In addition to artificial food additives, there are many different chemicals and toxins in natural wholefoods that can cause unpleasant physical and mental reactions. These include natural flavour chemicals which must be avoided on the failsafe diet.




Other (Non-Failsafe) Chemicals Found in Foods
There are many toxins and pharmacological chemicals in nature. The following chemicals are found in foods we eat and can cause adverse effects in the wrong individual:
- FODMAPs: sugars and short chain starches (plant foods, dairy products)
- Purines (chicken, organ meats, game, some seafood, wheat, oats, asparagus, cauliflower, mushrooms) (includes alcohol avoidance)
- Lectins (beans, pulses, grains, nuts, nightshades)
- Cyanogens, cyanogenic glycosides, and amygdalin (seeds of many fruits and nuts, rose family, particularly amygdaloideae – cherry, almond, peach)
- Coumarins (tonka bean, woodruff, bison grass, clover)
- Goiterogens (soya, chickpeas, cabbage family)
- Phytoestrogens (soya, chickpeas, diverse plant sources)
- Alkaloids and glycoalkaloids (diverse sources, caffeine, theobromine, solanine, chaconine, nicotine)
- Oxalates and oxalic acids (vegetables particularly leafy green, sorrel, spinach, rhubarb)
- Protease inhibitors (beans)
Individuals who have connected specific ailments to the food they eat may find it worth investigating for these intolerances, for example:
- Individuals with IBS and/or other digestive issues may find it useful to follow the FODMAPs diet
- Individuals with gout may find it useful to avoid high-purine foods and alcohol
- Individuals with thyroid and/or sex-hormone problems may find it useful to avoid goiterogens and phytoestrogens
- Individuals with kidney stones or muscular pain syndromes may find it useful to trial the low-oxalate diet