Hello Rachel

I came across your website in November 2010 and by introducing saturated fats into my diet, this has made a big difference to my life, for which I would like to thank you very much.

By way of background, in January 2004 I was diagnosed with iron deficient anemia and as I had had melanoma in 1989, the medical experts were sure I had bowel cancer, thankfully this wasn’t the case.  Briefly, a barium enema stripped my body of all nutrients etc and I was then unable to tolerate gluten and dairy.  The results were inconclusive and I then had a colonoscopy and gastroscopy followed by an enteroscopy, after which I was unable to tolerate soy.  I swallowed the camera pill in 2005 which showed no problems, but with each medical procedure the foods I could tolerate lessened.  I was under a dietician and became failsafe at the beginning of 2005 when I failed every challenge, and by around August that year I started having severe problems with anything containing formaldehyde to the point where I could no longer read the newspaper or magazines, do hospital visiting or cope with smells from cosmetics, shampoo, sprays, paint etc and dental appointments were only for emergencies.  By this time, I was so sensitive I couldn’t even touch food containing gluten without getting the same reaction as if I had actually eaten it.  In December 2005 I had an appointment with the RPAH Allergy Clinic in Sydney and although they were very understanding, the doctors there told me they usually got their patients to where I had got myself, so basically gained nothing from that visit.

In March 2006 I worked my way up to being able to tolerate moderate salicylates and amines, but still no gluten, dairy, soy or anything commercially prepared – I prepared and cooked all my own food from scratch and if I went out for a meal, I took my own food.

To cut a long story short, in November 2010, I came across your website.  As MSG, HVP and other goo had been absent from my diet for over six years, the only change I had to make was introducing saturated fat into my diet.  I started leaving the fat on porterhouse steak and the skin on chicken breasts etc and cooking roasts in dripping, and from day one I had great success.  I always used to feel hungry, but from the day I first introduced extra fat into my diet things changed for the better, I stopped feeling hungry, didn’t start my day with diarrhea anymore and suddenly had heaps of energy, which had been lacking over the previous six to seven years.  I was suddenly able to add a host of fruit and veggies (ie those containing high levels of salicylates) into my diet.  I had always suspected my body wasn’t getting nutrients from my food, despite the fact that I was eating extremely healthy food and plenty of it, and no medical experts could tell me why.  Over the last six weeks I have added, slowly at first but now normal sized portions of salicylates from the high category group into my diet and have so far had apricots, strawberries, blueberries, cucumber, capsicum, fancy lettuce and new potatoes just to name a few, with no problems whatsoever.  I wasn’t able to tolerate even very small amounts of any of these fruits and veggies before.  I can now also tolerate peas (with natural MSG) which I couldn’t tolerate before.  By such a simple thing as introducing fat into my diet, I feel like I have got my life back again.

I am still having reactions to formaldehyde, but the reactions are much less severe and I am able to tolerate a lot more smells etc than I could before.  I am hoping this will continue to improve as time goes by.

Unfortunately, I still can’t tolerate gluten and dairy and I haven’t tried soy, but the additional fruit and veggies I am able to tolerate and the vast improvement in my general wellbeing have made such a difference to my life, for which I am very grateful to you.  To date, I have actually lost 1.5kg which I am sure is a result of the fat emitting toxins from my body, but I am hoping my weight will stabilise before too long as I can’t afford to lose any more weight. 

Your website it great – keep up the wonderful work you are doing.

Thanks and kind regards

Catherine S

Answer from Rachel Tomkinson