Milk....but cheese, yogurt, buttermilk are all OK.
I just drink very little milk and make up for it with yogurt. Icecream is a problem though....Frozen yogurt works, but isn't found everywhere.
Linda C

I do not have any intolerance however, if I eat cucumber immedietly i'll catch cold. To deal with it.....i just avoid it ;) lol!

Here is a link that might be useful: Recipes

MSG in all it's permutations.....I solve that by staying away from all "convenience foods"...but it can be a problem when eating out. I find fine dining places and friends who really cook don't give me any problems.
I succumbed to temptaion a few weeks back and bought some Chinese take out....bad idea!!!!
Linda C

Linda, you can ask for food made without MSG, or at least you can in the Chinese places here. My standard order is "no cabbage, no MSG, and sauce on the side."

I have problems with the stuff all restaurants, fine or otherwise, use when they wash produce. Midway thru my meal I start sneezing like a fool. I'll sneeze 10-20 times & then about 10-15 minutes later get an awful bellyache that lasts a couple hours.

I try to avoid fresh produce (salads) & rarely eat veggies in a restaurant. If I follow my own "rules" it's usually OK. If I cheat though...people start looking at me like I've got the plague, or something, because of all the sneezing, blowing my nose, coughing...looks & sounds like I belong in a hospital.

/tricia

Split Pea Soup, it makes me hot under the arms. At least that's what I told my mom when I was a kid.

LOL @ Cathy!!!

Tequila makes my clothes fall off.

LOL Cathy...
I had been avoiding wheat..and have slowly started eating a few things made with organic wheat flours...however, I think it's best that I not eat it. I've noticed a few small things happening again since I started putting it back in my mouth..

I also avoid soy and non organic corn.

When I said I yielded to the take out chinese....it was in one of those "Already in the steam tray" buffet type of places in the supermarket!
I deserved the head ache!...Should have gone to the salad bar instead!

DH has allergies, just got a shot yesterday to help with the fall out of the oak trees, and after almost 30 years I gave up trying to figure out what food will send him into a asthma type attack. Once I cooked the same exact thing for 7 day in a row and 3 of those days he had a reaction and 4 days he didnÂt. I think its dairy and maybe wheat but I also think it may have something to with the amount of alcohol he drinks. LOL he didnÂt want to hear that when I told him he should cut down on the Chivas.

We rarely eat out only if we are traveling and have no choice. I joke with him about being good or I will buy a jar of accent, MSG, and doing him in.

Claudia

Is your problem wheat or gluten? There's a BIG DIFFERENCE! Some people who have digestive problems from wheat can often use sprouted spelt flour. Not so with gluten intolerance (Celiac Disease). See link below.

My mother was gluten intolerant and allergic to eggs, son - lactose intolerant, allergic to corn and chocolate, granddaughter also lactose intolerant and allergic to soy, I have to avoid soy and Splenda.

We found or made viable substitutes - get PRO-active, not REactive. I've worked to develop recipes using gluten-free white sorghum flour and am still developing them for a small sorghum mill outside of town. Working on tortillas next...

If you make a (mental) list of all the things you CAN eat, you'll find things aren't as bad as you once thought they were.

It's also beneficial to stick to whole foods, rather than having to check for "mystery" ingredients on a box/can/bag label. Besides, whole foods are often very quick-to-fix, have more fiber and nutrition than processed foods, so it's a win/win situation.

-Grainlady

Here is a link that might be useful: Summers Sprouted Flour Company

Nope, I eat anything I want. I just don't choose to eat a lot of things, I'm very, very picky. My daughter, though, is lactose intolerant, she's found that she can eat yogurt, maybe some cheese on pizza or a burger, but it needs to be with a meal.

My Aunt Ellen has been diagnosed as celiac, she can't have gluten. She struggles, especially with bread substitutes.

Dad is diabetic and that's a whole 'nother issue. I think we all just have to find out sensitivities and deal with them through trial and error. Doesn't stop Dad, he eats pretty much anything he wants, no matter how bad it is for him. That's why his health is so bad.

Annie

This is the best (and easiest) wheat/gluten free recipe I've found. I make it using my kitchenaid mixer:

Looks, tastes, texture are close to real bread. I've tweaked the recipe a bit (a bit of less water unless you're at a high altitude, and added sesame seed topping).

Google Tom Van Deman's Celiac Light Bread Recipe.

Bonnie

I'm very mildly lactose intolerant, that's the only thing I have to be careful of. I'm picky though..... wish I didn't dislike some things but can't help it.

No allergies.

Nancy

LOL Shaun and Cathy...
I can't eat garlic...love it, but it makes me sick within 10 mins. Very difficult in restaurants..always ask what has garlic, one place it was everything!

Aspartame will give me cystic acne. It took ten years or so to realize that! I do miss diet coke. If I have even a small item with aspartame, I will get a cyst within a few days.

Tricia, what do they use to wash the produce? Here they only use water. I can't think what else one might use.

hey Bons,
Thanks fr that wheat free bread link, thats one thing I really do miss, as i loved making sandwiches!
As for Chinese, I just ask for no MSG and get rice noodles....So thank God i got my way around that one!!!

Good one, Cathy! I wish I would have thought of something clever like that when my mom fed me liver!

Shaun, tequila affects me in much the same way! LOL

No allergies or intolerances here, either. Just a bunch of dislikes! (See above reference to liver, for instance...)

Linda

Very interesting thread. I thought I was the only one who couldn't tolerate garlic...it absolutuly kills me with heartburn and indigestion and it really started bothering me when I hit my 40's...so I try and avoid it. I am also deathly allergic to scallops so that is easy to avoid just don't order them : ) However I do think one time when I was at a restaurant my meal must have prepared in the same pan as scallops because 1) the eggplant parm sort of tasted "fishy" and 2) no sooner did I have it I was in the restaurant bathroom sick as a dog..DH said that was the most expensive dinner that I didn't eat. It was really strange.

DH can't tolerate anything with Splenda..and if he has something with Splenda I can't tolerate him and wish we had a dog to blame.

Heidi

Heidi, my boss can't use splenda either, it gives her "flu like" symptoms.

Tricia, maybe it's not the wash for the vegetables, maybe it's the preservatives that are used to keep veggies from browning? I'm very acutely aware of preservatives, they have an oddly metallic taste. It's why I'll never eat at Subway, you know that lettuce doesn't stay green all day like that without huge amounts of preservatives.

They don't make me sick, I just don't like 'em.

Annie

Being Asian American I'm lactose intolerant now - used to drink tons of milk, but the moment I stopped, that was it. Couldn't drink it again without digestive troubles. Yoghurt and cheese were no trouble up to my 50's, but now even those can give me problems now. My family keeps those Lactaid pills right on the table for everybody, LOL!

Also allergic to grains of any kind: wheat, buckwheat (the worst), rice. Gives me mild asthma. But as long as I eat a bit of it regularly, no real problems. If I cut it out of my diet entirely, then have an average portion, I can feel the asthma tightness immediately. I figure it's healthier for me to keep the carbs as whole-grain as possible, in modest servings; that seems to work for me and keeps the others in the household (DH and MIL) happy since they have no problems with either dairy or grains!

I am lactose intolerant. The pills never helped me, but the Lactose-free milk was a lifesaver. I use milk a lot, mostly for cereal and a bit in my coffee. And I can also now get Organic lactose-free.

Bonnie

Mildly lactose intolerant. I use Lactaid milk. If I have a little of that I can eat ice cream and anything else.

MSG - I get an immediate bad reaction from it, usually from soups. Tiny amounts are okay but I try to avoid it altogether.

Coffee gives me tummy issues. I can only drink a small cup, once in a while, but not on an empty stomach.

One time I got the most horrible burning stomach after eating oysters. I was literally curled up in a ball on the floor for hours, crying, and couldn't move. Ever since I often get milder versions of that pain. Maybe it's just psychological, but just to be safe I only eat oysters when don't have after-dinner plans and am ok to just go home and be miserable.

Cilantro! It's not just a tastebud thing, like the way I detest brussels sprouts. And it's not just a mental thing, like not being willing to try headcheese or escargot because of the source. It's a physical reaction so strong that just smelling it makes me feel queasy. I suspect it's hereditary, too, because every one of my kids reacts the same way.

I've read that most people who have the anti-cilantro gene fall into two camps. Some say it tastes and smells 'soapy' to them, and others describe it as being exactly like dirty gym socks. (Ewww!) Guess we're weird, but it doesn't remind us of either one. It's just a taste/smell that's totally unique to cilantro.

I'm just thankful that the one ingredient we're allergic to is so minor and so easy to avoid. My hat is really off to any cook who has to deal with major problems like lactose and gluten and MSG and all the other stuff that's so pervasive, often hard to spot, and sometimes even life-threatening. Kudos to every one of you who must put so much extra time and effort into keeping your families healthy!

sm

sm

I'm lactose intolerant too, but didn't really "discover" it until I was an adult. I never liked cereal & milk as a kid and never drank milk with meals. I also didn't like ice cream, shakes, or super creamy desserts very much either, and I disliked milk chocolate candy. I ate cheese, cottage cheese, cream sauces, & yogurt with no problems. It wasn't until I was older and joined a roommate on the Slim Fast diet that I realized I couldn't handle liquid milk. Since I never liked milk growing up, keeping liquid milk out of my diet isn't difficult, and I always keep some Lactaid on hand. However, a few months ago, some friends came over & brought burgers, fries, & shakes from In & Out. Without thinking and not wanting to hurt their feelings, I downed almost half of a vanilla shake before realizing it was a no-no for me. I gobbled up some Lactaid tablets, but it was a little too late. I suffered later in the evening.

I find my tummy really bloated and get the poops and bad wind after drinking milk... do you think this means I have an intolerance? It doesnt happen all the time, about once a week if i drink alot of it?

I haven't found anything that I don't tolerate foodwise, but then there are some foods that I have never tasted...such as certain shellfish or an unusual vegetable. I can imagine it must be difficult dealing with a food intolerance, especially when one is dining out.

SharonCb

I can't say that I have an intolerance to any food, other than what's supposed to happen, like certain foods like beans or cole crops causing gas.

SM mentioned that some people think cilantro tastes like soap. That's funny, because that's what I think arugula tastes like. I hate the stuff, (one of the few foods I hate) but it doesn't cause me to get ill. I love cilantro.

Okay, maybe there's a minor intolerance, but I wouldn't really go as far as calling it an intolerance. Someone else mentioned the smell of a specific food making them queasy. Hazelnut coffee does that to me, and I hate drinking the stuff.

My co-worker gets hot flashes if she drinks diet coke. It's the Aspertame that does it. She had to quit drinking diet coke because of it. Every once in a while she succumbs to temptations and drinks one, and back come the hot flashes.

My mother was allergic to shell fish. She became very ill once when she attended a luncheon where they served something stuffed with crab, and she didn't realize it had crab until after she ate some. That's why I cringe every time I see crab mentioned as something to serve at a party. Shell fish allergies are not all that uncommon.

Sally

I've been teaching myself how to make wine lately and I've learned a TON about sulfites and how they are used in food.

Annie, you're right, Subway sulfites their produce like mad to keep it "fresh", same with any restarant/deli that has a salad bar. In fact, there's more sulfites in a trip or two to a salad bar than there is in a bottle of wine!

Gardengrl, thanks for that sulfite info. No wonder I dislike the smell of Subway restaurants and pizza joints. I never realized it was the vegetables I was smelling.

I'm not sure what my allergies are, but I suspect that there are several and plan to check it out more fully in the near future. I'm thinking about ordering a home test kit,, which is inexpensive and better than nothing, I guess. The allergy test only tests for milk, egg white, and wheat, but that might be a good enough start. I think I might have problems with eggs, and I have no idea about wheat. I do already know that milk is a no-no, and I probably knew this as a child, since I refused to drink it then. I loved spinach and turnip greens as a child (and still like them), and so I think I got the nutrients I needed without milk. The only dairy product I would eat as a child was cottage cheese. I would order pizza without cheese, and people at the restaurants back then would think I was crazy.

According to Ming on his last show that I saw, cilantro is the most consumed herb worldwide. Since it is popular in Mexico, India, and China, that probably makes sense. I've heard of people thinking that it tastes nasty, and I think they have different taste buds or olfactory nerved than others. There's no reason to believe that it tastes the same to everyone, and people are aware that their tastes change during life. I love cilantro, BTW.

I worked with a woman who was allergic to garlic, and so I'm not unfamiliar with that. I always thought she had some vampire blood in her, however, but I would not eat garlic toast in front of her.

Lars