Archive | Food Intolerance RSS feed for this section

Ramping Up the Food Challenge–Day Five

7 May

Bakery on Main Gluten-Free OatmealToday is day five of my ramping up my food challenge, as I am having an upper endoscopy on June 21 to see if I have eosinophilic esophagitis. This disease appears to be more recently recognized and has to do with multiple food allergies that might otherwise go undiagnosed. Since I have had crushing esophagus pain from some foods (oranges) and trouble swallowing at times, often choking on liquids (my nickname has been “RainBird”), my new gastroenterologist looked at my food allergy test results (skin prick tests done by an allergist) and decided there could be more to my food reactions than other conventional allergy testing has shown.

It’s really difficult, though, psychologically, going back and eating things I have avoided for the last 5 to 15 years. I keep looking at the boxes on the shelves in the store and wanting to read all the ingredients, and then thinking that I should just try anything I want. I also don’t want to “waste” this opportunity to eat the things I used to love by eating the stale bread that comes with meals at lesser restaurants, or fast food take-out that I didn’t even like when I did eat it.

I have actually been asking my friends “what’s your favorite Chinese restaurant?” or “where can I get the absolute best croissant in town?” and making a point of not going out of my way to get too many special gluten-free foods for the time being.

Even though I haven’t gone back to a full food challenge, I have been eating so-called gluten-free oatmeal every morning, as I react to oats, as well as having orange juice each day. I’m not planning on going for the hardcore gluten-containing products until May 17, the day I finish this semester’s finals, as I don’t want any negative reactions to cause problems with my studying.

So far, I haven’t been having very major reactions, but I am queasy pretty often and have confused signals about whether or not I’m hungry. I have also had some heartburn which I knocked out with some Pepcid. Today, though, I woke up feeling achy all over, something like the beginning of a flu or bad cold. I also have a headache that feels different from the ones I usually have. I’m feeling less-coordinated than usual, and having a little brain fog.

None of this is as bad as it gets by far, but the few things I am having are definitely having an effect. I think the oats are the culprit for most of the body/brain stuff, and the orange juice for the heartburn. I have also been eating more corn lately, which is another food that kicks up acid reflux.

Hoping I can keep it up and get through the challenge period, and that I don’t become too difficult to be around. And I also hope I learn something useful from the whole experience.

BTW – if you have celiac disease and can eat oats, I highly recommend the Bakery on Main brand instant oats. I have been enjoying the maple flavor ones for the last 5 days now and wishing I could keep them as part of my diet from this point on. :)

Some of my wishlist products (not all “healthy” or gourmet):

  • croissant – both plain and almond-filled
  • crusty baguette
  • Round Table pizza – maybe pepperoni and double cheese?
  • garlic bagel with lox and cream cheese
  • clam-stuffed breaded and fried calamari
  • Chinese food – almost anything
  • Mexican food – especially chilies relleno
  • old fashioned-style doughnut/maple glazed
  • baked manicotti
  • Grape Nuts/Wheat Chex
  • Oreos

And that’s just for starters… it’s not going to be pretty, but I have to provoke a reaction. Might as well enjoy it while I can. :)

Food Challenging Starting Soon

30 Apr

I went to a new gastroenterologist last week and he wants to conduct an upper endoscopy on me to see if I have Eosinophilic Esophagitis which is a condition where your esophagus develops inflamed rings as a result of increased inflammatory response, usually because of allergies. Even though I recently had a thorough set of tests to see if I had food allergies through the skin prick method and was found to not have anything horrible show up (other than allergy to lobster, something I eat every day! J/K ;) ), I could still have other adverse food reactions occurring which are measurable on my body somehow. Therefore, upper endoscopy.

Better than a colonoscopy because I don’t have to do the prep (if you’ve had one, you know, and if you haven’t, you’ve probably heard).

My doctor recommended I start a food challenge the month before, eating all the things that I don’t tolerate normally. This should kick things into high gear. I have been opposed to this methodology in the past, but think I’m going to give it a shot. I am trying to decide if I want to challenge gluten, as well, since he’s not going to be doing a biopsy on my small intestine. I am getting the blood tests done though. I don’t think a month is long enough, but since I will be feeling crummy anyway, might as well go for it, right?

Anyway, waiting until my finals end, and that’ll give me a solid month of time to eat it up. I’m already planning things I’m going to try, like the best croissant I can find in town, or a pizza at a former favorite place – maybe some Mexican food and definitely some Chinese. I’m almost as excited as I am scared!

I do plan on keeping you posted so keep on the lookout for updates, here and on Facebook. Wish me luck!

Allergy Testing For Food, Pollen, and Molds

3 Dec

Allergy Testing ArmI recently had a series of allergy tests done – 5 sets in all – to see if I was allergic to anything to the point where I should be carrying an EpiPen, and then to learn more about non-allergic adverse reactions to foods and other things, such as my reaction to the nightshade family (potatoes, peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, kava, and tobacco).

During the testing, I had to lie down on a table and the technician brought in a tray of allergens in a theme, such as major or minor foods, then pollens/grasses/trees/molds in various combinations. For some they wanted further clarification, so shots were injected subcutaneously into my arm after the testing on my back was completed.

The skin testing helps determine what you would react to in a severe way, possibly requiring the use of an EpiPen to prevent anaphylaxis if encountered. While I have many adverse reactions to foods, I know that only about 1-3% of adults have true allergies to foods so I wasn’t thinking I would show any positives in those tests. My doctor explained that a person may still have adverse reactions even if they don’t show on the skin test, but that those are not likely to result in life-threatening ways, so other options are available for treatment, such as taking a certain antihistamine cocktail for a few days before trying them out. He really took the fear out of food reactions for me, as most of mine, while fairly unpleasant, only last a couple of days, and I realized that if I was stuck somewhere with no other food source, I would not starve because I would bite the bullet and eat what was given, even if I felt sick for a bit after.

The skin test is a little prickly and then itchy, especially where they poke you with the pure histamine which is used as a control to make sure they are getting a good reaction –  I was instructed to be off all antihistamines, including those for acid reflux, for 5 days before each set of testing as they can interfere with the results. I had to lie there in the little room for 20 minutes each time while I felt all sorts of itchiness occurring and really wanted to scratch my back but instead found something to read to distract myself. The results are determined by measuring the urticaria or wheals that form and then the redness circumference around the wheal, so a positive would have a wheal of >3mm wide and redness >10mm wide, or written as 3/10.

I found out that the only two foods I have a true, skin-testable allergy to are red pepper (3/13) and lobster (6/30 – my wheal for lobster was as wide as the histamine!) Allergy to one shellfish gives a 75% likelihood of being allergic to other shellfish. I was surprised I didn’t have a positive test for oranges, as I have had a reaction in the past after drinking some juice and having some fresh. I did test positive for many pollens from grasses, weeds, and trees, as well as molds, and this can explain why some foods are allergenic when consumed, as some pollens are very similar in structure to food proteins, which may cause a faulty allergic reaction in the body when consumed. An example is being allergic to birch pollen might give you an adverse reaction to apples, peaches, or melons.

With the results in, I am looking at the way I eat food a little differently. I was told by my allergist the more I avoided certain foods that didn’t provide a true allergic reaction, the more sensitive I would be to them, such as potatoes. That instead of eating less of them over time and getting more reactive, I would have been better served to keep eating them to maintain my body’s ability to tolerate them. I’d wondered about that in the past, so am looking forward to future appointments where we discuss strategies to maybe make it possible for me to regain some of those forbidden foods in my diet.

I’m not suggesting anyone do this out there without the help of a doctor, but if you haven’t had allergy testing and have problems with specific foods, it may be worth your while to make an appointment. It’s worth a shot! ;)

Amish People Aren’t Autistic Because They Aren’t Vaccinated?

3 Dec

I remember when I was a kid, how important science was in education, and we understood that the scientific method helped us to understand and explain phenomena. If it was backed up by enough evidence, it became a scientific law, such as the law of gravity, though even scientific laws can be “broken.”

People are understandably upset about autism, especially since no one is able to figure out what causes it. So we look for patterns and try to piece it together. This is an anecdotal article about Amish people that claims that only three Amish children were ever vaccinated, and of those, two of them developed autism. I understand the strong desire to explain things, and when things are unexplained, then people want to develop conspiracy theories, but the truth of the matter is without any actual documented data to back it up, you can’t make any conclusions about the Amish as a people and their apparent (at least in this article) lack of autism.

I am posting about this because I am passionate about science and understanding why things work, and every form of research I’ve read indicates there is no connection between vaccinations and autism. I know that there is a similar thought about going gluten-free to reduce the effects of autism, yet there is no science to back that up, either.

I hope that people don’t stop vaccinating their kids because we have already seen the resurgence of whooping cough as a result of this practice. I would hate to see polio and other diseases come back, out of fear that these vaccines allegedly cause autism.

Recipe: NoMato Sauce

11 Apr

nightshade-free no-mato sauceI’ve been meaning to post my NoMato Sauce (gluten-free and IC-friendly) recipe for quite a while now but have been ironing out some kinks. Having used it recently in a gluten-free stromboli and several pots of crock-pot lasagna, I figured it was time for it to make its debut on the blog.

My husband, who doesn’t have to eat like this, says it’s very close to the real thing and is tasty, either way. It’s been 12 years for me since I’ve had the real thing, but this most definitely satisfies the itch for red sauce when I get it. I hope you love it!

Here’s how you do it – there are a couple non-IC-friendly ingredients (wine, vinegar) but you can leave those out and still have a tasty sauce. However, if you can tolerate a little bit of those, then give them a try as they add to the body and give it that extra something.

NoMato Sauce

  • 2 pounds carrots. sliced
  • 3 medium beets (or one package pre-cooked from Trader Joe’s), chopped or sliced (peeled if raw)
  • 2 yellow onions, chopped
  • 1 good-sized leek (or 2-pack from Trader Joe’), sliced
  • 4 cloves of garlic, minced (or more – depends on how much you like your garlic, I’ll use a whole bulb if patient enough to peel it all!)
  • 2 ribs celery, sliced
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tsp salt, and then to taste
  • 2 tsp black pepper
  • chicken/beef/veggie stock or broth – your choice (at least one of those 32 oz boxes)
  • 1 cup red or white wine, if you can tolerate it cooked
  • water
  • 4 tbsp Bragg’s Liquid Aminos (or other gluten-free tamari/soy sauce)
  • 2 tbsp dried basil
  • 2 tbsp oregano

Saute onions and leeks in a stock pot with olive oil in the bottom. When they have just started to sweat a little, add in garlic, carrots, beets, and celery. Add salt and pepper, and stir a little longer.

Add liquids, depending on what you like and can tolerate. You will need enough to cover the veggies in the stock pot, so start out with the box of broth/stock. Then add in the wine if you can tolerate it cooked (some ICers can’t handle wine at all, others are fine with it). If this isn’t enough to JUST cover the veggies, add in a little water to bring it to that level, so there are still some pieces of carrot and onion sticking out. You can always thin the sauce later if it gets too thick.

Let simmer on the stove with a lid on it for about 20 minutes. At that point, take an immersion or stick blender, take the pot off the heat, and blend it up as best you can. You can also use a blender or food processor, but hot stuff in those can get pretty messy, so be careful! Blend it up as finely as you can.

Once blended, put back on heat and check the thickness. If it resembles spaghetti sauce, then you’re set. If it’s too thick, then add more broth, wine, or water (or all three). If too watery, then you’ll want the whole thing to reduce, so simmer for a bit with the lid off. You’ll want it to cook a bit longer anyway, to soften up the vegetables more.

Add in the basil and oregano, and then add in a couple of tablespoons of Bragg’s, and give it a taste. If you think it needs more body, add in more Bragg’s. If you can get away with a little bit of acid, then try adding some natural apple cider vinegar, the kind you get in the health food stores (or at Trader Joe’s). You can also saute up a cup of sliced mushrooms and add them at this point.

Let the whole thing simmer for another 20 minutes and then it should all be pretty tender. I like to use some right away but pour the rest in 16oz canning jars while still hot, let them cool, then put in the freezer for later use. It’s been 12 years since I’ve had a real tomato spaghetti sauce, but this stuff comes very close. Add some ground beef for a bolognese-like sauce, great in a crock-pot lasagna, or use in stromboli. You can also omit the Italian seasonings (basil and oregano) and use it as a more general-purpose red sauce. Have fun and experiment!

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.