Harcombe Diet followers will immediately spot the error – either in this write up from the Daily Mail Science reporter (Fiona MacRae) or from the press release itself. Food allergy and Food Intolerance are seriously different – potentially fatally. Food allergy absolutely is not in the mind – ever! If you suffer an anaphylactic shock after coming close to a peanut, you have a peanut allergy (and likely problems with many, or all, nuts). If you are like a friend of mine, who has a life threatening allergy to kiwi fruit, you know about it and it’s not in your mind – if it gets near your body, let alone inside you, it can kill.

Food Intolerance is the ‘too much/too often’ problem and the body literally becomes intolerant to this over-consumed substance. It’s the body’s way of saying “I can’t tolerate this substance any more“. (Sadly the withdrawal symptoms that accompany intolerance mean that you will crave the very food(s) to which you are intolerant).

What’s the most likely food intolerance in the UK? (USA and Australia also)? Wheat. Why? Because we eat it several times every day as a general rule: wheat toast or wheat cereal for breakfast; wheat muffins, wheat biscuits, wheat cereal bars etc for mid morning; wheat sandwiches or wheat pasta salad for lunch; more wheat snacks in the afternoon; wheat pasta, or wheat pizza or wheat pies or wheat pastry for dinner and then more wheat snacks in the evening.

The Flour Advisory Bureau statistics tell us “UK flour consumption per capita reached 73.3kg in 2002.” That means 1.4 kilograms of flour consumed per average person in the UK per week. I can’t find a single ingredient that we eat more of .

So – back to this study: researchers at the University of Portsmouth blamed internet searches and celebrity food fads for “make-believe allergies and intolerances” (that allergies mistake again) and said that, as a result, millions of people are unnecessarily restricting their diets – starving themselves of their favourite (interesting choice of word; try ‘addictive’ also) foods and of key nutrients (no nutrients in sugar and bread/cereals need to have added vitamins to be worth consuming, so clutching at straws here nutritionally).

You read on and find that the report was written by Dr Carina Venter – a dietician who specialises in allergies (allergies or intolerance? This is quite important). Then you get to the point in the article where I break out into something between a smile and a grimace – I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. The study was funded by the Flour Advisory Bureau. Now what was the most common food intolerance again?!

Dr Hilary Jones (love him) answered a question in the News of the World Sunday supplement (love it) in the October 2009 issue and said “About 45% of people suffer from food intolerance“. Personally, I have yet to find someone who does not feel better and lose weight faster when they avoid wheat. Sugar and flour are still the two products that I rarely consume – even after over 10 years of being in Phase 3. Has my health suffered in any single way? Quite the opposite.

Sadly in this world of conflicts of interest and food interested parties sponsoring diet advice – you are better off being your own judge and taking charge of your own health. If you do Phase 1 (it’s only 5 days) and feel better and then try the advice on food intolerance -  reintroducing foods and testing and keeping a diary -  you will see what makes you feel well and unwell. Your body will tell you – if it can be heard over the conflict of interest advice!

Good luck – Zoe x

Mincemeat (40%), wheat flour, butter (15%), sugar, whey powder, salt, raising agents (sodium phosphate, sodium carbonate).The mincemeat contains: sultanas, sugar, apple, glucose syrup, currants, orange peel, sunflower oil, COURVOISIER VS Cognac (contains colour (plain caramel)), almonds, brandy, acidity regulators (acetic acid, citric acid), lemon peel, corn starch, mixed spice, walnuts, glucose-fructose syrup, malted barley extract, vegetable oil, modified maize starch, preservative (potassium sorbate), orange oil.

Per 100g of product there are 58.5g of carbohydrate and 16g of fat. There are also 400 calories per 100g – remember calories are just fuel – but this is not the most nutritious fuel.

What would The Harcombe Diet say about this product?

1) If it is a real favourite food of yours then have it as a ‘cheat’ (checking all the tips for cheating), but if you could take it or leave it – leave it!

2) It is full of sugar, dried fruit (which the body sees as much the same as sugar) and wheat, so it is going to feed Candida, Food Intolerance and Hypoglycaemia.

3) Like most processed food, it mixes fats and carbs. The fats are actually good fats – butter, sunflower oil, walnuts etc. The carbs are not so good. Here are all the sugars – in case you missed any – sugar listed separately, sugar listed again under mincemeat, glucose syrup, caramel and glucose-fructose syrup. It is common for food manufacturers nowadays to list out all the sugars separately – if they lumped them altogether, sugar would invariably be the top ingredient.

4) Much better cheats would be dark chocolate, winter berries and cream, a glass of red wine, Haagen Dazs vanilla ice cream etc.

Followers of The Harcombe Diet will realise that I could not disagree with this more. Two thirds of the UK population (and US) are overweight. I do not believe that two thirds of the population, of these nations, have a psychological problem with food.

I do believe, however, that there are three very common medical conditions, which cause insatiable food cravings: Candida, Food Intolerance and Hypoglycaemia. I also believe that counting calories is one of the most direct routes to getting one, or all, of these three conditions. My expectation, therefore, would be that a WeightWatchers regular is highly likely to develop physical cravings for sugar, wheat and all the things that they try to eat ‘ in moderation’ on calorie restricted diets. Start Counting Calories and end up a food addict. Stop Counting Calories & Start Losing Weight!