JamieOliver.com

It's not "added" chemicals. All foods contain chemicals (if you want to get technical the whole universe is just an organised collection of chemicals and chemical reactions). Fruits generally have salicylates in them, fish and chocolate have amines, broccoli has gluamates (not talking about MSG here but naturally occuring glutamates). In general, the pesticides etc play a very minor or no role in food intolerances. Some people do react to them but they are not a major source of problems in most people (generally because they get washed off, and the little that remains is greatly less than the natural chemicals that are part of the plant). Preservatives in food products are more of a concern for intolerances.

Basically, all foods are made up of chemicals. Some of these cause reactions in people. Everyone's tolerance for these certain food chemicals is different - that's why some people, for example, can eat lots of cheese where others may find it gives them a tummy ache to have too much at once. It is complex because there are many chemicals and foods contain a variety of these. There is more info on the link below.

http://www.cs.nsw.gov.au/rpa/allergy/re … fintro.cfm

I think I'm fairly lucky because i do cook and I understand food, therefore creating edible (even pleasant) meals is not too difficult for me. It is a pain to have to do it but I know at the end of it I'll have a good idea of what I'm intolerant to and to what degree and then I can just make sure I don't eat too much of those things so that I don't feel ill. I'm also lucky because they haven't taken dairy away from me (but hard cheese are out because of the amines; but ricotta is in ). I'm not sure how I'd cope without milk. However, if the pain does not subside tomorrow, I'll have to give it up - so I've stocked up on soy milk (the packaged stuff, I prefer the real type but don't have time to boil soy beans).

Well, tonight's dinner was very nice. Pork fillet with parsnip puree (it's a moderate but I'm ok to have up to 200g a day), cabbage (with citric acid - can't have lemon juice or vinegar) and pureed pears (tinned baby food - it's actually very nice.

The cabbage was chinese cabbage and it was a bit bland with butter and salt (can't have pepper).

I can have some dairy just not the aged kind like cheese because it is high in amines. Normally they don't allow dairy but they are letting me because I've been tested for lactose intolerance before.

Coeliac can be hard to deal with, I'm just gluten intolerant. It is different, if I have gluten it just hurts, if coeliacs have it then it damages the intestinal walls. On the upside, coeliac is treatable there are much worse things that I was tested for on my way to finding out about gluten intolerance; ulcerative colitis for example which will eventually kill you as well as been very painful the entire time. Plus there are lots of gluten free products available these days (at least in western countries where the disease is more prevalent).

Little kids often have allergies, luckily some of them go away as they grow older. In some cases, as with nuts, a pregnant woman having too many can result in the child having allergies to that food.

As much as these things can be difficult to diagnose and live with, I also find it really interesting the way the body interacts with food and the complexity of those interactions.

I live with family and they've coped with the lack of gluten well. Most meals are gluten free anyway with the exception of bread which i don't eat. Some brands of gluten free pasta (san remo) are excellent and you can't taste the difference when it has sauce. If they are going to have gluten free bread you'll need a dedicated gluten free toaster or sandwich press - trust me, gluten free bread is only edible when it's toasted and even then it's pretty bad.

Good luck with the diet White Rabbit!!