10/26/2016
In case someone didn't read my last post. I went to get tested for food allergies and the results were not in my favor. Read that post for all the details. Adjusting to the soy free and yellow dye free life has been the most challenging out of all the foods, and I thought the tomatoes would be a problem, but when you have nothing to put them on they don't become a problem. I'm just going to break this down in to different categories of struggles and changes.
Grocery shopping:
I now have to read all the labels. My grocery trips now take over two hours for less than half a basket of food. I shop at a small town store that has half of an organic isle that everyone avoids, so I am all alone for most of these two hours. I break out into song "im all alone in the organic isle..." and the grocery employee asks if he can help me with anything. I say, "Yes." We just stare at each other for an awkward minute and he asks, "well....?" to which I reply, "I'm looking for food." He gives me that no shit look. I then list off everything I can't eat and he leaves basically saying I'm SOL. Continuing on through the store I realize that I can no longer eat chocolate. What kind of life am I living? I check out pay my $80 for my 10 or so items and leave broke, hungry, and sad.
Eating at restaurants:
Well I can't do that anymore. The only thing I can get anymore is a salad without tomatoes, lemons or their juice spritzed on the salad to keep it fresh, no cheese, blah blah. They might as well feed me a head of lettuce and I'm not paying $8 for a $1 item.
Eating at home:
Eating at home is fine. I eat a lot of meat, eggs, fruits, and vegetables. I can still eat Sweedish Fish. (that is red candy for those of you like my mom that didn't know), but I can't eat that Sweedish Fish Oreos. But if I want bread, pasta, pancakes, cake, you know all those delicious carbs? I have to make them completely from scratch like the true baker I am. It shouldn't be a problem since I've been to cooking school....twice...I just don't really own all that baking stuff.
Eating at work:
I have to pack my lunch daily. Since you know that whole going out to eat thing isn't an option any more. The only problem is, I forget it at home. So sometimes I am just stuck drinking coffee and eating some cheerios because I'm not allergic to those. I'm still working on that.
Calories:
Calories are only somewhat of a problem. Not that I eat too many, but that I don't get enough. I eat at least five times a day and still only manage to eat 800 Kcals a day. This includes while working out too. I need to find a way to increase this.
Wednesday, October 26, 2016
Wednesday, October 19, 2016
A new way of eating
10/19/2016
I have been having a lot of stomach issues for the past month. The last time this happened it turned out I was allergic to potatoes and bananas. Instead of doing an elimination and reintroduction diet which can take months to complete, I decided to undergo a day of torture and get allergy testing for 58 foods.
The process itself wasn't that bad. It was annoying. It was itchy, my back was burning, I couldn't scratch it. I had to take a few Benadryl after it was all complete. The results were devastating. I am allergic to the following foods:
Shellfish: including clam, crab, oysters, shrimp, etc
Fish mix: cod, flounder, halibut, mackerel, tuna, etc.
Lemon
Soy beans
Tomatoes
Yellow Dye
Bananas
Potatoes
I'm also lactose intolerant.
My first reaction to this news: I can't eat pizza anymore! Followed by tomatoes, soy, and yellow dye are in everything! What am I going to eat? The doctor said, it's not as bad as I thought it was going to be, but you're right blah blah went on about tacos. My last thought was who the hell is allergic to lemons? Thank god I'm not allergic to coffee.
Now I have basically narrowed it down to I can no longer eat processed foods. I have to put those two cooking schools to use and cook more often. I can eat meat, fruits (most of them at least), and vegetables. I will find other things in time that I can eat. For the next three months I have to keep a strict food journal about what all I eat and the digestive reactions I have from the foods to see if there is anything else that I can be allergic to that they can test by blood. If I seem grumpy it's probably because I'm hangry.
I have been having a lot of stomach issues for the past month. The last time this happened it turned out I was allergic to potatoes and bananas. Instead of doing an elimination and reintroduction diet which can take months to complete, I decided to undergo a day of torture and get allergy testing for 58 foods.
The process itself wasn't that bad. It was annoying. It was itchy, my back was burning, I couldn't scratch it. I had to take a few Benadryl after it was all complete. The results were devastating. I am allergic to the following foods:
Shellfish: including clam, crab, oysters, shrimp, etc
Fish mix: cod, flounder, halibut, mackerel, tuna, etc.
Lemon
Soy beans
Tomatoes
Yellow Dye
Bananas
Potatoes
I'm also lactose intolerant.
My first reaction to this news: I can't eat pizza anymore! Followed by tomatoes, soy, and yellow dye are in everything! What am I going to eat? The doctor said, it's not as bad as I thought it was going to be, but you're right blah blah went on about tacos. My last thought was who the hell is allergic to lemons? Thank god I'm not allergic to coffee.
Now I have basically narrowed it down to I can no longer eat processed foods. I have to put those two cooking schools to use and cook more often. I can eat meat, fruits (most of them at least), and vegetables. I will find other things in time that I can eat. For the next three months I have to keep a strict food journal about what all I eat and the digestive reactions I have from the foods to see if there is anything else that I can be allergic to that they can test by blood. If I seem grumpy it's probably because I'm hangry.
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