No more pain, vin, or Boursin pour moi!

It’s now about a week since the results of my York Test revealed my intolerance to yeast and dairy foods, and the chat with York’s nutritionist, yesterday, revealed some good and bad news.

The good news is that I don’t have to avoid fruit and raw vegetables after all...  

Having suffered a very devastating yeast intolerance herself (this lady had ME), and having cured herself through diet, she found these things were fine to eat.

I may even be able to drink a bit of wine - although maybe she shouldn't have told me this - as apparently Jacob’s Creek say their wines are yeast free, having been double filtered. Whoopee!

The bad news is that peanuts, pistachios and dried fruit are all secretly yeasty – and I should also avoid MSG in Chinese food, Pringles, stock cubes and, who knew, fish and chip shop batter.

Not realising that my peanut butter was such a little demon, I thought I’d been doing quite well loading it onto my yeast free bread substitutes: rice cakes, Ryvitas, and Matzos. It will be almond or cashew butter from now on.

Avoiding dairy hasn’t been too much of a problem, although it takes some creative thinking when I am heading for the fridge hell-bent on devouring a chunk of cheese. 
Porridge made with oat drink is delicious, though I now realise I shouldn’t be sprinkling it with yeasty prunes, and, so far, I am not missing my daily yogurt (although the nice lady from York has suggested a coconut milk alternative, which I will try).

My new A2 milk – from cows that only carry the A2 protein and not the A1 protein with which people tend to have a problem – would be great in my coffee, except that, according to York, it is unlikely to be any better for me than the normal milk I have been eschewing. The nutritionist recommends a coconut drink (coconut seems to be a better alternative than the sugary nut drinks on offer), which apparently tastes fine in coffee, and which I will buy on my next visit to the health food shop. 

It's all fine when I'm at home, and get to my pasta before Steve and the parmesan do. The biggest problem, of course, is trying to fit a new regime in with my social life.

Last Saturday at lunch at a friend’s house, there was smoked mackerel pâté made with fromage frais, and toast to put it on. 

And on Wednesday, out for lunch with friends at Le Gavroche, the day would have been spoiled if I didn’t have any wine – and who could resist the bread basket and choice of salted or unsalted butters? Though I did say no to the cheeseboard.

My plan is to avoid the culprit foods as far as possible – but not become obsessed about them. If I had a serious illness and thought that changing my diet would help, then I would probably me more motivated. But, for now, I think it’s good to be aware of the problem, make sure I don’t over indulge in anything I shouldn’t, and just see how I get on...

. Some sites worth looking at if you're struggling to think of ways to cope with a food intolerance:
www.goodnessdirect.co.uk
www.theintolerantgourmet.com
www.healthysupplies.co.uk