An "old" new member!

[betsy]

I have just found out about this great site from a newspaper in Louisville, KY. My sister (66) and I (63) have always known we would get sick if we ate anything sweet. Thankfully we were nursed babies since the formula at that time was evaporated milk and corn syrup. Our pediatrician had never heard of children not liking sweets and said he had not read about it in any medical book. Our mother had a very hard time with two of us. As I understand, heredity fructose intolerance was not identified until the 1950's. We did not know of the condition until I was 50 so we had many years of wondering if it was all in our minds. Unlike my sister, I "picked" on sweets because I hated being different. Thus I had an enlarged liver for a time with no explanation of why. After getting sick so often, I decided to stay away from sugar. The taste of anything sweet, whether artificial or not, is very unpleasant. I understand there are several mutations of HFI and have heard from someone in Canada who was the same. I feel the lack of fruit is the worst part of it. We have taken vit. C all of our lives to supplement. My sister's grandson is being tested by Dr. Tolan at Boston Univ.(tested both of us) since both parents are carriers and he refuses to eat sweets. He seems to decide by the smell of the food. He is 2 yrs.
I have read with great interest many of the postings and look forward to entering in. I have a cheese straw business in Alabama and I believe my main reason in staring it was to have something I could eat! There aren't many snacks out there with "no sugar". During my life time I have seen many non sweet products cave in to the idea that "it will taste better with sugar".
Thanks for letting me rattle on. I saw where some were trying to get a group together to meet others with HFI. That would be a real treat. Hope it will happen.

Betsy

[colormist]

Hi Betsy! I am 28 and just recently diagnosed with HFI. I figured out what I had over a year ago and just had to convince my doctor and geneticist (which they were very skeptical). Like you, I also was beginning to think it was all in my head. Most of my friends thought I should see a psychiatrist. (Lovely, eh?) It's always nice seeing some older members with HFI. We've got a few around here and it gives me some hope for a long & healthy life.

We've got a few topics started out there about general life issues & HFI. We're always trying to find common threads. Really, as my geneticist said, we already know more about our condition than what they could tell us.

We're also always looking for new recipies! So if you got'em, share'em! I've been contemplating putting together a HFI cookbook with recipes gathered from the HFI forums. I just need a little bit of motivation.

We also just found out about the newspaper article as well! We didn't know we were getting some nationwide free advertising.

Anyway! Glad to have you and we look forward to your thoughts, opinions, and experiences.

[julienc]

Welcome!!!

It's great to see new members, and as colormist said, it's nice to see older people with the condition living a happy, healthy life!

I've just been diagnosed with HFI but suspected my whole life that something was wrong with my brother and me, as he has the same food habits.

I look forward to hearing more about you.
Are your cheese straws locally sold, or can we find them in other parts of the country?

[betsy]

Thanks for the welcome!

We have 5 children and 10 grandchildren (8 yrs. and under). I didn't cook a lot of sweet things for our family and now they say, jokingly, that I deprived them. Since I don't like the sweet taste, I do not use sugar substitutes or glucose. I think it would be hard on those who do enjoy the taste and are not able to eat the dessert, fruit, many vegetables, etc.
Fred, I also get a little nauseated when certain foods are cooking; baked beans and apples in particular.
Juienc, even though I would never wish HFI on anyone, it was a comfort having a sister who had the same problem. With there being only a one in four chance of getting the defected gene, it seems less likely to have two in the same family.
I have found using dehydrated onions in recipes makes it possible to enjoy many things I could not normally eat. I make a chili without tomatoes using them. Also dressing at Thanksgiving. When going to a potluck, I always make something I know I will be able to eat.
Julienc, I sell the cheese straws mostly in the southeast. They are in the WHOLE FOOD STORES in the Atlanta area and some in NC, SC, AL, FL. Our web site is: www.betsyscheesestraws.com
Please visit. We have been making them for 9 years and as you can imagine, it is hard not eating them all day long. I do have to make sure they are "just right".
A bless day to all,
Betsy

[sarahk]

Mike: Sarah gets nauseated from the smells of sugar too-she usually goes into the backyard when backing something sweet-and can't stand going to Cold Stone with me-after about 1 min. she runs out of there.

Betsy--we are placing an order on your site right now

Colormist: Sarah's parents were ACTUALLY sent to a shrink by the doctors (Kaiser) when they were trying to figure out what she had.

A cookbook is a great idea-we have tons of really tasty recipes we make. An easy idea-once you get pass the initial set up, would be a website, set up in a book-like format rather than a message board, where people could most recipes AND pictures easily-since I hate cookbooks w/o pictures. Have all the traditional chapters: app., beef, chicken, fish, desserts--you know, cheese and Fun Dip. You should be able to print the "book" in a cookbook format.

[Guest]

How about a Fructose Intolerance cookbook Blog. Google Blogs are so simple and you can add pictures, have an index, etc. They are great. Here is a link: www.blogger.com/start Here is a good example of a cookbook blog: glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/

[colormist]

OMG, Fred! Fred!!! Come here!! You need to talk to these people...

(like, before somebody starts working on something that's already started...)


And, Betsy, I love you. I'm practically licking the screen. I think I need to order some cheese straws. Lots for me and some for a present for my brother... As a HFI person, what do you recommend? My brother loves pecans, so I'll have to get those for him.

[julienc]

Betsy,

I definitely agree that it was MUCH easier having my brother to commiserate with the food "issues". It made me seem somewhat less crazy, and it was easier for my mom to deal with us both the same (we are the only kids in the family).

Your cheese straws look so yummy! I'll have to check some of the Whole Foods in our area. We have a gourmet shop in town called "A Southern Season"...these would be a perfect product for that store.

[sarahk]

Mike:
Hey, I think I'll have plenty of time next Wed-Fri (while sitting through a three-day deposition) to get a Google cook blog going. Google is great-I have a few friends who work there-the food selection is like nothing I've ever seen.

On a side note-I realized this moring that my idea might to be the best-as is the blog--we have to watch out for Copyright infrigement-most of the receipes we use are modified recipes we got from somewhere else-even Sarah's mom's tasty cheese lima bean dish she's been making for 20 years is in some Betty Crocker book. I think if you site to the original source-if known, would be ok...

[colormist]

Betsy, I'm sorry we're totally hi-jacking your thread here.

Here's a link about copyrights on recipes: www.angelfire.com/mi/FAST/reciperules.html

[sarahk]

Mike: that's pretty accurate, but it gets more technical than that-you could argue Fair Use-which allows for copyright a certain amount of copyright violation for certain uses, like educational-which we can argue this is. Did I mention I'm an attorney? I took a lot of copyright courses in law school-but that was 3 years ago, and I don't practice copyright now

[betsy]

Mike, thanks for the order! Hopefully you will receive them the first of next week.

Colormist, my favorite is the Chives and Robert, my husband, likes the Blue cheese best. Our top sellers are Classic, Hot Classic and Blue Cheese. The Pecan and Chive are the Classic with pecan meal or chives added. All have a unique taste.

Juliene, I know of Southern Seasons and think they may carry one of the other cheese straws. I'm not sure which of the Whole Foods in NC carry them since our distributor places them in the stores.

Thank all of you for your interest. We take orders before the holidays and ship tins to those on your shopping list.

The cookbook idea sounds more interesting each time it is mentioned. I read that someone else is a DUKE'S mayo fan. I used to make my own, as my mother did when we were children. DUKE'S is as good and my children will eat nothing else. It makes wonderful pimento cheese.

[julienc]

Hi Betsy,

I checked our Whole Foods yesterday but didn't find them.
I'll keep my eyes open, though. My inlaws are in Atlanta, so I'll send them on a hunt. In the mean time, I'll have to order some on line.