The Allergies

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