Identification of foods in different markets is still an issue for BTD identification.

Beef is beef, lamb is lamb, pork is pork, chicken is chicken, turkey is turkey, tofu is delicious, fish is……………..?

Fish is the hardest food group to identify on the BTD lists because the same fish is called different names in different areas of the World. Take the Orange Roughy for instance. A popular fish in Australia and New Zealand does not appear to be in the type base and people have expressed concern about its status.

If you type fish into the type base all the names have fish in them. Thinking outside the square, I typed in orange, guess what the first item listed was, Orange Roughy. This may be something for the D’Adamo web site designers to check out. There are obviously some anomalies in the way foods are listed or found.

By the way it’s neutral for all blood types.

In the nicest possible way I was called a ‘food intellectual’ by a fellow blogger the other day. Now I’m not even sure what a food intellectual is, but if it means I have an interest in food and a passion for food then possibly I am. All I know for sure is that without food you die.

Looking back at my blog history I guess I do come over as a bit black or white. There are no grey areas in my food life, however this blog is supposed to reflect me and my thoughts and that’s what I give you.

Long before BTD I was an avid ingredient reader for reasons totally unrelated to this diet.

For most of her adult life Sue, my wife has suffered from Migraine. Not the “I’ve got a headache I think I’ll take an aspirin” type of headache but the full blown flashing lights, lie down in a dark room and sleep type headache. Any of you who are severe migraine sufferers will know what I’m describing.

When we were first married in 1975, Sue experienced migraine attacks with a frightening regularity, culminating one night after a meal in a restaurant with me sitting on the floor holding her while she suffered probably the worst attack of her life up until then and disposed of the evening’s meal in fairly violent ways. Enough said about that.

That particular meal included a seafood mornay so included cheese, shellfish and wine.

As it turned out all of these food groups eventually turned out to be migraine triggers. Years of experimentation and food elimination followed until we established a diet regime that is fairly safe for her. During this time we learnt early that we had to read all ingredients and be very specific about what we asked for when eating out. Migraines were an ever present part of our earlier married life, however because we worked at it and were rigid in what Sue ate they have become less of a threat over the years.

Much like a recovering alcoholic is still an alcoholic Sue will always be a migraine sufferer. Years later we were on holiday in Thailand when she experienced an attack of similar severity to the one described earlier. Imagine her terror and confusion in a foreign country with a foreign doctor and trying to explain what was wrong. The medical staff at the hotel was superb and gave Sue an injection which settled her down. Our holiday schedule was such that we were due to travel the following morning to the coastal resort of Pattaya Beach. I still don’t know how we got Sue onto the mini bus and down there. I think we both thought she was literally going to die.

Migraine attacks are still infrequent and the severity varies now. I hope she doesn’t read this and think that it will be ‘Murphy’s Law’ having written about this.

Anyway this is the reason I am so stringent about my food, I have seen 29 years of my wife’s struggle against migraine and am a firm believer that what you put into your body has a definite influence on your health.

Since Sue has been on the BTD her health has also improved and the range of foods she can eat safely has widened.

If that makes me a food intellectual so be it. If it makes me seem black and white in my outlook on food then so be that as well.