What has been most interesting about this week is the way that each day has presented a new and very different challenge. Today’s was for Mike and, in many ways, it was one he looked forward to tackling. As part of his job, Mike usually travels to another site at least one day a week. On that day, he is given an allowance which enables him to buy lunch and, if necessary, dinner too.
We had been planning to make Mike a packed lunch for the day to make it relatively easy for him to stick to M’s diet, but when faced last night with what was in the fridge, he proposed something different. He decided to try and buy M-friendly food whilst he was out on the road, using nothing more than the Motorway services that most of us would have access to when we’re travelling by car, so no sneaky trips to a local supermarket where we know the options would be far greater.
I know that to many this may not sound that hard, until you begin to think about the options you have at a service station:
- Sandwiches? No wheat or gluten allowed, or the dairy from the butter, or egg from the mayonnaise.
- Pasties? No wheat or gluten again.
- Chocolate? No dairy or soya
- Crisps? These are potatoes, so must be okay, right? No, it depends on the flavour, but avoiding wheat, gluten, dairy and soya is actually harder than you’d think when it comes to crisps.
- Chips? A lot of the fast food chains coat their chips in flour to make them crispy, so again it’s a no.
- Burgers? Well, no to the burger roll because of the wheat and gluten, and probably no to the burger as that’s unlikely to be 100% beef and is likely to contain wheat rusk.
- Gluten-free cakes or biscuits from coffee shops? These usually contain dairy or soya or egg, so are all a no. I’ve yet to find anything that M can eat, even with the allergy-friendly alternatives offered.
It’s been an interesting experiment and explains why we usually pack up our own lunches and snacks to ensure there’s something M and G can eat. Take a look below to see what Mike ended up with today:
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Me |
Mike |
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Breakfast |
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Bowl of
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Lunch |
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Dinner |
*available from Asda |
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Snacks |
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Mike’s one comment has been that today he has felt the most full since we started on M’s diet. The date bars are, apparently, extremely filling and even his lighter lunch today left him feeling more satisfied.
Before I forget, a couple of people have asked whether following M’s diet this week has seen any weight loss as I was anticipating it might. I can confirm that, having weighed myself before the diet started and again this morning, I have lost just over 3lbs in 4 days. I need to convince Mike to weigh himself to see if he’s seen a similar loss, though I’m not as confident that he knows where he started!
7 years to diagnosis 
Have you and Mike been taking the Neocate and do you eat any fruit?
Not been taking the Neocate this week, but will be having it today. Usually have more fruit and salad, but trying to keep as close to M’s diet as possible during the week.
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The amount of fruit, particularly dried fruit, in our kids’ diets does worry me though. They already have bad teeth from chronic reflux, dried fruit is tje worst thing possible. It can also reduce mineral absorption in the healthiest guts. I find alternatives which are not full of sugar pretty tough to source!
I know what you mean. My two don’t have too much dried fruit (though raisins every morning for breakfast is insisted on!), but I know that M’s “safe” food is fruit, which I’m certain doesn’t help matters.