Allergy

We have lunch in the church almost every Sunday after main worshipping service. Kind of fellowship too. I can go eat anywhere I want but I do like to eat with our brothers and sisters on Sunday.

Khun Ping is the cook for our church and he has been working more than 15 years, may be even more 20 years. Today Khun Ping cooked noodle soup, fry rice, Chicken and salad. I like Khun Ping's ice tea.

Talking about noodle soup.... In every noodle shops in Bangkok, they always rinse the noodle before they pour the real soup over the noodle may be to get soft and better taste. I have seen it and notice it after living in Bangkok almost 9 years!!!!

So when Khun Ping served us Thai noodle today, I was teaching Jun as a noodle expert saying to him, "Jun, look you have to do like this, rinse the noodle to get a more good flavor..bla bla bla" .... and then suddenly a voice, I should say high voice next to me from a American woman, she said, "You can't do that because someone can allergy what ever you put into your noodle bowl." (Note: We have only one real soup pot in Church so I was rinsing noodle with real soup because it is clean to do so.)

So here was my responded to her immediately and said, "Oh I know that! look at it I did not put any thing except noodle and lettuce. There is no chili, no fish sauce, no nothing." But still she was very quick to get back to me and said, "Well lettuce can allergy to someone too."

She said, "Lettuce can cause allergy too." Believe me it was bothering me a lot on what she was saying to me. In my whole life I have never heard lettuce cause allergy but today.. at the Church!!!

I have this one good attitude, if there things that I am not very very sure I won't get into discussion simply..... because I am not sure. Get home google myself busy with my lettuce news!!

Yes lettuce does cause SOMETHING!! To get an allergy from lettuce you have to be a real bad gene. Now, this is what I understand more about lettuce allergy as the woman was talking about.

3 to 7 percent of Children and adult can cause allergy from food. Even that percentage, you have to make sure it is... Allergy OR Intolerance. See the following......

"Allergy. The term "allergy" comes from two Greek words, alos (other) and argon (action). If you are allergic to something, you have a reaction other than what you would expect. You don't expect to get hives when you eat a red tomato. That kind of a reaction would be an allergy. An allergy may manifest itself in various target organs, meaning sites where allergy signs occur. These are usually one or more of four places: the skin, the intestines, the respiratory passages, and the brain, i.e., (behavior changes).

Intolerance. The term food intolerance means that a food upsets your intestines, yet does not bother any other target organ. Food intolerances are usually due to an enzyme deficiency, (such as lactase deficiency), which causes lactose intolerance. Or, the intestines may be oversensitive to certain foods, resulting in abdominal discomfort, diarrhea, and bloating. Intolerance is usually a reaction to the protein content of a food, yet you could be intolerant to any part of the food, including sugar and/or additives."

For me after reading some articles, I would say...

Lettuce is, "Intolerance" not "Allergy."

Here are 2 questions people ask often!

1. Can lettuce cause kidney stone?
The answer is NO! (from my reading)

2. Can lettuce cause stomach cramps?
Yes... to some people. Means...make you fart because
of forming the gas!!!

Have a good lettuce eating day!!!