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Multiple Food Intolerance Advise
Food intolerance - where to start?
Living with Multiple Food Intolerance’s can be a real challenge especially when you are first diagnosed or make a decision to eliminate certain foods from your diet. I was diagnosed with multiple food intolerance’s a couple of years ago and still face challenges – however the good news is there are some great products out there, fantastic foods on the menu and the feeling you get from the lifestyle change is worth the initial battle.
This morning I had a email from Annabelle who is new to Fussy Foodie and in need of some inspiration, so I thought I would share my thoughts:
“Two weeks ago I was informed I have a cow’s milk and yeast intolerance. I spoke to a nutritionist and she told me the foods and she said I should follow a wheat free diet to make things easier, but she also mentioned about following a gluten free diet. Dairy is easier to follow as a lot of things state if they contain milk, yeast is the hardest though and what with trying to following a gluten and wheat free diet too I am just about had enough of all of this and not eating much as a result. I have tried a few cereals which are fine but I am not sure how to actually make meal or recipes and have nice things instead of the boring rice cakes that seem to be around. It’s all so stressful. If you could give me any advise / recipe which I would be able to eat it would be very much appreciated.” Annabelle
OK so your challenge is to avoid cow’s milk, yeast, and gluten (including wheat).
I too have similar intolerance’s – dairy, eggs, yeast, gluten, sugar, some oily fish and cashew nuts. I am very jealous you can have eggs as this opens up a lot of doors on the baking front.
The combination of no dairy, yeast and gluten is what makes things a little more tricky and I understand why this has seemed so daunting.
Breakfast Ideas
Breakfast I think is always the easy part of the day – especially when you are at home and have all your kit with you – there is a fantastic range of alternative milks including soya milk, rice milk and oatly milk to name but a few. I actually like a combo of two either oatly and rice or soya and rice – just makes things a little more tasty.
NB. Make sure with any alternative milk they are fortified so you get the daily dose of calcium you might avoid from not having cows milk (see Bone Health & Dairty Free)
Just a few cereals to mention in case you do need some inspiration: assuming you are not a coeliac, oats (the best: Jordans Porridge Oats) are all good and a really important part of your diet, puffed rice cereal and special gluten free cornflakes are also must have classics. For a special treat try out these Egg Free Pancakes (rice flour and gram (chickpea) flour a must for the cupboard).
No More Bread – What Now?
I am not a rice cake fan – they are too airy and don’t taste that great either, a fantastic alternative are Corn Thins, they crisper and more tasty and also must have are oat cakes (Nairns variety are best as they don’t have anything else added – some other varieties have wheat so watch out for this – the Herb Oatcakes are particular tasty).
I am assuming at this stage you are craving for bread (see Free From Bread) - I have done lots of different experiments with bread. I think the important thing with bread is that you have to really give it up and then replace it with the new style of bread you can have else you will always compare and never be satisfied. I actually find myself walking down the bread aisle just to smell it, and believe it or not it gives me the satisfaction without having to eat it. On a more positive bready note these gluten free flat breads (Fussy Foodie creation) could help you out and are my fav. Once you have made a couple of batches they are easy to make and great for lunch, with curries and my favourite at the moment Moroccan style stews (recipe coming soon).
Food Processor – Must Have Gadget
On a random note a must have gadget is a food processor – without it lots of recipes you just cant make – so if possible invest in a good one. Mine gave up the ghost last night, was so sad, but also excited at the thought of a new and improved Magimix (anyway enough of my food processor geekiness).
Food Ideas
Back to the food… so no gluten or wheat means no normal pasta – however good news on pasta is there are loads of alternatives (see Gluten Free Pasta) and I actually think they taste better too and much easier to digest. Look out in the free from aisle of supermarkets for free from pasta – can be made from rice flours, corn, vegetables or buckwheat (see Buckwheat – Gluten Free?). The free from pasta come in all shapes and sizes from tubes, to lasagna sheets to spaghetti.
Rice is a must have and also I have come to love the joys of potatoes the last few years and they have now become more of a regular on my menu – a jacket potato is a good lunch alternative.
More food ideas…
- Look out for Gluten Free Sausages – as they rock! If you are cooking for other people they wont notice any difference and with the weather we are having it’s great to get a few in for a must have summer BBQ (see Barbecuing with Food Intolerances).
- Gluten Free Burger – taste so much better and easy to make and healthier too
- Hummus is a staple on my lunch menu and if you are into chickpeas try these – Healthy Falafel
- Curries are great for Fussy Foodies – just make sure if eating out its cooked in oil and not ghee and check for dairy in any of the recipes (e.g cream). Onion bhaji are normally just made with gram flour and poppadoms are made from lentil flour too – so can all be tucked in to.
- I love Thai and this book is awesome - Rick Stein Far Eastern Odyssey with some small tweaks most recipes are easily Fussy Foodie friendly (if you are avoiding sugar just watch out for this if you are eating out as Thai can be heavy on the sugar) - well worth investing in
- I rarely use butter in my cooking but when I do I use Soya Pure: Dairy free spread, no one notices any difference (well that’s what they tell me anyway) and they also now do a sunflower version that is friendly too.
OK I think that’s enough thoughts to get you started – I promise it will get easier. If you let me know some typical meals that you cook and are now struggling with and the kind of foods you are missing I will see how else I can help. Also if you need some sweet ideas come back to me as I have focused on the savoury to get you started. Let us know how you get on.
- Published by Miranda in: Being a Fussy Foodie Dairy Free Gluten Free Wheat Free Yeast Free
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7 Responses to “Multiple Food Intolerance Advise”
A couple of things that I find make life a lot easier are:
- A decent vegan cookbook…even though I eat meat, they have loads of recipes for things such as homemade soy cream cheese, how to make your own milks, tips on substitutions etc.
– Wheat Free Soy Sauce is great to have in the cupboard.
- Make extra of what you cook and freeze. It makes such a difference to have something ready to go if you can’t be bothered cooking. Trying to find something in the supermarket that is suitable for you when you are tired and hungry can be frustrating!
Em
p.s Asda’s own brand pork sausages are gluten free, and Tesco also do some as part of their free from range.
Great advice! We also have found success with a children’s chewable probiotic in helping our son with his severe food intolerances. It has bee a long hard road of food elimination diets, doctors, creams etc and the one thing to help him so much with his Eczema has been Belly Boost. He not only loves it, it works and he is able to now eat more foods than we ever imagined.
I have these same three main food intolerances and I’ve found it gets easier and easier once you get into a routine of cooking for yourself more often. I find lunch the hardest meal to get when I’m out so I always take lunch to work with me.
Yeast is definitely the hardest food to avoid. Watch out for soy sauce – even if it’s wheat free, it will not be yeast free. Vinegar is the same and stock cubes and other kinds of stock as well as crisp flavourings all contain yeast extract. There are yeast-free vegetable stocks available but vegetable stock is very easy to make at home yourself so look up a recipe and try making it and freezing it. A good vegetable soup is always a good option when you can’t be bothered cooking a big meal and it’s good for taking to work for lunch too.
I make gluten/dairy/sugar free cookies and oat slice every week or two and that covers me for snacks.
When you’re out of the house and hungry, go for the plain crisps! They’re perfect for gluten/dairy/yeast free diets.
My advice would be: if you accidentally slip one day, don’t beat yourself up. The stress you cause yourself from being too strict is probably worse on your body than eating the foods you are intolerant towards so go easy on yourself. Maybe even work up to cutting the foods out completely rather than going without all at once. Good luck with it and try not to get overwhelmed!
Thank you very much Miranda. This give me something to work at for the moment, i will be in contact to tell you how i am getting along and if i need any other tips. Thanks again.
Just see your comment Emma, thank you for the advise. Its all very much appreciated.
Hi guys, I just wanted to add my thanks for you all taking the time to put your advice out there. I’ve recently been diagnosed with dairy, eggs, yeast, gluten, sugar, rice & rye intolerances – I don’t enjoy cooking so I was finding it a nightmare, but this site is really helpful, and I’m going to invest in a food processor, get organised with some receipes and check out those alternatives, thank you, Jo
Just found the site how wonderful! Thanks Miranda and friends,looks full of great advice…I am a vegetarian who is intolerant to dairy, soya and yeast plus borderline many more!
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