Apr 20
Millet can be bought at some healthfood shops – it consists of tiny spherical yellow grains. Measure out half-a-pint of these grains and wash thoroughly before putting them to soak overnight. Throw away the soaking water and replace with a pint of clean water. Add half a teaspoon of salt and bring to the boil. [...] [...more]
Posted: under Allergies.
Millet can be bought at some healthfood shops – it consists of tiny spherical yellow grains. Measure out half-a-pint of these grains and wash thoroughly before putting them to soak overnight. Throw away the soaking water and replace with a pint of clean water. Add half a teaspoon of salt and bring to the boil. Allow to simmer over a low heat for 20 minutes. The water should all be absorbed at the end of this time.
This porridgey mix can be eaten with milk or a milk-substitute as a breakfast dish. However it is more appetising if treated as follows: Prepare and cook half-a-pint of millet (about 225 gm) as above, but use a level teaspoon of salt. While still hot, add half a jar (about 150gm) of sugar-free peanut butter (or another nut butter , and one level teaspoon of sesame seeds, already toasted. Mix the ingredients together well, using a potato masher to break up the millet. Take a lump of the mixture – about the size of a small egg – roll it between your palms and squash flat, pressing hard, to make a ‘hamburger’ shape. It is important to do this while the millet is still warm as it becomes very uncooperative when cold. These quantities make about 30 burgers.
Fry the ‘millet burgers’ in oil over a low heat, turning them twice and allowing at least 20 minutes total frying time – this gives the outside a lovely crunchy texture. Use a non-stick pan and plenty of oil or they may stick. The burgers can be made in bulk and frozen untried; they do not need to be defrosted before being fried. Although making a large batch is fairly time-consuming, it is well worth it as they are both delicious and filling. Four or five make a good meal: eat them for breakfast, with some grated apple, or for lunch, with a salad.
Cooked millet can also be added to soups and casseroles to thicken them. Millet can also be used as a substitute for wheat flour in a cheese souffle. Make in the usual way, using 115 gm (4 oz) cooked millet, 3 eggs, 55 gm (2 oz) cheese, 140 ml (1\4 pint) milk, salt and pepper. Bake for 20 minutes with the souffle dish in a tray of water. Sorghum is not widely available, but can be bought by post. Cook in the same way as millet.
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Apr 20
If you still feel better but did not react adversely to anything on testing, then there are various possibilities. One is that you have a genuine intolerance reaction to a component of one of these items, but that the period of abstinence has ‘cured’ it. This is especially likely with things that are tested towards [...] [...more]
Posted: under Allergies.
If you still feel better but did not react adversely to anything on testing, then there are various possibilities. One is that you have a genuine intolerance reaction to a component of one of these items, but that the period of abstinence has ‘cured’ it. This is especially likely with things that are tested towards the end of the reintroduction phase (see pl03). If you go back to taking such items every day, then the intolerance may reappear. So if you begin to get your symptoms again, you need to repeat Stage I and test everything in the reverse order this time.
A second possibility is that you may have Candida overgrowth – see pl81. In mild cases, just cutting out sugar can put paid to the Candida and clear the symptoms. If this is the explanation, you will probably begin to notice symptoms again if you start to take significant amounts of sugar or honey again. Obviously, returning to a sugar-free diet is the answer. If you find this very difficult you could consider a drug treatment – this might clear the Candida more effectively and allow you to eat a little sugar.
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Apr 20
How a disturbed gut flora might produce food intolerance is not known. One possibility is that the gut wall becomes irritated by toxins that the bacteria release – so that more undigested food molecules get through. Those food molecules might then provoke an immune reaction or have some other effect – as exorphins, for example.
Alternatively, [...] [...more]
Posted: under Allergies.
How a disturbed gut flora might produce food intolerance is not known. One possibility is that the gut wall becomes irritated by toxins that the bacteria release – so that more undigested food molecules get through. Those food molecules might then provoke an immune reaction or have some other effect – as exorphins, for example.
Alternatively, the ‘bad’ bacteria might feed on chemicals found in particular foods, and then produce toxins which provoke the symptoms. Because the bacteria favour certain foods, it would be those foods that cause the symptoms. This explanation is more attractive, in some ways, because it does not re- quire any other mechanism to produce the symptoms. But whether it can explain the very specific reactions to food often seen in food intolerance – a sensitivity to oranges and beef but to no other fruits or meats, for example – is another matter. At present there is little evidence on this point, but it is something that Dr Hunter is investigating.
It is certainly true that bacteria can produce damaging toxins – indeed, the normal gut flora produces such chemicals. The role of p-cresol in hyperactive children is described above. A peptide produced by bacteria apparently plays a part in Crohn’s disease, by attracting immune cells into the gut (see pll4). In both these cases, it looks as if the same bacteria are producing the same products in everyone – but healthy people have enzymes to break these bacterial products down. The person who is made ill by them has enzyme defects.
Where there are disturbances of the gut flora, with abnormal bacterial toxins, enzyme defects might also be a factor. Lacking certain detoxification enzymes could make the effects of the disturbed gut flora a great deal worse. In other words, it could be a combination of defects that produces the symptoms.
One element of the gut flora that can become over-represented is a yeast known as Candida. The role of Candida in food intolerance is controversial, and very complex.
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Apr 20
Anti-Candida therapy is not a life-long cure – the problem can come back if you revert to your old eating habits. Once you are fully better, and have been so for some time, you can risk the occasional slice of white bread or a sliver of cake. But you should try to eat as little [...] [...more]
Posted: under Allergies.
Anti-Candida therapy is not a life-long cure – the problem can come back if you revert to your old eating habits. Once you are fully better, and have been so for some time, you can risk the occasional slice of white bread or a sliver of cake. But you should try to eat as little sugar and refined carbohydrate (white flour, pasta etc) as possible. Beware of ’sugar-free’ commercial products such as cakes and jams, especially those from healthfood shops – often they are made with fruit-juice concentrate and are just as rich in natural fruit sugars as if they were made with cane or beet sugar. Diabetic products are suitable however. If your symptoms start to return, then you must immediately cut out all sugar again.
If you only recovered of the diet, then you are probably sensitive to yeast. In a few cases, this reaction to yeast is permanent, but most people lose their sensitivity after several months of avoiding yeast products. Some people may have to avoid eating yeast every day.
Some of those who have been successfully treated for candidiasis will still have residual problems due to food intolerance. Although an elimination diet may be needed to sort this out, going straight on to another restricted diet is not a good idea. It is advisable to stay on a normal, varied diet for a while (while still avoiding sugar and white flour of course). This will give you plenty of vitamins and minerals, to build you up for the elimination diet. In some cases, it may be a good idea to take a nutritional supplement.
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Apr 20
A major advance in classical allergy – and one that helped to widen the rift with the unorthodox food allergists – was the discovery of immunoglobulin E, or IgE, in the 1960s. This type of immunoglobulin, or antibody, is the main villain in the classical allergic conditions. How it works will be considered in some [...] [...more]
Posted: under Allergies.
A major advance in classical allergy – and one that helped to widen the rift with the unorthodox food allergists – was the discovery of immunoglobulin E, or IgE, in the 1960s. This type of immunoglobulin, or antibody, is the main villain in the classical allergic conditions. How it works will be considered in some detail in the next chapter, but it is worth describing briefly here.
An antibody is a protein molecule made by the body to help combat disease-causing bacteria and viruses. The antibody binds to a specific target, known as its antigen. This target is usually a chemical located on the virus or bacterium, so the net result is that the antibody binds to the invader. The bound antibodies are rather like accusing fingers, pointing at the invading microbe – their presence rouses the body’s defensive cells (the immune cells) to attack the microbe.
What goes wrong in allergy is that the body makes IgE antibodies in response to an innocuous antigen, such as a food molecule. IgE antibodies are usually found on the surface of special immune cells known as mast cells, that occur in tissues throughout the body.
If the IgE molecules on the surface of a mast cell bind to their specific antigen, they stimulate the mast cell to release several chemical messengers. The normal purpose of these chemicals is to organize a more effective immune response, but in sufficient quantities they can produce the damaging symptoms of allergy. The antigen that causes such a reaction {eg a food molecule) is known as an allergen.
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