January 6, 2013

My favourite food of all time has to be Indian, with Thai a close second. Last night we had Indian with our great friends Lisa and Frankie, understanding that we needed to forgo pappadums and Nan to stick to our wheat free month. Steve also couldn’t have the pakhora – his personal Indian pleasure. It’s only a month, we can do it and seriously, I felt lighter for it! Six days in, it’s no problem, although we’re bloody starving by the time mealtime comes round. We had a really lovely night, but when I got to bed, I experienced three symptoms from my meal: Racing heart Itchy all over I was hot and couldn’t cool down That is me having a reaction to colourings or additives and it ensures a REALLY shit night’s sleep. Steve also didn’t sleep well with me thrashing around next to him. Thankfully for me, I’ve recognised my sensitivities to things and generally eat as pure as pure can be. I don’t eat McDonalds or other fast foods because it makes my skin itch and sometimes I want to vomit even as I eat it. Soy sauce makes my legs jittery when I go to bed and I can’t sleep. It also gives me anxiety attacks. Teriyaki sauce is the same but not as extreme. Anything from a packet makes me itchy and uncomfortable, with my dreams all over the place and full of horror. Any tomato-based sauce gives me heart burn and I can’t sleep. Bread with preservative 282 and 320 makes my legs itch too, as well as causing a general feeling of unease in my gut. I avoid it whenever I can. I think I’m lucky, because I’ve been paying attention for many years to how my body reacts to food, so I’ve had time to accept it is who I am and work around it. The challenge comes from the fact it’s almost impossible to go out for dinner and not be impacted. For example, Thai food in Singapore – forget it. There is so much MSG in Thai food here, I develop an MSG headache even before I leave the restaurant, and that includes the posh Thai restaurants. Obviously, I want to be able to go out for dinner with friends – that’s a happy thing for me to do – but when I do it, I have to accept the consequences. There seems no middle ground, although my favourite Indian/Sri Lankan restaurant, Colombos, is proud of the fact they use nothing but pure ingredients. I’ve never have a bad night after Colombos, except when I drink too much vodka – hic! That’s why I keep returning. So who else has a really bad time on additives and preservatives? Anything in particular get to you? Yours, without the bollocks Andrea