Kirsty's Korner

It's a sad day-my last ever Kirsty's Korner. Yes, the time has come for me to move on to pastures new, and begin a new adventure at the Children's Liver Disease Foundation in Birmingham. Although it's with sadness that a leave behind the friends I have made at the IBS Network, it is with great fondness and happy memories that I look back over the past 4 years. I have thoroughly enjoyed being part of the IBSN team and feel privileged that I have been able to watch it grow and develop in to the charity it is today. I'd like to express a special thank you to Nick Read, chair and co-founder of the Network for all of his hard work, support and guidance throughout my time here. Nick has been a mentor, friend and colleague and it has been a true honour to work with him and learn from him as he enabled my role to develop within the charity. Nick-your good will and determination are an inspiration and for this I am truly thankful. And to everyone else I have had the pleasure of meeting throughout my journey here at the IBS Network, it has been a real pleasure and I will always treasure the time I have spent working with the charity. I don't believe in goodbyes, and so for now I say a fond thank you, and I'll see you all soon.

It's also a pleasure to introduce Amelia Rippon, the new Office Manager at the IBS Network. Amelia joined us last summer as an intern and has more recently taken on the role of part time membership manager. Amelia will begin her new role at the beginning of next month and I have every confidence that she will be great!

IBS at Olympia 2013

IBS featured prominently at The Allergy and Free from Show 2013, which took place between 7th and 9th of June at Olympia. Not only did we have more space and time for one to one consultations with IBS dietitian, Julie Thompson and Dr Nick Read, but there were also seminars on two exciting innovations, The IBS Community Clinic in Yeovil, Somerset by community dietitian, Marianne Williams and The IBS Self Care Plan by Dr Nick Read. Also for the first time, The Allergy Show featured a Spotlight session on IBS with talks on topical IBS issues; From Fibre to FODMAPs by Marianne Williams, Good Bugs and Bad by Professor Ingvar Bjarnsson from Kings College Hospital, The Unquiet Brain and The Irritable Gut by Professor Qasim Aziz, head of The Wingate Institute for Neurogastroenterology at The London Hospital and Between the Mind and The Gut, The Abdominal Expression of Change by Dr Nick Read. The talks were very well attended with numerous questions from the audience, including this classic from Mark aged 8.

'This may be a silly question, but I thought IBS was a bank.'

If only!

This year's Allergy Show was busier than ever before. Although it had moved to the larger National Hall, it was packed out. Kirsty was kept fully occupied, though I did notice that Kirsty's ready meals on an adjacent stand were also doing well. Our leaflets and magazines all went very quickly and four times as many people signed up for newsletter than previous years with many expressing an interest in becoming members. Several of our commercial associates and partners were there, Alpro, Biokult, Symprove, Coeliac UK. Struggling through the crowds at the show, I was aware how often people were talking about IBS and The IBS Network. So we're getting there!

For those of you who weren't able to make it to London, we'll be at the sister Allergy & Free From Liverpool later this year at the BT Conference Centre Liverpool, 26th - 27th October. Keep your eyes peeled on the website and the FREE TICKET link will be up there soon.

Simply... Thoughts

This month resident dietitian Julie Thompson shares her thoughts on Grace Cheetham's gluten and diary free recipe book. Here are her thoughts...

"This book is a useful addition to the bookshelves of anyone who has a requirement to follow either a dairy free, lactose free and gluten-free diet or both. However despite the name of this book it contains some recipes for a number of different food allergies or intolerances identified by symbols at the side of each recipe, the symbol key is at the front of the book. The gluten-free symbol does include wheat free so the recipes are suitable for those people needing to follow a wheat free diet, although this is not clear from the title of the book. For those coeliacs amongst my readers the book has the endorsement of Coeliac UK, meaning that the recipes are guaranteed gluten-free (as long as you use the listed gluten-free ingredients of course!) Healthy eating recipes are included and the pictures certainly make you want to try some of the dishes as they look fresh and colourful and Grace injects some personality into the chapters by writing a small introduction to each and hints and tips are included throughout. Most of the recipes are not easily identifiable as 'free from' by anyone who wouldn't be aware, making the recipes useful for the whole family. Treats are not forgotten, also very important to include occasionally in the diet for those people who have to exclude certain foods. It is perhaps better to wait till you have identified your intolerances if you are being treated with the Low FODMAP diet before you think about buying the book as the recipes do contain a number of high FODMAP foods, but these types of foods are generally healthy for those people who don't have Irritable Bowel Syndrome or types of gut inflammation such as crohn's or Colitis. For Low FODMAP followers you should only consider these recipes if you only have lactose intolerance and/or need to avoid gluten or wheat and you are fine with all other types of high FODMAP foods. The recipes I tried worked well and the book is nicely presented and not too expensive, so perhaps think about the book as a nice birthday gift for your friends or relatives with free from needs. Or buy it yourself and treat your friends to some baked goods - even better!"

For more reviews, and other blogs by specialist IBS dietitian Julie Thompson visit her blog at http://clinicalalimentary.wordpress.com/

Do you have a favourite FODMAP cookbook? Or perhaps a tried and tested recipe that never fails? Share your feedback with us for a chance to feature in next month's issue!