but are really derived from crushed insects. The name of that additive is Cochineal.

* There is a 5% loophole in Australia and New Zealand where manufacturers can get away with not listing additives that make up 5% or less of the product.

As I came to the recipes I thought, there's going to be nothing in this but fresh fruit and vegetables. But it's not like that. It's realistic and do-able. So much so, that I created this dish: A perfect appetiser for Christmas.

Honey and Mustard BBQ prawns



It was delicious, and I was so proud of the fact that I actually knew it was additive free!

This book is more than just recipes though. It also contains decoration tips, craft ideas and some really cute Christmas traditions you can try at home.

I'm really starting to think that food additives are having a bigger effect on us than a lot of us really know! And it's starting to come out in our children - through their allergies, illnesses, behaviours and all sorts of things that seem to be becoming the 'norm'. So I'm challenging myself to work hard at being additive free this Christmas how about you?

Let's Celebrate Christmas Additive Free as well as Melanie's other book Let's Party Additive Free is currently on special as a combo pack for $35.00! Such a bargain for two cookbooks! Head to her website to find out more. There's lots of interesting resources and ideas there too!


If you think you would love to try, I'm giving away Melanie's book to one lucky reader! Just fill in the form below, it's so easy! a Rafflecopter giveaway


22 comments:

  1. My daughter is allergic to everything. She carries an epipen and this book would help very much with her allergies ♥

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  2. This book is a great idea. It's amazing how additives can be snuck into foods without us realising what they are - insects WOW!

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  3. I have a son with autism & ADHD. Additives make the behaviours and hyperactivity worse.

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  4. It is amazing once you start looking into this. My children, especially my daughter has very obvious behavioural changes after colours and flavour enhancers. She is generally a very caring, mature, thoughtful and well behaved girl. Give her a cupcake with blue icing or a rice cracker (even plain ones have flavour enhancers), and she is a totally different child. She becomes bad tempered, rude, unable to cope, cries at the drop of a hat, she talks so loud and over the top of everyone. There is more changes; but I am sure you get the idea, she is very hard to live with for a couple of days. We really restrict the amount she as, as it is not fair to her, or anyone in the household to put her through this. For people who want more info on this topic, Sue Dengate gas a great website and books too. She has been trying to educate families in Australia for 20 years. And yes, I did know those three little facts you stated, but not many do. Good on you for putting it out there. Carla

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  5. Crushed insects!!! Yummm!!! Just kidding :) I hate cooking with passion. Not kidding this time. However since we all need to eat, I choose to eat as healthy as possible, and use as many natural ingredients as possible. There are so many things I do not know about food that I eat, and I would like to learn more. I appreciate the chance to be able to win the book. I might even enjoy cooking after all hehe Jenya (jennie_bag@hotmail.com).

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  6. It's worthwhile for so many reasons!! Potential behavioural issues and skin complaints to name just two. My girls are very young (2 weeks and 2 years) and I want to give them the best possible start in life and that means the best fuel i.e. food - which means hunting out the nasty additives and removing them from their diets! Would love to win this book thanks for the chance :)

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  7. Not only for health benefits but for behavioural issues, this is so important, I for one would love to eliminate or at least minimise the amount of additives my family eats - fantastic book!

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  8. yhe additives in food can range with damage and diffrently between people as we have realised with our eldest daughter who is turning 20 if you were to see what damage its done for her and then see my 16 tear old his fit healthy energetic runs plays basketball but he checks everythings ad he works off what he eats he fit but skinny my daughter is fat and unfit and unhappy in herself!

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  9. Thee are enough chemicals that we are exposed to on a daily basis without deliberately feeding more to our families.

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  10. I see behavioural changes all the time in my classroom after children eat certain foods. I wish more parents were aware of what is actually in the food their children eat.

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  11. My young son has no known allergies, doesn't have asthma and doesn't suffer from any skin conditions, but I still believe that it is vital to limit the additives in his diet. Our health is the cornerstone of our lives- there are somethings that we can't change, but this is one thing that we can! I want to give my son the best opportunities to remain healthy for years to come.
    russellcathryn at yahoo.com dot au

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  12. less additives and chemicals has a massive impact on behaviour, the kids appear a lot less hyperactive!

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  13. I loved to reduce additives in my kids diet simply so I know exactly what they are eating and hopefully will have follow on consequences.

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  14. I starting to wonder if some of my children behavioral issues are to do with the food they eat (more the additives in the food). Would be good to give some of these recipes a go and see if theres an improvement

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  15. I need to educate myself better on this topic! I just feel it is so important to give my kids a better start to their life. If I can understand additives better then I can pass my knowledge onto my kids.
    jerichoss@bigpond.com

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  16. Its amazing how many things are added to food these days.. you don't even need to be allergic or have hyped up kids to realise the effects they have on yourself and your children! This is a perfect book for every mother out there!

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  17. To help protect my daughters sensitive skin.

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  18. been on our diet for 3 weeks... no artifical colours or flavours and no preservatives... i feel like i have someone elses child. the change in behaviour is so dramatic!

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  19. Since we started reducing additives I'm seen the efforts on my 5 year old when she has jelly beans or rainbow ice-cream, she either becomes very irrational and hysterical or crashes big time and it's a struggle to wake her, for me that is certainly proof enough to eliminate additives from my families diet.

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  20. My son is intolerant to so many foods and additives so we try and avoid any thing not natural.

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