Another rant - Where are the Schar grissinis?

It appears to be happening again. When my mum and I find something we like and can eat (Mum has coeliac and I have gluten and dairy intolerances) we can't seem to find it in the shops after a while. This time it seems to be Schar's grissini (gluten free breadsticks). We like this as a snack, esp with either jam or dairy-free choc spread. We have looked in all three local Sainsbury's stores, and two of them didn't have a shelf label for it, and the other was empty. I posted a comment on one of Schar's Facebook posts the other day, and they said they are available in selected stores and on their website. So, I have ordered some from their online shop, but it costs more. In the shops the packets are £2.50 each, whereas online they are £2.69 and you have to pay p&p. So, when we go to the main Sainsbury's again we shall have a look for them there, which is where we got them in the first place.

I bought a packet of their gluten and dairy free cream crackers instead the other day, to try them. We shall see.

Will let you know if we find them again.

Foods being stopped

This post is a bit of a rant about foods that my mum and I have found that we both like and can eat, that then get discontinued. Why does this happen to us?

The first food that this happened to us was Sainsbury's Free From sausages. We liked those, but then found we couldn't buy them anymore. Thankfully, we have now found a good substitute in gluten-free sausages from Marks and Spencers.

The second food was ice cream. I really like ice cream and had found one I liked that agreed with me, as I am dairy intolerant. Then this was stopped and I found out that it was because that it had been made in a factory where other foods were made and could contaminate this. The manufacturers couldn't find another place to make it where it wouldn't come in contact with other foods. Thankfully, both Mum and I have found substitutes. Mum now eats St Helen's goat's milk ice cream and I eat coconut ice cream made by the Coconut Collabarative.

Now it seems that it could happen again to us. We have been eating Sainsbury's free from baguettes, which we enjoy instead of having a roll or sandwich. The last couple of weeks they have disappeared from the shelves. It could be that Dr Schar products are being put in their place. I do know that Dr Schar have just released a white baguette. We shall have to see what is in it to see if I can eat it or not, as I can't eat soya and apple fibre, which is in a couple of their bread stuff.

I shall let you know what I find. Has anyone else had this problem? Did it solve itself? Let me know.

Eating out with food intolerances

Last month I went out to a couple of places and had lunch. As I have food intolerances, I find it hard to get food that I can eat, but both places weren't too bad with choices. Here is where I went.

Beginning of March I went to Le Pain Quotidien by the Royal Festival Hall for a SCBWI brunch. I had already emailed them about my intolerances and they had replied with the menu, but I couldn't work out what they all had in them. So, when I was there I checked again. Now this is what impressed me about the place - when I mentioned my intolerances, the waiter asked if I wanted to see the food allergen info. I said yes. He came back with a book that had all their foods in it, and what allergen they had in each. I had never seen one of those in person before, only on TV. All of the main meals had an allergen in, so I ended up ordering the charcuterie with gluten free bread and roasted veg (onions, sweet potato and red peppers). I forgot to take a photo of it all, but it was nice.

On 21 March I went to a Woman's Weekly workshop. I couldn't tell what had what in, then I saw a notice saying that if you have food allergies to ask the chef, so I did. He kindly came out from behind the counter and told me what was OK for me to eat. I have not had that experience before. I had jacket potato with veg, and I did remember to take photos this time.

Yes, I had a hard boiled egg along with beetroot, tomato and sweet potato. I am going there again next Friday for another workshop, so if they have that there I shall eat it again, as I know I am fine with all of that.

So, motto of this blog post is, if you go anywhere to eat lunch, don't be afraid to ask about what you can eat if you have intolerances like me.

Fibre diet - the last week

Well, my fibre reintroduction diet has now ended. The last high-fibre food I reintroduced was baked beans, and I was fine with them. I shall now have those every other week instead of every week which I had been doing before the diet.

I saw my dietician on Thursday and he was happy with what I had done, and pleased that it worked out all right for me. I told him what the gastroenterologist said about taking laxatives and he was aghast, asking me why. He said no. I am seeing him again in April for a review. I told him what I had found out about eating fibre - that too much disagrees with me, and I have to have a decent space of time during each piece of fibre otherwise that has an effect on me. I see the gastroenterologist again in a couple of weeks time, when the junior doctors are on strike.

I tried hemp seed milk this morning with cornflakes and didn't like it. Tasted too nutty to me and took the taste of the cornflakes away. I have thrown that away. I prefer the coconut milk.

So, that what how the reintroduction diet went for me. I hope you have learnt some things from these posts. The next post will be about the link between IBS and fibre and what I have learnt.

Week 5 of the reintroduction fibre diet

So, this is the fifth and final week of the fibre reintroduction diet I have been on via my dietician. I have finally got round to being able to have nuts and beans again. Here is how it has been going.

Thursday I had 6 walnut halves and I was fine. But I had 6 more on Friday and wasn't fine. I had to pop somewhere. So, I have come to the conclusion that I can't eat walnuts one day after the other like I used to. When I have them again, there will be a break between the next amount I have.

I had a 9bar breakfast boost raspberry and almond bar yesterday. I was fine with it, which was good news for me as I really liked it because it tasted like a bakewell tart.

Also yesterday I tried Nutribix, which is made with 96% wholegrain sorghum. I got slight stomach pains after that, so threw the rest away. I had a feeling I wouldn't be able to eat that it being so much wholegrain.

I have yet to try baked beans, which will be tomorrow, so will post about that next time.

My conclusions about fibre so far is: 1. I can't eat too much in one go, and have to space them out during the day. Last week I had oats for breakfast, a seed bar for lunch and a pickled onion for dinner, and I ended up visiting a small room a few times more than necessary. Also, I can't eat complete wholegrain foods. I can eat foods if they are under 70% wholegrain. The pot of oats I had last week was only 56% oats.

Let you know how I get on with the beans next time.

Reintroduction fibre diet - Week 4

So, this week I have reintroduced GF wholegrain crackers. I have 3 for lunch with different toppings.

I was fine with those. I have also been eating the oatcakes again with peanut butter on and I was fine with those. No headaches during the night. I think that was due to not having any air during the day.

Yesterday, I reintroduced oat porridge into my diet. I had it with warm coconut milk.

I don't know where you can buy this one, but I won this as part of the huge Free From goodie box from Holland and Barratt's last year. This was really delicious, esp the golden syrup taste. Didn't need sugar or jam with it. And I was fine with it. But then, this morning I had warm coconut milk with cornflakes and I got stomach pains and the runs. I have written this on my diet chart to show the dietician when I see him later this month.

Next time I shall try either millet porridge again or Nutribix. That will be Tuesday.

My high-fibre reintroduction diet

So, it is the third week of reintroducing high-fibre foods I hadn't been eating back into my usual diet. How has it gone so far? Well, after I wrote here last, I had tinned pineapple rings that had been in the fridge a few days. I made the mistake of eating them instead of throwing them away. I had stomach pains and the runs after that. So, in future, I told my mum that if we have tinned fruit in the fridge, we have to eat it up as soon as. Other than that, all the foods I have been eating again, I have been fine with.

I have reintroduced Brussels and have been fine with them, although I did have a bit of gas last night. Will only have 5 not 6 next time. I have been fine with spring and pickled onions, just as long as I don't have too many in a short space of time. This week I have been eating gluten-free oatcakes again, with peanut butter. I haven't had any digestion issues, but the strange thing was, for the first two nights after eating them again, I woke up during the night with a bad headache. So, last night, I only had a scraping of peanut butter on it and I was fine. It might not be that, it could be thoughts, it could be too much sugary stuff I've eaten during the day.

Today I have started eating gluten-free wholegrain crackers. I had 3 and have been fine so far with them. Will have them again. I won't have those and the oatcakes in one day. That would be too much wholegrain food.

The other thing I have been trying is coconut milk. I bought one by Alpro.

The first morning I had it warm with Whole Earth organic cornflakes and I had no problems. It tastes really coconutty unlike the last one I tried. Maybe because it has coconut cream and milk in it. The second morning I had it cold with the cornflakes.

This time I wasn't OK. I had stomach pains after it. So, I will try it again tomorrow but warm, and see what happens, if anything. I have a hemp seed milk to try too. I want a milk I can have warm with porridge, which is my next high-fibre food to reintroduce.

Shall pop in again next week with how I have been getting on. See you then.

Fibre food diary - Reintroduction

I am half way through reintroducing a second fruit and vegetable to my fibre diet. How is it going? Again, up and down. I have had the runs a couple of times this week but not because of the fibre I have started eating again. The first time was after having warm coconut milk with cornflakes. It didn't affect me the first time, so I tried it again but added a bit of sugar. Within half an hour of eating it, I got stomach pains and had to fly somewhere. The second time was after eating cold rice milk with cornflakes. I've had cold rice milk before and it's not affected me. It's either the milk and too much of it, or the cornflakes. I don't know. I am going to look for other milks to see what I can eat. I want another one when I try porridges again in a couple of weeks time.

This week I have reintroduced spring onions and pickled onions. I seemed to be fine after those this time. I have also had Brussel sprouts again, but not as many as I used to have. I was OK after that, too.

But yesterday I had a bad episode of IBS, and don't know what caused it. It could have been soya in the seed bar I had which was high in fibre, and in the choc sauce I had later. Or it could have been the chips in sunflower oil that caused it, or both. My mum reckons it was more likely to be the sunflower oil as I have had problems with oily and fried foods before. We shall see.

Next week of the diet, which starts next Thursday, I shall be reintroducing GF oatcakes and crackers. I want to have oats back in my diet again because they are good for lowering cholesterol, and my recent blood test came back stating that mine had gone up again. I have to have a second test in a few weeks time. Ugh.

Be back next week with how I got on with GF oats.

My fibre diet

So, I have just completed the 2 weeks low-fibre diet and started reintroducing high fibre foods. How have I been? Up and down. Over the last week I have had diarrhoea three times, but that had nothing to do with food and all to do with either medications I have had to take for other things and nerves and anxiety. So those two weeks were fine with me.

I started reintroducing high fibre on Friday with a conference pear. Could only find a big one in store, but it was nice. I had no problems after that. Might have another one in a couple of weeks to vary the fruits I eat.

On Saturday I had Dr Schar's Free From apple crumble with my coconut frozen yoghurt. That was delicious. But I had slight stomach niggles afterwards which eased off when I went for a nap.

My next reintroduction will be a pickled onion tomorrow. Onions are one of my bugbears, as I can be OK eating them one time but not the next. We shall see. I have been charting my progress to give to my dietician when I see him again next month.

In the meantime, I have had my hospital appointment and saw a gastroenterologist, who I didn't like. She was rude and abrupt and spoke too fast, not explaining things to me enough. I had to do a stool sample (yes, I know, yuk) and have a blood test. And she prescribed me laxatives to have each day. I decided not to have them, but did try one, and that was one of the medications that gave me stomach pains and diarrhoea, so I will tell her next time, if I see her, that I am not going to have any more.

Shall post again next week after I have reintroduced more foods into my diet.

Foody goals for 2016

As well as business and writing goals for this new year, I have made a few goals about food. They are

1. Go completely gluten free from now on. Already started this. On New Year's Eve, once I had a bit more branston, which has gluten in, I chucked the rest away. There wasn't a lot left anyway. We did have a spare jar, but I gave that to my brother on Boxing Day. I will be checking all food labels now.

2. Try to go completely soya free. I have been avoiding anything made with soya flour, protein, bean etc, but eating things with soya lecithin in, which is the oil from soya. I keep feeling stuffy, which I know soya makes me, and am wondering if this is why. Soya lecithin is in a lot of foods, ranging from chocolate sauce to biscuits to crisps (who needs soya oil in crisps!). We shall see how that goes. I will be doing this from tomorrow as we have soya custard still to eat, and that will be eaten up in a while with a mince pie.

3. I will also be starting a low fibre diet again from tomorrow. Saw the dietician on Thursday. Told him that I was v happy going with low fibre again as it did help me. So I will be doing it for a couple of weeks, then reintroducing one high fibre food a week after that. He is going to email me sheets to complete when I do that.  I can't wait to start this one as it really helped calmed my digestion down.

So, those are the food goals I aim to do this year. I shall post here now and then to let you know how I am faring with them.

I can say, that since I gave up eating gluten and wheat, my weight has gone down and stayed down.