Help - what can I eat!

[Nikkichik]

I've just had a food sensitivity test as I thought it might help with my IBS (Irritible Bowel Syndrome) and was quite horrified to find that I have a high sensitivity to wheat, oats, rye, wheatgerm, yeast, onions (?), beef, cows milk/cheese - it gets worse - chocolate! Not surprised about the dairy (allergic as a child) and goats mild/cheese/yougart is OK but the whole grain thing is a total pain - no more chocolate croissants for brekkie on Sundays or toast and marmite! - ooooh, and no pasta either!
Any suggestions for interesting and quick lunches/shacks - other than variations on salad. Not worried about family lunches/evening meals it's just stuff for lunch at work and when I'm home on my own with dd.

Soup or risotto or couscous- based stuff? Tricky without onions mind you. Baked potatoes with tuna. Sorry brain's gone dead.

fish?
salads?
rice pasta?

go to your local independent health food shop for advice- that's what i did when i went dairy free

Thank for advice - think I'm just having a bit of a panic really! - there are loads of things. I guess the though of no toast and marmite freaked me out!!!!Bread etc is just so convenient. Can't do pasta or cous-cous anymore cos it's wheat!

they do do wheat free pasta etc. there are free-from range in most supermarkets. the vanilla wafer biscuits are lovely.

thanks - will look out for the biscuits. It's wierd cos I don't usually eat many biscuits but of course now I can't have them, I want them!!

and the chocolate covered rice ones which I get in for a friend of ds who is coeliac - we love them too!

rice crispie treats

nikkichik i also have problems with certain foods.i had an "skin-prick" test with yorktest labs(highly reccommeneded)and found out im intollerant to yeast,gluten,wheat,ginger,cows milk and cocoa so my diet is VERY limited indeed.i also had the test as my doctor said i had IBS but since ive excluded(or tried to!)certain foods the results have been amazing!
i have rice crispies with sunflower and pumpkin seeds for breakfast(with soya milk from m&s which is lovely),then rice cakes with sliced banana for lunch or sometimes with cheese(which i shouldnt)and tomato then dinner is usually chicken with veg/rice/potatoes.i also cant eat chocolate or have coffee which i love but every now and then,especially if im not going out,i do indulge then pay for it later.
also you may find that after a while of excluding these foods you may well be able to re-introduce them once again into your diet which is always something to look forward to.
i know the rice cakes dont sound very appertising but i get the ryvita sesame ones which are really nice or even corn thins(in a yellow and blue packet)which are really yummy too.i also usually smother my food in garlic pepper(which my dh isnt too pleased about)which i find gives a lovely flavour to most things seeing as i cant have gravy or ketchup(gluten free but full of yeast!!!)so really its just a case of scrutinising every label and trying different things out till you find something that takes your fancy
good luck!!!

quinoa or coucous, lentils, chick peas, cauliflower, carob as a chocolate alternative - (carob ginger is nice, other carob is pretty foul). What sort of test was it as there are a lot of quack's about? I'd try reintroducing one food at a time to see if it actually makes much difference to you. If you genuinely are sensitive sometimes a rotation diet works. You eat the problem food only one every few days.

You should be able to introduce these foods back into your diet after two months or so - if you take acidophilus and digestive enzymes or do soem kind of herbal bowel clenase during this detox it will help you become more tolerant - you should be back on most of these foods (even if only in small amounts) relativley soon - keep on going its worth it - I can now eat everything without the nasty IBS and bloating feeling - its fabulous to be normal again!

Just checked in - thanks for all the advice - poor you Bubbaloo but i am encouraged by you. Some shopping to do me thinks. Can't do couscous cos it's wheat (a real bummer cos I used to make yummy cous-cous salad for work lunch) and can't do cauliflour either (thank God!) I am going to go back in a month after omitting (as far as possible) all the sensative things from my diet and then hopefully will be able to reintroduce some things. Am also taking probiotic tablets for a month (I forget what they are called) to 'sort my guts out'. I was/am still am a bit sceptical about all this and am frankly not going to spend a fortune totally changing my life as it's jsut too imptactical. however, if it makes me fell better then it's worth it in the short term.

Nikkichik, have only just noticed this thread. Hope your restricted diet is going well and you're noticing the benefits?

Ds1 is dairy and soya intolerant and I'm currently avoiding wheat as I think it may be affecting ds2 who is breastfed. Due to reintroduce in the week before Christmas!!

I've been using quinoa or millet as a couscous alternative. Millet you can get from a healthfood shop, but quinoa is even available in Asda. Sainsburys also stock Belazu barley couscous in their Special Selection foods.

I often have millet porridge for breakfast (with rice milk) although it's not especially tasty so I usually stir in plenty of dried fruit to make it more appetising.

We eat loads of ricecakes and occasionally I get round to baking some gluten-free bread. If you make extra of evening meals the leftovers can be very useful (especially roast chicken or ham). We've also found that a few of the Sainsbury's Taste the Difference sausages are both dairy free and gluten free.

Baked potatoes with baked beans and/or goat's cheese are a good lunch. I know you said you didn't want salad suggestions but I have tuna salad with ricecakes quite a lot, enlivened by fresh parsley, sunflower seeds and capers. Or tinned sardines on ricecakes, with salad. I went through a phase of roasting peppers in large batches to add some variety to lunch.

Would hoummous be okay or are you not allowed garlic as it's from the same family as onions?

You could also try polenta, and the 'ready made' variety can be sliced and used as a kind-of bread substitute.

There are loads of gluten-free and easy to follow recipes here

hth

Thanks for this SamN - I may order the book from Amazon.
It's all going OK but I must admit I'm missing my toast and marmite in the morning. It think it's question of adjusting the old taste buds and learning to like rice/corn cakes!!! Lunch with the mil on Sunday was a bit of a test - main course OK except for no gravy but pudding was a bit of a nightmare for me - seeing everyone having bread and butter pudding or crumble when I was stuck with an apple! Poor love, she did try her best but I can't expect her to rearrange her menu around me.

Nikkichick, I just tried out a gluten and dairy free crumble recipe this week!! Ds has been asking for it every evening since then . Can e-mail you the recipe if you like. I know some people make puddings out of the gluten-free bread but I haven't tried that yet (and it's pretty expensive if you buy it ready made).

I would miss my Marmite too

samN.... would love to have the receipe for crumble.... I am eating gluten free at the mo... as bf dd seems to be gluten sensitive... off to see consultant 2morrow.
Does anyone know if these skin prick tests are done on toddlers? my dd is 14 months, think she is sensitive to gluten.... would like some confirmation

If you CAT me I can e-mail you the crumble recipe. Or I coudl put it on the recipes topic instead if you like?

I also cooked a chocolate cake recipe yesterday with dairy free and soya free chocolate (thanks Titania for the Plamil recommendation ). Very rich, a bit like brownies, but if you're missing out on chocolate cake and you're not worried that it might affect bf dd then I can give you that recipe as well.

Other people in the Allergies topic know more about skin prick tests than me. However it seems that the results should be looked at along with any observations you have, preferably by a medically trained person who knows what they are doing. They didn't help me with ds1 but some people find them very helpful to corroborate sensitivities they have noticed themselves.

can u post recipes, or contact me, I've tried sending you a CAT but cant get it to work... would love your recipes... only when you have time to type thm out.

Here's the crumble recipe and I shall type out the chocolate cake one when I can although it may not be until after the weekend.

thanks! dont worry... only when you have time... I'll not get round to doing the till christmas... thankyou (love your xmas name!)