Tag: Digestive Disorders

Have IBS food intolerances and only eating gruel? How to avoid a Dickensian diet this holiday!

Christmas and the holidays are a time of celebration and food usually takes a central role, so what if you need to avoid certain foods to prevent having symptoms over the Christmas/holiday period? You can eat food and take some steps to reduce the effects, should you wish. It is possible to eat nice food and prevent spending boxing day never off the loo and with a covered hot water bottle strapped around your stomach. You just need to plan ahead – a reason why this post is going to be published early. First lets talk about Christmas lunch – skinless turkey, carrots, parsnips (use spray oil to roast) and potatoes are fine to have. When making gravy use stock from the turkey and spoon off or pour off the fat that settles on the top of the stock, thicken with corn or rice flour to make a nice gut-friendly gravy. For roast potatoes you could parboil the potatoes for about 5 minutes and then drain off the water, keeping the potatoes in the pan, shake the pan to soften the potato surface – spray with oil and then place in the oven to roast. Trimmings such as cranberry sauce is OK – only have a small portion, wheat free stuffing is also possible using herbs and wheat free bread crumbs (see the LOFFLEX Christmas post for the recipe – although you can use whole fresh herbs) or rice crumbs (available from larger supermarkets.) Again it might be better to trim any bacon fat and grill bacon to reduce the fat levels and prevent diarrhoea, and grill wheat free sausages. These are ideas to help, but of course, if you know your IBS well, you may want to eat normally, it may possibly be uncomfortable for a short while but won’t necessarily do any lasting harm. The following recipe is for Low FODMAP christmas cakes, hope you enjoy!

Ingredients

150g dairy free margarine

150g soft brown sugar

3 eggs (room temperature)

1 cap full (1/2 tsp of vanilla essence)

150g of the wheat free self-raising flour blend.

1tsp of mixed spice

1 flat tsp of cinnamon

1 flat teaspoon of ginger

2 tablespoons of chopped roasted pecan nuts

5 tablespoons of lactose-free milk.

Icing sugar,  ready-made fondant icing sugar (check label for fructose) and water to decorate.

Method

Cream together the butter and sugar till the mix is pale in colour.

Add one egg at a time and one tablespoon of flour, mix well till all three eggs have been incorporated. Add vanilla essence.

Sieve the spices and flour into the mix and fold in till well incorporated, add the milk and nuts and mix well.

Spoon mix into paper cases.

Bake in a preheated oven gas mark 6/200 C until risen and browned.

Allow to cool, add some water to icing sugar to make a thin coating. Using ready prepared icing, roll out and cut shapes. ‘Stick’ the icing sugar shape to the cake with runny icing made from icing sugar and water and decorate as wished.

Eat one – (or maybe two if you must! ;-))

I hope all my readers have an enjoyable Christmas (or holiday) and here are some tips that might help –

You DON’T have to be a domestic goddess this Christmas, plan ahead and remember that having time with your family is the most important thing – they will appreciate you just being there, not frazzled or tired after trying to be perfect. Remember that being a perfect ‘housewife’ or ‘househusband’ is a marketing concept and these concepts are usually impossible to attain, no matter how you try (or, in fact, how much you spend!) Children, in particular, appreciate time with their parents more than anything.

Plan ahead if you can – now is the time to take a break and sit and plan your shopping and meals for over the holiday period. Shop online if you don’t like large crowds.

Plan a short walk with the family after Christmas lunch – will help constipation and stop the slump in energy levels after lunch.

Don’t slouch on the sofa eating snacks whilst watching the afternoon or evening movie, try to keep your posture and sit up straight if you can.

Moderate your alcohol intake – who wants to spend boxing day with diarrhoea, abdominal pain and a hangover?

Eat slowly and chew your food well, savour your meal – you have worked hard for it!

Christmas can be a stressful time and this won’t help your gut, IBS is not ‘all in your head’ but stress produces hormones that affect your gut, this can make symptoms worse. Avoid arguments over the dinner table, this may be difficult if you have critical family members. Tell them beforehand that arguing or criticising is NOT acceptable, you are making an effort for them and that should be appreciated, if it is not, then perhaps they are not welcome at the lunch? Be assertive and stay calm!

Don’t have unrealistic expectations, setting yourself up for disappointment, do what you can – nobody will or should expect more.

http://blog.moviefone.com/2010/12/24/christmas-carol-versions/

Here is some fun stuff

Does your granny always tell ya that the old songs are the best?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=menFfIgA06g&playnext=1&list=PL4892FFB78434B27A&feature=results_video

Santa Claws – Simon’s Cat – Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree, your ornaments are history! (Simon Amaranth)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nn2h3_aH3vo

A beautiful rendition of In The Bleak Mid Winter

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwNxpylhmmo

Updated 22.11.14

Jules_GastroRDLeave a comment

Rose popcorn Low Fodmap

A subtle hint of rose and vanilla in freshly warm popcorn – fills the kitchen with delicious smells. Please note due to updates for the Low FODMAP diet January 2013 popcorn should be consumed with caution as high levels of consumption will result in higher amounts of fodmaps. A portion should be a small cereal bowl full at any one sitting.

Ingredients

120g popping corn

1 tsp oil such as corn, rapeseed or

1 cap full of vanilla essence

1 teaspoon of rose flavoured syrup (check for fructose corn syrup)

½ teaspoon of food colouring if desired

2 tsps of powdered artificial sweetener (check for FODMAPs)

Method

Mix vanilla essence, rose syrup and food colouring in a dish.

Put oil and popcorn into a pan with a lid and heat over a high heat on the hob.

When the corn starts to pop carefully add the vanilla mix by lifting the lid carefully and pouring it in quickly, shake well with the lid on. Continue to heat till all the corn has popped.

Lift the lid and sprinkle over the sweetener, replace the lid and shake well till all the corn is coated.

Serve!

Jules_GastroRDLeave a comment

Peppermint creams LOFFLEX (Low FODMAP)

Peppermint creams, easy to make and good as an occasional treat for people with food intolerances

Ingredients

270g of icing sugar (extra if mix too runny)

2 teaspoons of peppermint oil

1 teaspoon glycerine

2 tablespoons of water

Method

Add peppermint, glycerine and water to icing sugar and mix till fully amalgamated.

Roll into a sausage shape and cut into equal parts, roll into a ball then flatten with a fork.

Jules_GastroRD2 Comments

Fancy a dose of wellbeing for your IBS? Work with people who have IBS?

We have been planning an event at The IBS Network it’s on the 17th of November in Sheffield. The details are on the poster – attend at the Octagon Centre from 10:30 – 4.00 pm. Seminars, cooking sessions, free one to one consultations with health professionals. Treat yourself to a little Wellbeing!

For more information about the event please visit www.theibsnetwork.org/wellbeing.asp

For journey planning http://www.yorkshiretravel.net/journeyplanner/enterJourneyPlan.do?hss=vyTl162847206

Jules_GastroRDLeave a comment

Kedgeree, breakfast like a king! Low FODMAP, low lactose, wheat free, gluten free

Imagine that you are in Edwardian England and a rather wealthy person! As part of the many breakfast choices would be this dish, originating in India and traditionally composed

Downton Abbey cooks Kedgeree

of hard-boiled egg, fish and rice. You can just taste the opulence, great to breakfast like a king – but this meal is great for a light brunch, served on wheat free bread also – really yummy! I often like to imagine if I was alive in Edwardian times as I love the dresses and the lifestyle – but the reality would be more likely to involve wearing plain clothes, clogs and working in the mills in Lancashire, as my relatives did!

© IWM (D 25995)

This dish is very mild, no spicy hot flavours, just like a fishy korma – some of the Lancashire men I spent my early working career with, used to call chicken korma ‘chicken soft lad’ and were merciless in their deriding of any man choosing this option when going out for a curry after the pub! However its good and mild for dodgy guts, so enjoy your fish ‘soft lad!’ If you have coeliac disease then check your spices have not been contaminated with gluten! My version of this wonderful dish is as follows:

Ingredients

175g of smoked Haddock

175g of Basmati Rice

4-5 dry green cardamom pods

5cm strip of cassia bark

Salt

Freshly ground pepper

1 tablespoon of garlic infused olive oil

1 teaspoon of turmeric

1/4 teaspoon of asafoetida

1/4 teaspoon of ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon of cardamom powder

1/2 teaspoon of ground coriander

300 mls of lactose free milk

4 teaspoons of cornflour

2 hard boiled eggs.

Method

Poach the haddock in lactose free milk until cooked, drain off the milk and retain for the sauce. Flake the fish and remove any bones and retain till later.

Add the rice to a pan, cover with water about 2 cm above the rice and add crushed green cardamom, cassia bark, salt and pepper. Bring to the boil, when boiling turn down the heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes until the rice is cooked. Remove cardamon pods and cassia bark. Cool.

Hard boil eggs for 10 minutes and cool under running water, remove shell and cut into slices – retain till later.

Add oil to a pan with the rest of the spices and cook till the spice aroma is released. Add cornflower to the pan and cook for about a minute. Slowly add milk to the pan – this will form a thick paste initially and needs to be mixed well to avoid lumps. After 1/3 – 1/2 of the milk has been added you can add the rest quickly and bring to the boil and stir till thickened.

Add the sauce to the rice, add fish and mix well, taste and add more seasoning if needed. Warm in the microwave prior to serving, serve with sliced eggs on the top.

If you are interested in Edwardian food check out the following website http://downtonabbeycooks.com/

Jules_GastroRDLeave a comment