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.

Rice milk - An experiment

Yesterday I did an experiment with eating rice milk. In the recent past I have been having rice milk warm with either cornflakes and as porridge, and both times I got stomach upset afterwards. My mum suggested that maybe it is the heating of the milk was the problem and not the cereals, so try it cold. So, yesterday I had cornflakes with cold rice milk. The result - no problems. There was a few seconds whilst making my bed that I thought I felt a slight stomach quibble but it settled. I was fine for the rest of the day. No pains, no anything. So, maybe my mum is right in saying that heating up the rice milk does something to it that disagrees with me and my v sensitive stomach. If that is the case, then I won't be able to eat porridge with rice milk again or I shall have to find another milk to try. I have tried most other milks so far. I shall try it again on Tuesday when I'm not going out to see what happens then.

RNA Xmas dinner - food intolerances

The Saturday just gone, I went to the Sir John Balcombe pub in Marylebone for the RNA Xmas dinner. I had preordered what I wanted, telling them what I can't eat. Here are my impressions of the pub and the food.

First of all, I was not impressed by the lateness of the food. We didn't get to eat to going on 2pm, when the email said 12.30pm. I, and others, were getting hungry by then. As I didn't order a starter (I never do) I asked for crisps, which I got in a small bowl. Then came the mains which for me was turkey breast, a jacket potato, and carrots. The turkey was the best bit of it. The potato was too dry for me, I had a few peas but as they were fresh and I don't like fresh ones, I only had a few and some carrot sticks.

The red bits on the side is red cabbage. I tried a couple of bits to see what it was for a friend.

The dessert I asked for berries, which I got. Red berries, raspberries with a strawberry on the top. This was really nice.

Overall, the staff were very nice and accommodating. The room was nice, but you can't move the furniture around like you can at the Lamb in Holborn, and you can't move about and mingle as much either. Personally, I prefer the Lamb as they aren't that late with delivering their food to you. If the meetings are held at this pub again, I shall have to hold judgement on their food from their daily menu. So far, I am not that impressed.

Another oaty tale

So, following on from my first GF oaty tale when I discovered I couldn't eat 100% GF oats. I thought I might try something that was 80% GF wholegrain oats. I had got a coupon for Nairn's biscuit breaks, (the ginger ones) and thought I'd try those.

I bought these and tried them. Both my mum and I really liked them. But again as they were wholegrain, after a couple of them, they had a similar effect. I knew they had other flavours, so bought the choc chip ones.

I tried these and liked these better than the ginger ones. But, yes, they had a similar effect on me. I won't be buying these again, shame to say.

So, I came to the conclusion that I can't eat too much wholegrain foods as they upset my digestive system. This includes other stuff such as dates, walnuts and houmous. I have seen a dietician. My next post will be about this and how I am getting on with my low fibre diet.

A food intolerance pub review

Last Saturday week (14th) I was due to go to a workshop at a pub called The Theodore Bullfrog in Charing Cross. I have been there before, but not when I have had so many food intolerances, and when I have eaten gluten and wheat before. When I ordered the food, I was told by the workshop organiser that I would have to phone the pub myself to check out about food intolerances as that was what others in the same situation had done. So I did. I wanted chicken wings and fries. I was told that there wasn't a guarantee that the chips would come in contact with flour because they use their fryer for other foods, and the chicken wings had flour in, too. I said, fine, OK, I shall take my own lunch then. I didn't go in the end because I had had a bad night and was too tired to travel and concentrate.

So, I shall now give my marks out of 5 for travel accessibility and for catering for food intolerances.

Travel = 2. I could have got a bus to Catford then a train to Charing Cross.
Catering for food intolerances = 0. There wasn't anything else on the menu that I could eat, so I had to take my own lunch if I had. But I shall give them 2 for telling me over the phone what allergens there were in the foods. Something that all food eateries have to do now.

There you have it. One pub I won't be eating in again, and if I do, it will be my own food that I know I can eat without fuss and harm.

An oaty tale

Since I found I can't eat gluten, I have tried to find another porridge to eat as well as millet. I thought I'd found it in gluten-free oats. The first bag I bought was Sainsbury's free from oats. They didn't bind with my rice dream and it was a v runny porridge. So, I decided to find another one. I found Nairn's gf wholegrain oats. Only, after a few breakfasts it proved to be too much wholegrain for me. They were 100% wholegrain. Too much because it had a bad effect on me that involved a small room. I had to give those up.

But I have found I can eat less than 100% wholegrain oats. I can eat gf wholegrain crackers which are 86% and can eat gf oatcakes that are a similar amount of wholegrain.

So, there you have it. I can't eat 100 wholegrain foods, esp oats, but can eat less than that.

Celebrating Free From style

It was my mum's birthday yesterday. Because we are both intolerant to various foods and she has coeliac, too, we can't eat normal cakes, but thankfully there are some yummy alternatives out there, which we have found. We bought Genius lemon cupcakes on Wednesday out shopping and ate them on the Thursday I think it was.

It was delicious. Light and fluffy like a sponge should be, and the lemon icing was gorgeous, too.

Yesterday we had the Free From choc muffin cake with Alpro (soya) custard. V filling and v nice as well. I am intolerant to soya and it did affect me the whole day by making me slightly stuffy. It was worth it though. Today we had the rest of the muffin cake with ice cream and frozen yoghurt. Mum had goat's milk ice cream and I had the frozen yoghurt.

All three foods come from Sainsbury's. The cakes are in the Free From bread section, and the frozen yoghurt in the special ice cream freezer section.

Might try the choc cupcakes next for my birthday in November.

Gluten-free bread

Since I have found I'm intolerant to gluten, I have tried a few gluten-free breads that are out there in the supermarkets. I have found there is one particular bread that is my favourite. But here is my overall opinion of the ones I have had:

In third place is Tescos Free From bread. These were large slices and tasted really dry to eat.

Tesco slices are the bigger ones. One and a half of these would make a sandwich, as I found that 2 was too much to eat, esp as they were dry.

In second place comes Genius. They too are large slices but don't taste that dry, but they often have large cracks and holes in them (I'm not the only one to have found this). This would be my choice of bread when I can't get the Sainsbury's one.

In first place is Sainsbury's Free From white bread. The size of the slices are just right, don't taste dry and hardly come with holes in. So it gets top prize from me. I have also tried their brown seeded loaf and that's OK too.

I have also tried Warburton's white rolls, and like them now and then for a change from a sandwich. So, what gluten-free breads have you tried? Which one is your favourite in taste and size and content?

My local Chinese

A couple of weeks ago, before my mum had her major eye surgery, we went for a meal out our local Chinese 'The Eastern Queen' at Catford, SE London. We've been there a few times before

The walls are nicely decorated in Chinese pictures and symbols.

Every time we go there now, not often, the staff seem to change, but they are nice and friendly towards you. Even holding the door open for you when you leave.

My mum had her usual meal of chicken with ginger and spring onions, and I had chicken with seasonal veg with boiled rice (small bowl between us).

Mine is on the left, Mum's on the right. Be careful you don't eat a piece of ginger by mistake as it's hot!

Both our meals were really nice and dairy and gluten free. We declined the prawn crackers because they do have a form of dairy in. We don't have a dessert because the meal is enough for both of us. But we do take away the mint cream choc that we get given with the bill. It is only a small amount of dairy and doesn't affect me. I used to have the crackers before a meal, then have a pudding afterwards that might have had wheat (flour) on, and did have problems when I got home. Now I don't have any of that and I am fine.

So here is my score for it: service = 8/10; locality = 9/10 (get a bus there and back); food for intolerances = 8/10.

We might go there again but not sure as Mum said she wasn't sure if she would. We shall see. If we do, I shall have something different to try.

RNA conference - What I ate

This time last weekend I was on my last day at the RNA conference in Mile End road. So, how did I rate the choice of foods I was given? Honestly, poor. Here is what I ate:

Friday dinner: I couldn't eat anything on the menu because it either had dairy or wheat in, and the only choice was beef casserole which had wine in. Again I couldn't eat because of my medications. The chef cooked chicken esp for me, which I had with white rice, peas and green beans. It looked like this:

My opinion: they weren't that prepared at all for my intolerances.

Saturday morning came. I went to have breakfast. Were they prepared? No. They didn't have any Free From toast for me, and I had to have fried bacon with grilled tomatoes, and I don't usually like grilled breakfasts. I complained afterwards to our organiser, Jan Jones, who had a word with them. Apparently, they did have gluten free bread there, but no one told the catering staff that were there that morning. Sigh.

Saturday lunch. What did I have? Chicken again, with lots of green leaves, a few olives and a couple of sundried tomatoes, which I tried but didn't like. Here is what it looked like:

I had this lunch again on the Sunday, but that time I complained. I asked the head of staff there if they could have extras like salad. A while later she brought out a big bowl of roasted veg such as peppers. At least I had a bit more to it then. I had a bag of crisps with me on Saturday, so went back to my room to get them.

Saturday dinner was the Gala dinner, and was in the Octagon library in Queen's building.

Because it was a special dinner, it was much better organised. Staff went round asking who had dietary requirements, and they catered for it. For starter I had roasted veg, eg peppers and onions:

For dinner, guess what I had? Yes, chicken. It came with potato and fresh veg such as carrots and cauli. Yay. Different veg. I enjoyed it.

I enjoyed this meal the most out of all the ones I had last weekend, mainly because it was more organised and prepared for me and my diet.

Sunday morning came. Breakfast. And yes, they were prepared this time. I had my gluten free toast, 4 slices of it, with spread and jam. I was happy. I've put above what I had for lunch.

All in all, out of 10, I rate Queen Mary University of London's choice of menu for dietary people - 3. Poor. So there you have it. I plan to rate places where I go with how their choice for people like me, and how they cope with it.

Going away for weekend with food intolerances

I have been away over the years but I have to say, one of the best places I've been to for eating with food intolerances is Dunford House, Nr Midhurst in W Sussex. I was there last weekend for a writing retreat, and they are so helpful and accommodating with coping with my food intolerances.  Here is what I eat for the main meals over the weekend.

On the Friday evening we had chicken breast with new potatoes and veggies. Here is what it looked like:

For breakfast, I had gluten free toast each day.

For Saturday lunch I had gluten free pasta with veggies (tomato and red onion), which was yummy.  Here it is:

 

For dinner we had roast butternut squash risotto (free from dinner). I'd not had risotto rice before but I really liked it because it was crunchy. It was filling so I didn't eat all of it.

 

For dessert I had fresh strawberries. Other days I had fruit salad but didn't eat all of that because most of it was apple which I can't eat. Sunday dessert I was given strawberries, banana and an orange. I gave the orange away but eat the rest.

Sunday lunch I had Moroccan veggie tagine. I didn't take a photo of this one. I couldn't eat all of it because it was too spicy for me. I had to have water with it, then was given some bread which helped. For dinner we had beef bourgnon (prob spelt wrongly) and mashed potato with veggies. All dairy and gluten free, of course.

I remember having this last year and enjoyed it again. All food provided I believe is locally sourced, so we eat in season.

As well as all these meals, there was cake and crisps. I managed to eat some cakes because the organiser kindly baked a dairy and gluten free one for me. So, a lot was eaten and I put on 2 and a half pounds in weight. Most of that has gone now. Roll on next year.