Food ponderings

I have a friend who is severly allergic to most antibiotics and therefore unable to eat most meat, happier meat is actually medically safer for him ?.

Bread has to go into the freezer as soon as it is cool so that it doesn't stat to develop antibiotic tendencies etc..............

I may be talking complete nonsense, but I'm sure I've heard that a potato allergy can also be associated with allergies of the same plant group, so tomatoes, aubergines, peppers. Not that I want limit your diet even further, just might be worth bearing in mind if you get similar symptoms from these too.

An ex work colleague of mine had a nut allergy. He had a reaction when someone in the same room was eating a bag of cashew nuts - pretty serious stuff.

I can't stand fussy/picker eaters and pandering to them. We all eat the same thing, there's no way I'm getting involved in making 2 or 3 different dinners for the family. that. THere is what there is or you go hungry.

I do understand people have allergies. However when we were on holiday we were staying with friends, and my friend's SIL and her son (12) were staying too. The child has a peanut allergy - I accept that. However our friends took us out for a meal (they were paying) and the little scrote was in tears beacuse he "couldn't" (ie wouldn't) eat anything that was on the menu. THe only thing he would have eaten was chips but as they were cooked in peanut oil (?) he couldnt have them. There were all sorts of things on the menu and a huge salad bar full of fresh veg and he just refused to eat any of it. In the end he was whinging so much my friend's H (his uncle) had to leave without finishing his own meal and drive him to McDonalds for chicken nuggets and chips (never allergic to sh1te, are they). I'd have got my arse kicked from here to kingdom come if I'd tried it on like that but his mother actively encourages it. I don't think my 2 year old's the greatest eater on the face of the earth but he was tucking into a big bowl of olives and all sorts from the salad bar and I just felt so grateful for him!

In the 5 days or so we spent with this brat he ate: dry shreddies for breakfast, plain cooked pasta and plain fried chicken for lunch (he wouldn't even eat chicken that had been done on the bbq that the rest of us had, it had to be cooked separately), plain fried chicken again for dinner, dry shreddies for supper. Oh, and chocolate. That was it. That is apparently how he eats all the time. No fresh fruit and veg whatsoever. He has to take lactulose to help him go to the toilet as he has no fibre in his diet. Allergy or not, that is bloody ridiculous and parents who pander to that kind of crap need a bloody good slap.

Oh, absolutely, for the 3% of the population that genuinlely have allergies.

In Northern Europe around another 5% have some level of lactose intollerance, probably a similar level for gluten, but that still only accounts for about a third of the people who self-report with allergies and intollerances.

The bottom line is, most people are just fibbers.

I think it's almost become a bit of a trend and it's given faddy eaters the perfect excuse.

I have lots of inhaled allergies (horses, cats etc) so a few years ago I saw a dietician on the recommendation of my ENT. This involved a 3 month exclusion diet and it is very interesting to see how your body reacts to different foods. I now know there are things that I should avoid, for instance white wine makes me sneeze an gives me awful cystitis, gluten makes me bloat, dairy makes my sinus issues worse, the list goes on. However for me, a person that LOVES food, this is about knowing what works for my body and choosing when and what to eat. I can control food at home but if I go out I have an "all bets are off" policy and eat what I'm given (at friends) or what I fancy (at restaurants). I actually think that diet plays a huge part in illness and I am often shocked at how little effort goes into looking into people's eating habits by GP's.

For some others though, it's about being able to say they can't eat something due to x, y and z and it's made it easier for fussy eaters to send a list of food demands. I think I have some of the worst faddy eaters amongst my friends. I never seem to have people for dinner who will eat anything and actually sometimes this drives me mad, especially when it's 3 out of 4 people who all have varies requirements.

My favourite food allergy story is from a wedding a few years ago. A guest called me to state she has a sever nut allergy and would require a meal, which she specified. It was a marquee wedding so I called the caterer. They said they couldn't cater for her as they only had one space so she'd need to bring her own food. I let the bride know, she agreed so I emailed the guest. Sure enough she came back and said she'd risk it. at the wedding she tucked into her friends praline dessert. Nut allergy my arse, she was just a fussy cow who didn't fancy the menu on offer!

You're probably the only person in your town. ?

Really interesting.

I won't eat rice that has been cooled. Not even if I've done it myself - I seem to be very sensitive to that bug that breeds in rice left at room temperature. I get food poisoning from it even when no one else eating it does. And it took me a number of bouts of sickness from eating reheated curry and rice to work out what it was that was making me so very ill... But if I was served it, I'd try to find a way not to eat it so that I didn't draw attention to it - I wouldn't want to share my rice-induced sickness at the dinner table!

There are other things that seem to make me feel a bit poorly - anything with too much lemon in - real lemonade really upsets my stomach and gives me stomach pain. Avocadoes seem to disagree with me. And I can't stand tinned tuna. But while I wouldn't choose these in a restaurant, it is normally fairly easy to avoid these things, or have a small amount, if served at someone's house. And I wouldn't call them an intolerance, I think that food preferences have been over-medicalised

Hecate, you are not alone. There are others out there . . . stay strong ?

https://foodreactions.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2452

I have a friend who is allergic to chillies. I think she said the last time she had some she ended up in hospital! I've been told I'm allergic to mushrooms according to the prick test I had done but thankfully not that much as I love them! Also I have daily inhalers and anti-histamines which probably sort any problem that may show.

?

thats really made me laugh, but yes, it seems that they are never allergic to chicken mcnuggets and chips ?

Absolutely agree that intolerances are the new thing and entirely different from allergies/illnesses.

Only tricky thing is knowing the difference - eg with your mate Nick. What if he actually genuinely had been allergic and had gone into anaphylactic shock?

PS most allergies are an immune response to a protein, so it's feasible someone could be allergic to lamb/mutton but not other meats, if they responded to a unique lamb protein. Alternatively, could be a response to the fat or something.

Nick - I also don't completely buy your preservatives theory. The most common preservative used in bread is calcium propionate and it's something that's found in literally loads of foods (naturally occurring I mean).

good question. the thing is that he d been eating bread for years, and the worst that had happened was he d felt "bloated". then he sent off for an online intolerance testing kit thing, which predicitably came back with wheat, gluten and lactose. so i figured it was pretty safe. if he d have told me he had an allergy, i wouldnt have dreamt of doing it.

My brothers ex-girlfriend had a serious allergy to pineapple (carried a pen thing around with her and had been admitted to hospital in anaphylactic shock etc). Twice my mother tried to serve her hawiian pizza - I think she got so obsessed by not serving pineapple, it all she could think of ?

Hurrah - lots of virtual, hand-holding support! Fortunately for me I don't seem to suffer from the more unpleasant side effects of extreme diarrhea and excess wind! I think I'd rather the rash I get!

I've never quite understood exactly how bloating feels different from having eaten too much ?

The most common true allergy in adults is oral allergy syndrome - it causes tingling and swelling of the mouth but only rarely anphylaxis. It is usually a reaction to tree fruits and nuts. Many people (including myself) can eat very few fresh fruits and nuts.If I go to someone's house for dinner I have to decline many puddings which is a bit of a nightmare actually, and makes me appear very rude. The mainstay of treatment is avoidance.

The problem in this country is increasing numbers of allergies (we don't know why), but most importantly poor access to clinical immunologists. I can get my paediatric patients seen pretty quickly but adults wait months and have to travel quite far.

Bloating feels like your tummy's full of air - you don't feel as heavy as if you've eaten too much. Plus you're probably going to be farting like a good'un fairly soon.

Actually, having said all these things, if I drink caffeinated coffee without having eaten enoguh I get horrible stomach cramps and diaorrhea within about half an hour. I could tell the staff gave me caffeinated not decaff last time I went out for a meal.

However, I just avoid caffeinated coffee and it's fine ?

THe only preservative as far as I know that can cause a true allergy are sulphites found in cheap red wine. Most decent wines will say "contains/does not contain suplhites" on the label if you look.

nor do i. if i eat too much, i feel bloated and horrible. funnily enough when he was describing it, he said "you know, its like how you feel when you ve eaten too much" ?

Re. gluten intolerance/processed bread thing that Nickj mentioned. I believe there has been some suggestions that it's to do with the way the flour is made. Because they ground the floor to much smaller particles it affects the way people react to it. Don't know if it's true.

This is a good site:

https://www.allergyclinic.co.uk/

It's written by Jonathan Brostoff who is one of the UK's leadfing clinical immunologists. It also has links to UK allergy clinics (NHS and private) that won't rip you off by offering quack assessments like blood testing and hair mineral analysis. If you have the cash to go private see an immunologist not a nutritionist.

I like this (from the above site)

It is less clear in which cases the following conditions are caused by an allergy although patients who suffer from them are often keen to look into the possibility that a sensitivity or intolerance is to blame.

Your GP is the best person to advise you which local clinic or specialist to consult because reputable allergy clinics, those run by medically trained allergy specialists, will request that you get a referral note from your GP. You should take care if an allergy clinic does not require this. Some are run by people without proper qualifications and and some cases their methods are very dubious indeed.

I'd say that intolerances are usually used to describe something that when you eat they generally make you feel a bit iffy - upset stomach, lots of wind, indigestion perhaps.

Being lactose intolerant is most certainly NOT a new thing - adults are not designed to eat milk or milk products so not all adults continue to produce the necessary enzyme for digestion and have problems when they do eat milk etc. It's more common in some ethnic populations - or example Afro-Carribean people - than others.

Intolerance to alcohol has a similar cause - it's really common in Chinese people, for instance.

Allergies are a different matter - but they do have quite wide ranging symptoms (there are two phases of allergic response) and I don't think the general public really understand the clinical definition behind allergic reactions. Hell, I struggle sometimes with the terminology and I'm paid to explain it.

But I do get the impression that some people wrongly think if it's not anaphylaxis and you don't have to carry emergency treatment with you all the time, it's not a real allergy.

I'd also say the issue is confused because some things can have multiple causes - for instance, I get eczema immediately on any skin that touches kiwi fruit juice, I develop eczema all over my body 2-3 days after I swim in chlorine, if I have eczema it is aggravated by eating strong cheese (but not triggered) and I get eczema if I'm stressed. Some of those are allergic responses but the final effect is still bl00dy miserable!

I'm surprised that P&P's %s are so low - I'd imagine that between hayfever, eczema, asthma, food allergies, and Celiac disease the numbers were much much higher.

[pedant]coeliac disease is not an allergy[/pedant]

this is particularly good on intolerance vs allergy

I know, I'm sorry, I just included it because it was mentioned above. I hate writing about celiac disease, the immune system is horrid to explain!

Anybody know if an allergy / intolerance to pineapple is fairly common?

It makes my mouth hurt when I eat it, so I try and avoid it, but as I have no other ill effects it's not a problem if someone gives me a pineapple based dessert...

I understood the type of allergy Rache described was common with pineapple - IIRC some people can eat cooked pineapple but not fresh because the problem is an enzyme that is broken down when it's cooked. I may be confusing an allergy and intolerance here though, my memory has died!

Yes, cooked pineapple is fine. It's still wrong on pizza, though, but it doesn't make my tongue feel like it's fizzing!

We eat blimming well anything so please can we come to dinner?

I was super fussy as a child and my parents used to try and make me eat things as the thought I was just being difficult. I have many memories of retching at the dinner table after being made to eat cold sprouts/ dry mash/any other green veg except peas ☹️

Luckily as I've got older I've found my tastes have changed and now I'll eat pretty much anything. It's taken me almost 29 years to like swede but I have tried it every so often since I was about 20 and discovered that actually, not all veg taste minging ? It's been the repeated tastings/trials that have got rid of my past fussiness so now when people tell me they 'don't like x' I come over all evangelical and ask them when they last tried it ?

On the other hand, I have IBS as diagnosed by a GP and a dietician's exclusion diet. I have suffered with griping stomach pains for years along with some of the other symptoms and was just expected to get on with it. It wasn't until I had private medical insurance in my graduate job that I found out that these pains were avoidable.

I can't have potatoes, peppers, raw onion, leeks, caffeine, melon, banana or grapes without feeling very ill indeed. I was gobsmacked by the potato intolerance (am reluctant to call it an allergy) as I'd eaten it for years. In fact when re-introducing it after the exclusion diet I refused to believe that it was making me feel so bad so 're-introduced' it 3 times just to make sure?

Bizarrely now I'm upduffed I can tolerate small amounts of potato in crisp/chip/roasted form but not mashed or jacket ? I really miss jacket spuds and bangers and mash. Root veg mash just isn't the same ?