Foods You Can My Story

Foods You Can was established in 2009 by me Bunmi Sobowale after a long stretch of inexplicable illness which started in 2004. My story is a lengthy, enlightening and inspirational one. My food allergy diagnosis wasn’t as straight forward as many may think although it was quicker for me than most.s

My journey summarised started with the inability to keep food down due to a bug in the stomach, which is believed I caught after a month long holiday abroad. This is where my apparent food intolerances/allergies began to become more and more apparent. After a month long hospital stay I began to gain back my appetite and craved the foods I’d normally eat. As I hadn’t had a treat for a long time, my friends took me out to an Italian restaurant; I proceeded to order my usual treat favourite, a simple thin crust pepperoni pizza. This meal was my first insight into my issues with food. I was unable to tolerate the meal and this was a huge shock to me. I carried on eating as normal knowing things weren’t quite right but unsure as to why this was. I visited my GP on a number of occasions and unfortunately he wasn’t able to explain or establish what was wrong. Months passed and I continued to get weaker and weaker and more ill. Five months after my first stay in hospital, I was admitted again. However this time it was something more severe. I’d lost my eye sight.

This period was the longest 4 months of my life. Luckily I regained my sight but my journey didn’t end there. Next came the inability to walk for a period of time and then walking again, losing all feeling in my body (numbness) you could pour boiling water on me and I wouldn’t feel it, losing my hair, speech problems, suffering from neuropathic pains, more food allergies and intolerances and in fact a total of over 20 different episodes with the illness travelling and affecting almost every part of my body. All this happened from the age of 24 a huge shock for someone who was extremely fit and healthy, attending the gym daily and looking after my body inside and out.

Although brilliant and saving my life, doctors have never been able to pin point or work out why my body malfunctioned so to speak. Despite countless medications including steroids (which led to weight gain of over 10 stones) and a form of chemotherapy (leaving me lethargic and tired), I don’t regret a single thing that has happened to me and instead see all this as a blessing that has brought me to where I am today. I was finally diagnosed in 2006 with coeliac disease and a range of food intolerances including wheat, gluten, soya, lactose and sugar.

Curiosity hit me hard and I decided to get trained in food intolerance testing. I also began studying Naturopathic Nutrition, all this so I could try and understand what my body was going through.

My food allergies and intolerances meant I had to change my eating habits permanently. My restricted menu meant the weekly food shop was no longer about grabbing any item that took my fancy. Instead it became a time-consuming, tedious chore, with hours spent scrutinising the ingredient listings of foods. Fortunately ‘specialist’ foods were becoming more and more widely available, both in supermarkets and health food shops. However ranges in stores were restricted meaning that I had to shop around in order to accumulate my weekly shop.

As I began practising as a food intolerance tester I discovered that many people were facing the same frustrations as I was. In 2009 www.foodsyoucan.co.uk was created in order to offer a one stop shop for people in a similar situation to myself. Or for people who have made a conscious life style choice to eliminate certain foods from their diet. The website offers all types of information including ‘FoodsYouCan eat‘, ‘Where to buy from‘, ‘Order Direct from your preferred store‘, ‘Like or Tweet your favourite foods‘, ‘Taste review your favourite foods‘, ‘Select and compare foods‘, ‘Locally search for and go in store and buy‘ Map of places you can go and eat and even a ‘Mobile app’ allowing you to shop and buy on the go wherever you are. You can even get involved by ‘Joining or starting a conversation in our forum’ or simply ‘Read my blog or even subscribe to our Newsletter for more detailed information dependant on your preferences.

www.foodsyoucan.co.uk is here to make your life easier, providing information you are looking for in the following areas:

• Food allergies/intolerances
• Diabetic or low cholesterol foods
• Vegetarian foods
• Vegan foods
• Kosher foods
• Halal foods
• Organic or Fairtrade
• Nutritional supplements
• Weight Management
• Nutrition for exercise
• And lots lots more.

With the advanced search you can easily find the foods you can eat. We’ve gone through the ingredients of 1000s of food products, all you have to do is select your specific dietary requirements and we’ll let you know which foods you can eat…and where to buy them from.

www.foodsyoucan.co.uk was set up for you, your family, and your friends. Because we understand your frustrations, if there’s anything you’d like to see included on our site please let us know. Simply send us an email at info@foodsyoucan.co.uk