There are five good reasons for switching to a low-phosphate diet:

I. Natural foods for fast growing animals or plants:
The phosphate content is very high in all natural foods that are designed to nourish a fast growing animal or plant. Many animals and most edible plants require only weeks or a few months to a year to become fully grown, whereas a human being needs 15 to 20 years to achieve full maturity. Clearly, a growing human being requires far less daily phosphate than a calf - all dairy products derived from cow's milk are high in phosphate: the calf of course needs the high phosphate content for rapid growth. Hence, cow's milk should be avoided!

The point is, not every growing human being's metabolism is capable of successfully dealing with the elevated levels of phosphates contained in many of the natural foods.

Examples of natural foods that are designed to nourish growing animals or plants are:


• Egg yolk (egg yolks contain lecithin, a high source of phosphate).
• All dairy products derived from cow's milk, except the heavy (whipping) cream.
• All seeds such as peas, lentils, dried beans, cocoa beans, carob, nuts (peanuts, walnuts, almonds, etc.) and their derivatives (peanut butter, marzipan, chocolate, etc.), as well as soya beans and all soya bean products.
• All whole grains - since these are seeds - (such as wheat, rye, oats, corn, etc.).
• Natural emulsifiers such as lecithins which are extracted from egg yolks, almonds, soya beans or other seeds.
• Some natural foods high in citric acid may also cause relapses.
  Pages 91- 116 in The Hidden Drug: Dietary Phosphate explain in great detail how the phosphates and acids of the citric acid cycle affect a sensitive person's metabolism.

II. Processed Foods:
Many processed foods are extremely high in added phosphate. Phosphate compounds are popular and highly versatile food additives, produced daily by the tonne and used widely by the food industry to:

• Extend the shelf life of their products.
• Improve the taste of foods, especially soft and soda drinks
  (Coke has up to 570 mg/kg).
• Act as free-flowing agents to prevent the clumping of instant food products (e.g. instant coffee).
• Act as an emulsifying agent which prevents any emulsion containing oil/fat and liquids from separating in food products, examples are processed cheeses (30g/kg), cheese spread, mayonnaise, margarine.
• Speed up the thickening and stabilizing of instant products (e.g. puddings and gravies).
• Help retain water in processed meat products.
• Improve the baking process by the addition of baking powder which makes the process more flexible and improves the texture of the baked products.

The above are the most prevalent reasons for using phosphate compounds and an example of the products that you need to look out for. Clearly the food industry has many other uses for phosphate additives, we just can't list every available substance on this site.
If you would like to learn more, please refer to The Hidden Drug: Dietary Phosphate for more detail. It lists several pages of 'safe' and 'danger' foods.

III.Citric acid:
Citric acid is found in many processed foods. Its effect on the body's metabolism compounds the effects of the phosphates. It is added to foodstuff to assist in the flavouring of jams, jellies, soft drinks, sweets, candies, gummibears and jelly snakes to name a few.

IV. Alcohol:
Alcohol, whilst not containing phosphate itself, greatly exacerbates the effect of excess phosphate and therefore should be avoided.

V. Sugar:
High consumption of foods containing sugar may intensify the body's response to phosphate-rich foods. Sugar interferes with the absorption of calcium and magnesium causing further vital mineral deficiencies.

How to get started on a low-phosphate diet:

It is much easier than you think.

First of all: be absolutely and constantly aware of the five categories of foods listed above and summarized below:

I. There are a number of natural foods high in phosphate content - be aware of them. You may well tolerate most of them, providing you eat them in small quantities. For example:

• Put one egg only in a cake or in pancake batter.
• Substitute wherever possible diluted cream (1 part cream, 3-4 parts water) for milk.
• If you are able to tolerate small amounts of phosphate, use 1 or 2 ripe (citric acid) tomatoes in a spaghetti sauce and grate a very small quantity of hard cheese over your pizza.

II. Many processed foods have phosphate additives

III. Be aware of the effect of high citric acid levels

IV. Be aware of the effect of alcohol

V. Avoid foods with a high sugar content

Secondly: when you go shopping, read all food labels and avoid the foodstuffs falling in category II unless you can be absolutely sure that the additives listed are from non-phosphate sources. If it is at all possible, avoid purchasing processed meats, cheeses, instant meals, soda drinks and other highly processed foods. Simply concentrate on buying as many fresh foods as possible.

When you start preparing your meals, it will be much easier if you recall what was available to us one hundred years ago and how our grandmother prepared her meals. Her Sunday roast had gravy made from oil or butter and plain unprocessed flour; this was way superior to the gravy that comes from a premix envelope or a square cube. Our grandmother made up her own stock (bouillon) from diced meat, soup bones and fresh vegetables. She added fresh herbs and spices and her food tasted delicious.

Thirdly: to get started on the Hafer-diet, all you need to do is find at least ten recipes that you like. That is all that most families use. You might have to try ten recipes to find one that you and your family enjoy, but that is ok as it is all part of the process. It is vitally important to have a number of good recipes as variety is the key to success. We have started to collect some recipes below. You can try these or you can adapt or create your own, there are literally hundreds of different ways of preparing low-phosphate meals. If you find a good recipe that works for you, please share it with us, we would love to include it to our collection.

If you are off all milk products, additional calcium and magnesium may be required and you should consider taking a calcium/magnesium supplement. You may like to consult your health professional if this is the case.

And finally: wishing you the best of success. If you are willing to share your experience with the Hafer-diet with us, please contact us, we would love to hear from you. Your story is important as it will help others make those important lifestyle changes.