Food Intolerance(s)Wholefoods Directory

I have just discovered I am gluten/buckwheat/cows milk/corn (maize) and yeast intolerant and have been advised to remove all of these from my diet.  I didn't have the highest score reaction, but I have enough anti bodies where making a drastic change could improve my health and how I generally feel is advisable where possible.

It's only really just sinking in just how much that will affect what I can and cannot eat so if anyone has any tips or advice that you have picked up on this subject, I would be very glad to hear it.

I am a useless cook and I am already a fussy foodie person, so it's going to mean a massive change and I know this is common these days so I hoped you might have friends or relatives who have had to adjust and might have some shortcuts & tips for me.  For example, a UKY member told me tonight that gluten free bread mixes can be found for bread machines and gluten free baking soda can be used (I just assumed you needed yeast for all bread!)

Help!

Whilst researching the subject, I came across this database of wholefoods that people might find interesting

http://www.ecofair.co.uk/nuke/modules.php?name=Encyclopedia&op=list_content&eid=1

Good luck with the changes. Have they advised you how to go about eliminating these things from your diet? I would be highly suspect if they advised you to cut it all out at once. You need to find out which you are most sensitive to because eliminating all of that all the time will be very difficult. You need to know what you absolutely can't tolerate and what you can get away with now and then (or more).

If I were you, I'd start with milk or wheat. I doubt you eat much corn now but if you are very intolerant of it, it could be a big problem for you in the US. Watch out for breading (like breaded fish cakes and that sort of thing, they often have maize flour in them).

I believe that people who are intolerant of gluten can usually tolerate spelt. I'm quite fussy about good bread but there is an organic market here every week and a (literally) hippy commune sell spelt bread, cakes, cookies, and muffins at it. I've tried them and could not tell the difference between spelt and whole wheat. I'll see if I can find more info on this but I know my Tesco sells spelt.

As for dairy, soy and goats milk are the obvious choices there and unless you are a real cheese-aholic, this should be fairly easy. I know in the US you can also get cow's milk that is lower in lactic acid which is worth a try. I think it's called Lactaid.

The yeast is a tricky one - not just because of the bread, but because of the beer and wine factor, too! I guess if I were you this is where I'd try to figure out how sensitive I am. If you eliminated gluten and felt loads better, I'd hesitate to eliminate yeast, too. Guess it depends upon how much you love bread. Of course there's always good old Irish soda bread which is yeast free but again, you'd need to work with the gluten free baking soda and flour if you are having to eliminate all gluten. See, there's a difference between 3 cups of regular flour and all it's associated gluten versus 1 tsp baking soda and the gluten in that.

Anyway, that's my advise for what it's worth. Given how fussy you are, I'd definitley approach this in a methodical way. I think they usually suggest 2-3 weeks of eliminating a food group from you diet to see how you do. You might want to keep a daily record of how you're feeling and what symptoms you might usually have/not have.

Some of the foodie mags (BBC Good Food) now run recipes for varoius allergies/intolerances. I have lots of back issues to will have a look and see what's there.

Hope this helps!

I would definitely talk to someone about the milk allergy - if it's not a strong intolerance, then you may be able to have some dairy in your day.  I have an intolerance and found the UK dairy didn't effect me as much...plus due to the bacteria in the yougurt, I can eat that.  Plus hard cheeses seem to be fine.  Definitely talk to the doc who told you about all these intolerances...and figure out how to go about dealing with them.

Wow, B.H & O.T that is exactly the kind of info I was looking for- thank you so much.

These are the tests I took and it includes a 30 min consultation with their nutritionist - I just want to wait until I have more questions to ask.

http://www.yorktest.com/

(the 142 foodscan) after some slight reaction to some tests with a nutritionist.  They (Yorktest) advise you on three sections "avoid", "rotate" and "go ahead" with the foods and advise trying to cut them out as much as possible.

In my heart of hearts, I suspect gluten/yeast/egg whites the most as when I try to cut back and eat less, I tend to over rely on say, wholegrain bread, bowl of cereal and do not have a lot of variety. Even when I eat miniscule amounts of these kinds of foods, I fail to lose weight/stop feeling bloated and suffer from increased severe headaches/migraines.

I am not fond of milk itself and can live without cheese (I only tried goats cheese for the first time this year and really enjoyed it, so that's a change I feel I could make) and I don't drink any alcohol at all anymore (the headaches and fuzzy heads haven't been worth it for a long long time for me!) and I don't drink coffee/tea- but I have had more diet coke than I should recently.

I just love my sandwiches or granary bread with a little cheese and tomatoes and I can't bear the thought of not having nice bread again, so alternatives will be a must, but I totally agree with what you both pointed out about reacting to some things more than others. As I am going back to the US Irish Soda bread/Lactaid/Spelt suggestions are incredibly helpful.

The scores for antibodies/immune response is 1-4 (-/+) and I scored 1+ on each item mentioned, so I am at the low end of the scale for now. I believe I have enough of a reaction (and issues like almost passing out like a narcoleptic (sp) after eating some foods (but the reaction is never consistent when I have tried elimination diets myself) to attempt to make the changes with small amounts of the items but not yet at the stage where I have to follow a very restrictive diet- although I think if I carried on like this, I would end up that way.

Thanks again, you've been really helpful.

I have found some of the bread mixes I bought for DH when his eczema flairs up.........

http://www.odlums.ie/

Have a look at this site....it is all kinds of breads made with soda we have a shop that sells alot of this kinda stuff as the owner is gluten free as well........

Meshell- that's excellent. Just the kind I need. (Adding breadmaker to top of USA shopping list! It was a hairdryer and computer, silly me!)

Thank you 

New-Dawn. 
I have a gluten intolerance.  I have followed a gluten-free diet for seven years.  It's not impossible.   Removing all gluten from my diet turned my life around.  Really. 

I haven't read through this entire thread, but I will later when I have more time.  I want to go back and read about the tests that you had.  Were they skin tests?  For gluten-intolerance, the gold standard is a biopsy of the small intestine.  Also, there is a difference between a wheat allergy and a gluten intolerance. 

I can give you some recommendations on bread.  There is a mail-order company in the U.S. that has the best baked sandwich loaves.  www.ener-g.com   The corn loaf and the four flour are the best.  The rice breads and tapioca breads are so-so. 

Tinkyada pasta is the closest to wheat texture there is.  I've tried all the other brands and nothing is as good as Tinkyada.  The others are mushy and fall apart. 

Anyway,  let me know what questions you have. 

Jill  (JillnPhil)

I know you're not in the US yet, but once you're over here this is a fabulous link to have if you have any sort of food allergies or intolerances: http://foodallergy.org/ .  You can also sign up to have allergy alerts emailed to you informing you of accidental contamination in retail products.  It's a great resource.

The problem with any sort of allergic reaction, even if it's simply an intolerance, is that the more reactions you have the worse it can get.  Because of this, I agree with onetiger and balmerhon in that if you haven't already, you should discuss this more with your nutritionist.  If they feel confident that you can eat most of these items in moderation, it shouldn't be more than a hassle to limit them in your diet.  However, if they think any of these items should be eliminated completely, you get to turn into a monster label reader like me (my son has several food allergies).

Another thing for once you get over here - if you're moving to a decent sized town, you should have no problem finding a lot of gluten, wheat and yeast-free products in local co-ops and natural food stores.  If your city has a Whole Foods, you're golden!

I don't have a lot of experience with gluten and wheat issues, but I am practically an expert on eggs and dairy.  Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.  Good luck!

JillnPhil & Fungirl,

Thanks so much, you are both mines of info and I will PM you once I am a bit less tied up, I appreciate the offer.

I just wanted to add that it was via blood test, I haven't been able to explore further, but intend to do so when I am in the U.S and time/money/insurance allows. Until then, I want to remove the most problematic, which I believe is gluten (but have no other proof than the test result and how I feel).

I think as the ladies above advised, taking it all out at once, will be a bit hard for me, particularly at work (that's where I am finding it hard) for example yesterday and today I had 4 herb/garlic crackers from a wheat/gluten/dairy free line with herby goats cheese- but that's all I ate til I got home and had fish and some small roasted potatoes/veggies. I already am fussy, so I prefer to go without than have something I don't actually like much.

Today, I have a bar of chocolate, from the "Careful Chocolate" range and it's dairy, gluten and everything free, but tastes like proper "dark" green and blacks chocolate and a couple of squares after dinner was enough to make me feel normal again! 

The links are brilliant- I have added them to my flash drive to take to the US with me and will be ordering the bread you recommended as soon as I get there. I will be living in a large town to start with, so am hopeful fungirl that I can source lots of options as you said and I do know there is a Trader Joes close by too and I hope they will turn up some goodies.

Try www.celiac.com.  It's a great source of information.   

If you scroll down on the home page there is a link to a list called 'Safe & Forbidden Gluten Free Foods and Ingredients'   

The list of forbidden ingredients was extremely helpful for me in dealing with packaged foods when I first started the gluten-free diet. 

That is an excellent resource, thank you. I must apologise for not responding sooner. I will PM you shortly with some questions,hope that is still okay!

Fungirl- you're a star

Fungirl- you're a star

awww.....