If you are new to food allergies or food intolerances/sensitivities to gluten, egg and dairy – then this book is going to be your BEST companion to helping you make the transition whilst still eating a balanced diet.

The Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook provides wholefood recipes.These recipes are actually nutritionally dense!

Discover how to use gluten free grains like buckwheat and millet in a delicious dinner recipe. Learn that eating vegetables for breakfast can kick start digestion and provide abundant energy you need for your busy day. Discover how to cook super yummy quinoa recipes that are quick and easy, that the whole family will love.

A Recipe Book That Will Change The Way You Eat

I’ve asked myself many times during my journey to going gluten and dairy free, if I was really covering my nutritional needs. Was I receiving enough Calcium from my diet since avoiding dairy products? Was I receiving a broad spectrum of vitamins from the gluten free grains I ate regularly?

It is so important to eat a variety of food (which I know many new gluten and dairy free seekers fail to do) to prevent nutrient deficiencies from occurring.

Rice can become a big staple in a gluten free diet, as it is substituted in so many processed gluten free snacks like biscuits and cakes. It’s also probably the immediate carbohydrate that you serve for dinner, or maybe lunch. How about rice noodles or rice pasta? It’s an easy, cheap and safe alternative to wheat pasta and spaghetti.

Eating a diet like this can soon become repetitive and before you know it, you’re stuck in your ways not knowing that you may be missing out on vital nutrients that other gluten free grains could provide.

Quinoa, millet and buckwheat are other gluten free grain alternatives that are jam packed full of vitamins, minerals and amino acids which can give you those nutrients your diet is missing. This cookbook will provide you with recipes that show you how to use these nutritious gluten free grains that even your children will love.

It’s Not Just A Cookbook

Alissa and Tom have taken this book one step further by providing:

1. A step by step 28 day elimination and detoxification diet is provided towards the end of the book. It is designed to promote cellular healing and to help you identify any food sensitivities that you may have including gluten, eggs, dairy, soy or corn
2. A schedule for introducing solid foods to infants to prevent food intolerances/allergies from occurring
3. A complete guide to stocking your whole foods pantry
4. Case studies of patients with food allergy induced symptoms and their recovery

Healthy Recipes That Taste Amazing

This book teaches you how eating healthy doesn’t have to be bland or tasteless. Every recipe I have tried so far has been everything but that.

I have bought many recipe books in the past to assist the journey to going gluten and dairy free but often was disappointed with the shockingly, nutritionally low recipes that were recommended.

Alissa and Tom, both qualified with Bachelor and Master Degrees in Health Science are able to understand the need for recipes that are nutritionally dense and able to replace the nutrients that gluten, dairy and egg usually possess with attractive food alternatives.

The recipe book provides an assortment of breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert and snack recipes that are so varied you will definitely not get sick of these recipes.

This is definitely not a book to be missed along your journey to eating a nutritious diet free of dairy, gluten and eggs! Make The Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook a staple in your cookbook collection.

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Suprisingly, Calcium is found in a number of different food sources which are all dairy free.

To ensure you are still getting enough calcium in your diet, look at these high calcium rich foods that are dairy free.

Non Dairy Calcium Sources

• 100g of Wakame Dried (Seaweed) (1400mg)
• 100g of Kelp Dried (Seaweed) (1099mg)
• 1 cup fortified soy milk (300mg)
• 100g of Almonds (233mg)
• 255g pink salmon (543mg)
• 37g tin sardines with bones (111mg)
• 255g rainbow trout (219mg)
• 1 cup chickpeans/garbanzo (210mg)
• 1 cup soy flour (180mg)
• ½ cup soybeans, cooked (90mg)
• 1 cup yellow beans (110mg)
• 2 tablespoons ground flaxseeds (80mg)
• 85g baked snapper (34mg)
• 1 cup cooked broccoli (90mg)
• 3 teaspoons tahina (192mg)
• 1 cup canned kidney beans (138mg)
• 2 tablespoons carob powder (56mg)

Recommended Daily Intake of Calcium

Children 1-3 years: 500mg
Children 4-8 years: 800mg
Adolescence 9-18 years: 1300mg
Adults 19-50: 1000mg
Adults 50+: 1300mg

Calcium Inhibitors

When eaten in excess, these foods can either increase the secretion of Calcium from your body or prevent the absorption of Calcium.

1. Excess of protein (meat)
2. Coffee, soft drinks, diuretics
3. Refined sugar
4. Excess salt
5. Too little or too much exercise
6. Alcohol, marijuana, cigaretters
7. Tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, and bell peppers all contain solanine which is a calcium inhibitor

References

Healing with Whole Foods by Paul Pitchford
Krauses Food, Nutrition and Diet Therapy by Mahan and Escott-Stump

Related posts:

1. Raw Cheesecake Recipe – Dairy, Gluten and Guilt Free
2. Raw Ice Cream – A Dairy Free Alternative – My First Attempt
3. Lactose Intolerance: How To Avoid Dairy Without Avoiding The Taste

If eating citrus fruits, tomatoes or drinking red wine makes you feel a little off then understanding what a salicylate sensitivity is can help you finally connect the dots to these strange symptoms that occur after consuming something that should be considered healthy for you.

I’ve made a video that explains what salicylates are, what foods they are found in, why salicylate sensitivities occur and how you can help lower the adverse reactions you are getting from high salicylate foods.

If you are salicylate sensitive, please feel free to share with us your story so that there can be a greater awareness about salicylate sensitivities!

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1. Fat Intolerance Symptoms – How To Alleviate Them Naturally
2. Food Intolerance and Food Sensitivity – Which One Do You Have?

Simply Wize donated several hampers for their competition which included all of the Simply Wize products. It was a fantastic competition and really increased awareness of their product amongst the gluten free market.

First it involved an unbiased review of Simply Wize Crusty bread followed by a competition campaign of four hamper give aways.

To go to the crusty bread review click here.

To go to the gnocci review click here.

Hamper Giveaways

Simply Wize Hampers

The Simply Wize products were posted to Live Allergy Free where I was able to place them into hampers and send them directly to the competition winners.

A blog post was designed specifically for the competition which you can view here.

To enter the competition, Live Allergy Free facebook fans were asked to share Live Allergy Free page with as many of their friends as possible in order to enter into the draw which proved to be very successfull.

If you are interested in using Live Allergy Free as an avenue for advertising, please contact chl...@liveallergyfree.com.au.

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1. The Simply Wize Gluten Free Food Hamper Giveaway
2. Simply Wize Gnocchi Review – Calling All Pasta Lovers With Gluten Intolerance
3. Gluten Free Bread – Simply Wize Crusty Bread Review

Well fortunately there has been some new research and thanks to Sue Shephard you may just find out exactly why you have Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

Sue Shephard has discovered that 75% of IBS sufferers will receive relief from their symptoms when going on a low fructose diet.

How Fructose Intolerance causes IBS

This is because when you are fructose intolerant and have an inability to digest fructose adequately, when eating certain fruits and vegetables that are high in fructose your digestive system is unable to break apart the fructose molecules causing fermentation in the digestive system.

These molecules that are poorly absorbed in the small intestine will continue to the large intestine where they become a food source for the bacteria that reside here.

The bacteria found in the large intestine use the undigested fructose molecules as food which lead to fermentation creating symptoms of Irritable Bowel Syndrome, including bloating, wind, cramping and alternating constipation and diarrhoea.

How Do I Find Out If I’m Fructose Intolerant?

If you are fructose intolerant you may be able to tell from certain fruits and vegetables that make you feel sick after you eat them (this will be listed below).

But if you want to be 100% sure before going on a low fructose diet then there is a breath test called a hydrogen breath test (H2BT) that may be available through some doctors (these tests may be hard to find in Brisbane but we’ve been told it should be available soon) which is the same test used to determine lactose intolerance.

High Fructose Fruits

These fruits have a higher fructose to glucose ratio which makes it difficult to digest in fructose intolerant individiuals. If you are fructose intolerant then you may find that avoiding some of these fruits may be beneficial. But don’t worry there are plenty of safe fruits that you can still eat even with fructose intolerance!

Fruits

• Apple
• Mango
• Nashi Fruit
• Pear
• Persimmon
• Rambutan
• Watermelon

Suitable Fruits With Low Fructose Content

These fruits have a lower fructose ratio that can be tolerable at lowers amounts in IBS sufferers.

• Banana
• Blueberries
• Boysenberry
• Canteloupe
• Star Fruit
• Cranberry
• Durian
• Grapes
• Grapefruit
• Honeydew melon
• Kiwi
• Lemon
• Lime
• Mandarin
• Orange
• Passionfruit
• Paw Paw
• Pineapple
• Raspberry
• Rhubarb
• Strawberry
• Tangelo

So there you go, if you wondered why certain fruits made you feel uncomfortable after eating them then it’s possible you may have fructose intolerance! I hope that this information has been beneficial for some IBS sufferers who may feel lost with what is triggering their IBS symptoms.

References

Sue Shephard. Paediatric Allergies Seminar Brisbane, October 5 2010.

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1. Fat Intolerance Symptoms – How To Alleviate Them Naturally

I borrowed this recipe off a friend, after having the opportunity to try her mouthwatering raw cheese cake at work. I was in love after the first bite! It was the first time I’ve ever come across a cheesecake that was dairy and gluten free.

I just couldn’t believe it, I had to give it a go myself and share it with all of you cheese cake lovers that have problems with dairy and gluten!

Even though mine didn’t turn out anything like hers, it still tasted absolutely amazing!!

My cheese cake had more of a yellow colour to it than the usual white cheese cake colour like my friends. This is because I ran out of lemons so I had to use passionfruit in the cheesecake, instead of putting it on top.

I’d have to say that when I usually alter a recipe like that, it is usually completely ruined – but in this case it surprisingly made it better! The taste of this cheesecake was beautiful, it was so tasty and though not tasting identical to a cheese cake. It sure did satisfy every single persons taste buds whom I shared it with.

I recommend this recipe highly! It’s so easy to make, no cooking is actually involved since it’s raw so there is no chance of burning anything with this recipe. All you need is a food processor and the following ingredients.

Raw Cheesecake Recipe

1.5 cup dates

1 cup macadamias

1 cup cashews (soak 2 hours prior)

2 cups shredded coconut or coconut chips

1 cup coconut oil

1 cup lemon juice ( I did 1/2 cup lemon juice and 1/2 cup passionfruit)

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1/2 cup agave syrup

Steps

1. Process the dates and macadamias to form the base of the cheesecake until well combined

2. Put the base in a tray and flatten with a spatula so that the base sticks together

3. Combine the cashews, shredded coconut, coconut oil, lemon juice/passionfruit, vanilla essence and agave syrup and process until a smooth texture

4. Pour evenly over the base of the cheesecake

5. Refridgerate for one to two hours before serving – this will make it easier to cut once everything has set a little bit

Enjoy!

Related posts:

1. Raw Ice Cream – A Dairy Free Alternative – My First Attempt
2. Lupin Flour Energy Slice Recipe
3. Lactose Intolerance: How To Avoid Dairy Without Avoiding The Taste

I finally ended up finding time to make an energy slice with lupin flour and it turned out surprisingly well – maybe I’m not so bad at this cooking thing after all.

This recipe was really easy to follow and it tasted AMAZING! We finished the whole batch in two days and I can’t wait to make more.

Unfortunately the recipe did ask for butter and rolled oats, and oat bran, so if you are allergic to dairy or have Celiac disease then the recipe might not be ideal unless you can find oat bran that is gluten free and not used on the same machinery as wheat products.

However, this recipe is great for those of you with wheat intolerance or wheat allergies. It really sustains your appetite and made me feel really quite full so it’s great as a snack or as a healthier alternative to ice cream after dinner.

I may look into buying some lupin flour myself and give it a good shot at other recipes as an alternative gluten free flour!

The Recipe

Preparation Time
15 minutes

Cooking Time
25 minutes

Ingredients

• 125g unsalted butter
• 60g honey
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 cup Irwin Valley Lupin Flour
• ½ cup oat bran
• ½ instant oats
• ¾ cup flaked (or shredded) coconut
• 1 cup sultanas
• 1 cup grated apple (Granny Smith or
  Pink Lady)
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon

Method

• Preheat oven to 180°C (conventional heat)
• Melt butter & honey together over low heat & cool
• Add beaten egg
• In large mixing bowl, stir together flour, bran, cinnamon, oats, coconut , sultanas & apple
• Add liquid mix & stir to combine
• Line a 20 cm square (or 28 x 18cm) tray with baking paper
• Spoon mixture in & press into corners
• Bake until golden brown on top (approx 30 minutes)
• Cut into slices in tray while hot
• When cool, store in an airtight container
• Let me know of any recipes you have used with lupin flour and what your taste buds think

To find more recipes like this one using lupin flour check out the Irwin Valley website.

Related posts:

1. Irwin Valley Lupin Flour – The New Kid On The Block
2. Raw Cheesecake Recipe – Dairy, Gluten and Guilt Free
3. Raw Ice Cream – A Dairy Free Alternative – My First Attempt

For some this is a beautiful time of the year, but for others Spring time is the most dreaded!

The increase of pollination combined with the urge to spend more time outside in the sunshine, can trigger those awful hay fever symptoms that you forgot about during Winter.

Spring time is a special time of the year, and shouldn’t be missed by anyone. So if you are a sufferer of hay fever during Spring and Summer, than right now is a good time to start putting in some preventative measures so that you don’t suffer for the rest of the year.

Hay Fever Relief Tips

If antihistamine medications aren’t cutting it, or you prefer a more natural approach then check out these top hay fever relief tips.

Get Your Vitamin C

It works by reducing the amount of histamine released by mast cells that triggers the runny, stuffy nose and the itchy eyes. If you find it difficult to eat a wide range of these vitamin C rich foods everyday, then you can look at supplementing with a 1000mg of vitamin C (adult dose).

Foods high in vitamin C – Strawberries, Oranges, Mandarins, lemons, paw paw, pineapple, broccoli and sweet potato are all good sources of vitamin C but it’s something you must eat everyday for it to have any effect on your allergies.

Steer Clear of Foods You Are Sensitive To

Try to avoid possible food allergens that you may be intolerant or sensitive to.

If you are sensitive to particular foods without even knowing it, your body will continuously produce an immune reaction to that particular food on an everyday basis.

This puts your immune system into a hypersensitive state and makes you more prone to environmental allergens by increasing the production of histamine which is responsible for a variety of allergic symptoms.

If you suspect you have food intolerances, there are many blood tests available that can accurately test what foods your body is reacting to.

Common food intolerances and sensitivities include wheat, dairy, egg, nuts and citrus fruits.

I’ve seen hay fever symptoms completely abate after an elimination diet was followed when the food culprit was discovered – it’s incredible how common food sensitivities are!

Quercetin, Rutin, Citrus Bioflavonoids and Hesperidin

These are flavonoid and bioflavonoids which are usually found in combination in a supplement. They are naturally occurring in a range of fruits and vegetables that have potent anti-inflammatory and antiallergy properties. Their very useful in the treatment of hay fever and sinusitis.

They can be used long term or for immediate relief usually with in 20 minutes, for acute allergic conditions.

Increase Your Water Intake

In allergies, histamine is seen as the bad guy. Histamine is seen as something that must be eliminated as fast as possible so that your allergic symptoms can begin to decrease. Anti-histamine medications will fix that pretty fast, but not for long as it isn’t fixing the real problem.

What if fixing the real problem was as simple as drinking more water?

Funnily enough, histamine actually has a number of jobs (other than to make your life miserable) in the body, but a very important job is to distribute water around the body when it is dehydrated.

When you aren’t drinking enough water and your body is dehydrated, histamine is released to preserve the water in your body. Histamine production is increased dramatically creating the classic allergy symptoms of runny nose and itchy eyes.

Many of you may be dehydrated without even knowing, and this could be a key factor in your hay fever symptoms. The optimum amount of water you should be drinking to ensure your body is well hydrated, is to drink 1 litre of water per 25 kilograms of body weight per day!

Swap that coffee, tea or soft drink for another tall glass of filtered water and give your body a helping hand. Regaining adequate hydration can take some time, so be persistent with your water intake.

Do this along side the other hay fever relief tips, and you should be well on your way to a hay fever free Spring and Summer!

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1. Top Five Natural Allergy Treatments Youve Never Heard Of

Are you bored with the gluten free flours that are on the supermarket shelves? Rice flour, corn flour, maize – these three ingredients are found in the majority of all gluten free products that requires flour.

Maybe seeing rice flour in every gluten free recipe that you come across makes you want to pull your hair out – what on earth happened to ‘variety is the spice of life?’

Well eating gluten free doesn’t have to be boring anymore! If you have been looking for something a little more exciting, perhaps a bit more nutritious that is still gluten free then I would like to introduce you to – Lupin flour.

What Is Lupin Flour?

Lupin flour has been born and bred in our own Australian soils – Western Australia to be exact. It is an extremely unique seed that’s not only gluten free but also contains a wide variety of health benefits.

Lupin is naturally high in protein, fibre and low in fat with a very low Glycemic Index, so it’s fantastic for any of you who are aiming to lose weight or trying to maintain a healthy weight. It doesn’t end there though (I know i didn’t think it could get better either!.

More Health Benefits

1. Makes you feel fuller for longer
You know how sometimes after eating a big carbohydrate meal you find you are ravenous only an hour or so afterwards? Well lupin flour doesn’t do that, because of it’s low glycemic index and it’s naturally occurring fibre you will find your appetite is sustained a lot longer.

So that you means you will no longer be reaching for the chocolate soon after.

2. Improving Blood Pressure
There has been some research on lupin and the naturally occurring arginine that has vaso-dilating properties to support normal blood pressure

3. Prebiotics for Digestive Health
The fibre in lupin acts like a pre-biotic in the digestive tract as it reduces transit time providing a great environment for the good bacteria in your digestive system

4. Improving Cholesterol
Lupin fibre is considered a soluble fibre that aids in reducing total cholesterol without affecting your good HDL cholesterol. The protein found in lupin also supports your liver to modify serum lipid profiles by enhancing the degradation of LDL cholesterol.

5. Balances Blood Sugar Levels
Lupin flour has been shown to greatly reduce the release of glucose into the blood stream stabilsing blood sugar levels. This means it’s great for weight loss, metabolic syndrome and diabetics!

6. Contains Omega 3 & 6
The fats found in lupin are polyunsaturated fats which are your Omega 3 and 6′s. These are your essential fatty acids that must come from your diet and have a wide range of health benefits including better concentration, memory, improved cardiovascular health and increased hydration of skin

Has It Won You Over Yet?

Who thought eating a gluten free flour could be so highly beneficial? It’s super exciting to see something that is so healthy for us and is tolerable by gluten intolerant or wheat intolerant individuals.

Now the test is to see how good it tastes! I have a received a free sample of lupin flour and I’ll be making one of their recipes called Energy Slice that is a nutritional snack incorporating lupin flour as it’s main ingredient.

There are many recipes on their website that uses lupin flour, so don’t think you’ll be left out in the dark when you start trying lupin flour as an alternative gluten free flour!

I will post a new article as soon as I’ve made it – hopefully successfully!

One Downfall

Since lupin is considered a legume, it has the potential to trigger allergic reactions in those of you with peanut allergies (as it is essentially the same family). Anyone with nut allergies are asked to be cautious when ingesting lupin.

To learn more about Irwin Valley Lupin flour or to find out where to purchase it please visit their website here.

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1. Lupin Flour Energy Slice Recipe
2. 6 Gluten Free Grains You Can’t Live Without

Are you running to the bathroom after you eat something deep fried, greasy and oily? Or perhaps you suffer with heart burn or nausea after eating fatty foods.

You may have an intolerance to fatty foods – which is very different to a food allergy. It doesn’t involve the immune system like an allergy does, but instead it is caused from the inability of your digestive system to break down the fat.

The symptoms that you experience after eating fatty foods may turn you off eating anything soaked in oil ever again – which you know isn’t particularly healthy for you anyway!

But you can’t help but wish that this didn’t happen to you. Lets face it, it’s not fun being in pain for hours on end after you have indulged in rich food.

Well I am going to tell you, that it is possible to alleviate these symptoms naturally by simply supporting your body to digest fats!

Before i tell you how, lets first look at what symptoms you may be experiencing so that you can know for sure if you have an intolerance to fatty foods.

Fat Intolerance Symptoms

These symptoms can occur immediately or up to a couple of hours after you’ve eaten fatty foods, and these foods don’t need to be just rich, oily junk foods either.

They can be healthy fats too! Often taking fish oil capsules, which are high in essential fatty acids (good fats) can cause unwanted side effects as well. This doesn’t happen to everyone, so it really depends on the severity of your fat intolerance.

• Reflux
• Heart Burn
• Nausea
• Diarrhoea
• Bloating
• Bowel movements called Steatorrhoea (stee-at-OR-rea) that are frothy and smell foul
• Wind

How To Relieve Fat Intolerance Symptoms Naturally

Fat intolerance usually occurs in those of you who have an under functioning liver. The liver is so important in digesting fats because it is responsible for releasing a substance called bile, which is stored in your gallbladder and released every time you eat fatty foods.

Bile acts like the dish washing liquid that you use in the sink to dissolve grease and fat off your dishes. It emulsifies and breaks down the fat you have eaten once it enters the small intestine.

If you have a lack of bile being produced every time you eat fatty foods, the fat won’t be broken down and emulsified adequately which will cause many of the symptoms mentioned above.

If you have had your gall bladder removed, or have a history of gall stones – it is usually a big indicator that your liver isn’t doing too well which can be causing your fat intolerance.

Anything that places stress on your liver like; alcohol, caffeinated drinks e.g. Redbull, Mother, V, coffee, medications or recreational drugs can greatly diminish the functioning of your liver.

If you combine this with a diet lacking fresh fruits, vegetables and good quality protein you may be deficient in the necessary nutrients needed to support your body to detoxify, produce bile and function and its full potential.

Support Your Liver To Help Digest Fat

These are simply ways you can help support the functioning of your liver to help you better digest fat.

• Lemon – Squeeze 1/4 to 1/2 a fresh lemon into room temperature water and drink immediately upon rising, this kick starts your liver and assists with digestion of food
• Lecithin – Add 1 tablespoon of lecithin on your cereal or in smoothies once to twice daily. Lecithin contains something called choline which is a ‘lipotropic’ and is necessary component to help you metabolize fats
• Dandelion Root Tea - Dandelion has several properties to help support your liver to detoxify and function better. It has ‘cholagogue’ and ‘choleretic’ actions that stimulate the release of bile from your gallbladder, as well as increasing the production of bile by your liver. Caution – This should not be used if you have gallstones
• Globe Artichoke – This is another herb that has similar properties to Dandelion which can be taken in capsule form after each meal to assist with the digestion of fats. Caution – This should not be used if you have gallstones.

Give your liver some TLC and it will repay you! If you have tried any of these recommendations or have found a great natural remedy for relieving your fat intolerance symptoms then please feel free to share in the comments below.

Related posts:

1. Common Food Allergy Symptoms
2. IBS and Fructose Intolerance – The New Connection
3. Understanding Salicylate Sensitivity – Treating It Naturally