I think life is far better with hot chocolate and marshmallows. Just sayin'. Did you know they make gluten-free marshmallows? They are really, REALLY, good. I must give them up on Tuesday, so I'm going to eat them until then. Lots of them.
I'm basically putting myself into a self-induced food coma on purpose. I want to feel bad so when I start the new diet it will feel cleansing, not depriving. It's been fun to just eat whatever I want, but I am definitely feeling the effects. I have hives everywhere.
People ask me all the time what I'm actually allergic (not sensitive) to. The list is long, so I normally don't give it to people. The few times I have, I watch their eyes glaze over and can see into their mind: "Dear God, why did I ask? How do I get away?" So, now, I just say my main allergies are pork, dairy, gluten and eggs.
To get this out of the way early in my blog life, I'm including the entire list here.
There are four columns. One is called "negative." I'm allergic, but barely. I should eat those foods in moderation.
Almond, aspergillus (had to look that one up: it's basically a strange cone-like fungi, also many common molds), beef, cantaloupe, chicken, corn, crab, garlic, oat, orange, pea (green, is there any other color?), rice, salmon, shrimp, soybean, strawberry, tuna, turkey, walnut, wheat.
The mild, moderate and severe categories are:
Mild: peanut, tomato, pinto bean, sunflower. Moderate: mustard, cashew, lobster (it's just wrong to be allergic to lobster). Severe: whole eggs, all dairy, pork. Um, hello???? Bacon? How can anyone be allergic to bacon? That's just wrong on so many levels, I can't even go there. I'm eating it for breakfast tomorrow. I might eat the whole package.
The gluten allergy is called gluten intolerance. It includes barley, oats, spelt, kamut, rye, wheat, malt, and about 30 other food substances. It flattens the villi in my small intestine, and those villi, when they aren't flattened, are what allow the nutrients from food to be absorbed, so it's critical I never eat it again. This includes never putting it on my body, too. Most body, hair, face and makeup products have gluten in them. I'm now making my own lotion, since gluten-free lotion is expensive.
Environmental allergies: molds, dust, pollen, most weeds, sunflowers (my favorite); scorpions, rattlesnakes, black widow spiders (life threatening).
Chemical: chlorine (severe), all cleaning products that aren't natural, all fragrances that aren't natural, six common food pesticides (this means a large garden this year—can't wait!). This list is so long, it's ridiculous to list it all.
"What are you allowed to eat?" That's always the next question. I eat meat, nuts, and vegetables and am allowed one low-glycemic fruit (apple, pear, berries) a day. In addition to all I included on the first post, I also have insulin resistance, so that's why the one fruit a day.
There it is. In a nutshell. If you've done or read about the paleo diet, this is basically the paleo diet on steroids.
Thanks for being here.
Sandi
Yvonne here. Tried the URL and no luck so will try Anonymous. Wow, today's comments brought back so many memories and lots of empathy. As one of my closest living relatives, I am struck again by the similarities and must enourage you to keep with it. I grew up thinking I was the only one in the family who could not use bleach or ammonia (I am assuming that is one of your chemicals) or eat eggs or dairy. My system healed and became healthier over time. Nowadays most of the list would be in the mild to medium category. I stay away from citrus, wheat, milk, the chemicals, everything else is a sliding scale. So there is hope! I wonder, are you using mineral oil as the base for your lotion? That is what I use. Take good care so that your immune system can rebuild. AND, I will tell you, be careful on this couple of day LAST HURRAH you are doing! This is my mother's voice, saying, you do not want to end up in the emrgency room with a tube down your throat. At the very least, take some Benedryl or Clariton. Glad you are writing. It is carthatic and inspiring.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous worked! :)
ReplyDeleteIt did work! Yay! Thanks for the advice, Yvonne. I am being careful. Monitoring my gut, so to speak. Both mentally and physically. Yes, we do share that in common. Grandma Millie (I never know whether to call her Aunt Millie for you!) had many of the same issues. Must run in the genes, unfortunately. Bleach for me was the result of a bleach incident where I breathed in massive amounts of hydrochloric acid and created an instant allergy. That one is extremely severe and life threatening. All of this is reminding me I need to update my EpiPen! It's expensive, though, so I haven't done it. Yes, I can hear your voice in my head right now! Haha. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the support, Yvonne! Love you bunches!
so the paragraph beginning with "almond, aspergillus....beef...turkey, tuna, salmon..." is stuff you can't eat? So what kind of "meat" are you going to eat - the things you can't eat include all the meats I eat - beef, pork, tuna, salmon, turkey, chicken, shrimp, etc. So will your meat be buffalo? venison? trout? cod fish? Praying for your will power and regaining health. Yvonne had good advice - don't go overboard on the things you can't eat these next 2 days. ---aunt Karen
ReplyDeleteHi Karen!
ReplyDeleteYep, I have to eat the foods I'm allergic to or there would be nothing for me to eat that has enough protein, so I have to weigh my options. I try not to eat too much of one thing in a row. I don't like chicken or turkey, very few fish, but I eat them, anyway. I do eat trout and salmon, my two favorite fish. I eat a lot of buffalo and grass-fed beef because I can tolerate the taste. I can't stand venison, so I won't even go there. I can't eat much tuna because of the mercury. It's tough, for sure.
I'm actually behaving myself today. Just had some rice, but nothing else off my list. It was too hard on me the last couple of days, so I'm resting now. Doubt I'll do much tomorrow, either. Maybe a Diet Coke, which is horrible, but I love it. Oh, and I'm definitely having bacon tomorrow. :)
Camille here. I tried to post a comment before, but I guess it didn't take. First off, you deal with your situation amazingly well. Hats off to you. Question: How do you deal with eating out? Are restaurants a problem? How would one with allergies deal with eating from people who you may not know what they've used in the food to season?
ReplyDeleteThanks, Camille. I appreciate your support!
ReplyDeleteGood questions. Eating out is nearly impossible. When I was just gluten free, it was much easier, but now, with the rest, I will have to basically cheat to eat out. It's one of the reasons it bothers me so much. But, I figure I'll just have to cook for people if I want to have an evening with friends. Or maybe, cook together and educate them. If I'm eating at someone's house, I have to ask a lot of questions, and unless they know every allergy, it's usually not possible for me to eat the food. Two of my friends, Wendy and Scott, cook for me on occasion, and are very careful to tell me exactly what they've cooked with and try very hard to cook something I can eat, which I so appreciate. I do have a couple of restaurants I can go to that I know use good ingredients, grass-fed meat, no cross-contamination (a big problem in most restaurants, even if they offer gluten free), and knowledgeable staff.
Congrats on your new blog! It's great -- and an inspiration on so many levels. I like that you are using challenges to grow in new ways. You might find this recent article from the Oregonian interesting: http://www.oregonlive.com/living/index.ssf/2011/02/bites_of_enlightenment_mindful.html
ReplyDeleteGood luck with this new adventure and I will visit often! Cliff
Thanks, Cliff! I'll look up the article. I appreciate your ongoing support!
ReplyDelete