This time I went on my own to see the Nutritionist as it easier to talk about Chris when he’s not sitting next to me!!

We went all through the results of his Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis in detail and discussed what changes he would accept to his diet and what he would find a step too far.  I am always conscious that I can’t push him too hard for fear that he will just say “I’ve had enough – I’m not doing this anymore.”

The dietary changes are not very different to our first visit but I need to do more still to:

• Reduce cured meat (bacon/sausage/salami) and red meat to twice a week
• Increase vegetable intake
• Reduce gluten intake

The most difficult meal for me at the moment is his breakfast.  He will eat cereal – but without milk – and that’s got no real food value for him at the start of a school day.  He will eat a slice of toast – only white bread – with a thin spreading of margarine.  Again, no real food value.  So, I been giving him a cooked breakfast every day – omelette with peppers and mushrooms; a bacon and egg roll; bacon with egg and baked beans on toast etc.  But now I have to reduce the bacon and replace it with something that is high protein and low fat…

Oh and the other important change I need to make is to cut out or drastically reduce his chocolate consumption as chocolate contains high levels of copper.  Now there’s a challenge…

He then needs to take a range of supplements to reduce his copper levels and balance out the other minerals.  It means he will be swallowing a lot of tablets for the next 3-4 months, so I hope he will be ok with that.

After 4 months we will repeat the hair test and see what his mineral levels are like.  So, I’ve got 4 months to really improve his diet, get him to give up chocolate and get him to swallow a load of tablets.

It’s lucky he loves fish as I think that is going to be on the menu a lot more often in our house!