Rachel's Story

Following a virus, our fifteen year old daughter Rachel had been suffering from chronic stomach pains and regular bouts of diarrhoea over a nine month period. It was at times so serious; she had to stop eating midway through her meal to run to the loo to relieve herself from the excruciating pain, which resulted in unfinished meals and Rachel losing up to 1.5 pounds per week in weight.

Within a matter of time, Rachel became lethargic, had no energy, and looked extremely pale and was underweight for her age.

We were very worried and took her to the local GP, who gave her a blood test, but the results came back normal. We were told to simply keep an eye on her diet. After 9 months of suffering, I was recommended to have Rachel tested for food intolerance and was surprised to discover how many different foods she was intolerant to. Her results came back positive for wheat, gluten, egg, cow’s milk, cranberry, grapefruit, ginger, garlic and cocoa bean.

Rachel immediately cut out all of these foods, and amazingly within a few weeks Rachel’s health had dramatically improved.

Initially the sweets and chocolates were the most difficult to give up, but she realises, even at such a young age, how important her health is to her and how much better she was feeling. I prepared many of her favourite dishes but without the foods that she is intolerant to so that she didn’t feel like she was missing out. Now after six months following the exclusion diet we have been able to reintroduce many of the foods that had been causing her problems and she is now tolerating them well.

Her appetite is now back and her weight has gone back to normal. Rachel’s skin is glowing, and we are happy to say that she is radiating more energy and life – like a normal 16 year old girl should be.

Kerry - Rachel's Mum