Scratching the surface.

I itch. Pretty much everywhere, and mainly at night. I've convinced myself that I have scabies even though the rash looks nothing like what Google Images throws up. The rash just looks like I've scratched myself to bits. Which I have. The doc gave me piriton and aqueous cream with calamine. Close, but no cigar...still itching.

A friend I've never met because she's one of those cyber buddies we all have these days, suggested that perhaps it could be a food allergy - most likely culprits being wheat or dairy. I don't eat all that much diary anyway; the taste/texture of milk makes me heave and as much as I love cheese it's generally better not to have it in the house because it seems to induce a severe lack of self control whenever I'm in the vicinity of the fridge. I've somehow managed to produce three cheese-indifferent children so it's not even as if I can share it. I'm forced to eat it all by myself. It's a trial.

Last week I decided to cut dairy out completely. I'd been using soya milk for cooking purposes (porridge mainly) but learned to love it (okay, that's a slight exaggeration) made with water. It's weird. I've always preferred my porridge to be creamy and sweet, but if I concentrate hard and think of savoury breakfasts like bacon and hash browns, I can take the porridge watery and salty without wanting to hurl it against the wall where it would no doubt act as a very successful binding agent between wall and paper should I ever run out of wallpaper paste proper. I do sometimes wonder if the reason porridge is on so many diets is because actually it glues up your stomach lining and prevents the absorption of anything else.

Anyway, a week of no dairy products whatsoever had no effect whatsoever. I'm still squirming and trying not to resort to running a bristle hairbrush up and down my legs of an evening. So this week I thought I'd try cutting out wheat. This is a bit more of a challenge because when I looked through my food diary, there were rather a lot of wheat-based items throughout; wholemeal bread, pitta bread, pasta, flour tortillas and so on. And the kids eat a lot of it too; crumpets, hot cross buns, fruit loaf are all staples in our house.

I know I could prepare meals with couscous, rye, lentils, chickpeas and so on to fill me up without resorting to bread but on the first day, knowing that I was going to be eating leftover salad for lunch, I really just wanted some bread to go with it. So I invested in (and trust me, at that price it was definitely an investment) some wheat, milk and gluten free bread. I had previously heard horror stories about these products, but hey, that was years ago and I reckoned things must have improved by now. Especially at that price. How bad could it be?

So anyway, it seems like lentils and couscous could be the way ahead here. "Bread" made from potato, rice and shavings of owl pellets is not nice. It's very dry for a start and falls apart in your fingers. Then when you put it into your mouth it seems to expand and you can't actually swallow it straight away. The trouble is, as it becomes mixed with the saliva in your mouth it takes on the texture of slightly softened grit and when you do eventually spit it out the whole inside of your mouth feels...I don't know. The only word I can think of to describe this feeling is "cacky". I won't be buying anymore. As I said to Mother, if this is the best that the wheat-free world has to offer, I'll just scratch.

Starting weight: 14 Stone 11 lbs
Current weight: 11 Stone 13 lbs
Total Lost: 2 Stone 12lbs
This Week: -1lb

Today I'm wearing:

Adsa dark blue straight jeans, size 14, too big.
M&S sea green and white top, 3/4 length sleeves, size 14
Asda dark sea blue floppy cardigan size 14
Black knee length boots

I can see four grey hairs. More if I change my parting. They must go!