food sensitivities

When you say 'tested' nana what do you mean and why were you 'tested'. Have you some problems- the mixture f things you can no longer have don't seem very logical to me. I'm curious.

There are plenty of alternatives to sunflower oil nana. I only use rapeseed oil in my cooking. My DD uses oat milk or soya milk in tea and coffee. It isn't easy to change eating and cooking habits, but it can be done, and you soon get used to the new regime. Good luck.

It was done with a blood test Teetime because I was having dreadful bloating, abdominal discomfort and I was becoming aware that some foods made it worse. I had already identified milk as something that was causing problems and was actually quite pleased to find I was right. Eggs surprised me as that is my go to food when I feel poorly. There is no logic in it, it is just what your body reacts to.

Yes, home cooking is not a problem hildajenni I always cook with olive oil, it is what is in things you buy. Anything with oil in is so often sunflower and even things like soup and some breads have milk in. It is a minefield. I am trying all the different milk alternatives which are fine on cereal but tea is just not the same

I do however feel so much better and have so much more energy; so I am sticking with it. Even my favourite sweets have grape juice in but they say you crave the things you are sensitive to.

I now know exactly what you mean - I always cook my own pasta first, then use the same water for the normal stuff for the others. I have just discovered why I often have a tummy ache afterwards - I just caught myself tasting their penne to see if it was cooked!!! I had no idea I did it. Thank you, I shall now be far more careful.

I just wondered if you had been seen by a qualified nutritionist and are getting the best advice. I'm sure you know that testing of various kinds and variable quality can and is done under a number of headings in a number of venues/clinics/heath food emporiums with variable results. We can of course work out the food groups that are giving us problems and avoid or exclude them from our usual diet. There are some things I can't eat but I wouldn't call them sensitivities or allergies just things that don't suit me- oily fish is the main culprit but fried food of any kind in any oil I find difficult to digest. I try to make it up with fish that I can manage like salmon and halibut. I do worry that sometimes people exclude vital groups of food from their diet and are then short of some essential vitamins and minerals. Not saying you are nan or your testing is not reliable just saying generally.

janer
we are not even allowed to double-dip the butter if DD is staying (or we are there) as it causes her tummy to react.

nanapug Good luck
It can be very difficult at first, but there is so much more choice out there these days.

I didn't know that sunflower oil caused sensitivities (or grapes, or lentils).

sunflower oil is in some makeups too! It is a minefield.

It is - I was just telling DBH about the oil, what a nightmare!

Strangely, when we have spag bol, and I get a tummy ache, I had lain awake at night sometimes wondering what on earth I had done, and was I allergic to yet another ingredient? Now I know it's just me being stupid and eating a penne shape.

I discovered long ago that avocados made me violently sick - throwing up in the doctor's surgery wasn't a very good move. I have to be careful that there is no avocado lurking in restaurant salads. Likewise, in my 20s, I was having stomach aches and eventually identified coffee as the culprit. A few years later, when we moved house, I was invited to morning coffee by a kind lady, to get to know some neighbours and to be polite I decided to risk a cup of coffee. Then I spent the afternoon in bed, feeling dreadful. Served me right for not listening to my body. As it also made me jumpy, I avoid cold and flu remedies that contain caffeine.

As I'm gluten sensitive I do know that DD3's fabulous cakes are a no go so why do I always 'lick the bowl' when I help to clear up?

The trouble with a blood test that even people who have no trouble at all will get a list of positives. If it abdominal bloating then its probably milk. I would try living without milk that is enough for a start and if you can no longer digest milk then you will feel better. You can buy enzymes for digesting milk.

It is best not to cut out everythng as the body will fasten onto other kinds of food you can't take with time. Try to rotate cereals and vegetables and eat good meat. Meat is easy to digest ( we have the teeth and the stomach juices for it)and has a lot of essential elements and vitamins in it.

I would always be very wary about getting any food sensitivity testing done within a proper medical facility.
This report was done in an investigation by Chris Packham.
www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/south/series2/food_sensitivity_allergy_vega_tests.shtml

In the current climate of self help, alternative treatments and complimentary therapists, food allergies appear to be the latest cause of ill health. But how accurate are these food sensitivity tests? Chris Packham goes undercover to find out.

Hundreds of thousands of people take a food sensitivity test every year to discover if their ill health is a direct result of their diets. Most walk away with a list of foods to avoid. Chocolate, cheese and wheat are among the usual suspects of irritant foods.
Chris Packham undercover at Holland and Barret
Chris pays a visit to three Holland and Barrett stores to be tested

Problem foods are detected using a Vega machine. The machine claims to measure the body’s energy levels. These levels are meant to decrease when the body comes into contact with certain foods.

Health food chain, Holland and Barrett are one such company offering these tests.
Undercover investigation

We sent Inside Out’s Chris Packham to three Holland and Barrett stores across the South to find out more.

Chris took the Vega test in Newbury, Chichester and Farnborough, only to discover that his allergy results differed from store to store.

In total, Chris was sensitive to over 33 different foods, including staples like wheat, potatoes, milk, tomatoes, tea and coffee. But out of the 33 products, there was only two that all three testers agreed on - cheese and chocolate.
Chris Packham in the kitchen
According to the three Vega tests, Chris should avoid a total of 33 foods - good luck Chris!

Chris was also advised by Holland and Barrett staff to take a total of 20 different vitamins and minerals. But again, the testers can’t seem to agree and all three testers advised different supplements.

It seems your allergies may not be determined by food alone, but also your location.
Second time lucky

To give Holland and Barrett and the erratic Vega machine a fighting chance to get it right, we sent another member of the Inside Out team.

This time it is the stores in Southampton, Brighton and Dorchester that were put to the test. Once again the machine showed different results in different stores and this time the testers could only agree on one food product.

Inside Out put these findings to Holland and Barrett, who informed us that the tests carried out in the stores are actually conducted by another company called HSL, Health Screening UK Ltd.

Response
The Vega machine
The Vega machine is only 70% accurate

A spokesman for Holland and Barrett assured us that the points raised in the programme are being investigated.

"In light of the issues raised, we are already carrying out a full review of the services that HSL provide."

Chairman of HSL, Roy Harris admits that the food sensitivity tests are only about 70% accurate.

"We have an imperfect system that works in the end because people eliminate certain things from their diet," says Roy. "It may just be the discipline of sitting down with somebody and agreeing to cut out the nasty things in their diet."

If this is the case, what use is the Vega machine?

"It does stretch the imagination how the Vega test works," admits Roy. "But we have thousands of letters from people saying how much better they feel."

So whether it’s a case of mind over matter, or sheer guesstimation, the Vega testing appears a dubious form of diagnosis.

While Chris battles on minus his 33 food products, Holland and Barrett battle to secure a more satisfactory form of food allergy testing.

I can not have anything with black pepper in, I develop a sore stomach within 30 minutes of ingestion and it takes 24 hours to ease. DH and I have taken to reading the ingredients on ready meals and I am okay when I cook myself. The biggest problem is restaurants who add seasoning to food and especially in Italian restaurants where they come with the pepper grinder and I have to stop them before they get near my plate.

I went on an elimination diet about 25 years ago because of migraines. I was successful and got to know what I shouldn't eat. Years later I went to specialist ( a consulant) to ask him for a card to carry about with me. He asked me how I had found out my intolerances. I told him I had done it myself over 6 weeks according to the book 'The Migraine Revolution'
Fasting followed my the introduction of foods over 6 weeks. He replied that he could not give me card because he could not offer any test better than the one I had done myself. It is the only 100% certain test of food intolerance.

Through this test you find out which foods really cause migraine and which could be eaten in small doses. Since doing the diet and following the results I have never been in bed with a migraine headache again, although I have had headaches. I came off heavy drugs and now manage with aspirin paracetamol etc, and being older helps the most!

The food which causes most problems is beet sugar so I use only cane sugar which is a completely different plant. I am also intolerent of the Brassica plant family which is cabbage and all those vegatables related to it.
So you see I could not live as a vegan/ vegatarian I am not allergic to any meat or fish.

I have just found this old thread. I was just looking for General information & advice really.

My DGS2 now 2.5 started with allergies all of a sudden about a year ago.
Over a few weeks he became allergic to all pulses, lentils baked beans chick peas sesame seeds etc , nuts and eggs.

He was also being sick most days and had reflux which had caused him a lot of very bad days when he started with croupy wheezing which was terrifing. All this was monitored at the children's hospital allergy clinic. Eventually totally cutting out all dairy stopped the reflux issues very quickly.

He now drinks soya milk and oat milk all fortified, and has soya cheese and (yogurt which being two yrs old. He refuses because there is not a lid he can "take it off myself.")

Any one know of non dairy, non nut ice cream that is half palatable? There are some vegan recipes but they go for nuts and seeds.
I tried making a non dairy ice cream but I could not get the texture right. I am really wondering about feeding him over Christmas. His mum can do the main stuff I am thinking of treats.

(We were out it town last week. Every one else was tucking into lovely hot falafel wraps and poor DGS2 had a ham and soy cheese sandwich from home and a packet of crisps. He kept asking me for a taster of mine which I could not give him.

I had not thought about the possibility of cooking oils rapeseed (a brassica) and sunflower and seedy things causing problems. so far he seems OK with that.
Any wisdom you can bring to this would be welcome .

I get abdominal bloating with some types of bread so don't think it's always milk products. Grand daughter has had some problems and D.D. has had to cut out loads of foods (she is breastfeeding). D.S. has very restricted diet for medical reasons. D.H. has stomach of iron and can eat anything!

Incidentally I cut out coffee and chocolate in the mornings to stop migraine.

We have a DGD with sensitivity to sesame, almonds, and salmon. Properly tested for by an NHS Allergist. With Christmas coming up I make all my own mincemeat, Christmas cake and Christmas pudding because she loves them and that is the only way I can be sure they are almond free.