Reading, reading, reading

First I want to say that I deleted the post with the recipe which I had thought was FructMal safe - it possibly was - but I had a reaction to it the next day, so thought it best to remove it. I think I probably reacted to the smoked fish ... who knows what chemicals were used???

Edited to add: After speaking with a dietician at Diet Solutions, I now think I was reacting to the amines in the fish.

This past weekend was wet & cold, so I spent quite a lot of hours doing further reading.

There's a great Fructose Malabsorption Group at Yahoo. It requires registration & approval to join from the group owner/moderators, but worth the wait to access the wide knowledge and support from the other members. It was started by people in the U.S. but many Australians are very active members. There's excellent info available:

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/fructose_malabsorption_australia/

I also found a website headed by Jaci Barrett, a recognised expert in GI issues/conditions.

Diet Solutions is in Surrey Hills, Melbourne. They conduct their research through Monash University, auspiced by Box Hill Hospital. Lots of excellent info here:

http://dietsolutions.net.au/

You can order their Low FODMAP Diet Booklet, but not using a CC phone order unfortunately.

The order form is here:

http://www.med.monash.edu.au/ehcs/research/docs/booklet-final-order-form.pdf

I believe there are some inconsistencies in the Shepherd Works Low FODMAP Diet booklet. For example, brown rice is listed as 'safe' ... my most recent research indicates that white rice only is suitable for people with FructMal. Capsicum (bell pepper) is also listed as safe ... be wary! Check your sensitivity to cabbage, broccoli & cauliflower ... fructans are the enemy here. Perhaps I don't have the most recent version of the booklet. It certainly does pay to be very up-to-date.

The other important thing I learned during the past 24 hours is that so-called 'onion stock' is not safe ... be wary of Silly Yaks products. Some people are reporting reactions to these products. The very most recent research has proven that onion and garlic fructans are water soluble, so removing the flesh after cooking does nothing because the fructans will still be in the liquid. However, they are not fat soluble so it is apparently safe to infuse oil with onion and/or garlic using heat; then use that oil for cooking to add flavour. Store in the fridge and use within 2 weeks. Be absolutely sure that no flesh gets into your cooking accidently.

Personally, I intend to remain well clear of those two nasties!