One of the worst things about moving is that you have to find new healthcare providers. In Brissie, I had a fantastic doctor (and dentist/osteopath/etc but the doctor is the one I really miss) and now it feels like I've taken a few steps back healthwise.

So this weekend I'm off to a new doctor who is hopefully going to help me adjust what I'm doing and get me to a better stage. Before anyone mentions compliance, let me add that I'm 100% compliant, seriously, and although that helps, it doesn't solve all of my health problems.

We'll see how it goes. So far, I've had some great luck in Perth with a fantastic osteopath, maybe I'll get lucky with the doctor as well.

Well, I arrived home yesterday afternoon expecting to see a fridge somewhat less healthy than when I left, but still in good shape. After all, my husband is a great cook and before we moved in together, was quite healthy. Admittedly, he loves his wheat, but he used to cook some great meals for himself and we share the cooking duty 50/50 when I'm at home.

Let's just say, the fridge had seen better days. The only vegies it contained were ones that I'd bought before I'd left. Lettuce that was well past its prime, rockmelon (cantaloupe) that had grown new species of mould (thank goodness it was still in its wrapper), bananas that were completely black. It did though have two Pizza Hut boxes, some garlic bread, V drinks and RedBull. Basically a nightmare.

He hadn't eaten completely badly whilst I was away though, he had bought himself lunches each day (yet another wheat-fest of sandwiches), ate some food from the freezer like lamb chops and steak with frozen vegetables and cooked himself some sausages. Amazingly though, my B positive husband also managed to buy some chicken sausage rolls.

So, how's he feeling after this? In short, not great- upset tummy, bloated, not too much energy. You see, we're having a bit of a weight loss competition at the moment. We're both feeling a bit chunky so decided that we would set goals to reach by our birthdays in August. Needless to say, he's a little further from his goal at the moment and I think now is the time to capitalise and transition him more to the BTD.

He's now realising that what he eats does affect how he feels, especially as he's getting a bit older. I went out yesterday afternoon so that we now have fresh fruit and vegies, the fruit is chopped up in the fridge ready for him to have and after tomorrow there will be healthy snacks/meals on hand for him. I am wondering if I'll try him on the Genotype diet for a little while, but we'll see how it goes.

So, I met up with the Singapore BTD'ers whilst over here and they are a fun bunch of O's!

Last week we had dinner in the hotel restaurant (where they were used to dealing with my food issues) however this week we ventured out onto the streets of Singapore - to the BTD Restaurant.

It was fantastic. Accidental Chef (from the boards) had coordinated the whole thing and, especially for us Nonnies, a special menu was arranged. Amazing doesn't even begin to describe it. The planning was akin to a world summit, but the results were worth the effort. It was so good to go out for a "safe" meal where you knew the chef was aware of the issues.

As we walked in, we were asked our blood type and given a colour coded menu. For the O's it was red, the A's blue, B's yellow and AB's green. The range is fantastic. There are soups, entrees, mains and, the manna from heaven for the O-nons, desserts. Like, real desserts. As BTD followers, we couldn't resist looking at all the offerings available and having a look at all the menus.

Given that we had a pre-arranged menu, we knew that everything would be safe for the nonnies as well. As a soup, two of us had the Broccoli whilst one had the Mushroom. The broccoli was divine. Smooth, velvety and comforting all at once. The mushroom looked equally fantastic.

As a starter, we shared the seared tuna. Again, lovely. The tuna was just seared at the edges, but great quality so that it just melted in your mouth.

Mains were next bringing a selection of lamb, beef and ocean trout. I had the trout and it was fantastic. A good selection of vegies and a nice portion size. Both the beef and lamb looked amazing.

Finally, dessert. This was new territory for a nonnie. The other nonnie and I both had a jasmine jelly that was completely compliant - agave, beef gelatin and jasmine tea. The secretor at the table had a fantastic looking chocolate cake with vanilla icecream (again completely compliant).

One element of the restaurant that definitely differentiates it from its competitors is that while you're waiting for your first course, they give you a form to fill out to find out what your main health issues are and make suggestions about how they can be addressed.

So, if you're ever in Singapore, head to the My Type Restaurant and I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. We had an amazing time with excellent company and safe food. What more could you ask for?

PS. Thanks again to the Singapore girls for taking the time out to have dinner with me twice. It was really appreciated!

I really hope that you’re not getting sick of Singapore stories, but this one is really close to my heart. When I first found out that I was going over for work, my grandfather wanted me to go to one place – Fort Canning. You see, he was in the Second World War and fought for Australia in that conflict. Even though I learned about the conflict in school and from his stories, this was the first time that he’d ever mentioned Singapore.

So, on Friday I trekked off to the Fort Canning Park and got to experience an audio-visual recount of the days when Singapore was taken. I didn’t expect to be as moved as I was. When I was in there, I could imagine how my grandfather must have felt when he was in Papua New Guinea and fighting in the war. I ended up crying during one presentation as they showed us a conference where they decided to surrender; knowing that they would become POWs in camps that were designed to make them suffer. It just brought home, in ways no classroom lesson ever could, how unbelievably difficult life was at that time and how sometimes there isn’t a win/win outcome at all.

Now, what does this have to do with the BTD? To me, this was a big lesson about learning from the past. Learning from the lessons that the past can teach us and taking them with us on our journey through life; whether about food on the BTD (based on the learnings of Dr D and others) or how stress is bad for your health or that you need to get enough sleep. I guess it just made me wonder why we need to repeat the mistakes of the past all the time – eating foods that we know will make us sick, forgoing sleep, putting off health checks – when we live in relatively lucky times. OK, they’re not perfect, but you know what, most of us aren’t living in a situation where there’s no water left, there’s an army surrounding us and there’s nowhere to flee. To me, that gives us a responsibility to try and make the future better; not to repeat the mistakes of the past.

I won’t comment on the mistakes that our leaders may or may not make.

And, for all the Aussies - Happy Anzac Day for Friday. I hope that you're able to attend a service if you choose to.

Nope, I'm not jetting off to Singapore for any funny business, it's just the name of a drink somebody tried to sell me tonight.

At the moment I'm in the wild and crazy world that is Singapore. It's hustling, bustling and moves at a frenetic pace compared to Australia. The people are fantastic though and it has to be the safest place I've ever been (which was lucky when I was lost and walking the streets at 11:30pm one night!). The main thing I've gotten out of this trip, aside from a heap of learning on the work side, has been how hard it is to do the BTD or have food allergies in Singapore, especially if you're an ex-pat. I also got to meet up with some of the Singapore BTDers (more about that in a later blog).

I've been really lucky, the hotel I've been staying at was informed of my allergies/intolerances before I came and they have done a fantastic job of providing safe food. Outside of the hotel, it's a different story. There's a world full of wheat, corn, soy, eggs (personal allergy that's pretty serious) and dairy out there just waiting to trip you up. I had been dealing with it by sticking to the hotel food and tinned tuna, however there's a limit to how much carrot and broccoli a girl can eat and I was craving variety.

So, last Sunday I decided that I couldn't stomache another day of tinned tuna for lunches and braved a new frontier - eating at a restaurant. Now, I didn't jump into the deep end and go to a hawker market, instead I chose an American style seafood restaurant and chose something very plain - grilled fish and salad. I did the responsible thing and asked about wheat, flour, if it was rolled in anything and also told them no butter, milk, etc. I should have realised something was wrong when they brought me out a piece of garlic bread (which I didn't eat), but I thought they've made one mistake, but that's no need to write them off.

Then the main came, with three breaded calamari rings. Well, I wasn't going to be deterred, I cut off about an inch of fish that I thought would make it safe. What I hadn't counted on was the fish being covered in flour before it was grilled. I could tell at the first bite and for the first time in about five years, I got glutened. Five days later, trust me, I'm still paying the price.

So, what's the lesson out of this experience?
From my perspective, planning is the key. I think, in hindsight, a great idea would have been to print out a list of foods that I need to avoid in Malay or Chinese and have that ready to hand over. I don't know how to communicate in their language and it's a little wrong to expect them to have detailed understanding in a second language.

The other thing is, that if you get the chance, definitely come to Singapore. It's fantastic. There's some amazing history and you seriously have to catch their MRT, it's an amazing form of public transport.

I wanted to use my first blog as a bit of an introduction. As you can see from my bio, I’m a married 26 year old who’s been on the BTD a while. I have a heap of allergies (thanks to an inherited hypersensitive system) and had numerous antibiotics as a child. To expand, and let you know a little bit more, I found the BTD through a GP. It seems like ages ago now, but it was during a particularly bad health period when I was passing out on a regular basis, having sore joints and becoming increasingly hyper-reactive to everything from perfumes to foods to everyday cleaners. So, in an effort to regain a normal life, I went into the BTD full force.

The changes started to happen right away. Coming off soy cleared up my skin, my joints started to stop aching and my blood pressure normalized. Now, I’m not going to say that since then everything has been great, but from a food perspective it’s been a lot easier. Once you start really focusing on the beneficials and limit the avoids (as well as any specific allergens that you have), you start to feel a lot better.

The thing is though, that food is just one part of the story, a lot of things depend on other factors as well. For me, stress is a big trigger. I developed CFS and a mystery virus in 2004, no matter how well I adhered to the diet, I had reached a low point again. I had an inflamed liver and my system was completely out of balance, a reflection of my life at that time when I’d just moved across the country and felt completely out of control. My body responded the only way it knew how, by seeing everything as a threat. That meant new allergies (goodbye tomatoes) and new challenges.

So, this time, we took a step back and looked at everything. From our routines at home to when we were eating to the cleaners and environmental factors that I was exposed to. This started to help and I have to admit, that although BTD is a big part of the picture, sometimes it's those other triggers that need to be investigated as well. I'm looking forward to sharing with you some of the issues that I've faced, some O-nonnie recipes and some tips/hints on researching issues that you're interested in.

On a lighter note, I work full-time (as a Business Analyst) and study Law part-time. Thus if you ever want someone to commiserate with about trying to do both, I’m a willing listener (and some time procrastinator!). Feel free to e-mail me about anything and I'll aim to get back to you ASAP.

Thanks for taking the time to read,

Bec

I'm a newly married 26 year old with a 36 year old husband plus two Alaskan Malamutes. We live in Perth, Western Australia having just moved from Brisbane in Queensland. I've been on the BTD for the past few years and am currently trying to convert the other member of our household to a healthier way of life.

I'm an O positive, nonnie, Gatherer.

The BTD has made a big difference to my life and I"m looking forward to sharing my experiences with others.