Elimination Diet for dealing with and discovering allergies

My allergist has placed me on an elimination diet in which we have eliminated all known allergens, and actually since I seem to be reacting to so many different things, even things I'm not allergic to, we have eliminated all but the things I react to. At first that left me with rice and pork. Currently I'm eating Rice, Pork, Beef, (once or twice a month max and only from places the cows were treated humanely up till becoming steaks)  salt, sugar, olive oil, and water. We're trying a new food in there every once in a while. This week I'm trying peaches. I'm not so sure how that's going. My body isn't very happy in general right now, even if I don't eat peaches. There was a fire nearby and the smoke brought allergens with it, plus it's a time of year where there are a lot of plants which I'm allergic to drying out and blowing around in the heat. It's not a good time to be in this body.

My allergist called it Oral Allergy Syndrome if memory serves. I'm on 3 types of antihystamine drugs. I've jokingly called it foodie hell because basically anything in the air cross reacts to a bunch of different foods. We have eliminated all those foods from my diet.

On the up note, I have been getting creative with those few ingredients left to me. And the rare occasions when we add other flavors are even more delicious and notable than they would have seemed previously. A peach is a wonderful thing even if I have to cook the heck out of it to safely try it. This week I am trying peaches but haven't been sure if they're causing my allergies to get worse or not. So there will be some days when I'll just do rice and pork, and other days where I'll include peaches this week, and I'll compare the reactions and decide if it's worth it. The allergist is also doing blood tests. You can follow  my health progress on baresimplicity.blogspot.com where I occasionally post a health update. BACK to the food!

Here are some recipes we have concocted that I have really enjoyed. Hopefully you will too:

Sweetened Louisiana Pork Ribs:
SO YUMMY

Ingrediants:
1 rack Louisiana Style Pork Ribs
2 teaspoons Salt (separated)
1/4 cup Water
2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar

Remove membrane from back of ribs if it hasn't already been done at the store
Rub 1 teaspoon salt over ribs
Place pork ribs and 1/4 cup water in the crock pot on low for 8-10 hours (while you're at work perhaps)
Remove ribs and rub with 1 teaspoon salt and 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
Place in broiler for 10-20 minutes allowing brown sugar and salt to create a nice coating

Allow to rest so sugar can cool and because meat is always best after it rests a bit.

I enjoyed this with a nice long grain rice medley (various types of rice cooked together, nice light nutty flavor)

And for desert see the recipe I posted over on Bare Simplicity
Brown Sugar and Olive Oil Cookies.
I wanted a slightly chewy cookie, and this is what I came up with
http://baresimplicity.blogspot.com/2013/06/brown-sugar-and-olive-oil-cookies.html

Complete Proteins

BBQ Veggie Pita Pizza

First Mondays of the month I participate in a  phone call with a dietitian paid for by my insurance. I would prefer in person nutrition classes and the like, but this is what my insurance pays for. It's a bit like having a life coach for health. At the end of each call she asks me to set goals. I said I should keep the same goals since I was not satisfied with my follow through from last month. But then I realized, I also want to focus on making sure that I am eating enough complete proteins. Since I am no longer eating beef and I have greatly reduced my cheese intake, she was concerned that I make sure I am getting enough protein. I think I have been, but it's possible that some of my recent fatigue and negative emotions have been related.

We discussed what a complete protein is. Many people have told me that I need to make sure I am getting enough protein, or complete proteins if I am reducing and/or removing meat and cheese from my dietary habits, but one friend explained it as such:

"Any combination of 2 or more of these food groups makes a complete protein:
seeds &  nuts
beans & legumes
whole grains
eggs & dairy"

My dietician basically confirmed, and added that of course it is easier to get complete protein by eating meat, eggs or dairy, but if I'm going to focus on vegetative matter to get my protein, the above list minus the eggs and dairy is right. She also mentioned that the only complete protein found yet in a non meat or dairy food is quinoa. Complete proteins apparently have to do with amino acid chains or some such. I tried to look it up on diabetes.com as she suggested but haven't found it yet. Still, complete proteins are not impossible or even that hard to attain without meat or dairy, so I can still continue my quest to see how I do on less meat (no beef) and at least 50% less cheese (which I think is much more than 50% less at this point) For example in today's breakfast I had both the protein that was available from the veggies and almond butter. I'm not sure if that's technically a complete protein, but it's definitely healthier than one or the other. If I had put the peanut butter on some whole wheat toast it would have met the dietitians requirements. It also would have doubled my carb intake for the day, so I chose to forgo the bread. Not sure if that was the best decision or not protein wise, but it was good for my blood sugar. I'll run things like that by the dietitian next time. I did however make sure to get complete proteins in my lunch by having both whole wheat in the pita, and cheese on it. Plus I had good fiber, added extra veggies, and if I had made the cheese vegan by making it out of nuts it would have been non dairy but still complete proteins.

 Update on cheese changes. I have been asking myself the question "Do I really need or want cheese with/on whatever I am eating?" as I planned, and that has greatly reduced my cheese intake. Plus, when I do eat cheese, I am starting to eat 1/2 as much. For example on today's pita pizza, I decided that since I do not have any vegan cheese around right now, I did indeed want cheese on my pizza. BUT I used 1/8 cup shredded cheese instead of 1/4 cup. Also, I added salad greens to my pita pizza for some added herbal flavor, and I really enjoyed it that way! The full recipe is below.

 BBQ Veggie Pita Pizza
Ingredients:
1/3 Red Bell Pepper (I ate the rest on the side raw which was delicious)
 1/2 heritage tomato
 1 roasted serrano chili pepper
 1 cup of salad greens (I used a basil arugula mix)
1 tablespoon bbq tomato sauce (home made)
1 whole wheat pita

Instructions:
Cut roasted chili pepper into small bits and mix into bbq sauce spreading evenly over pita chop 1/3 bell pepper and 1/2 tomato into bite sized chunks and spread around pita. Sprinkle 1 cup of salad greens over all the rest sprinkle 1/8 cup shredded cheese of your choice on top cook at 250 for 10 minutes (for crispy crust cook the pita for 10 minutes before adding toppings)

Later I may combine chickpeas and sesame seeds to make a complete protein and eat a snack of veggies and hummus. And for dinner I will have quinoa with roasted veggies and a side salad. For desert I am asking Patch to bring home bananas which I can try eating since apparently bananas are only a mild food intolerance and not a complete allergy as I had thought. I have a recipe I have been wanting to try out for chocolate banana brownies. Meat Free Monday should be a success!

What is your diet?

First of all, let me just point out for those who haven't been keeping up with this food blog, that I am not dieting. I am working on finding delicious foods that contribute to my health. I also am not on a weight loss plan although I am losing weight, and will probably continue to do so for a while. Part of getting healthier is weight loss for me, tho not for everyone, and I certainly have no intention of ever being skinny or muscle bound. I would like to be a nice healthy weight and to improve my musculature, but I do not want to over do in any area.

Secondly, I will sum it up for you like this. I am eating twice as many vegetables, and half as many carbs with  at least 8 cups of water a day. Most days I drink 8 -10 cups of  water. Of course that is not the entirety of what I'm doing, but that's the simple description, and if that were the only thing I did, it would have improved my health. I am also avoiding most processed foods, and limiting those processed foods I do eat, to mostly things with as few ingredients as possible, and that those ingredients are things easily pronounced such as whole wheat, salt and water = egg free pasta or rice, basil, water as the ingredients on some simple crackers. Things made with whole foods are more likely to end up in my grocery cart than highly processed foods, and whole foods themselves are the most likely to end up there. This along with eliminating foods I am allergic to or intolerant of has made a huge difference in my health.

I use sparkpeople.com as a free food and exercise tracking device, and I also use their site for getting recipe ideas, networking with others who are working on their health. Sometimes I take a day or week off from tracking food, but during that time I still eat in the same basic manner. If I don't feel like measuring things out with actual measuring cups, I use this plate planning method: http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/downloads/pdf/csi/obesity-plate-planner-13.pdf which is basically 1/2 a plate of vegetables, a fist sized portion of protein and a first sized portion of carbs. Sometimes I have a piece of fruit or glass of milk with it. Often I save my fruit for dessert.

Healthy fats. There are a lot of disagreements out there about what healthy fats are, but I have noticed that when I eat more plant based fats I lose more weight, and my cholesterol has been lower, so I've been sticking to that. If I want to eat something higher in carbs, I make sure it's combined with protein and healthy fats, as I learned from the Prevention Magazine titled DTOUR, and later in the DTOUR diet book. I do not follow the DTOUR diet and exercise plan 100%, but I have used it to help me plan my meals. The cook book is great,  so I'm hoping to get that in the future. Every recipe I've gotten from them is pretty easily altered to avoid allergens, and the cookbook has helpful lists of replacement foods for just such a situation. (I scan it every time I'm at a book store) it's really helped me to manage my diabetes and so far I've been able to get off 2 medications since starting to eat more vegetables, less carbs, and all the rest I said above.

Avoiding chemicals has also been really helpful to getting rid of my migraines and reducing my chronic pain. I'm still having a difficult time during Monsoon season, but other than that I have been seeing some great changes. Some are gradual, and some are almost instantaneous. For example the hives I have suffered multiple times a week for my entire life, haven't happened in quite some time. They stopped as soon as I eliminated all allergens and foods I'm intolerant of. Since then I have been able to add some foods from the intolerance list back in carefully bit by bit, but others I haven't been able to add back in. I've come down to a list of about 30 things to avoid. It used to be a much longer list. That, the addition of stretching and relaxation techniques, and avoiding flashing lights, I have greatly limited my migraines which used to be chronic cluster migraines which affected me daily for almost 2 years in a row, but now are much milder and happen much less frequently. I had a migraine the other day after accidentally eating some dehydrated meat with chemicals in it, and then seeing lightning. So they do sometimes still happen, but at least it was only a couple days of being sensitive to light and having a headache instead of months worth.

Two new things I've been trying are natural sweeteners with a lower glycemic index than fructose or sugar, and sprouting things to get higher nutrients from them. In 2 weeks I'll meet with a dietitian to discuss I will write separate posts about each of those as I come to some conclusions.

Hope that helps answer some of the questions people have had. :) Please keep asking questions, and I'll keep posting my experiences. And please feel free to share what has helped you to be more healthy! I'm just learning as I go.

Xanthan Gum

As some of my friends have problems with gluten and such, I was advised that it might be a problem that I was dealing with myself. After being tested twice, I was told no I do not have a gluten intolerance. However in the mean time, I have discovered many new to me flours and new to me ways of cooking and baking which I've found really enjoyable. I have learned to replace eggs in my meals because I'm allergic to eggs, and I have learned to cook gluten free if needed.

Along the way, I was introduced to Bob's Red Mill Xanthan Gum: http://www.bobsredmill.com/xanthan-gum.html which is often used to replace gluten. It looks like an off white powder. Much like almond flour, but finer. In reality, it a polysaccharide, derived from the bacterial coat of Xanthomonas campestris, as Wikipedia tells us.  


Xanthan Gum is often used to thicken things, or to help hold things together. I have used it to create a gel like texture in home made shampoo/body wash, and in various foods. The stickiness found in bread and other baked goods if not coming from wheat gluten, needs to come from somewhere and some people use eggs to help things stick together better, but I use either Guar Gum (Which I ran out of and haven't found easily accessible at a nearby store since) or Xantham Gum, or occasionally some apple sauce. I bought a small bag of Xanthan Gum a few years ago, and it is still working for me because I use such small amounts of it.

When looking for egg replacements I was usually told to use banana which I am allergic to, or store bought replacers which either have some egg whites in it or have white potato. Neither of which is particularly good for my body. So I began experimentation of my own. People told me to try replacing eggs with apple sauce. And in some instances this worked great, but in some instances, apple sauce added too much liquid and not enough stickiness. Knowing that Xanthan Gum adds the stickiness that gluten provides, I thought perhaps a mixture of apple sauce and Xanthan Gum might be a good egg replacer. It turns out, it works. I tried out various ways of mixing it into recipes and found that although you can put it directly into water and shake or blend to get a gel much like egg whites, it tends to clump. Same when mixed with apple sauce or pear sauce.

Instead, just add Xanthan Gum to the dry ingredients of the recipe and mix well before adding liquids, then add about 6 tablespoons of water per teaspoon of Xanthan Gum. It's more of an art than a science for me, so I've done a lot of trial and error. Depending on the size of the recipe, what is missing from the recipe (gluten, eggs, etc.) and what else is already in the recipe, I add different amounts. It has taken a lot of trial and error, but it almost always works for me these days when added in small amounts.

So Xantham Gum, is it worth the money? Well I'd say buy as small amount as possible if you're going to try it, and then don't be afraid to experiment. Let me know how it goes!

Baking without eggs and yeast

Recently I have been feeling up to baking. Not every day mind you, but once or twice a week. I'm having another small surgery tomorrow so I suppose I won't be up to baking nor blogging for a while, so I thought today I would try futzing around with Milo's flaky vegan pizza crust and seeing how I did. I made a couple changes because I am not only allergic to eggs but intolerant of potato and potato starch is in most egg replacers you find out there. (or "egg product" itself, which just makes me laugh) so I have been getting creative with my baking recipes, and have found some I really enjoyed. A nice moist and fluffy Coffee Cake for one, YUM!

For Milo's Vegan Flake Pizza Crust recipe go here: http://keepingvegan.wordpress.com/2010/03/01/milos-vegan-flake-pizza-crust/

And here's the slightly altered recipe I made for whole wheat vegan pizza crust:
3 teaspoons of Xanthum Gum (or Guar Gum) 6 Tablespoons of water and 2 tablespoons pear sauce (place in airtight container and shake until fluffy/gummy this is my version of an egg replacer)
1/4 cup of oil
1/2 cup of soy, nut, or rice milk
2 cups of whole wheat flour
1/4 cup of rice flour
2 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of oregano (optional)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder (optional)

1. In a small bowl mix together egg replacer mix, milk, and oil till it's the consistency of lightly whipped eggs.
2. In a larger bowl mix flours, baking powder, and salt (oregano and garlic too if wanted).
3. Add wet mix to dry mix. Knead for a bit then stretch out unto and oiled baking sheet.
4. Poke holes in crust with fork. Spread sauce or oil. Add toppings.
5. Bake at 450 for 12-15 minutes.

Now I haven't quite figured out how to make that first light and fluffy coffee cake I made, because unfortunately it was the first thing I baked after recovering a bit from my last surgery and I was so tired out after making it that I didn't feel up to eating it let alone recording the recipe. The next time I made it, I did the best I could from memory and the resulting recipe can be found in my sparkpeople recipe box here: http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=1523101 which is also delicious and is inspired by a delicious low fat blueberry coffee cake recipe I found. I made some changes. Used whole wheat flour and switched up the sweetener, but it's pretty good. I think next time I make it I may use 1/2 the guar gum and use pear sauce (blended canned pears and pear juice) instead of the agave nectar.

I also tweaked Chef Meg's Orange Oatmeal Cookies a bit and got this recipe for citrus whole wheat oatmeal cookies which was pretty good, and REALLY good with semi dark chocolate chips!

It's tricky cooking breads without yeast. It won't raise, so how do you get it light and fluffy? I'm finding the right combination of baking soda, baking powder, and guar or xanthum gum in the mix seems to help. And pear sauce adds moistness like applesauce or banana would when used as egg replacement. Since I have a food intolerance to apples and bananas those don't work. It's a matter of playing around with each recipe to get the mixtures just right tho. When I get each recipe perfected I'll say so here. And let me know if you find a better way of mixing things up than I do in the mean time!

Happy baking!

Rewriting recipes for allergies, avoiding micro contaminants

Sorry for my silence, I've had a series of surgeries since July. Most recently November 16th I was in surgery for 8 hours. All went well, and I'm healing up nicely. It's more challenging than expected, but I have wonderful support in Patch, Carlie, Jenn, and friends like Milo and Henry stopping by to keep me company and give Patch and Carlie breaks. Doctor Heather Miracle Maven even stopped by for a home visit right after surgery.


Since Jenn helped me type up my allergies to put on the fridge and take to the nutritionist at the surgical center, I have been doing much better about avoiding allergens. Nothing I have intentionally put into my mouth has made me sick. 3 things have given me allergic reactions: Magnesium Citrate used for surgical prep. They gave me Lemon/Lime, and it turns out I had instant hives. Some pain med in the hospital (have to find out which one, Jenn wrote it down) and a roasted almond that crept onto a plate of "ants on a log" I'd made for Thanksgiving appetizers.  


I also was diagnosed as prediabetic, although I have gotten my numbers down over the last couple of months through exercise and dietary changes. Just paying attention to portion sizes and trying to get the omega 3, calcium, fruits and vegetables, fiber and protein seem to be enough of a change for me to really see significant changes. I lost 40 pounds before surgery, making my surgeon VERY happy.


One thing I've been doing since I've been laid up is to read a recipe in a diabetes magazine, or some other health magazine, and rewrite it so that the person cooking for me can make it. The hardest thing to avoid seems to be sugars. I'm not allowed to have AT ALL  the following items until after at least 2 months (I decided on February in order to give myself and those who sometimes cook for me time to get used to avoiding the nono list) and one of them (yeast) did sneak in on Thanksgiving in the form of a roasted almond (why they put yeast in the powder on the almond I do not know) but I think that's OK, because I'll still be allergin free for 2 months. It was scary and itchy with the swelling up of the lips and throat, but I never had a problem breathing, the benedril was enough and the EPI Pen never had to be used. After February I may start adding certain things back SLOWLY into my diet such as corn, beef, and bananas. But that is a whole process of one item a week, so VERY slowly adding them back into the diet and seeing home my body responds. For now, we are being HYPER careful to avoid the things on the Prohibited Foods List:


Here's the Prohibited Foods list for the next 2 months:
Fruit:
Apple, Banana, Grapefruit, Lemon, Lime, Pineapple, Plum, Watermelon
Grain:
Hops, Millet, White Flour
Nuts and Seeds:
Pecan, Sesame
Other:
Baker's Yeast, Black tea, Brewer's Yeast, Cilantro, Ginger, Green Tea, Lavendar, Mustard, Vanilla, Chocolate, drinking Alcohol, Soy
Protein:
Beef, Chicken, Codfish, Salmon, Crab, Eggs, Lamb (shoot, glad I typed this up, was gonna have Carlie cook up some lamb stew in the crock pot for tonight)
Vegetables:
Asparagus, Broccoli, Brussel Sprouts, Cabbage, Carrot, Cauliflower, Corn, Cucumber, White potatoes, Mushroom, Squash
Sweetener:
Maple Syrup
Agave
Cane Sugar (or ANY Processed sugars)
High Fructose Corn Syrup
Honey


Some of these foods are harder to avoid than others. For example carrots show up in many packaged foods that don't have sugar, apples or bananas are a common replacement for sweetener or eggs when baking, and generally avoiding beef and chicken means it is virtually impossible to eat out. 


Now that i'm getting used to the list tho, we are doing a lot of cooking from whole foods at home which means we know EXACTLY what is in everything, and we are doing a lot of vigilant label reading. I do find it difficult when other people are cooking for me to stand strong on things that in miniscule amounts. For example Carlie made turkey chili, and she always uses the same kind of pinto beans. So she read the ingredients to me and there wasn't anything until the very end when it said ingredients that are in such small amounts we couldn't measure them and included sugar. Now I'm not actually allergic to sugars, but it triggers inflamation and itching in my body. So last night and today I have been incredibly itchy, and the only thing I ate that could have caused it was that chili. Still, I love her turkey chili and that she made it for me. It's an altered recipe already because it's turkey not beef. It is really hard to stand firm and say no, not even a miniscule amount of sugar. If I wasn't laid up postoperatively it would be easier because I could just put pinto beans in the crock pot with some spices and veggie stock and they'd be ready for her when she got home from work to make the turkey chili she wanted to make. Instead, I felt a bit like don't look a gift horse in the mouth. I don't want to make her care taking any more difficult on her than it has to be, and I honestly didn't think it would really cause a difference.


So far tho, since I started avoiding the things I'm intolerant of I have noticed that tiny bits of them really do have more severe consequences than before. I wonder why?


Well I will leave you with thought. If you can't have honey, and you want to replace it with something thick and syrupy but have been told maple syrup and agave are also out of the question what do you replace it with? So far most people use apples. I am currently highly intolerant of apple, and it's on the prohibited food list. However peaches, berries, and pear aren't, so I've been using them as sweeteners. I love watching the cooking channel, and remembered learning once that if I cook down pears they create their own sort of carmelization and become a thick honey like substance. So here's my recent attempt at a honey substitute.


1 can pears packed in their own juice and water, blended, cooked on medium until lightly carmelized and thickened to slightly more runny than honey consistency. As it cools it thickens. I am going to put it in an air tight container and try saving some to see how it turns out. I will be using this in an attempt to make my own granola. Will let you know how it turns out. If it's any good, I will share the recipe!

FINALLY Clear Dietary Restrictions

It has been a challenging year and I've been a bit silent this month on my food blog. For that, I apologize. The good news is, I have had my food intollerance test, gluten, candida, caeisin and sugars tested. That and more actually.

I found out that I have a low thyroid problem, and am starting a new medicine for that tomorrow. I suspect that will help loads with my energy and weight loss. This could in large part explain why I can eat less than most people I know, but still gain weight. And why this last time I went on weight watchers it didn't work. I'm excited and hopeful.

I also was given foods to avoid. Eventually I will try a rotational diet which is meant to help avoid building intollerances to any foods I currently can eat.

The good news, I am NOT caesin or gluten intollerant! I now have 5 test results at 2 different times in my life saying I am not gluten intollerant in any way. I still make gluten free foods sometimes, so will post gluten free recipes along with the others...but if it doesn't say gluten free in the tags, don't assume it is please.

I will be trying both regular nonfat milk and lactaid to see which my body processes better. I did notice that when I was gluten free I was able to drink milk and eat cheese without a negative reaction. So I suppose it was some combination perhaps of carbs and milk that was upsetting my stomach.

My sugars were high, so I was told to cut out sugar, honey, and sodas. I'm still allowed to eat fruits (PHEW) and I believe I can still use small amounts of agave nectar or prickly pear. Which is a relief since both are in plentiful supply here in the Sonoran Desert, and I really love them both. But I will not be replacing all the sugar I drank and ate with other sweetners. I will be striving to have a balanced, low carb, low sugar, low fat way of eating. I will be not eating foods I am alergic to, and avoiding almost all foods I'm intolerant of. There were 3 lists of intollerance. Red, Orange, and Yellow. The red and orange are out. Finito. I was told I could eat the yellow. I will be eating them, but will strive not to eat too much of them, because I do not want to end up having them jump up higher on the scale of food intollerance.

Here's a list of the foods I can not eat at this time and for at least 3 possibly 6 more months:
Allergies: Crab (never again, Ige Allergy) Brocoli, Eggs, Squash, Watermellon, Red Zone: Carrots, Codfish (does this mean I need to avoid my fish oil pills and go back on meds for cholesterol?) Mushroom (yay!) Orange Zone: Asparagus, Black Tea, Green Tea, Oolong Tea, Chicken, Egg Yolk, Ginger, Grapefruit, Lamb, Lemon, Pecan, Plum, Sessame. And to avoid because of the candida, bakers yeast, brewer's yeast, Cane sugar, Fructose sugar, and honey.

I think there's a few other things I'm mildly allergic to that I am not remembering offhand, but the ones I listed are the ones I started avoiding this month. And no hives since avoiding them. I forgot about the watermellon at a BBQ, and 15 minutes later had hives. I forgot about eggs being the major ingredient in the quiche muffin I tried out one day, itchy itchy scratchy scratchy. Eating things my body is intollerant to or allergic to raising the inflamatory response, and that causes more fibro pain along with the hives I've experienced in the past. This means my Fibromyalgia Syndrom will likely be helped by this new way of eating.

Thankfully I haven't forgotten anything since. And as I learn to avoid foods that my body doesn't like, I am sure I will start feeling better. It is REALLY nice to not wake up covered in hives. I hope there's no summer heat rash in store this year either. We'll see, but I'm hopeful that if I'm not eating eggs and other things that I'm allergic to there will be no itchy hives to wake to in the middle of the summer nights this year. Wish me luck!