A big welcome to Tracey Davidson (founder of Adventure Snacks) to the Additive Free Kids community!

Let’s find out how Tracey got started on her additive free journey.

1) What started you on your journey to where you are today?

I am a mum to my gorgeous boy Oscar who happens to be the inspiration and driving force behind starting Adventure Snacks.
 You see, after I had Oscar in 2012 everything changed.
 I went to a talk about additives and it really opened my eyes!
When you have a child your whole outlook on life changes, and suddenly I found myself hyper-aware of the food I was feeding him.
I am, after all, responsible for ensuring he grows up to be as healthy as possible.
I couldn’t bear the thought of filling him up on processed foods packed full of refined sugar and preservatives so I started to look for alternatives – things that were healthy but also convenient.
As he grew into a toddler I got used to hearing the phrase ‘I want a snack’ A LOT.
And so the quest began to find an assortment of snacks which were reasonably nutritious, but also easy to pack into his bag and eat on the run.
I started looking up recipes for healthy baked goods and found I hardly ever had everything I needed in the pantry, but the packet mixes on supermarket shelves had little to no nutrition – not ideal for a growing boy…
And so hatched the idea that I could create ‘packet mixes’ for all the people out there who, like me, are conscious of what their family eats but also needed an option which didn’t involve juggling an armful of ingredients while being pulled in every direction by an energetic toddler!
Additive-Free-Kids-Francine-Bell-Adventure-Snacks
My mission is to educate people on what they are eating will continue, alongside creating new products which find the balance between convenient and healthy.
Life is one big adventure made up of many small adventures and Adventure Snacks will help provide just the fuel you need to enjoy the journey!

2) What was the tipping point for you to start eating healthy?

I’ve always eaten a fairly healthy diet, although before my son was born I was eating more of the ‘low fat’ ‘diet’ type options which now I totally avoid.
The change for us really began once Oscar started eating solids – I couldn’t bear to feed him anything I knew was bad for him.
My partner and I started researching and started making changes to what we ate.

3) Do you eat additive free all the time?

As much as possible, and I’ll always look for the best option at the time.
We’re not obsessive though so occasionally we will eat things that are not additive free.

4) Did you find it easy to transition to eating additive free?

Once I knew about additives and the potential detrimental effects it was pretty easy!
Going additive free was part of a whole shift towards whole foods, so we are eating more and more food which is naturally additive free!

5) Do you find that you need to use packaged food options sometimes for when you are time poor / on the run?

Yes, we still use some packaged foods, I just try to see which is the best option and go with that.
Luckily, there’s an increasing number of additive free products coming on the market (including mine!) so the number of more convenient options is growing.

 6) What is one piece of advice you would give to someone contemplating starting an additive free journey?

Start making small changes in the right direction – if you try and overhaul everything at once you’ll become overwhelmed.
Read up about additives and the worst ones to look for, and start substituting those for better alternatives.
And don’t be hard on yourself, if you use packaged food sometimes then it’s ok as long as you’re moving forward and eating good quality whole foods most of the time!

We welcome Adventure Snacks (Tracey Davidson) to the Additive Free Family!

You can find the yummy Adventure Snacks range on the Additive Free Marketplace here