Food sensitivity queries...

aare

I though I would start this thread just in case anyone has an ideas.

Since I realised I am celiac and went totally gluten free, and my innards heal, other sensitivities keep showing up...

...and they show up in nasty ways...usually through the infamous "celiac bloat" that can add two or three very painful inches to the waist in hours and doesn't go away until it feels ready to, and/or huge water retention...

So far I have had to also exclude:

• all forms of bulk and fiber (until my system figures out where the exit is and how to make proper use of it)
• eggs (I used to react badly to them as a child)
• Tannins (used to give me migraine until I quit smoking in 2001)
• dairy

Excluding dairy this week was little short of a miracle. I am eating fine (but utterly low carb). Putting coffee mate in coffee, honey in tea, personal plumbing is suddenly perfect and stomach is at it's flattest and has that lovely "empty feeling" I get on a liquid diet...and I lose a pound or two every night (mostly water and poo...don't worry, I can gain it FAR faster than that)

Thing is, I am having to exclude so many things that I don't want to exclude anything unnecessarily...or I am liable to wind up limited to tapwater and neat gin...and frankly, I never liked tap water.

I knew I was reacting badly to cheese for a while (denial is not just a river in Egypt I LOVE CHEESE), I didn't actually drink milk for a couple of years until January anyway, so it's no loss...but...while I react to anything with milk in, or mixed with milk, I actually sometimes find that, when my stomach is really upset, white chocolate is the only thing I can eat without making it worse...

So I started wondering, is there some element of dairy that is missing from white chocolate...and, if so, surely I only have to exclude everything containing that, and not everything containing dairy at all?

Any ideas what it might be?

PS Don't think I am having a pity party here...I am literally HIGH on finding an exclusion that, so far, has held good for a flat, lightweight stomach for 4 whole days...

EileenG

Lactose is the thing that is most likely to result in problems with dairy products. Found in all milk, and in some cheese, but not generally in butter, whey or certain hard cheeses.

White chocolate doesn't tempt me at all, I like mine very very dark, so I haven't read the ingredients, so I don't know if there is lactose in it.

aare

Funny thing Eileen...

I was always a very dark (and the darker the better) chocolate person myself, but lately it turns me over for some weird reason...I have some sitting in the glove compartment to prove it...

I figured that the white chocolate was a matter of lots of sugars for energy, and just a little bit of protein with nothing strong to unbalance my system (which cocoa seems to do right now...actually, to be honest, a little bit of very dark chocolate a couple of hours ago may have been a BIG MISTAKE) the kind of think that can keep you going through a bout of food poisoning....

What you are saying makes sense, because, to be honest, I don't think butter has ever had an ill effect, and it would be nice to be able to keep that in my diet for cooking and veggies. I don't suppose parmesan would be a problem either?

aare

PS I just checked...dark chocolate is full of tannins...something I definately cannot tolerate...just proves the point about listening to your body...I only had a very small bit today and I could honestly feel it in 30 minutes...:(

Never again...

EileenG

Any cheese with trace carbs or 0.1g of carbs per 100g should be fine. My middle daughter had a long time reaction to lactose and she could eat butter and hard cheese like parmesan, but not soft cheese or cottage cheese.

aare

Maybe some white chocolate is ok then? I see some of it is made with whey powder (sounds daft, but, at least Aldi's own, really settles my stomach down when all else fails).

Though Aldi and Lidl's own creamers warn of "milk" content, Coffee Mate is guaranteed 100% lactose free (and the low fat version is under 1.50 in Tesco right now), I can live with that.

...of course, ideally, I want to STOP "the perfect storm" recurring behind my belly button at all...:eek:

I know my beloved camembert and brie began to precede "episodes" without fail...same goes for mild cheddar...they all went off the shopping list in the last month.

Wonder how yoghurt works out?

Seems to be borderline...so I won't chance it...

I am still reeling from the HUGE, immediate difference that avoiding certain foods makes to me...it is literally the difference between being slim, fit and in top form, and being a bloated, aching invalid (as i was for the best part of 10 years)...

There is just NO incentive to "push the envelope" at all...not the faintest temptation...

Also, when I avoid my intolerances completely I stop craving food between meals...

WEIRD

Dolbert

OP, your symptoms sound exactly like my boyfriend's, he's been to doctors several times and not one seemed to recognise/ take seriously his symptoms. Would you be able to recommend me a specialist via PM? Thanks

aare

Hi Dolorous,

I can sympathise...nobody recognised or took me seriously for years either...

I don't think I even took myself seriously until I started finding answers. Sadly I do not know of any specialist he could see...wouldn't make much difference anyway, food sensitivities aren't really treatable.

What he needs to do is identify the foods that are causing the problems and eliminate them, and, of course, he should go to his GP to ask to be tested for celiac. If he is still eating wheat a simple blood test can usually determine it (about 95% - there are a few false negatives). After that, it is trial and error...and not straightforward...

I was SO SURE white chocolate was out, because of dairy (even though it is one of the few things that doesn't seem to upset me) and dark chocolate was fine, but I was wrong, the tannins in dark chocolate brought me down, and the whey in white may be harmless, and I am STILL paying for that little experiment on friday.

It really IS worth it though...I didn't have a clue how sick I was until I felt well again at last...

Dolbert

Cool, thanks! Cutting out wheat and potato helped somewhat, but still hava a bit to go. Gonna try a process of elimination and see how it goes

aare

If cutting out potatoes works, he may have a problem with nightshades in general (not just the black ones in hedges that EVERYBODY has a problem with ), this is a pretty comprehensive list and description:

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=george&dbid=62

Dairy is a very common, sensitivity (which I have) soy is another one (which, touch wood, I have not), tannins and eggs are more unusual...

I think I would have cut to the chase a lot faster if I had cut out anything I USED to be sensitive to in any way.

Also check everything he eats for gluten, it is in the WEIRDEST things...

Oxo (but not other stock cubes), soy sauce, most Korma Sauces (but not most Thai Red Curry Sauces)....