Dietary requirements - are people fussier now ?

Pjcpjc77

I think you should know a genuine allergy can be life threatening.
Still think we're all being too fussy!!!!! Shame on you!

No-one on here has said otherwise. I think everyone has drawn a distinction between those who have a genuine allergy or intolerance and those who are simply fussy eaters.

I think you should know a genuine allergy can be life threatening.
Still think we're all being too fussy!!!!! Shame on you!

I suspect this is mostly stuff which has been caused by ultra processed foods entering the diet, particularly from the 1980s onwards. Scientists will look back in fifty years time and wonder how we sleepwalked into an epidemic of slow poisoning.

Have always enjoyed good plain food and rarely eat out. Although it is difficult now for me to cook I still do so. I tried ready meals but the list of ingredients puts me off. Especially bread so I make my own with the aid of a breadmaker. Just. Flour, water, dried milk, sugar and yeast.
The only pills I take are pain killers, COD liver oil and turmeric.

nanna8

I bought a punnet of strawberries and by mistake they got left at the back of the fridge. A week or so later I found them- pristine as if they had just been picked. Tell me they weren’t full of additives. I remember strawberries only used to last a day before they went soft and mouldy.

My strawberries only last a day so i am not sure how yours managed a week!

mousemac

I'm by no means a fussy eater but I have a few intolerances. Happy to pick my way round whatever disagrees with me. But sometimes I do need to ask what might be invisibly included, such as MSG. I do not dislike it; like everyone else, I find it very tasty.
Until I found out what disagreed with me, around the age of 40 or so, I would frequently have arthritis so severe that I could not stand up in the morning but literally crawled into the bathroom. It's not a choice we make in order to get attention, but the choice we do make is to diagnose our own personal physiological stumbling blocks instead of living on various medicines.

My sympathy but how interesting that it triggers your arthritis. It's presumably not a problem when you cook from scratch but I am not impressed by those who use 621 instead of MSG in the ingredients list.

What I cannot understand why someone would care so little for a friend that they don't want to help and contribute to the wonderful news that they have found a way to stay well.

I think there's supposed to be a difference between the labelling of what counts as gluten free between America and the UK but not what gluten actually is. I'm not coeliac but probably only because I've not been tested, however, a number of relatives have stopped eating gluten or have been diagnosed as coeliac recently, including one who's a doctor. It maybe more common or just that more people are tested these days. It's supposedly an autoimmune condition and can develop later in life, in some cases in people who were fine as children. Some of us are intolerant to cows milk as well ☹️
PS If I have to, I can cook for GF vegans but it's not very interesting food 😂 anyone got any good recipes?

I suspect that in the past a lot of cases of anaphylaxis resulted in deaths that were explained away as something else e.g. heart problems, strokes etc

I agree that 'intolerances' can muddy the water for people with severe allergies. I am allergic to nuts (I carry EpiPens) and I was once asked in a restaurant if it's OK if 'just a few' nuts were included! Aaargh!

As well as increased choice and awareness of GI function, MANY foods today are 'fit for consumption' - BUT not good for most people. Me, its wheat flour - not alergic, but gives me migraine 'hangover' sort of feeling. Of course I avoid it. Before I knew, (2020 aged 51) I lived with this hangover, which put me in bed in a dark room several days a month. Tried giving up coffee, cheese, wine, chocolate, used lord knows how much painkillers - all pointlessly. Doctor told me it was hormonal. As soon as I knew wheat was one of the commonest sensitivities, I thought I'll try a week without - it was like walking into the sunshine. Never looked back. Can consume as much wine and choc as I fancy!

It may be that more people are allergic today, due to additives in food, or due to pollution, or simply that more people are diagnosed as having allergies, as allergies are better understood now than formerly.

Formerly, many people simply avoided food they knew upset them - for those with serious intolerence this could mean they no longer could eat out with being ill afterwards.

So obviously it is better if they can politely refuse food they know causes problems.

Fussiness is a different thing altogether - and should not be encouraged or allowed to dictate what people eat when invited out.

Callistemon21 All wheat contains gluten.

However, as wheats have been tweaked over the years, some contain much higher levels of gluten than they did decades ago.

Indeed.

Wheat of Ukraine or Kansas USA - higher crop yields than in past decades. Different to UK soft wheat or Italian wheat, obviously.

I bought a punnet of strawberries and by mistake they got left at the back of the fridge. A week or so later I found them- pristine as if they had just been picked. Tell me they weren’t full of additives. I remember strawberries only used to last a day before they went soft and mouldy.

I am on a low potassium diet, medical reasons, and am shocked by what I can get served up.
I had to print a list of what I can and cannot eat and was shocked by the result. No yoghurt, tomatoes, chocolate, limited milk just to name some. Restaurants have absolutely no idea, adding tomatoes as a garnish, offering chocolate puddings. A chef once told me that a low potassium diet was so unusual that he had to get out his books to see what I could and couldn’t eat. I rarely eat out nowadays unless I am away on holiday, safer for me.

growstuff

GrannyRose15

It’s not funny. It is a fact that American and European wheat are different. So it’s quite feasible that the gluten content is different.

The gluten content is different because different types of wheat are grown. The problem is that the UK and other European countries import some wheat from the US.

All wheat contains gluten.

However, as wheats have been tweaked over the years, some contain much higher levels of gluten than they did decades ago.

That may have caused more people to become intolerant, although I do know that coeliac disease is an auto-immune disorder.
And yes, despite claims to the contrary, I am positive that gluten does go through into breast milk which is why some breast-fed babies may get colic.

Too

Whitewavemark2

DaisyAnneReturns

Sorry, I should have added that I am sure we will one day rue our use of ultra-processed foods.

Yes i think that it is now being implicated in all sorts of nasties like cancers etc.

I read ages ago that our digestive systems are really still at the hunting gathering stage and haven’t developed to deal with a modern diet. I suspect there is truth in that theory.

DD, who is coeliac, finds a Paleo diet is good, without, of course the addition of most grains.
It's not just wheat, barley and oats can cause problems top.

I am lucky enough to suffer no allergies or intolerances, however I am now very worried about a number of foods.
My daughter and her family are vegan, which hasn't been a problem, but now they are avoiding all ultra-processed foods.
That's proving quite a challenge, which surprised me as I cook everything from scratch. I'm alarmed when reading labels on everyday foods and ingredients to find that so many contain odd chemicals and additives that you would never find in a kitchen cupboard.
It's worried me a great deal - I'm not a fussy or picky person, but I'm convinced that all these chemical additives are damaging our health more than we realise.

Squiffy

*There's also a difference between allergies and intolerances*

Exactly! I was diagnosed as allergic to dairy donkeys years ago, but I can tolerate small amounts - so perhaps intolerant rather than allergic?

The IBS virtually cleared up after going gluten free. Again, intolerant, not allergic. I now occasionally eat the crusty ends off my DH’s ‘normal’ baguettes or even a Greggs sausage roll! Sometimes you just have to do these things and take the consequences! 🤣

Oops - for a few seconds I was puzzling over the question of what exactly was a dairy donkey!!

Nannan2

Its far worse for some of my GC who are completely dairy free due to severe allergies- its costing my daughters an absolute fortune!

I'm quite curious, why is it expensive to change out from dairy to other items, omitting dairy? As vegans, we just omit dairy.

I understand that some may be allergic to milk, cheese, butter. So, I assume those people cook with other items, as we do. No?

I have to eat gluten free. it is a medical diagnosis. Coeliac disease. 1 of many I have , including lactose intolerance. it is not a choice! I did not chose this disease. it makes life for me difficult and that difficulty transfers to everyone one I know.
I would love to have choices!
Gluten destroys your insides and creates a multitude of further problems - heart attacks, liver disease cancer, to name a few..
I think the discoveries of these health problems have increased the awareness but also increased the lifespan of many.
If you do not suffer, consider yourself lucky.

Apparently, as many as 1 in 100 may have coeliac disease and it's one of the issues doctors look out for. It's not an intolerance or an allergy, it's an autoimmune condition. A crumb can set off a reaction for many of us. IBS seems more prevalent now, too. And the gut reaction in many of us is awful. Please don't be cross with us - we'd love to eat normally!

Its far worse for some of my GC who are completely dairy free due to severe allergies- its costing my daughters an absolute fortune!

Sqiffy- i do same over my lactose intolerance and have not much choice these days with rising food costs as lactose free or indeed any 'free from' prices going through the roof! I have to make a choice- put up with the resulting stomach troubles with cheaper items or manage to afford high priced lactose free stuff but do without something else to pay for them.

I don’t think they are the same thing, fussiness involves an element of choice. On the other hand, people with allergies have no choice. My dad was a celiac so is my daughter. Gluten can make them very ill and even lead to life threatening conditions.
I think the medical world is better at diagnosing these disorders and people talk more about them more now, my dad never told people. Also, social media makes people aware of them.
I also think that people are making changes to their diets and food preferences for all sorts of reasons, such as health, environmental and ethical issues I know I do but I am not at all fussy.

I was listening to Zach Bush yesterday who said that at the time that the dinosaurs roamed the earth the top soil was 30' deep, now we're lucky to get 3". He blames Glyphosate for the sudden rise in autoimmune illnesses, as well as allergies and intolerances. Big agriculture has poisoned the soil in many areas, so our food is depleted.