My diet sucks!

You know what? I'm totally fed up at the mo, so I'm going to have a little rant about it, ok???!!!!

I have been told I have a wheat intolerance for the last 4+ years. As a wheat free diet wasn't making me any better and it has really been getting me down this year, I went back to the docs in July and insisted that something was done about it. I've had blood tests and followed elimination diets but nothing really came of them. I had tests in hospital in September and they came back negative for coelics disease and also for colitis. I wrote a little about it on my blog in September.

Anyhoo... as a result of the negative tests, I was told by my GP to basically 'go away and try an elimination diet for myself to see what is causing the problems!' I felt like such a time waster, I can tell you! I have been unwell for so long and it was getting to the stage that I had had enough and needed to get things sorted. So, as the NHS were unwilling to delve any deeper to help me, we paid £265.00 privately for the York Test. Basically you provide a small sample of blood (finger prick, that's all) and they test it for 113 different foods to find out what your allergies/intolerances are. The test arrived on the Thursday, I provided the blood sample on Friday (thanks to my boss, Lea, who had a bloody huge smile on her face when she pricked my finger - TWICE - to get the sample) and posted it off that night. They say that it takes 10 working days to get your results back to you. Mine were back the following Friday. Fabulous service.

Of the 113 foods that they tested me for, it turns out that egg white is my no.1 enemy!!! Never in a month of Sundays would I have figured egg to be the culprit. How long would it have taken me to work that one out.....?????!!!! During which time, of course, I would have continued to feel totally kak!

Also on my list of foods to make me feel shite are: Gluten (bread, cakes, biscuits and most breakfast cerals!), hazelnuts, cashews (mango is the same family, so no more mango chutney) and pork!!!!! (bacon, ham, proscuitto....)

Cutting these out means that the 5-day headaches that I suffer from are fewer and farther between. The tiredness is still there some days but the 24/7 pain is loads better and I can live with the level that it's now at comfortably IYSWIM?

As part of paying the fee, you get two telephone consultations with a dietician. I had my first phone call tonight. What a lovely lady she was too! So interested in my symptoms; she listened and took all my feelings on board. Didn't make me feel like I was wasting her time at all. What she now believes is that I have a lactose intolerance too. As this would be digestive rather than allergy/intolerance based it would not show up on blood tests.

So...... for the next 2 weeks I have to follow a STRICT dairy free diet. Remember the list of goodies I can't have already, well I have to add these little babies (amongst others) to it...

Milk (I can have lactose free)
CHOCOLATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (can you feel my anger???)
Cheese
Butter (or similar)

Basically I will be eating jacket potatoes with massive fresh spinach salads (no salad cream), dairy free mayo (tastes ok), balsamic vinegar dressing (huge quantities of this little beauty), tuna, veggies (lurve my veggies), chicken and fish. Good job I love all this list then eh? Fruit tea will have to be my preferred drink as I have Coffee Mate in my coffee.

Added to that are digestive enzymes and probiotic supplements (no, not of the yakult variety as that's dairy). MMMM..... can't wait!

I'll keep you posted.

Rant over (for now I think!)