Last week my Uncle Jock and his wife, Alma, from Zambia came to New Zealand for two weeks after a 23-year absence. It has been wonderful to see them again and we had them over to dinner last night for the second time and I took a few terrible photos so I have only included a couple. At the bottom of this post, there is a photo of the main course I made for them and the group at the table. There was a lot of laughter and constant chatter so it was hard to get everyone still for a good photo. The blurry mess on the right is my uncle and that’s Dario laughing at him with Adriano next to him. Alma is on the left. Yes, that’s the best photo I took. The first photo above is my uncle’s fishing lodge in Zambia. He has created a paradise on earth but now he has decided to sell it. We visited there eleven years ago and loved the place. The lodge is built on a hill overlooking the Zambezi River and is situated on his privately owned game farm which is fully fenced. It is called Tiger Mile Lodge … [Read more...] about Zambezi Fishing Lodge and Game Farm for sale and a family dinner
Salmon, Cream Cheese Pancake Rolls – gluten-free & Low FODMAP
Tonight, it's just Dario and me because Adriano is off down country at another mountain biking race. That means I could make something different and photograph it without a hungry husband hanging around for his dinner. Dario didn't even notice that I didn't feed him until 9pm. What I made would be more suited to nibbles with a glass of wine but we ate them as a dinner. Flexibility is the key to making this work. The gluten-free pancakes worked really well and came out thin and soft so they rolled well. The filling was super easy and, all in all, it was an easy meal. I had one left over once I had used all the salmon so Dario filled it with banana and melted chocolate. I bet it tasted good. Thank you so much to those of you who got in touch with me about your IBS issues after reading my latest article. I was moved to tears by some of your stories. Please feel free to make contact with me at any time to share your stories. Salmon, Cream Cheese Pancake Rolls - gluten-free & Low … [Read more...] about Salmon, Cream Cheese Pancake Rolls – gluten-free & Low FODMAP
Irritable Bowel Syndrome and the Missed Moments of my Life
The paths not taken in life are spoken of often in many contexts and today I want to speak of my paths not taken because of irritable bowel syndrome. And those I took despite it. There is shame attached to irritable bowel syndrome. It’s a secretive, underworld affliction. As children, we are taught that one’s toilet functions are not to be spoken about and we learn well. So we suffer alone. Time does not change that. Whether others have the same experiences or not is never discovered because we don’t voice our condition as we don’t in fact know it is a condition – perhaps it could be the normal lot of all people. How would we know if we never discussed it? There is an inkling that all is not well but we have no yardstick to measure our discomfort by, and we don’t ask. I remember a camping holiday with friends on a bare section bordering the seaside many moons ago when I was about 16. We slept in tents and had a long-drop for a toilet halfway between the tents and the beach – so … [Read more...] about Irritable Bowel Syndrome and the Missed Moments of my Life
So what foods can I eat on a low FODMAP diet?
Let’s look again at what FODMAPs stands for. If you have read my Low FODMAPs page, you will already know this. But let’s recap. FODMAPs stands for Fermentable Oligo-saccharides, Disaccharides, Mono-saccharides and Polyols). They are indigestible sugars which cause havoc in the bowel. Fermentable: The process through which gut bacteria break down undigested carbohydrate to produce gases (hydrogen, methane and carbon dioxide). Oligo-saccharides: Fructo-oligosaccarides (FOS) or Fructans. Galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS). Disaccharides: Lactose. Mono-saccharide: Fructose (in excess of glucose). Polyols: Sugar polyols (eg. sorbitol, mannitol). We’ll take these one by one and I’ll tell you what to stay away from and what you can eat. These lists will be by no means complete but I will include the more common foods that most of us eat. FRUCTANS Stay away from: Fruit: Nectarines, watermelon, persimmon, white peaches. Vegetables: Artichokes, asparagus, beetroot, Brussels … [Read more...] about So what foods can I eat on a low FODMAP diet?
Chocolate Chip Cookies – gluten-free and low FODMAP
I went back to my specialist for my neck and she is pleased with my progress but what I want to tell you about is some advice she gave me. I had just been reading about this a few days before and then she told me too. You see, I am worried about the anti-inflammatory pills I am taking at the moment to reduce the discomfort in my neck so that my brain learns a new way to react and I mentioned this to her. She said there is an alternative that has recently been found scientifically to be very effective - an extract from turmeric, curcuma longa. I love that natural medicine and formal medicine have collided. Cinnamon also is an anti-inflammatory so it will be going into all my baking from now on. I could just eat 4 tablespoons of turmeric a day to replace the rather expensive curcuma longa pills I have bought but that seems rather excessive. So these biscuits have cinnamon in them but also some yummy chocolate lumps as well. These biscuits are now a favourite and lasted several days - … [Read more...] about Chocolate Chip Cookies – gluten-free and low FODMAP
Potato and Cheese Muffins – gluten-free and low FODMAP
This weekend is Labour Weekend in New Zealand so I have Monday off from work and that is a joyful thing. Not that I don't enjoy my work, but time dedicated to my own activities is precious. Today, I helped my sister set up the house she moved into yesterday and I left it better than how I found it, so it was a successful day's work. How come our best days are not those we spend at work? That might not be the case for everyone, but it surely is for most of us. "Thank God it's Friday," doesn't exist in a vacuum. We drag out feet to work on Monday with our spirits picking up on Friday. Things start sliding southward on Sunday evening. And so it happens all over again - a perpetual cycle. I used to run my own business and know the other side of the coin. The motivation is different. When running your own business, it's all about improving your lot. When you work for someone else, you find the motivation in other places. Certainly, it could be about developing a career, but there are many, … [Read more...] about Potato and Cheese Muffins – gluten-free and low FODMAP
