How many times have you had to say this in restaurants, at friends houses or even to your own family who know you don't eat (insert allergen here) but have temporarily forgotten!
Me, I can't eat wheat, it plays havoc with my digestion. Yet people still say things like "OK no wheat, is pasta alright then?" There are lots of special wheat-free products on the market now but the list of ingredients concern me. I don't want a load of chemicals bonded together to form an imitation custard cream. I just want a nice tasting sweet biscuit that I can dunk in my decaf if I fancy.
Things have really come to a head now that my son has been diagnosed with urticaria (a rash like hives that lasts for days and leaves him looking like boiled water has been spilt on him!).
We don't yet know the cause. My sister has been allergic to eggs since birth but mum says she was 7 when they finally figured out what it was. So with patience and love we are embarking on a, possibly lifelong, journey.
This blog is to share that journey as well as all the info and recipes I gather along the way.
The urticaria diet is salicylate, tartrazine, azo dye and benzoic acid free. This basically means cooking everything from scratch using fresh ingredients (to avoid additives and preservatives) whilst observing a list of 'banned' foods. The banned foods include peas, tomatoes, cucumber, nuts and most fruits. Although pear and melon seem to be allowed.
He has been on the special diet for over 2 weeks so now we can begin to reintroduce new foods one at a time to see if there is any reaction. We started with plain white flour as this meant I could bake a plain sponge to celebrate his 4th birthday. It does feel a bit like he's a little time bomb but as we have always been convinced it was a contact rash I guess we have nothing to lose.
** Kate **
No comments:
Post a Comment