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Day 8 Of Food Challenge

10 May

I woke up this morning feeling pretty good, not thinking I was having any reaction. It’s a new week in my progressive food challenge where I reintroduce the foods I have identified as problematic or causing me to feel sick when I eat them. Since I have never been officially diagnosed as having any of these food problems and my gastroenterologist has an upper endoscopy scheduled for me for the end of June, we both agreed its probably a good idea for me to go off my diet as much as I could tolerate to “irritate” my system so there is something to measure during my test.

I have started with eating gluten-free oats and drinking orange juice, both of which have been found to trigger reactions in me, as unusual as they may seem. However, they tend to be lesser reactions for me so I decided to start with them to see if they still caused problems and to ease myself into the rest of the foods I know make me feel crummy.

I made it until noon before I noticed feeling anything off about my day. No ninja battle in my stomach like yesterday, but I did feel aches in my abdomen. Also, eating other things triggered reactions, especially foods with more fiber in them, like nuts and grains. Salami and cheese didn’t feel weird at all. I have been snacking on candied ginger as well as minty water to see if they would help, and they do.

I’m feeling more emotional now, feeling testy and frustrated, even depressed and a little weepy (but without actually crying). Also, just plain distanced from people and out of the loop with my school schedule, which is almost over for the semester (and the reason I’m not back into the challenge diet hardcore yet!) I have to get past finals week before I can dedicate myself to making myself feel horrible. :)

Anyway, one more week and I’m on to the “hard stuff” – but I think it would be safe to say that oats, gluten-free or not, are not my friend. I haven’t reacted to the orange juice yet, so that remains to be seen.

More to come!

Day 7 Gluten-Free Oats Food Challenge

9 May

GlutenFreeda Banana OatsI decided to shake things up a little yesterday and went for some GlutenFreeda Banana Maple Flax instant oats instead of the Bakery On Main Maple flavor I’d been eating the last several days. So far, I have only been having a few side effects, such as heartburn and bloating, so I figured trying another brand wouldn’t hurt. Not blaming the brand, but I am not feeling so hot today. I had some more oats today and then went about my life, until I got the opportunity to have some lunch.

Boy was that fun.

As soon as I finished my non-threatening salad and brown rice salmon/tuna/avocado cut roll, I immediately started feeling like two ninjas were having a battle in my stomach. Seriously painful, no joke. When that died down, I had a couple of squares of chocolate and the ninjas were back. Not fun at all.

Anyway, I guess I’ve confirmed that I’m one of those celiacs or gluten-intolerants who can’t tolerate oats. Unfortunately, for the sake of my food challenge, I still have a few weeks of this to go. And I still have some more aggressive foods to add to my diet. The upper endoscopy to see if I have eosinophilic esophagitis is scheduled for the end of June. Let’s hope I make it. :/

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. :)

What would you eat?

2 May

For those of you out there in the land of food allergies and sensitivities, what would be high up on your wish list? I’m starting a food challenge in two weeks and here is my shameless list of foods I’ve currently compiled:

  • flaky/buttery croissant
  • Chinese food
  • fresh squeezed orange juice
  • Togo’s pastrami sandwich
  • Taco Bell taco supreme and burrito supreme
  • manicotti 
  • angel food cake
  • tiramisu
  • almond-filled croissant
  • crusty baguette
  • oatmeal
  • baklava
  • chili relleno
  • a real gourmet bacon cheeseburger
  • and then a Carl’s Jr. Western Bacon Cheeseburger (don’t bother me, I’ll be eating)

…and so much more. If I survive….

What would you eat?

Update – I’m still here!

28 Sep

Just wanted to post an update to let people know I’m still here, I’ve just been more present on my Gut Thinking Facebook page, as well as working on my school projects and research in nutrition.

Gluten Free Pretzels

Currently, in my food science class, my group is working on perfecting a gluten-free pretzel recipe and so far they taste very much like fresh, soft pretzels. They look a little funky, so we’re working on the texture. This is just an example of the density changes between two types of flour combinations. They taste really good, but we want to tighten them up a little bit before we really start showing them off.

Also, I’m helping with two research projects, one including gathering data on elementary school student plate-waste at lunchtime, and the other is to find out how allergists work with patients who come in to find out if they have food allergies or intolerances. I’m really excited to be learning about their protocols and how they deal with patients!

Anyway, I would love to hear what people have been up to. And I’ll start posting more as my baking season gets rolling! :)

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