Does anybody know if maple syrup is ok?
RAS
Friday, November 18, 2011
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Apple juice
I'm ignoring it. It's a cooking apple. It's yellow and I should be able to eat it and we've got a stock of them. We've eaten apple crumble and made an apple cake. I added some water to some left over stewed apple and drank it as a juice. Apple juice! I haven't drunk that for some time. It left a funny taste in my mouth but did not choke me - so maybe they are only low salicylate. The two varieties of yellow pippin don't seem to have caused any harm. They are delicious but running out fast.
A new blender seems to have appeared in the house so we're thinking of trying some banana smoothies using Smartprice bananas. However I'm not sure it's a good use of expensive fruit. It took one large Golden Noble to make a glass of apple juice and just a couple of minutes to drink it.
Today bloggers are writing about food for World Food Day and also for Blog Action Day, which focuses on the world's starving. If I seem to moan that there's lots of food I can't eat, don't take it seriously. For millions around the world there's lots of food they can't eat, because they cannot get it. And that includes Smartprice bananas and apples and bread.
RAS
Sunday, October 09, 2011
Apples!
|
| The Wormsley Pippin - raised at Downton Castle |
We came across an apple exhibition - and not only an exhibition but a sale of rare apples.
Now the diet sheets, as I recall, specify yellow apples only and then in brackets (Golden Delicious). I've never known whether this means only the Golden Delicious has ever been tested or whether they know something about apples in general. It certainly fits with the general principle the redder the fruit, the more dangerous.
But here, at this exhibition, was a host of other yellow apples. So we bought bags of them - one bag of a large yellow cooking apple called Golden Noble. Another bag full of the Wormsley Pippin. I have eaten a Wormsley Pippin tonight and it is delicious - soft and sweet but not round enough for the supermarkets. No obvious ill-effects - maybe my throat feels a little sore. But the diet sheets say "yellow apples" - so we will be eating yellow apples all winter.
There was also a small apple called the Downton Pippin. I got some of these and tried one. Very hard and aromatic and probably not good for the digestion - but I will have to eat them now. The Dowton, like the Wormsley, is raised at a place called Downton Castle, yes, really Downton Castle (If you don't know Downton Abbey is a hit costume drama on British television).
And given the glut of apples this winter, I bitterly resent paying supermarket prices. They are on the ground everywhere you go. We are in fact planning to invest in some Golden Delicious trees. Maybe we could get some Wormsley Pippin trees? Wouldn't that be great!
* I have now googled the Wormsley Pippin and sure enough it is possible to buy the trees. There is a complication - they need a partner to pollinate. The good news is that the Golden Delicious tree will do the job. I can see an orchard coming on.
RAS
Monday, October 03, 2011
Granny's remedies
By yesterday morning one eye was bloodshot and had been for two days without any sign of healing. The other was aching and I was losing hearing in the left ear. It was definitely the worst cold I've had since I've had this problem and, worse, it was persisting.
Out of necessity comes invention - or rather reinvention. I remembered getting sinusitis and bad colds as a child. I also know well the symptoms of the other kind of sinusitis, call it inflammatory sinusitis if you like as I'm probably not meant to call it allergic sinusitis. Maybe non-allergic sinusitis to rhyme with non-allergic rhinusitis.
Anyway this was not non-allergic sinusitis, it was viral sinusitis. And the old remedy involves getting plenty of steam and sticking your face in it. This is what I did. It flushes the virus out of the cavities of the face. I combined this with some new tricks - like swallowing to open the eustachian tubes and flush anything down from the ears. And, as my throat was quite lumpy, I put some salt in some hot water and gargled it.
Within a few hours I was cured. The blood went from the eye as did the aching. I haven't had a chance to test the hearing. At best all that remains is a mild cold.
So what on earth happened? My hyperactive immune system is meant to see off colds - and in case of doubt I thought to get it going with redbush tea and even a glass of wine. My theory is this and I'm no immunologist. The immune system works in several waves - the first is the blunt response to stave off infection. That's what you get when there's a salicylate reaction. Later on the immune system fine tunes itself to deal with particular viruses.
Now for the last five years I've barely had a cold or flu because it's been seen off at the outset. So there's been no fine-tuning against new viruses. The effect is similar to Native Americans or Martians being exposed to the European common cold. I'd lost my immune protection.
So once the virus got through I was vulnerable - and ended up spending two days and many more hours in bed together with a nasty bout of sinusitis.
RAS
PS In researching this I went back to several of the Wikipedia sources to make sure I'm not talking utter nonsense. Taken together they are very good. The article on salicylate sensitivity is good but you need to follow the link to Montelukast and on to leukotrienes, the arichidonic cascade etc to get the full story. The front-line immune cells are called neutrophils and they appear to be guided by leukotrienes, which also cause inflammation and hence asthma and other symptoms of allergy.
Out of necessity comes invention - or rather reinvention. I remembered getting sinusitis and bad colds as a child. I also know well the symptoms of the other kind of sinusitis, call it inflammatory sinusitis if you like as I'm probably not meant to call it allergic sinusitis. Maybe non-allergic sinusitis to rhyme with non-allergic rhinusitis.
Anyway this was not non-allergic sinusitis, it was viral sinusitis. And the old remedy involves getting plenty of steam and sticking your face in it. This is what I did. It flushes the virus out of the cavities of the face. I combined this with some new tricks - like swallowing to open the eustachian tubes and flush anything down from the ears. And, as my throat was quite lumpy, I put some salt in some hot water and gargled it.
Within a few hours I was cured. The blood went from the eye as did the aching. I haven't had a chance to test the hearing. At best all that remains is a mild cold.
So what on earth happened? My hyperactive immune system is meant to see off colds - and in case of doubt I thought to get it going with redbush tea and even a glass of wine. My theory is this and I'm no immunologist. The immune system works in several waves - the first is the blunt response to stave off infection. That's what you get when there's a salicylate reaction. Later on the immune system fine tunes itself to deal with particular viruses.
Now for the last five years I've barely had a cold or flu because it's been seen off at the outset. So there's been no fine-tuning against new viruses. The effect is similar to Native Americans or Martians being exposed to the European common cold. I'd lost my immune protection.
So once the virus got through I was vulnerable - and ended up spending two days and many more hours in bed together with a nasty bout of sinusitis.
RAS
PS In researching this I went back to several of the Wikipedia sources to make sure I'm not talking utter nonsense. Taken together they are very good. The article on salicylate sensitivity is good but you need to follow the link to Montelukast and on to leukotrienes, the arichidonic cascade etc to get the full story. The front-line immune cells are called neutrophils and they appear to be guided by leukotrienes, which also cause inflammation and hence asthma and other symptoms of allergy.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Breaking the diet
This is now officially the worst cold I've had in five years. Yesterday I broke the diet to try and kick start the immune system. We were at a function and I just ate what we were given. Chicken in herbs, rhubarb crumble - delicious! Then there was no decaf coffee so I just had half a cup of ordinary coffee. At least it kept me awake for a longish journey home. But no appetite for wine. Sadly, although I was spared the embarrassment of having to ask for appropriate food, I then had to face the embarrassment of mingling with people with a cold that was just getting worse.
There were effects from the caffeine at first - I thought my eyes were going to pop out of my head.There have been no skin reactions I've noticed and no sinusitis or jaw ache. My throat is sore and my nose runny - you would expect that. I'm wondering whether these symptoms have been aggravated by breaking the diet. Although the rhinusitis and common cold always seem to have opposite causes, in fact they are both caused by immune system reactions. I may be doubling up.
RAS
There were effects from the caffeine at first - I thought my eyes were going to pop out of my head.There have been no skin reactions I've noticed and no sinusitis or jaw ache. My throat is sore and my nose runny - you would expect that. I'm wondering whether these symptoms have been aggravated by breaking the diet. Although the rhinusitis and common cold always seem to have opposite causes, in fact they are both caused by immune system reactions. I may be doubling up.
RAS
Friday, September 23, 2011
A cold
I have gone down with a stinking, stonking, horrendous, wonderful cold - probably the worst cold I've had in five years.
For the last 24 hours I've been indulging in redbush tea. I ate a cream muffin with strawberry jam. I tried red grapes. My skin is fine, my throat is not but that is probably the cold virus.
I was going to indulge in wine tonight - but it is a real cold and is playing havoc with my tastebuds and appetite. So I haven't really enjoyed the redbush tea (it is rather old and may just be stale). All being well, thanks to a hyperactivated immune system it should be gone tomorrow.
RAS
For the last 24 hours I've been indulging in redbush tea. I ate a cream muffin with strawberry jam. I tried red grapes. My skin is fine, my throat is not but that is probably the cold virus.
I was going to indulge in wine tonight - but it is a real cold and is playing havoc with my tastebuds and appetite. So I haven't really enjoyed the redbush tea (it is rather old and may just be stale). All being well, thanks to a hyperactivated immune system it should be gone tomorrow.
RAS
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
A decaf tester?
What we need is a thermometer style stick to test coffee for absence of caffeine.
Today I bought a small decaf latte from a caterer which specifically advertised a decaf option. This was welcome - I'm not sure whether the availability of decaf is improving or whether I'm just more discerning. For instance at a motorway service station I will head for Costa or Starbucks and take a decaf into the restaurant. No point in asking there as the best I will get is a dreadfully made instant sachet. I do drink a lot of instant coffee but it needs milk.
As I came away my throat was choking and that left eye started to ache - a surefire sign that something is wrong. Apart from that I felt bright and cheerful. It was a pleasant day - and I felt quite high ... as you would after an unexpected shot of caffeine. One possibility - as I have noted before - is simply that filter decaf or whatever they use in coffee shops is not fully decaffed. Another is that staff don't always remember to get out a decaf sachet and think you won't notice.
So we need a discreet testing device. Can it be done? A device for testing for salicylate would also be handy - but a little more complex as it's not going to be found uniformly in any food. So it would have to be some kind of scanner - maybe a project for the 22nd century?
RAS
Today I bought a small decaf latte from a caterer which specifically advertised a decaf option. This was welcome - I'm not sure whether the availability of decaf is improving or whether I'm just more discerning. For instance at a motorway service station I will head for Costa or Starbucks and take a decaf into the restaurant. No point in asking there as the best I will get is a dreadfully made instant sachet. I do drink a lot of instant coffee but it needs milk.
As I came away my throat was choking and that left eye started to ache - a surefire sign that something is wrong. Apart from that I felt bright and cheerful. It was a pleasant day - and I felt quite high ... as you would after an unexpected shot of caffeine. One possibility - as I have noted before - is simply that filter decaf or whatever they use in coffee shops is not fully decaffed. Another is that staff don't always remember to get out a decaf sachet and think you won't notice.
So we need a discreet testing device. Can it be done? A device for testing for salicylate would also be handy - but a little more complex as it's not going to be found uniformly in any food. So it would have to be some kind of scanner - maybe a project for the 22nd century?
RAS
Thursday, September 08, 2011
Caterers and muffins
I sent the following advice off to some caterers this week. Time will tell if I get an edible meal out of it:
It's salicylate allergy
What?
Unfortunately salicylate - much the same as aspirin - is in many fruit and vegetables, in caffeine and in most nuts, herbs and spices including pepper. The simplest solution is plain food and ungarnished vegetables with no sauces or gravy. All meats and sea food and cheese are good.
The following foods are good and commonly eaten:
Cabbage
Peas
Banana
Chocolate
Decaf coffee
Small mistakes are not fatal!
I'm not sure if I should have mentioned chocolate as I have largely given it up - but not in chocolate cake. Some supermarket chocolate muffins turned up in our house this week. I have eaten too many of them and feel unwell. I can only conclude they were stacked with loads of caffeine. This morning my left eye was sore - a sure sign of problems - and it is now spreading down my left jaw and left neck. I have taken a montelukast.
RAS
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
A little knowledge
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing:
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/features/my-midlife-allergy-crisis-can-you-suddenly-become-allergic-to-something-or-is-it-all-in-the-mind-2342098.html?
Where do we start? This gentleman, writing in a respectable British newspaper, has gastrointestinal symptoms and decides to be tested for "food allergy". How many allergies are marked purely by gastro-symptoms? Maybe cow's milk in children.
He then discovers he is not allergic to anything - having been told he could test for wheat by giving it up. He then rants on about "true immune-mediated" allergies, clearly recycling some highly condensed notes and quotes - moving allergy in one stroke from gastro-intestinal symptoms to life-threatening anaphylaxis.
Is there nothing in between, Dan? No mention of asthma, eczema, urticaria (hives to you), chronic rhinusitis (that's hay fever) let alone the chronic inflammatory conditions that are so badly diagnosed?
And it all concludes with some nonsense, apparently endorsed by an Allergy UK spokesperson, suggesting that we mostly eat too much wheat and dairy. Try living on bananas, fish and cabbage, I say.
Most of the comments are equally disturbing. Maybe it's just because the British are obsessed with their bowels.
* I was interested to see the main source is the London Allergy Clinic, about which I had heard little previously. I'm amazed that when the NHS is so short of specialists they have the time to run a presumably lucrative joint private practice. I'd be interested to know if they provide effective on-going care for patients - or simply take fees for diagnosis.
RAS
PS My judgement may be a little harsh as originally it was gastro symptoms that alerted me to a possible problem. The second alert was when I started choking on my food. But it took me a while to relate it to a life-time of minor skin problems and the very disturbing ache in my left eye (which puzzled my optician). And I only dared go to the doctor when my tongue and lips started swelling.
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/features/my-midlife-allergy-crisis-can-you-suddenly-become-allergic-to-something-or-is-it-all-in-the-mind-2342098.html?
Where do we start? This gentleman, writing in a respectable British newspaper, has gastrointestinal symptoms and decides to be tested for "food allergy". How many allergies are marked purely by gastro-symptoms? Maybe cow's milk in children.
He then discovers he is not allergic to anything - having been told he could test for wheat by giving it up. He then rants on about "true immune-mediated" allergies, clearly recycling some highly condensed notes and quotes - moving allergy in one stroke from gastro-intestinal symptoms to life-threatening anaphylaxis.
Is there nothing in between, Dan? No mention of asthma, eczema, urticaria (hives to you), chronic rhinusitis (that's hay fever) let alone the chronic inflammatory conditions that are so badly diagnosed?
And it all concludes with some nonsense, apparently endorsed by an Allergy UK spokesperson, suggesting that we mostly eat too much wheat and dairy. Try living on bananas, fish and cabbage, I say.
Most of the comments are equally disturbing. Maybe it's just because the British are obsessed with their bowels.
* I was interested to see the main source is the London Allergy Clinic, about which I had heard little previously. I'm amazed that when the NHS is so short of specialists they have the time to run a presumably lucrative joint private practice. I'd be interested to know if they provide effective on-going care for patients - or simply take fees for diagnosis.
RAS
PS My judgement may be a little harsh as originally it was gastro symptoms that alerted me to a possible problem. The second alert was when I started choking on my food. But it took me a while to relate it to a life-time of minor skin problems and the very disturbing ache in my left eye (which puzzled my optician). And I only dared go to the doctor when my tongue and lips started swelling.
Monday, August 15, 2011
Side-effects of Singulair
There's a new side-effect from montelukast reported by the US authorities here. And it's psychiatric. Actually it's not new but for some reason it's just hit the social media.
The range of effects includes "agitation, aggression, anxiousness, dream abnormalities and hallucinations, depression, insomnia, irritability, restlessness, suicidal thinking and behavior (including suicide), and tremor. "
I can't say I had noticed - I was like that (irritable and restless) before I started taking the drug so I will ask members of my family. If these effects exist they are nothing like the side-effects of anti-histamines. I had a relative who went through a period of temporary madness and lost the ability to distinguish between dreams and reality. That was how anti-histamines, taken in high doses regularly, felt. Deep, realistic and frightening dreams.
I wonder if some of those who have reported side-effects have confused them with the effects of anti-histamines which they might well have been taking also.
* In fact I think I'm much calmer now than I was five years ago, perhaps thanks to giving up caffeine. Can I report a beneficial neuro-psychiatric side-effect?
RAS
The range of effects includes "agitation, aggression, anxiousness, dream abnormalities and hallucinations, depression, insomnia, irritability, restlessness, suicidal thinking and behavior (including suicide), and tremor. "
I can't say I had noticed - I was like that (irritable and restless) before I started taking the drug so I will ask members of my family. If these effects exist they are nothing like the side-effects of anti-histamines. I had a relative who went through a period of temporary madness and lost the ability to distinguish between dreams and reality. That was how anti-histamines, taken in high doses regularly, felt. Deep, realistic and frightening dreams.
I wonder if some of those who have reported side-effects have confused them with the effects of anti-histamines which they might well have been taking also.
* In fact I think I'm much calmer now than I was five years ago, perhaps thanks to giving up caffeine. Can I report a beneficial neuro-psychiatric side-effect?
RAS
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