Decided to go to a japanese fast food establishment today as I suspected that following a low FODMAP
diet might be slightly easier here, but I was mistaken and should have been more aware of watching my veggies! I asked about wheat but thought that I could perhaps pick out any vegetables that were not appropriate for the diet, I forgot about spring onion being a staple item. The green parts are OK, but the meal came with all parts of spring onion, cut small, which was impossible to pick out making it quite an issue really. So failed here big style and I knew I had as soon as the dish was served and I could actually see the problem. I also noted after I had ordered that the list of vegetables were on a notice board behind the service area, perhaps I should have been more vigilant, but I had been out all day so I was really tired. I was annoyed with myself but I suppose we can put this down to a learning experience. I am also wondering why most of the noodles available in the UK are wheat based? Surely you would imagine that as rice is the main carbohydrate in the east that rice based noodles would be more available, despite thorough searches at supermarkets the majority of noodles are based on wheat. Perhaps this is because our main stable grain is wheat – does anyone else have any ideas as to the reason for the lack of rice based noodles? Rice based noodles can be purchased from Chinese supermarkets and health food shops if you need to have them.
Category: Uncategorized
Breakfast – Low FODMAP
I have enjoyed staying at Bankfield House and although i
t was a little noisy up till about midnight, I really have no complaints to make about the room or facilities. The breakfast was the usual affair of cooked English or continental and a good choice was available. To follow a Low FODMAP theme I chose porridge, a banana, 1 tomato, bacon, egg & hash browns. Again this would not be my normal choice but I did enjoy it – I haven’t realised how much wheat I actually include in my diet until you begin to have to make alternative choices. When on holiday we usually eat a large breakfast and then go on till the evening meal, it is true that to breakfast like a king really sets you up for the day. I was so full that I even saved my banana for later.
I decided to go to the Pre-Raphaelite exhibition at the Tate Britain, no reproduction of any of these paintings can every do them justice as it is the light and reflection needs to be
seen to be really appreciated. This was an excellent exhibition, but I have seen some of the paintings before in Manchester Art Gallery Most where most major artists are represented, including the great Pre-Raphaelites, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Everett Millais and William Holman Hunt. We are lucky in Manchester to have these paintings available most of the time but some of them, one is ‘work’ by Ford Madox Brown, will have been loaned to the Tate for their exhibition. If you are in London and feel like visiting, I would recommend it!
http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/exhibition/pre-raphaelites-victorian-avant-garde
Related articles
- Britain’s ‘first modern art movement’ in Tate show (timesofmalta.com)
- Brian Sewell on Pre-Raphaelites: Victorian Avant-Garde at the Tate Britain (standard.co.uk)
The non Moroccan eat – FODMAP free
My first eating out Low FODMAP and I chose a Moroccan restaurant next to the hotel. Felt this might be a challenge – but I’m always up for that! My choices were a little restricted but I chose a plain meat dish, I asked the waitress what the fish dish of the day was, to which she replied there wasn’t one, so a steak was the choice to have, she informed me that this would be served with plain salad leaves and chips.
Now this is not what I would normally choose but needs must for the experiment so I said this is what I would have. It was actually really nice and the chips were thick cut and still had their skin on adding to the fibre content of the meal. The leaves were undressed and included a full grilled tomato. The dish also included a sauce, which was served in a separate dish so could be avoided, probably would contain at least onion and garlic, but perhaps I should have asked. Now for your sake ;-), I also decided to have a sweet
to see how easy this would be, I didn’t have much choice as the dishes included plenty of pastry and baklava, I chose a chocolate coated meringue. This was huge, a veritable titanic iceberg! What utensils do you think they provided to eat this with? A knife and fork, yes, really! A real effort had to be made to prevent it from being propelled across the restaurant. More went on the floor than in my mouth, probably for the best – very undignified, but lots of fun! I only managed about a third of it in fact, along with my really lovely mint tea. A nice meal, perhaps not what I would normally choose, and not Moroccan, but it was more than acceptable and would mean that I could eat out FODMAP free, should I wish too.
Related articles
- Best Moroccan Recipes (moroccotomorrow.org)
London, clockwatching and fermentable carbs – oh my!
It’s only a dietitian or perhaps those people with gut disorders who will understand the title to this post! This week I am in London to attend the Low FODMAP training by Kings – attended a short one day course in 2009, but much more knowledge has been acquired since then and this is the first time I have had enough free time and available funds to be able to attend the complete course.
I was very surprised on my last visit to find that the loo’s at both Manchester Piccadilly and Euston are 30p!!!! What happened to spending a penny? Hyperinflation is how I would describe it, although perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised at that, but at least no increases since my last visit. It does somewhat grieve me, as you really don’t have much choice in the matter when you need to go. Perhaps my insistence on arriving at stations early is the problem here, as I then have a drink to waste a bit of time and then need to empty my bladder. If I attended at the time the train was due I could wait till I boarded perhaps, but this would not make travelling any easier. I am rather a stickler for timekeeping, worse probably than John Cleese in Clockwise, so I insist on arriving well before the time I need to! Oh well, you don’t need to hear about my frustrations.
I don’t normally advocate any companies as part of my practice but I will tell you that my room rate was £29.00 per night at the London School of Economics, Bankfield House – this residence is not available in term time as it is student accommodation however I am in the centre of London for the next four days and I doubt very much you could get cheaper accommodation. It is really worth looking at various colleges for out of term time accommodation. I will let you know how I get on and what the room is like, I suspect I may get disturbed at all hours, but only time will tell. It certainly is worth considering. I am now in a cafe with free wi-fi, enabling me to write this post at will, it has been a surprise to me how much reliance I now have to access to the web. I am really looking forward to my break in London, although as those of you who followed me on my last gluten-free London trip will be aware, I always feel slightly claustrophobic in cities. I will also try to include some foodie aspects of my visit, so you don’t get bored – perhaps we should concentrate on low FODMAPs this time, as this is the main reason for my visit. Although I do suspect that this is going to be somewhat more of a challenge that the gluten-free diet, but we will see!! The following posts will be written in retrospect as I do not have that much free time to spend on blogging – or funds to buy countless drinks to justify my wi-fi use!
Autumn thick warming roasted carrot and pumpkin soup, lactose free, milk free, egg free – vegeliscious!
Roasted carrot and pumpkin soup
600g peeled carrots, cut into 4 lengthwise
500g pumpkin
1 tablespoon of garlic infused olive oil
1 teaspoon of turmeric
1 teaspoon of cumin
1 teaspoon of coriander
1 teaspoon of ground ginger
1.2 litres of water
small bunch of coriander leaves (depends how much you like the taste.)
Salt & pepper
coriander leaves and nigella seeds to serve
Method
Peel and slice carrots and pumpkin and place in a roasting tin, pour in the olive oil and coat the vegetables well. Sprinkle on spices and mix well.
Roast till the vegetables are soft in texture.
Place in a food processor or blender, add the other ingredients and blend well.
Warm the soup again then serve with a sprinkling of nigella seeds and coriander
leaves.
Serves 6
(approximately per serving)
Kcal 67
Protein 1.2
Fat 2.9
Carbohydrate 9.0
Fibre 2.8
There is some debate as to whether pumpkin is safe for the FODMAP diet – it contains mannitol – amount varies on where it is grown, the one I used was grown within 10 miles of home. If you have problems with pumpkin, or are on a FODMAP exclusion you could replace the pumpkin with more carrot and this should work just as well.
Exploits in English preserves – rhubarb and ginger.
A saturday in September, a real autumnal feeling in the air. I love this time of year, it’s the time of year I chose to get married and we have some lovely pictures of our day amongst trees adorned with yellow, orange and red leaves. Anyway I digress, or reminisce or whatever! Back to the Saturday.
– I woke early with the cat pawing and purring for his breakfast, a real feline bon viveur. Much to my consternation he was back asleep within half an hour of scoffing his breakfast chow. Slightly embarrassing for a dietitian to have such a portly cat, but despite our efforts if we cut his food intake he goes and gets his own outside. He has arrived home with ham, battered fish and his favourite – sausages, which I suppose is slightly better than mauled dead wildlife.
What to cook today, I mused – after a trip to the supermarket, where I purchased 2 packs of rhubarb for the price of one, I decided to make some jam. I have some preserve jars and before coming home I also bought a packet of jam sugar. This is sugar with added citrus and pectin (apple pectin to those who need have problems digesting apples) this assists setting. In the past, exploits in jam making have resulted in disappointment, my last attempt was to make LOFFLEX pear preserve. This was probably a little too much to start with, as obviously, use of citrus fruit to enhance the preservation was out of the question. The jam was fine initially but crystallised over time, I’m not sure why.
Rhubarb and Ginger Jam
800g of washed sliced rhubarb (don’t eat the leaves!!!)
200 mls water
700g of jam sugar (for strawberries)
100g table sugar
2 inch (5cm) piece of peeled ginger chopped finely
Put the sliced rhubarb and ginger in a bowl and place in the microwave cook till soft, smaller pieces will reduce the time needed
Add the fruit mix to a pan with the water and heat, mash with a potato masher
Add sugar and warm till the sugar has dissolved (do not boil at this stage)
Bring the jam to a rolling boil and boil for four minutes.
Check the set by dropping a small amount of jam onto a plate, allow to cool and push the
jam with your finger – it should wrinkle up, then its ready.
Put the jam in a sterilised preserve jar and allow to cool.
This took no more than 30 minutes – wow, easy!!! Apparently this is a jam not a preserve according to Wiki, something to do with the sugar content, oh well never mind – it’s still a slightly sharp, but sweet jam and rhubarb is one of my favourite fruits. Yum, fine to have occasionally – our two jars are in the store cupboard, think I will open one at Christmas.
Related articles
- How I Got My Husband to Love Rhubarb (webmd.com)
Clinical Alimentary 