Wombats and cents

Wanted: waffle maker

In seven years of living Australia I have seen specialized electrical equipment designed for a single purpose, such as cooking pizza, cooking sausages, baking donuts (aren't donuts supposed to be fried), grilling sandwiches, boiling rice, grinding coffee, making coffee, or baking bread.

So why is it that I can't find a waffle maker in this country?

This post has moved.  Read the entire post at http://wombats-and-cents.blogspot.com/2008/01/wanted-waffle-maker.html

Elimination diet: the end

The long awaited end to our elimination and challenge diet has arrived.  After three and a half months of monitoring everything my son and I ate, we can now go to a party without bringing our own food!  During this period we challenged salicylates (twice), amines, and glutamates, and my son also challenged bread preservative.  My son finished his second salicylate challenge a few days ago, and he'll be off the diet tomorrow (I finished a little over a week ago).  I'm disappointed to report that the only thing I've learned about my son's skin condition from all of this is that my son does not have a severe reaction to any of these things.

This post has moved.  Read the entire post at http://wombats-and-cents.blogspot.com/2007/02/elimination-diet-end.html

Getting lazy with glutamates

Well, in what feels like a never ending quest to determine what food sensitivities by son has, we challenged glutamates last week. The challenge required eating a whopping 80 ml of soy sauce (4 Australian tablespoons, or 5 ¹/₃ US tablespoons) each day for three days.  We were also encouraged to use Parmesan liberally.  Technically, those were the only two items in the challenge, but we also indulged in a few other foods that contain glutamates (and amines, which we are no longer avoiding) but no other forbidden chemicals.  We also continued to indulge in small amounts of glutamates during the three day elimination period that follows each challenge.

This post has moved.   Read the entire post at http://wombats-and-cents.blogspot.com/2007/02/getting-lazy-with-glutamates.html

Asynchronous challenges

We're getting to the tail end of the discovery stage of our diet to find the cause of my son's eczema.  Last week my son challenged bread preservative (three crumpets a day, whether he liked it or not; he liked it) and I challenged salicylates again.  We'll do a glutamate challenge later this week, and then we have the option of challenging additives, challenging salicylates again (this would be my son only, as I have just done this), or starting the salicylate reintroduction.

This post has moved.  Read the entire post at http://wombats-and-cents.blogspot.com/2007/01/asynchronous-challenges.html

Allergy tests reveal error in elimination diet

We finally met with the dermatologist this month, who performed skin prick tests on my son to determine whether he has allergies to a number of common allergens.  As it turns out, he is allergic to egg whites, dust mites, and peanuts.  The good news is that he is not allergic to soy.

This post has moved.  Read the entire post at http://wombats-and-cents.blogspot.com/2007/01/allergy-tests-reveal-error-in.html

Defeated by amines

It's been 62 days since we started our elimination diet to identify the causes of my son's eczema and I'm starting to feel defeated.  We've finally completed our amine challenge and now my son's eczema is the worst it's been in nearly two months.  During this period we've also faced two birthday parties, a Christmas party, Christmas dinner, and a week away with friends.  All of these occasions were poignant reminders of how little "normal" food we can eat.

This post has moved.  Read the entire post at http://wombats-and-cents.blogspot.com/2006/12/defeated-by-amines.html

Salicylates challenge more than expected

After 31 days of a strict elimination diet, we've finally entered the discovery phase.  Our first challenge, salicylates, was harder than I thought it would be.  For the previous 31 days I had looked forward to indulging in strawberries, mangoes, cherries, pumpkin, and apples, and once again enjoying the flavor provided by curry and cinnamon.  I thought my son would too; he was absolutely fixated on pictures of strawberries.  But the food didn't taste as good as I expected, and I was surprised to discover that I didn't feel very well either.

This post has moved.  Read the entire post at http://wombats-and-cents.blogspot.com/2006/12/salicylates-challenge-more-than.html

Elimination Diet: The Dietician's Judgement

A few nights ago I had a dream that I was eating miniature jelly beans.  The following night I dreamt that I was eating steak bathed in ketchup.  In both dreams, my immediate response was Why am I eating this?  It will ruin the diet.

I've never had this response to a diet before, but then this diet is different.  After 30 days, I can identify every item of food that my son and I have consumed.  For the past 23 days I can count on my thumbs every item of food my son or I ate that we weren't allowed.  And on day 30 a dietitian reviewed our progress.

This post has moved.  Read the entire post at http://wombats-and-cents.blogspot.com/2006/11/elimination-diet-dietician-judgement.html

Elimination Diet: Weeks 3 and 4

The In-law Challenge

Weeks three and four of our elimination diet were marked by the arrival of my in-laws.  Prior to starting the diet I was so concerned about our ability to eat together harmoniously that I almost delayed the start of the diet until they left.  I was dreading having to listen to snide remarks.  I was afraid that I would have to prepare all of the food, rather than rely on mother-in-law to do some of the cooking, lest she undermine the diet by including forbidden ingredients.  And I was concerned that they would not be supportive of the diet, let alone eat it.  I underestimated my in-laws.

This post has moved.  Read the entire post at  http://wombats-and-cents.blogspot.com/2006/11/elimination-diet-weeks-3-and-4_30.html

Elimination Diet: Week 2

We have now completed week two of our elimination diet.  You can read about week one in my previous post on the topic.

In the past week our diet has seemed almost normal.  I go to the market, buy lots of good meat, chicken, eggs, and a little fish, plus a lot of pears, leeks, cabbage, green beans, and a few other vegetables.  Now that I know what we need, and have the larder stocked, the market shopping is actually easier than it was before the diet.  I've also found that following recipes is very easy when you already have all the ingredients, so I've been able to try lots of new foods without the hassle I usually associate with it.  And the food, for the most part, has been really good.  I'll be sad to relinquish the cookbooks to the library when they're due.

This post has moved.  Read the entire post at http://wombats-and-cents.blogspot.com/2006/11/elimination-diet-week-2_14.html