Vive la Différence!

How to enjoy your dietary restrictions – yes, we said enjoy

WELCOME TO THE rest of your life, during which you can no longer eat gluten/sodium/dairy/sugar/fat (choose one). Bon appétit! “It’s common because, as we get older, things don’t work as well,” says Kim Arrey, a registered dietitian in Montreal. “People develop a heart condition or diabetes. I also have clients with new lactose intolerance and more and more older people coming in with irritable bowel syndrome.” But new dietary restrictions don’t have to restrict your dining enjoyment. Here are six ways to continue to celebrate food.

Get sauced

Reduced sodium may be what the doctor ordered, but what if your tastebuds aren’t quite as happy as your heart? A Malaysian research team recently showed that adding Vietnamese fish sauce to everyday foods like tomato sauce and chicken broth makes them taste as though they contain regular salt but with up to 25 per cent less sodium. Fish sauce, made from slowfermented anchovies and sea salt, is a condiment commonly used in

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southeast Asian cooking. The researchers suggest fish sauce could be used in place of salt by anyone who wants to reduce the sodium content of their favourite dishes.

Apply apps

InRFood, a smartphone app released last year, lets you know if a food product is on your nofly list, especially if that’s not obvious at a glance. Does the product contain hidden sources of gluten, like malt extract? Invisible dairy ingredients, like whey? Is it overloaded with sugar or sodium? With InRFood, you can scan a barcode while you’re grocery shopping and get instant feedback – including warnings based on your personal settings. Best of all, no more squinting at those impossibly tiny ingredient listings! Also, look into ScanAvert, designed to check if a product is compatible with your dietary restrictions.

Unfriend your FODMAPs

When you’re struggling with irritable bowel syndrome, you aren’t always sure which foods will trigger uncomfortable symptoms. That can make mealtime a sort of surprise

Becel Vegan was launched earlier this year and besides being dairy-free – Becel’s other flavours are, well, flavoured with a little fat-free buttermilk – it’s also free of artificial preservatives, flavours and colours with the company taking its margarines au naturel this year as well. It can be substituted one-for-one where butter is called for. And its plant and seed oils provide omega-3 polyunsaturated fat, a fat shown to be important to brain, eye and skin health. —Tara Losinski grab bag. But a team at Monash University in Australia has developed a set of recommendations, based on clinical evidence, for restricting a group of rapidly fermentable, short-chain carbohydrates in your diet. FODMAPs (fermentable oligo-di-monosaccharides and polyols) are often poorly digested and absorbed, can attract more water into your digestive system or may trigger gassy bacteria activity. Examples include certain fruits such as apples and peaches, high-lactose dairy products like ice cream and some meat alternatives such as lentils. You don’t need to avoid them completely, but your symptoms may improve if you refrain from eating them in excess. The list of high FODMAP foods is long (don’t worry, so is the friendly-food list), so for best results, caution the researchers, follow the guidance of a trained dietitian. “The more you know about the different food choices and how you react, the more flexibility you’ll have,” says Arrey. Go to Monash University’s low FODMAP diet page at www.med. monash.edu/cecs/gastro/fodmap to order a booklet or download the app.

Give stevia a chance

Caloriefree stevia, an ingredient extracted from the South American plant’s super-sweet leaves, has been gaining popularity as a sugar replacement. Not only is it 200 times sweeter, it may even have health benefits, like helping to balance cholesterol levels and lowering blood pressure. But many consumers complain about a bitter aftertaste, which manufacturers typically mask with … well, sugar.