As A Mom Speak Up

As a mom I want the best for my children.  As a mom, I am like millions of other moms through the ages who took then, and, take now, the protecting, nurturing and guiding of their children seriously.  As a mom like you, the caring and loving of our children is unconditional and unequal to anything outside the home and the circle of our arms. 

Why is it then that some feel that once our children step into a school to learn academics that we have given up control of our children to these institutions?

Suddenly school boards, principals and teachers know what's best for our children on levels way beyond reading, writing, and math. They think we, as moms, fail in so many "life" skills that it is up to the institutions to teach them these valuable attributes along with their math and science.

I hear that there is talk about lengthening the school hours to further erode the time we have with our children because the powers that be think that the academics these institutions teach are more important than family time and other activities that aren't provided by schools.  As a mom, you know that ballet, horse riding, skating, badminton, little league, karate, judo, piano and other musical instrument lessons, religious education, baking and cooking with mom, fixing the car with dad, learning people skills with siblings and friends, playing board games and chess with grandma or grandad and learning to lose gracefully, play an important part in the education and wholeness of us as individuals.

Is your education worth naught because you didn't go to school for longer hours? 

Now some will say "oh but look at the statistics the academia have quoted about other countries being way ahead in math and the sciences than American schools and they have longer hours" and "we have different responsibilities in the 21st century to stretch our minds" and "we have done experiments with children with longer hours and they do exceptionally well and they love it".   (Malcolm Gladwell's book "Outliers" has an example of this regimen but though he told us about the successes, he did not mention the failures nor does the book show stats of what affects "all work and very little family time" will have on these children in later years.  I think it’s a good book but I don't agree with this part of it.)

As a mom who knows her children best, I say, if the children haven't learned these math, science and reading skills in the time they currently have at school we should take a harder look at the curriculum (particularly the time spent on training for the FCATS (in Florida) STAR (in California) and other State test scores) and also at how the teachers are doing their jobs.  Are they in their jobs because they love teaching children, for instance, or because it's just a means of income?  It's also no secret that some deadbeat or inept teachers are kept on the pay roll because of tenure and/or unions.  I've had personal experience of that scenario.  I also have experience with  schools outside the U.S.A.

My children are out of school now.  I am proud of the adults they have become.  While they were in school, as a caring and loving mom, I was always engaged in their school activities and education.  When the school didn't do the right thing I complained.  If the principal did nothing I went to the local school board or higher.

Children are a precious gift from God and as their moms we have a right and a duty to speak up for them so they can become well-rounded moms and dads themselves.   

Brinjal Poetry

I have received so many requests from India for a brinjal poem that I have finally composed a poem about brinjals and have it listed under "poetry" in the main part of my website.  It is called "Brinjals - The King of Vegetables".  Here is a link to it: Poetry

 

Cadbury Chocolates, Candy & Cane Sugar

I was saddened today to see that Kraft has made a hostile takeover bid for Cadbury and their delicious chocolates and candy.  I know that shareholder pressure and financial gain will ultimately dictate whether Kraft are successful in their bid. So far, it seems Cadbury has resisted them.  It would be a great pity if Kraft were actually able to succeed in a takeover in the future.

That reason is simple: Cane Sugar.  Yes, it would seem that anything American food and beverage companies can get their hands on they will eventually change from cane sugar to high fructose corn syrup and where applicable, they will introduce the cheap E102 (yellow #5) as the yellow colorant in the candy.  Cheaper to make, more profits they'd argue.  I'd say that Cadbury's vision, and I quote, in part, "the biggest and best" and their commitment to taste and flavor, may not last if this substitute for cane sugar takes over.

High Fructose Corn Syrup has a decidedly different, sickly sweet taste and is no match for cane sugar.  I go out of my way to buy Cadbury and frequent the International Food store on a regular basis to buy chocolate bars and candy made with cane sugar.

If I were the marketing arm of Cadbury I'd tout the cane sugar over anything else. If you believe you are "the biggest and the best" then it is worth standing up for what makes it a superior product, namely, regular cane sugar.

Update on Friday, November 20, 2009 at 11:50AM by [Pamela McMonagle]

It appears that Kraft now has a contender in the form of Hersheys.  I have written to the Chairman of Cadburys to resist their bids but I may be a lone voice unless others who feel the same way do the same.

Update on Wednesday, January 13, 2010 at 8:35AM by [Pamela McMonagle]

So far Cadbury has rejected Kraft's offers.  Hopefully they will continue to do so and hopefully the shareholders will side with Cadbury's Chairman, Roger Car and reject Kraft's offer.  It's my hope that these companies care more about the chocolate, than how their bottom line is going to look to their shareholders. At this time Hershey is quiet - in the discourse about Hershey's interest,  someone said that Cadbury in America was made by Hersheys anyway ....... yes, but under licence to Cadbury which means - it's made according to Cadbury standards.   Again, hopefully, Hershley will remain quiet.

Update on Tuesday, January 19, 2010 at 6:14PM by [Pamela McMonagle]

As you may have heard, Cadbury's shareholders and Cadbury's Chairman, Roger Carr have caved and sold out to Kraft.   All I can say is that Cadbury's shareholders seem to have preferred the numbers in their bank accounts to the chocolate that Cadbury makes.  One is left wondering if there are any true chocolate lover in Cadbury's midst.  There are no guarantees that Cadbury Chocolate will remain, as they are, one of a kind, mouthwatering Chocolate. It's a sad, sad  day for Cadbury Chocolate Lovers.

Update on Sunday, May 23, 2010 at 12:51PM by [Pamela McMonagle]

I recently read in an article written in the New York Times that Kraft have removed High Fructose Corn Syrup from some of their salad dressings and replaced it with regular sugar.  Cane sugar.  I was really pleased to hear this. 

Update on Wednesday, September 25, 2013 at 11:59PM by [Pamela McMonagle]

I would like to add Pepsi to my list of companies who have introduced “throwback” soda made with cane sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup.  Thank you Pepsi!  Cane Sugar at last!  It brings out the real taste of Pepsi.  Not that sickly sweet corn syrup stuff.  What a delight to drink.  I was drinking Coca Cola from Mexico because I prefer cane sugar but now there is Pepsi Throwback.  Thank you Pepsi!

Wedding Plans & Customer Service

Since my son's engagement, I have been swept into the excited discussions with him and his bride-to-be on wedding plans and, particularly, venues. One of the venues under consideration is a beautiful Victorian mansion in the sprawling grounds of an historical country estate in the heart of a neighboring city which greets you with a magnificent porte-cochere and old world charm.  The massive bold and impressive doors open to a stunning ballroom of crystal chandeliers and round tables dressed in elegant floor length linens and complimented with gold Chivari chairs.  An idyllic setting except for the customer service.

I was asked to take a look at this charming place and called yesterday for an appointment.  The receptionist told me that the wedding coordinator was in a meeting but that she would ask her to call me at around 1.30 to 2.00 p.m.  At 3.30 p.m. I had still not heard from her so I called again.  The receptionist was flustered when she heard my voice which is quite distinctive given I have not got an American accent and without apologizing for the coordinator's discourtesy in not getting back to me, she put me through to her. 

Nor was there any apology from the coordinator herself and so I graciously assumed that she hadn't got the message from the receptionist.  I made an appointment for 12.30 p.m. to-day to tour the facility.  We arrived on time and once again, the receptionist was flustered.  It appears the coordinator had not returned from a dental appointment and the receptionist hurriedly alerted the Director of Sales who came across immediately to show us around.

She was charming and pleasant as she guided us through the grand ballroom and told us how their award winning chef would meet personally with the bride with samples of the various dishes so that they could taste them and decide on what they liked.  She was happy to call the bride's mother in Georgia and work with her on an individualized wedding package.  There was no doubt that she was passionate about the venue and the cuisine and how much effort they put into weddings.

I came away feeling that it would be a lovely place for my son's wedding despite the hiccup of shoddy customer service at the beginning of our encounter with the facility.  The professional thing to do would have been for the coordinator to call me this afternoon to apologize for not being available due to an unavoidable extension to her dental appointment.

In the meantime, learning about the traditions and nuances of an American wedding up close is a new experience for me and it is both intriguing and exciting. 

Note:  Since my view on the poor service in the above article and without mentioning it to my son and his fiancee, they too received poor service when they went to view the place. Not only that, but in the week that followed, the written quotation via email did not arrive even after three promises on different days.  We finally gave up and looked for another venue.   Also, a friend who had dined there told me that he felt the service had slipped from when it first opened. When will business owners learn that customer service is a key component in running a successful business!

Congratulations On Your Engagement

I would like to congratulate my son and his fiancée on their engagement over the weekend. My son, you make a delightful engaged couple, and your future bride is not only lovely but she is also sweet, kind and courageous. Overcoming, with such determination, a devastating auto accident, caused by a drunk driver, is both gutsy and admirable. Learning to talk all over again and then becoming a speech pathologist and working with stroke victims with such dedication reveals what a strong character she has.

She too, is lucky to have such a patient and understanding young man as you for her future husband.

Congratulations and God Bless you both.

Healthcare For The Elderly, don't discard their love or worthiness

When my mother was 76 she was admitted to hospital for a third time because of heart failure due to a lack of potassium. On the other two occasions she had been sent to a hospital in Johannesburg. This time her primary healthcare doctor sent her to a hospital in her home town in the East Rand under the care of a local cardiologist.

On the day my mother was admitted to the healthcare facility, I was unable to visit her because children under twelve were not allowed and my husband was out of town for day, leaving me with no one to take care of my children. When I arrived at the hospital the following morning expecting to see my mother bright and cheery, I was appalled to find that unlike previous occasions when she had recovered virtually within hours of being admitted to the hospital in Johannesburg, she was fading pretty fast. She was too weak to acknowledge my presence or even to move her lips when I put a glass of water to them and there was no sign of an intravenous drip.  I immediately demanded to see the matron who informed me that they were following the doctor's orders, namely to make her comfortable.

The cardiologist's surgery was in a wing of the hospital and I contacted my brother to meet me at his rooms. When my brother arrived we informed the doctor's receptionist that we wanted to see him immediately and that we would wait right there at her window until he came out to meet with us.

Ten minutes later, when we asked this cardiologist why he wasn't addressing her heart failure in the same way it had been attended to in the past, he had the audacity to tell us that she was old and that we must expect that she wasn't going to live forever and that everyone had their time and it would be a kindness to her to let things play out naturally.

We were infuriated. I told him what I thought of him and hoped that he had more compassion for his own mother than he was having for ours and we immediately called her primary healthcare doctor and insisted that my mother be transferred to Johannesburg under the care of the cardiologist who had helped her in the past.

I travelled the 50 miles in the ambulance with her to the private hospital in Johannesburg. Once she was settled in their care I called home where my husband was taking care of our children and we agreed that I would stay at the hospital until my mother had recovered enough to be in control of her life again. Even though I trusted this hospital more than the other, I wasn't going to leave her healthcare to the mercy of the medical profession again.

That night my mother was able to sit up against the pillows of the hospital bed and smile at us.

That night, too, my brother received an abject apology, by phone, from the doctor who had been willing to let her die. Probably his conscience and the Hippocratic Oath had got to him. I'm sure had this happened in the USA he would've lost his license and have been sued for all he had…and rightfully so.

A week later my mother returned home and lived until she was 81. In those six years my 2 year old daughter and 5 year old son played board games with and listened to stories read by their grandmother which would otherwise have been denied them. When she passed away my 8 year old and 11 year old wrote notes of love and appreciation for their grandmother that were read at her funeral.

I never knew my maternal or paternal grandparents. They had passed away by the time I was born. I am grateful that my children were able to know their grandmother. Parents are precious, their love and worthiness should never be undermined or discarded by anyone because of their age.

Customer Service should be Common Sense

Customer Service is the vanguard of any business.  Customer service means being genuinely engaged with your customer, smiling, giving, forgiving and pleasing.  

When a company employs new staff it shouldn't have to say to them:  give the customer outstanding customer service; the words "customer service" should mean outstanding and everyone in the organization, from the top down should know this.  

It is after all common sense isn't it? Every single person in a company is also a customer when he/she steps out of the company's portal.  The words: "Treat customers as if you are talking to yourself and then some." should prevail throughout any transaction with a customer.

It amazes me how many companies ignore, become irritated, or pay little attention to complaints. If one person complains you can be assured that there were others who didn't openly complain but voiced their frustration to others about poor customer service or lack thereof…possibly never using that company's product or service again.

Too many think its no big deal to lose one customer/client when there are millions more to fill that person's place. Are there? Of course there are. In a country of millions what difference does it make if a few customers are unhappy?

In the short term it may not make a difference but there will be a tipping point and a company will begin to lose sales and revenue. In the scramble to justify this loss everything other than customer service will be blamed.

I have written several letters over the years to the CEO's of various companies to complain about customer service. Yes, I did get a call back from someone in the company to help me with that particular situation but did it help the company? No. It just carried on doing the same rotten things without learning that if one person complained there were others with the same complaint who didn't. Can the company not see that it isn't just about fixing my complaint; it is about fixing the reason for the complaint.

Also, even when I get a call back from some minnow in a company to help me, it oftentimes, didn't mean that the complaint was satisfactorily resolved. The company remained in the dark about this unless I made another call. No one on a higher level had been assigned to make a courtesy call to enquire if my complaint had been resolved. In fact, they sometimes put the burden on me to call back if I wasn't entirely happy with their second attempt. What? I had to give them a third crack at providing the customer service that should have been mine to begin with?

I have found that the further the chain of command gets from the founder or CEO in large companies, chains and franchises, the worse the customer service is. Smaller businesses have their own poor qualities and their problem is often rooted in the owner himself not being a people-person or like the large companies, employing the wrong frontline people to begin with.  Not everyone has the smile, the energy or the countenance to charm the customer.

Sometimes the company itself gives the employee something untenable to work with and then the lack of empathy from the employee is a further egregious act. Let me explain.

A little while back I had the privilege to do quite a bit of first class flying because my son was an airline employee and as his parent, I got free stand-by travel benefits. Now we all know that travelling first class is pretty expensive.  A first class ticket to London for instance can run around $3,500 as opposed to about $600 economy. Paying $3,500 for a ticket would certainly entitle you to great service don't you think? Not so. A gentleman, booked in first class, who boarded last, was given a choice of beef or chicken for the main meal by the flight attendant. He chose beef. The flight attendant disappeared to the galley but then returned to his seat a few minutes later and in a gruff, unsmiling, uncaring manner said: "Sorry sir we are out of beef, I'm going to have to put you down for chicken."

Eh? I was horrified. I waited for the man to complain but he politely nodded his head in acceptance. I felt more outraged than it appeared he did. How can an airline be out of beef for a first class passenger? Someone who has paid $3,500, just like all the others in first class, but because he boarded last he was not going to get his choice, beef. How outrageous.

The thing is, it wasn't just a one-off occurrence that this airline couldn't fulfill the request of a first class passenger. On the return journey some two weeks later I witnessed the exact same scenario but with a different passenger and a different flight attendant. This time the flight attendant was a little less gruff, smiled apologetically but yet still did not go out of her way to offer a little more than "well you can't have beef, so, now, all there is, is chicken".

She could have been a whole lot more apologetic. She could have brought him the menu, made some suggestions like perhaps a double helping of chicken or asked if there was anything else she could get him to make up for such an oversight. She could really have shown, not only him, but all the other passengers witnessing this scene that this was not a regular occurrence and that she and her company were deeply sorry for this inconvenience.

Both these employees should have made this a big issue with their airline when they landed to make sure this never happened again. Somehow I doubt that either of them did anything.

As for the gentleman who simply nodded at being told he couldn't have beef, I stood in line with him for our baggage and we got talking. I found out that he was a business executive and a frequent first class flyer and that he intended to avoid that particular airline whenever he could in the future.

If he was prepared to tell me this, a perfect stranger, I wonder how many friends he conveyed his dissatisfaction to.

Customer service is exactly that. Serving the customer in every which way to make the customer like us - no, love us - and use us or buy from us over and over again and then tell their friends about how much faith they have in us so that they in turn, try us and use us or buy from us over and over again.  Actually, it should be plain common sense.

Thank you Sam Hinton for your Folk Songs for Children

I learned of Sam Hinton folk songs for children through Dr. Fitzhugh Dodson's book "How to Discipline With Love" and when a friend of mine visited the U.S.A. in 1984, I asked him to buy "Whoever Shall Have Some Peanuts" and "I'll Sing You A Story".    

The folk songs within these albums became firm favorites of our whole family. We laughed at the humorous lyrics and sang along with Sam no matter if some of us were out of tune. They were so much fun and we sang and clapped the Sam Hinton songs on our many road trips throughout South Africa and Zimbabwe.

When we arrived in Miami in November 1994 after an 18 hour flight from South Africa we had to drive to Orlando; another 4 hours on top of that long flight and it was Sam that kept my husband awake on the road and my children occupied and my overtired nerves calmed.

We exchanged our South Africa road trips for American road trips and continued to sing Sam Hinton songs throughout the States. From Orlando to Niagara Falls and back, songs like "Old Blue", "Little Old Woman All Skin and Bones, "Old Boastun Was Dead", "Michael Finnegan", "Ain't We Crazy", "Hambone" and "Old Dan Tucker" and the many many other beloved songs from these albums, that we sung with glee and fervor.

My children are grown now but recently I wrote a story about our trip up north to find snow called "By Golly! We Found Snow!" in which I mentioned our singing those Sam Hinton songs all along the I-75 corridor. It brought back many happy memories. These folksongs are ageless, priceless gems and should be passed on from generation to generation in perpetuity

I would like to thank Sam, whom I understand is now 92 years old for bringing so much songful joy to our lives.

Kindest regards to you Sam!

Update on Tuesday, September 15, 2009 at 4:23PM by [Pamela McMonagle]

Sam Hinton passed away on September 10th, 2009.  By all accounts he lived a full and rich life.  I am sad that I never got to meet him but there is a wonderful Youtube video of his playing the harmonica that is worth listening to.  Rest In Peace Sam.

4th July - Happy Birthday America

On this day, the 4th of July 2009, our Birthday, we have more reason than ever before to hold Freedom as a symbol to strive for, for all people. One of the biggest freedoms of all is the freedom to speak. As we have seen, people who speak out in peace, in many other countries can be killed and jailed.

It's very unfortunate, therefore, that having a different opinion or disagreeing with someone, no matter how politely, can create such vitriol as to vilify and silence the speaker, this, particularly, from various media outlets. So much so, that many people do not speak out and hide their true opinions from the open arena for fear of being ostracized. 

Knowing this, we use the ballot box to make our voices heard and it is an important component in the freedom our founding fathers fought for. So never fear that you do not have the freedom to speak because as long as we keep our ballot box free from contamination, we will have freedom.

As we celebrate with fireworks and gatherings of family and friends, we say Happy Birthday to our nation born on 4th July 1776.

Hospitality in South Korea

The smile on the young South Korean's face did not falter as he stalwartly pushed my husband in his wheelchair from one end of Incheon International Airport to the other in pursuit of the various formalities our return trip from Australia via South Korea to the USA entailed.

In seeking the best hotel for our overnight stay, we settled on the Best Western because of its familiarity and it being close to the airport and the young South Korean settled us outside on the sidewalk in front of the sign for the Best Western transportation stop. Before leaving us, he wrote a note in Korean to the bus driver to ensure that customer service at the airport were notified when we left the hotel in the morning so that someone could meet us at the curb. When we offered him a generous tip, he politely refused. In his limited English and with a broad smile he explained that he was only doing his job and didn't need to be compensated. We, in turn, told him how grateful we were for his outstanding service and that we had no other way to show him our gratitude. After several further refusals he finally and, reluctantly, capitulated.

The Best Western, in keeping with its US roots, proved quite ordinary except for some Korean culture differences in décor and presentation but the service from their front desk in the person of a young lady called Cathy was beyond reproach and worthy of accolades. She pampered us on arrival and the following day arranged for an American breakfast to be cooked especially for us. Then, instead of putting us on the hotel bus, she had one of their SUV's, obviously kept for more notable guests with its little vase of plastic flowers on the dashboard, take us to the airport.

At the airport, when the black Hyundai pulled up at the curb, one of the airport customer service representatives had a cart ready for our luggage and a huge welcoming smile on her face and she quickly stepped up to push my husband in his wheelchair.

  Incheon International Airport - Click photo to enlarge 

There is no doubt that the flight on Korean Air to and from Australia to South Korea was marked with doting flight attendants. They not only performed their duties with aplomb but with smiles and incredible friendly and genteel attitudes. That, along with the Incheon Airport and Best Western Hotel experience left a warm hospitable impression of South Korea, as a whole, on us.

Education and Healthcare

I was amazed when I had to fill out a new patient form at a gynecologist recently and one of the questions posed inquired about my level of education.

I wondered what difference my education made to my healthcare. If I hadn't acquired a degree, for instance, would I have less knowledge of how to take care of myself than if I had a college degree? Would I be treated with more respect if I had a college degree and would the respect be magnified if I had a doctorate? Would my treatment be less or more according to my education?

Would I be treated in accordance with my level of education to the exclusion of age, accomplishment and experience which could easily top a degree - look at Michael Dell, Bill Gates and Richard Branson. Would Branson be considered less capable of understanding the doctor's diagnosis and proposed treatment in the eyes of the doctor and his staff if they didn't know about his accomplishments and noted only that he had dropped out of high school? Would he therefore, get a convoluted explanation because it was thought he was too uneducated to understand?

Why exactly is the perception of our health measured against our education? You might think I'm being ornery but that kind of question insults me. I felt like signing the form with an X to see what would happen!

Give the Gift of Manners

Give the Gift of Manners to your child and you give him nuggets of gold. No education is complete without manners.

Imagine your doctor, with all his education, spitting into his waste basket during a consultation or pushing his way in front of you through a doorway! Okay, you say, that's extreme, and maybe it is, but he's made you wait in the waiting room for an hour and half beyond your appointment time and not apologized hasn't he? Education made him a doctor but not a gentleman.

Imagine a businessman in a Brioni suit, tie and shoes with an MBA certificate on the wall of his CEO office, who rolls down his Mercedes Benz window and gobs into the street or when done eating at that fancy restaurant, leaves his fork and knife at 8 o'clock and 4 o'clock. It can happen. I've seen it. His stature is diminished. Education made him a rich man but his manners make him a slob.

Imagine a high school graduate who couldn't afford Princeton or Harvard or the college in the next county, who flips burgers and wears ripped jeans and soiled Reeboks. When an older woman boards the 5 o'clock subway he offers his seat to her and when he reaches the mall doors at the same time as that woman he instantly opens and holds the door for her. In formal education he may be poor but in breeding he is rich.

And what about the women who pooh-pooh and laugh at such chivalry? They don't demand nor command respect and they don't get it. Unfortunately they don't become the mothers who give gold nuggets to their children either.

A Happy Birthday To My Son

Today is my son's birthday. It is on my children's birthdays that I remember the indescribable joy of birth and how their entering my life has made it so much richer and meaningful. From conception through birth and beyond - what a miracle new life is.

There can be no finer, maybe equal to, but certainly no finer, son, than he. I am exceptionally proud of him and I thank him for being the wonderful person he is.

I would like to share my poem, The Child Within

Tartrazine, FD&C Yellow 5, E102 and Asthma, Hyperactivity, Urticaria, Skin rashes

Twenty three years ago I walked into Dr. William Vorster's (M.B. CH.B. (Pret) M.MED (Otol) (UK/UCT) consulting rooms in South Africa with my very ill 5 year old son. Dr. Vorster changed our lives with one word TARTRAZINE, a yellow food colorant used widely in many products. (In the U.S.A. Tartrazine is called FD&C Yellow 5 in the UK and Europe E102.)

"I'm going to do blood tests on your son for the usual food and environmental allergic reactions but I want you to do an elimination test for Tartrazine. It's a yellow food colorant known as an azo dye. There's no test for it except for an elimination diet. I have found it responsible for the asthma your son is suffering."

Dr. Vorster was an ear, nose and throat specialist. He was also the third ENT that I'd been to and the 8th specialist (the others being pediatricians). None had mentioned the food colorant, Tartrazine (yellow 5 or E102). None had made one little bit of difference to the constant coughing, rhinitis and asthma that plagued my son's life and that of our family. From the time he was a toddler my husband and I had spent countless nights awake with him while he coughed and tossed and turned and battled for breath. All the specialists we had visited had merely passed off his symptoms as allergic rhinitis and prescribed antibiotics and made me feel paranoid. None had mentioned asthma.

The blood test results revealed a milk allergy as well as a grass pollen allergy. They were easy to control.  The elimination diet results revealed that Tartrazine (FD&C Yellow 5 or E102) were the most severe culprit of his allergy and asthma attacks and to a lessor degree, the preservatives called sodium benzoate and sulphur dioxide. During his childhood years he drank only goat's milk and ate goat's milk cheese.  Today, 23 years later, he can drink cow's milk without a problem but he still cannot have food containing yellow 5.

The elimination diet was hard to do. I had to eliminate everything that had yellow 5 in it, get him to the point of no coughing at all and then introduce the colorant into his diet. I did so in the form of Jelly Tots, one of his favorite candies. Within 24 hours his symptoms started.

I became the strictest mom in the whole world. Nothing with the yellow food colorant was allowed in my home. Trips to anywhere or to parties were always accompanied by homemade candy. We, as his parents and he himself, had suffered too dearly for too long with sleepless nights, restricted physical activity and feeling awful. Nor was I going to keep my child on cortisone or Ventolin® or nebulizers on a daily basis. Those helpers were only for critical, chronic episodes and believe me, there were many of those!

The reason there were many of those episodes was because many manufacturers in South Africa did not adhere to the laws pertaining to Tartrazine. The law required that the word Tartrazine be listed on all packaging on the ingredient label in bold letters, letters twice the size of the rest of the ingredients. Many companies violated that law without regard to the consequences. Some of them were Big Name food companies. For instance a company that made Ghost Pops (a puffed corn snack) which was usually free of Tartrazine, used white corn mixed with yellow colorant, when yellow corn was suddenly in short supply, without changing the label to reflect the new addition of Tartrazine (Yellow 5, E102) to its ingredients.

My son came down with a really bad asthma attack and it was only because I was so strict in what he ate that I could pin point that the only thing he had eaten that could possibly be causing the attack was the corn based snack. I called the company and asked them if they had decided to start using Tartrazine (Yellow 5, E102) in their products without putting it on the label. They denied this in the beginning but called me two hours later to tell me that they had replaced the yellow corn with white corn because of a shortage of yellow corn and had added Tartrazine (Yellow 5, E102) so that the product would look the same.

Another time I bought ice-cream made without cow's milk which did not have Tartrazine listed on the label and when I opened it I questioned the deep yellow color and called the company. They insisted that the color was due to the egg yokes that were used. Not having had ice-cream for a long time because of his milk allergy, my son practically ate the whole tub. The next day he was extremely ill. He had a severe asthma attack. I had to rush him to the doctor's rooms to get him injected and put him on a nebulizer every four hours right through the night. In trying to establish what had caused the attack I returned to the ice-cream tub and when I dug to the bottom of the tub with a spoon found streaks of yellow that had no resemblance to egg. I again called the company. I told them about the seriousness of the situation and that I had to be sure what had caused it. I waited twenty minutes on the phone while they checked it out and then they confessed that they had inadvertently used old labels that didn't list Tartrazine (Yellow 5, E102) as an ingredient but that it did indeed have Tartrazine in it.

From then onwards I never gave my son anything new without checking directly with the manufacturer and by telling them what the consequences could be if they didn't make a thorough check as to whether it had Tartrazine in it or not and if the labeling was correct.

One company that I can honestly say helped me tremendously was Robertson Spices and their laboratory technician. She was very knowledgeable about Tartrazine and supplied me with all manner of information and also advised me what foods (like Hellman's Light) didn't have the yellow colorant in it.

Yellow 5 (or Tartrazine) is not restricted to food either. It is in over-the-counter products and prescription medicines too. I had to be ultra careful to make sure the script I got from the doctor did not have yellow 5 in the ingredients. I have no idea why the manufacturers of medications would want to color their liquids and tablets bright green (mixture of blue and yellow) or just yellow and then on a medication's label state that it could cause asthma or urticaria - how completely dumb is that?

Yellow 5 is also seemingly harmless in everyday things like toothpaste, shampoo, perfume and aftershave. Right! I discovered the effects of green shampoo after washing my son's hair on a Saturday and by the following Monday he came down with asthma symptoms. For a while I was completely baffled because I couldn't work out what he could possibly have eaten until it struck me that it could be the shampoo colorant getting into his bloodstream. In those days the ingredients were not placed on the labels of shampoos and I had to call the manufacturer, and sure enough, the colorant used was yellow 5. The moment I stopped using it, the Monday occurrence of coughing stopped. Granted, the effects weren't as harsh as direct consumption but they were nonetheless enough to cause a child to walk instead of run and restlessly cough all night and day.

I was also very vocal in South Africa in speaking to other moms and people and the directors' of health departments about the effects of Tartrazine in causing asthma, urticaria, rash and hyperactivity. The more I spoke to other moms the more I realized that there are more people experiencing the bad effects of this colorant than is realized. When the moms I spoke to took my advice and withdrew the yellow food colorant, they were amazed at how the symptoms ascribed to Tartrazine (Yellow 5, E102) cleared up.

I must say I was disappointed when I came to the U.S. to find that yellow 5 was not banned in this country. In closing I would like to say that the selfsame Jelly Tots that I used as an elimination diet for my son 23 years ago can now be bought from Rowntrees® (Nestle) UK without the food dye, yellow 5 (E102), in fact, without any artificial colors or flavors and the manufacturer states that fact very proudly. It’s a great pity that more food manufacturers do not take their lead. If they did we might find that asthma and hyperactivity and skin rashes may become a thing of the past.

Note: In my article I have interchangeably used Tartrazine, as it is known in South Africa, FD&C Yellow 5 as it is known in the U.S.A. and E102 as it is known in the UK and Europe, but would like to reiterate that they are one and the same yellow colorant used in foods, cosmetics and medicine.

Imagine Delicious Cane Sugar

There's a blue ocean waiting to be traversed

 

Imagine the natural sweetness of good old-fashioned Cane Sugar returning to candy bars, jams, jellies, syrups, sodas and every other food and beverage which has a sweetener in it including ketchup and ice-cream! Imagine that smooth delicious taste of sugar. Nothing can compare with that taste. Cane Sugar has been the sweetener used for hundreds of years until some bright spark decided to replace sugar with corn syrup…. High Fructose Corn Syrup.

When I came to America 15 years ago that was the first thing I noticed. Coca Cola and candy and chocolate bars did not taste as good as I was used to and as for the syrups, ugh!  All because of High Fructose Corn Syrup.

The next thing I noticed was that I was slowly but steadily gaining weight despite the fact that I had not changed any of my eating habits. I was told I was getting older and my metabolism was slowing down. That might have something to do with it I thought, so I stopped drinking Coca Cola. That was very hard because I had been totally addicted to it for more years than I care to mention.

A couple of years ago I returned to South Africa for two weeks. Since I was on vacation I broke down and drank coca cola again and ate more than my usual share of candy bars because of their simply delicious cane sugar taste rather than that of High Fructose Corn Syrup.  Almost all of their candies and soda products are made with cane sugar and NOT High Fructose Corn Syrup.  I lost weight. Yes, I lost 5lbs in two weeks despite those tasty sweet sensations.

On my return to the US, I once again stopped drinking coca cola. It isn't good-tasting anyway and you can only understand that when you've tasted it with cane sugar. In fact, my daughter's boyfriend who travelled with us to South Africa who'd never tasted coca cola with sugar brought back 4 litres to the US because he liked it so much.

I now buy my candy bars, jams, ketchup, syrup and everything else I can from an International Store where sugar is used instead of high fructose corn syrup. It's difficult to eliminate high fructose corn syrup entirely but I am doing my very best not to buy anything with corn syrup in it. I am slowly starting to lose weight without any other change to my lifestyle. Interesting isn't it?

I have learned that high fructose corn syrup breaks down differently in the body from sugar. I've learned that corn syrup is metabolized in the liver and sends fat out into the bloodstream whilst cane sugar is metabolized in all the cells of the body.

Maybe this has an impact. I'm not a scientist but I do have common sense. All I can go on is the fact that we Americans are more obese than anywhere else in the world and that that phenomenon correlates to the substitution of high fructose corn syrup for sugar as a sweetener in the 1970's.

We are the only ones who are consuming these large quantities of high fructose corn syrup because it is in everything from salad dressing to bread. Common sense indeed tells us what we want to know and we don't need to wait for scientific studies.

The comment that it doesn't matter whether you eat foods with high fructose corn syrup or sugar since you are still ingesting sugar doesn't wash. Sure you are and that goes right back to us all having to be personally accountable for the amount of sugar we eat but it’s a poor state of affairs that if eating the same food we would have eaten anyway, we are getting fatter because it has high fructose corn syrup in it instead of sugar! And added to this insult is the fact that we are not even getting the full delicious flavor of sugar!

If anyone has read the Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne they may just realize that there is a Blue Ocean out there for anyone who is brave enough to go for it. Change the last 40 years of high fructose corn syrup for Cane Sugar. It does seem as though there are some food companies taking that tentative step. PepsiCo is one of them but how serious they are in promoting it to the general public is another matter. Snapple it appears is to introduce tea brewed with cane sugar. At last!

I say, come on America we have the power to bring back delicious cane sugar! Don't let industry hoodwink you into believing that high fructose corn syrup is healthy whilst sugar, which has been around for hundreds of years, is not!!! Imagine losing sugar forever! Imagine losing that delicious taste forever. Let your voice be heard somehow because your single voice can make a difference.

Update on Friday, May 7, 2010 at 10:05AM by [Pamela McMonagle]

I noticed in a recent New York Times article on April 30th, 2010 that ConAgra Foods are now going to make Hunt's Ketchup with good old-fashioned Cane Sugar instead of High Fructose Corn Syrup. I applaud that and I want to be one of the many to congratulate their Mr. Michael Locascio, President of the Meal Enhancers Category at ConAgra Foods for his work on making this happen within ConAgra.  

Finally, after years of trips to the International Food Club to buy "Tomato Sauce" with sugar I can now enjoy Hunt's once again from the local Publix shelf.  Good job.  You took your customers seriously and you decided to follow a "Blue Ocean"  Thank you!  Let's hope that many many other companies, including Coca Cola and Hersheys take your lead.  Also, hopefully Kraft, who, it appears has also swapped High Fructose Corn Syrup and are using plain old sugar in some of their salad dressings will continue to grow this concept. 

Update on Monday, February 7, 2011 at 7:58PM by [Pamela McMonagle]

Sure enough, Hunts Tomato Ketchup is now free of High Fructose Corn Syrup and I no longer have to buy imported Ketcup.  Thank you Hunts! 

Another joy, Ocean Spray are now producing Cranberry Juice with NO High Fructose Corn Syrup. and using either delightful CANE SUGAR or BEET SUGAR.  Thank you Ocean Spray. I can now drink Cranberry Juice.

To all my readers, please let me know when you find products that were formally using High Fructose Corn Syrup and have, for whatever reason, changed to Cane Sugar.

Happy Birthday Memories made at Disney's Magic Kingdom

During the Easter weekend it was my birthday and my daughter took my husband and me to Walt Disney World® for the day. She said I could choose any one of the theme parks and I chose the Magic Kingdom. Although I've been into the Magic Kingdom 27 times, I haven't been there in the past 9 or so years and I wanted to experience its magical atmosphere once again on my special day.

And what a special day! First of all because we have a standing agreement in our family that, within reason, the Birthday Person is King or in my instance Queen for the day and all the other members of the family have to obey and do the bidding of the Birthday Person. Secondly, Disney are running a special offer during 2009 of a free ticket for the birthday person on their birthday and they provided me with a large "Happy Birthday" pin with my name on it and everywhere I went people called out "Happy Birthday Pamela". What fun that turned out to be!

 Somehow Disney and the Magic Kingdom can bring out the child in you and no matter what your troubles they all drop from your shoulders for the day as you enter the wonderful world of fantasy. The magic truly begins the moment you step on Main Street, USA. What a bustling, animated and exiting street! Within minutes you are absorbed into a different world and whether you are 2 or 82 you become a child of Disney.

No matter what the ride, you are not expected, for instance, to stand next to your child on the carousel of horses, or wave at your child as he goes by, or even have a child, no way, you can ride it LIKE a child. Get up on that gee-gee and go up and down to the carnival music as it goes on its merry-go-round way with all the other big and small kids!

So here I am on the Gee-Gee and here are Michael and me in front of Cinderella's Castle 

I got soaked on Splash Mountain before our log boat even began its journey through the caverns of Brer Rabbit. Just a few yards along the waterway another log boat swooped down from the mountain and swoosh, I was rained upon. I dried out on Big Thunder Mountain (by far my most favorite roller coaster) as it rattled and twisted in its furious flurry around the mountain and the abandoned mining town of Tumbleweed.

Those are some, but if I were to mention all the wonderful rides at the Magic Kingdom that I love, I would simply make this into a brochure for Disney but without a doubt "It’s a Small World" and the SpectroMagic Parade tops my list of what makes the Magic Kingdom …… well magical!

Now some people will say that it's ludicrous to sit on the curb of a hard sidewalk for one and a half hours from 7.30 p.m. till 9.00 p.m. to secure a front row seat to see SpectroMagic but I say it's worth every minute. Besides the fact that it is only in Disney where I would contemplate sitting on the sidewalk, it also gives you a chance to rest after a long day of walking, where you can munch a burger and get to know your neighbor.

This is what I did and my neighbor to my left turned out to be a British couple from Kent, living only 30 minutes from Canterbury where my grandfather was born which resulted in one dickens of a conversation. My neighbor to the right, a young women from Australia married to an American with two delightful little girls and living in Bradenton, Florida also had lots of stories to share. The exchange between these two couples was so enjoyable that when the lights dimmed on Main Street and the music started and Jiminy Cricket introduced it, only a dazzling parade like SpectroMagic could possibly have hushed our chitter-chatter.

I would like to thank my daughter for a wonderful birthday gift of a day in Disney's Magic Kingdom and for the delicious lunch and later, the stop at Mrs. Potts' Cupboard for a sundae of chocolate and vanilla soft-serve with hot caramel topping. Happy memories are made because of days like this one.

Passion Rocks The World

I spent many days thinking about this journal page. Should I do a "blog" at all or should I simply keep Brinjal Murphy Café as a place to enter on the home page, thumb through the menu and maybe munch on the freebies in the stories and poetry section while contemplating purchasing the main meal.

 It all boils down to passion. How passionate am I in sharing myself, my thoughts, my opinions and my musings with the world wide web?

If you don't feel passionate about what you're doing, don't do it. Stop and think about it. You only have a limited time on this great earth and if you're spending your precious time in an activity that doesn't stir the passion within you - that doesn't make you want to talk about it, share it, work with it, love it - don't do it.

I'm not suggesting you stomp into your boss's office or down your spoon in the middle of stirring the sauce and say "I quit" and rush into the world with arms outspread to embrace your passion. Nor am I suggesting that you shouldn't accept that there will be some mundane things in your life. The world is made up of cycles, peaks and valleys, winter and spring but if you haven't got one, you need to put a plan into action that takes a fast track to your passion. Don't think about it briefly shrug and put it off until tomorrow. Let NOW be the beginning to rocking your world with passion. Let NOW be the beginning of your persistence towards moving your world so that you can do what you feel passionate about.

While I have a fiction voice and I love creating something from nothing, I do have other voices and they all speak with passion and what better place than on my own soap box? I've answered my inner voice. Writing is my passion. Be it inside my web pages or on my blog. I hope that you too can answer yours.

Passion rocks the world but Persistence moves it ~Pamela McMonagle