Allergy Elimination Diet

I Really Should Eat More

2010-10-22T00:11:00.000-07:00

So I woke up with a nasty migraine today. Took 2 doses of DHE to get rid of it. So, I just wasn't very hungry today. In total, I ate 2 of the Metagenics shakes and that was it. I really should eat more in a day. On the other hand, I've been trying to only eat when I'm hungry, so, oh well.

Not Even Grapes

2010-10-20T22:38:00.000-07:00

Today was going well, except for the lack of interesting food. I'd figured out that I could have a somewhat bland stuffed grape leaves and my husband had offered to make them for me. The Metagenics UltraMeal rice mixed with coffee is really good! I found some Texas long grain brown rice at Big Lots too.

However, when I sat down for a late lunch, I had a classic pollen cross-reaction to the grape juice with blisters on the inside of my mouth. Some research shows that while grape's aren't on my allergist's list but are on a number of Canadian and British allergist's lists. But this means I'm down to rice, oats, olive oil, salt, sugar and seaweed. Oh, and coffee. At least I get coffee!

Dinner Day 1

2010-10-19T23:56:00.000-07:00

So for dinner and evening snack tonight, I had a Metagenics Ultrameal rice shake, another serving of oatmeal and raisins with more oats and water instead of some of the grape juice so it wasn't as sweet, about 15 black seedless grapes and a rice cake. I clearly haven't eaten enough today, but I'm not hungry either.

I was pleasantly surprised by how good the Metagenics shake was. It's the best protein etc powder I've ever had.

Rejuvinating Blog for New Allergy Elimination Diet

2010-10-19T14:42:00.000-07:00

I recently discovered that there seems to be a link between my migraines and pollen cross-sensitivity foods, so I am going on an elimination diet again cutting out these foods and bringing this blog back from the dead.

You can find more information about pollen cross-sensitivity here - Fall Oral Allergy Syndrome. The article is specific to ragweed related foods but is a good introduction to the topic. I am concerned with ragweed, tree pollen and grass related foods as I tested positive for allergies to them as a child and all of my uncommon migraine trigger foods are known to have pollen cross-reactions to one of those.

Eating:
I wasn't very hungry this morning (probably because I was feeling migrainey) and so just ate a rice cake (70cals).

I'm currently having a late lunch of 2/3 cup oatmeal, ~1/2 cup grape juice, 1/4 cup raisins (370 cals).

And I've been drinking black coffee.(Thank goodness I can have coffee, since I can't have chicory or most teas.) Need to drink some water!

Week 4 1/2 Summary

2007-09-01T14:15:00.000-07:00

Having followed the allergy elimination diet faithfully for 4 weeks with absolutely no change in how I felt (except for no longer being oversensitive to the smell of dill), I called my doctor to ask what to do. She said that we can probably rule out allergies as the cause of my symptoms (which is what I pretty much expected from the beginning) and that I can skip the formal testing stage, but that I should only add one food back to my diet a day to make sure that I don't have any adverse reactions and that we have a chance to find any food allergies I might have.

So far, I've added back garlic, onion, butter, sugar, and wheat (I'm focusing on the foods that are often in seasonings and sauces because that's what I've missed the most.) I did notice that when I went to the produce market after adding back the first four that I was again oversensitive to the smell of dill. I can live with that, particularly since that's been a stable symptom ever since I was in third or fourth grade. Other than that, I've had no reactions. A few more foods and I should be able to start cautiously eating out again.

I'm still debating whether or not to add coffee back into my diet. I love the flavor of coffee and the ritual of having a cup, but I hate when I get addicted to it and can't function without it (or get a headache if I don't have it.) And personally, I don't think it's worth drinking decaf. Even the quality decaf coffees don't taste as good to me, I'd rather go without.

Week 3 Summary

2007-08-21T18:34:00.000-07:00

So, it's been 3 weeks and I don't feel any different. Some of that may be that I seem to have a cold or something coming on, but none the less, I can't start testing foods yet. I have reset that counter to add another week, as the instruction sheet I have from my doctor says if you don't feel better to wait until 4 weeks and then call them.

I gained two pounds this week. I was a little worried that would happen because last week's loss seemed too good to be true! I did however drop 1% in body fat - it hadn't changed previously. (This is per my Tanita Scale.)

I'm still struggling with not having coffee - it's my biggest craving. I actually poured myself a cup the other day just so I could hold it and sniff it. It's really not as much the effect of the coffee, as the enjoyment of the taste and smell. Then again, I might not miss it if I could have a greater selection of tasty foods. It is really hard for me to have to avoid onion, garlic, citrus, sugar, soy and sesame - it seems like most flavorful foods have at least one of those ingredients! Even my sweetie, the chef, has trouble coming up with interesting ideas. (Of course, it doesn't help that I'm a vegetarian - after all, you can always flavor things with bacon grease...)

Pancake Variations

2007-08-20T21:20:00.001-07:00

After my success with pancakes, I've been experimenting with variations, with quite a bit of success. First I made pancakes using brown rice flour and stirring in pre-cooked shredded cabbage and carrots. They were so good that my sweetie ate a bunch of them too. It was a little difficult to cook them so they weren't overdone but also weren't mushy around the veggies. Then today I made rice pancakes by stirring a cup of rice into the pancake batter. I also experimented with apple pancakes. Usually when I make apple pancakes, I just mix grated apple into the batter. I tried that with a small quantity of batter and found that it was a little too mushy. So I tried cutting thin slices of apple and putting them on the griddle then pouring the batter over it. This worked great - they looked fabulous (as you can see) and tasted even better!

Technorati Tags:
allergy elimination diet, pancakes, apple pancakes, rice flour, rice pancakes, recipes, allergy baking

Blogged with Flock

My Birthday Cake

2007-08-17T22:35:00.001-07:00

Sadly, my birthday falls during my diet, so I can't follow my usual practice of having desserts I usually wouldn't. However, my sweetie has promised to make me a fabulous cake I found on the National Watermelon Board website. It sure looks good! I can't wait!

Recipe Here

Blogged with Flock

Week 2 Summary

2007-08-15T23:13:00.001-07:00

The best thing about week 2 is that I lost 4 pounds. (Keep in mind that I didn't lose weight in the first week.) I figure that if I'm mostly eating fruits and veggies and whole grains and not eating sugar or wheat, I should be losing weight, so it was really frustrating that I hadn't. That said, I don't feel any better. Although, I have to admit that I am eating better than I really do - it would be hard to eat badly on this diet. Maybe I'm impatient, but I'm supposed to be feeling better in the two to three week range (if I have food allergies.)

I discovered that Trader Joe's is a wonderful place to shop if you are on this diet. For instance, they sell non-organic unsulfered raisins, for less than half the price of organic (which is normally the only way to be sure you are getting unsulfered raisins - one of the requirements of this diet.) They also sell whole grain rice pasta for half the price of everywhere else in town and they actually sell muffins that are on this diet! Unfortunately, the muffins, Zen Bakery Blueberry Raspberry Oat Bran Muffins, are really not that good - they are very dry. I was actually surprised because I've had other Zen Bakery products and really liked them. Then again, I might like them better if I could have them with a cup of coffee! I haven't tried it yet, but Trader Joe's also has inexpensive rice milk.

Technorati Tags:
trader joe's, zen bakery, oat bran, muffins, raisins, organic raisins, fruits and veggies

Blogged with Flock

Pancakes and Popovers

2007-08-11T01:23:00.001-07:00

The other night I decided I wanted something a little different and decided to try to make pancakes. Despite the fact that I had to substitute for every ingredient in the recipe except salt, they turned out great!

Here's my new recipe -

Hypo-Allergenic Pancakes

Beat together:

1 cup rice milk
2 T canola oil (or other safe oil)
1 T Hanna Kroeger's Flaxseed Egg Replacer

Mix the following dry ingredients together:

1 cup oat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cream of tarter
2 T honey
scant 1/2 tsp salt

Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and cook on a hot greased griddle or fry pan. Keep a close eye on them as they seem to cook slightly faster than standard pancakes.

Inspired by my success, I tried to make popovers today. I don't know what I ended up with, but they weren't popovers. They did taste pretty good though.

Technorati Tags:
egg replacer, baking, allergy baking, hanna kroeger, pancakes, oat flour, popovers, recipe, recipes

Blogged with Flock

Hanna Kroeger's Allergy Baking Recipes

2007-08-11T01:09:00.001-07:00

Hanna Kroeger's Allergy Baking Recipes is an irreplaceable resource if you want to bake for someone sensitive to common baking ingredients like wheat, milk, eggs, and yeast. Many of the recipes are also suitable for people on gluten-free diets, although they are not marked as such. Although there are a number of very good recipes in this booklet, it is worth buying for the two egg-replacer recipes alone! In some recipes, the apricot-based replacer is superior to eggs. The other egg replacer recipe uses ground flaxseed, which can be a nice way to take advantage of the health benefits of flaxseed. Also of note is a recipe for corn and aluminum-free baking powder.

Here's the recipe for the flaxseed egg replacer:

Mix together in a pan:
3 cups water
1 cup ground flaxseed

Boil for 3 minutes, stirring constantly.
Store in the refrigerator.
1 tablespoon replaces 1 beaten egg.

Allergy Baking Recipes by Hanna Kroeger. Hanna Kroeger Publications. ISBN: 1-883713-02-1

Technorati Tags:
books, flaxseed, egg replacer, baking, allergy baking, hanna kroeger, kroeger herbs

Blogged with Flock

One Week Round Up

2007-08-07T16:27:00.001-07:00

So, it's been a week. Other than being able to stand being in the same room with dill weed, I have seen no benefits from this diet. I haven't even lost any weight - I figure that if I'm not eating cookies, pastries, cakes, bread, or anything with flour or sugar, I should at least be losing weight. It's also been a week since I've had any coffee. I haven't had any withdrawal symptoms, but I have noticed that coffee smells better and better every day.

I've started to get into an eating routine of sorts. Most days for breakfast I make myself a bowl of homemade muslei - rolled oats and barley, ground flax, various nuts, sometimes raisins and chopped fresh fruit with apple juice. For lunch, I usually have some mix of fruit or vegetables and possibly some nuts or dinner leftovers. For dinner, I make some combination of rice (or rice noodles) and beans with veggies. I'm often hungry in the evening and sometimes will make another bowl of muslei. For quick snacks I usually have peanut butter and celery or rice cakes, sometimes I'll have fruit or a handful of nuts.

Technorati Tags:
muslei, allergy elimination diet, weight loss, rice and beans, fruit, veggies, vegetables

Benefits Already!

2007-08-05T00:06:00.001-07:00

One of my migraine triggers is the smell of dill. I'm also supersensitive to the scent. I spend a lot of time holding my breath in the produce section during the summer when they have fresh dill for making pickles. It can be pretty miserable - luckily I can handle a wiff or two. At any rate, I was at the produce market today and they had the usual bucket of dill. Not only could I barely smell it, being around it didn't bother me at all! I knew that scent supersensitivity can be an allergy symptom , but I didn't think that removing other allergans from my diet could remove the hypersensitivity to scents of foods I'm already avoiding. Years ago a gas company tech told me that people with onion allergies are hypersensitive to the nasty smelling additive they use to make natural gas smell bad, which is derived from onions. Years ago I tested as allergic to garlic (a relative of onions), but the only things that avoiding garlic (or garlic and onions, as was suggested to me) ever did for me was leave me with a blander diet and remove the irritating hypersensitivity to the smell of natural gas (it wasn't a worth while trade off in my mind!)

Of course, the benefit I'd really like to see is feeling more completely well and healthy, not extra tired and that hasn't happened (yet?)

Technorati Tags:
natural gas scent, garlic, food allergies, scent hypersensitivity, onion allergies, rotten eggs, pickling season, diet benefits

Blogged with Flock

Cooking Without Soy Sauce

2007-08-04T23:19:00.001-07:00

I have a number of recipes that use some combination of soy sauce and rice vinegar. My first thought was that I could get a reasonable result by using rice vinegar for the full quantity of the liquid required. In fact, I've found that I have to reduce the amount of rice vinegar when I remove the soy sauce in order to get an acceptable result.

I haven't tried it yet, but I did find a Non-Soy Soy Sauce Replacement on Recipezaar.

Technorati Tags:
recipezaar, soy sauce replacement, cooking without soy, allergy recipes, cooking without soy

Blogged with Flock

Cravings

2007-08-03T22:24:00.000-07:00

Every time I see the current Visa (or is it Mastercard) commercial with people buying coffee and donuts, my sugar and coffee cravings hit with a vengeance. I'm exceptionally worn out after the events of last week and that (probably non-existent, definitely illusionary) caffeine and sugar rush is so tempting!

Technorati Tags:
caffeine, sugar rush, coffee, exhaustion, coffee and donuts

Roasted Romanesco and Carrots (Day 2)

2007-08-02T19:02:00.000-07:00

I've mostly been eating fruit and homemade muesli with apple juice (an old favorite from my college days when there wasn't any palatable soy milk.) I've also been eating a lot of pistachios (they were on sale at the grocery store - yum!) However last night I made a really yummy roasted vegetable dish for dinner.

Roasted Romanesco and Carrots

Romanesco is a variety of cauliflower or broccoli that looks like a spiral broccoli - photo here.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Pour a mixture of olive oil and rice vinegar in the bottom of a large baking dish. You want about a third cup total, vary quantities based on the flavor and amount of fat you desire in the finished dish. Good quality olive oil will impart more flavor, I particularly like the Olive Pit olive oils. Toss in a handful of fresh basil and sage (about a T of dried if that is all you have.) Chop up 2 small heads of Romanesco and 2 large carrots. Toss in the oil/vinegar/spice mix and bake for 20 minutes. Toss again and return to the oven for another 20 minutes.

Technorati Tags:
recipes, romanesco, roasted romanesco and carrots, the olive pit, olive oil

Survived Day One

2007-08-01T14:26:00.001-07:00

I survived the first day on the elimination diet. The hardest part was that I came back from my mom's house at the beach (end of the wedding festivities) and there doesn't seem to be much in the way of easily portable food on my diet. For instance, I can't have bananas or oranges - which are almost ideal road food - cherries and watermelon are just a bit difficult to eat while driving or on a quick break! I understand that there may be some bread that is on my diet, but I haven't found any of them so far, so no sandwiches. Food takes on a whole new meaning when you are hungry and surrounded by food that you can't eat. I'm definately going to have to find more foods that I can carry around with me in case I get hungry or am out longer than I expected.

So yesterday I had oatmeal with rice mik for breakfast (BTW the rice milk - at least the Rice Dream that Ralph, my mom's husband, drinks is really sweet - too sweet), a wedge of cantaloupe and a mug of chickory. For lunch I had pumpkin seeds (on the road.) Then Pico and I ate a ton of watermelon. This is actually normal for me, when Hermiston watermelons come into season, I usually buy one and eat a bunch of watermelon for a few days, since I'm usually the only watermelon eater - except for Pico, who would probably eat a whole watermelon if she could but I don't think that dogs should be doing that. Then I had some apricots and pistachios before bedtime.

In addition to struggling with a lack of readily portable food, the other difficult thing was the lack of coffee and sugar. I hadn't gotten a lot of sleep, since I was sleeping on the couch at my mom's house (i.e. one of the last to bed and the first up.) I just automatically crave sugar and caffeine when I'm tired, but I couldn't have it. Happily, my attempts to keep to one cup of coffee a day (sometimes two) for the past few weeks seem to have kept me from having trouble with actual caffeine withdrawal.

Blogged with Flock

My Diet

2007-07-27T12:02:00.001-07:00

If anyone is interested, I found a copy of the diet I'm going on online here. In addition to the basic diet, you are supposed to avoid all foods that you have ever had any kind of reaction to or been told that you have a sensitivitiy to (and my doctor told me to also omit foods that are migraine triggers for me.) So, I also have to avoid:

bananas

strawberries

sesame

garlic

onion

cashews

almonds

dill

zucchini

potatos

Plus, I'm a vegetarian, which further restricts my diet - though it's not like I'd want to eat chicken or lamb anyway - I didn't like them when I did eat meat.

The worst part, is that it seems like this could be an awfully bland diet. I'll definately have to make an effort to try new herbs and spices!

Blogged with Flock

The Obligatory Don't Try This At Home Warning

2007-07-22T21:25:00.001-07:00

Just in case anyone is crazy enough to think that this process sounds like fun or something and they want to try it for themself, I thought I should share this quote from the first page of the handout my doctor gave me (sheets copied from a book, but I don't know which book so I can't properly cite it.)

If not properly supervised, elimination diets can result in nutritional deficiencies. In addition, exaggerated allergic reactions can occur with individual food challenges. For those reasons, allergy elimination diets should be supervised by a doctor.

Technorati Tags:
Alan R Gaby, allergy elimination diet, don't try this at home, disclaimer

Blogged with Flock

Water ReDux

2007-07-22T00:49:00.001-07:00

My carboys of Earth2O were delivered a few days ago. I love Earth2O and it's so great having it more or less on tap. I'm already drinking more water and less other stuff because it tastes so good. I think I'm actually saving money by buying water.

Technorati Tags:
coffee, water, earth2o, water delivery, food allergies, diet

Blogged with Flock

Coffee and Water

2007-07-16T15:37:00.001-07:00

I'm a proud coffee addict. I've actually recently gone way down on coffee (and sugar) intake - my doctor discovered that my cortisol levels are very low and started supplementing it and giving me general adrenal support supplements. (Note: this is why I have to go on the elimination diet - some of the symptoms of low adrenal function are similar to low level allergy reactions and testing adrenal function is slow and expensive, so it's easier to monitor my condition if we make sure that there aren't any allergy symptoms muddying the waters.) I'm now down to one to two cups a day (from something like 12.) However, I really like the taste of coffee, so it would be very easy to drink more. At any rate, my forthcoming prescribed diet calls for no coffee or tea and only herb tea without citrus (which rules out my favorite herb teas too.) Giving up that last cup or two is going to be hard though. I am allowed to have some of the coffee substitutes (Cafix, Inka and Roma), but while I don't mind hot grain beverages, they just aren't satisfying in the same way. I'm planning to drink chickory, which my local grocery sells in a slurry that you just add to hot water, because even though it's not the same as coffee, the bitterness and strong flavor satisfy some of the same desires.

The diet also calls for using only spring or distilled water for all drinking and cooking. I mostly drink filtered water anyway and probably should only drink filtered water since I'm allergic or sensitive to several metals (gold, nickel, rhodium, and mercury) and know that I can have problems from water exposed to metals I'm allergic to. For instance, if I regularly drink coffee made using a gold filter, I become super sensitive and any skin contact with any of those metals results in contact dermatitis immediately (usually it takes a day or so of continual contact.) I'm a little suspicious about the effectiveness of my drinking distilled water to avoid allergy issues because I've been to the local water distillation plant and pretty much everything is stainless steel (nickel mixed with steel.) More importantly, it tastes horrible! However, I just found out that delivery of my favorite water, Earth2O, is relatively inexpensive (i.e. less than I normally spend on water and coffee out of the house in a normal month.) The only downside is that I have to sign up for a full year. So I'm going to try that and I'll have to get used to filling and carrying my own water. I'm not sure that is enough for cooking too, but maybe I'll try distilled for that. This kind of feels like overkill to me, but I guess if it works, it's worth it.

Technorati Tags:
coffee, water, earth2o, water delivery, food allergies, diet

Blogged with Flock

Introduction

2007-07-12T19:05:00.001-07:00

This week, my doctor recommended that I go on an allergy elimination diet to rule out and/or define the effects of any food allergies on my health. She recommends a diet by Alan R. Gaby, MD that is modified from one in the book Tracking Down Hidden Food Allergy, by William Crook, M.D.

My doctor recommends taking a week to prepare, but I realized that my brother is getting married in a few weeks and the celebration is essentially going to be four days of hanging out with my extended family at different restaurants - so I thought it would be better to wait until after the wedding. So, I'll be taking extra time to prepare.
Technorati Tags:
Alan R Gaby, allergyelimination diet, family wedding, tracking down hidden food allergy, William Crook MD

Blogged with Flock