Being gluten intolerant and having multiple food allergies,
means I have had to give up a lot of foods. Many of you are in the same predicament. At first, it’s really hard. Last fall, when I found out I had to
give up a whole bunch of other foods (tuna, trout, turkey, pork, tea, black
pepper, potato, spinach, pineapple, raspberry, strawberry, sunflower, sweet
potato, brewers yeast), I was really depressed. To top it off, I had to make a ten day trip to
California. Oh, that was
hard. I was grieving. Grieving for my old life of eating what
I wanted, when I wanted. I was
sick of having to think about every single thing I put in my mouth.
But, in the end, I want to be well. And, I don’t want to sit around and
feel sorry for myself either. I
like to be proactive. Off and on,
I know I’ve mentioned things I’ve been doing differently and substitutes I’ve
found, but I thought it might be nice to put it all down in one post.
The nice thing about food allergies as opposed to being
gluten intolerant is, SOMETIMES, you can work your way out of them to a
point. I says SOMETIMES because
people can be deathly allergic to some foods and need to have lifetime
avoidance. Milder allergies can
sometimes be over come. Or, at the
very least, you can enjoy that food on an occasional basis. Most allergists will have you stay away
from the food you are allergic to and then challenge them to see exactly what
type of reaction you have to them.
That way you will know which foods to avoid all the time, and which ones
you can have now and then. It’s important
to note, if you get an anaphylactic reactions to certain foods, never challenge
them! Stay away from them.
That’s where I am at with some of my allergic list. I have
added back black pepper and brewers yeast back. How does one avoid black pepper anyway?? For the most part, I stay away from
everything else on the list, but every once in a while I will eat potatoes or
bacon. I find I can do that with
very little symptoms. If I eat
them too often or too close together, I start feeling bad.
Some things on my list I don’t really miss. Trout, I’ve never eaten trout! Tuna, I just eat salmon instead. I have never done a challenge with the
fruit on my list. I guess I don’t
miss them that bad! Really, there
are other fruits I really like, so I eat those instead.
What are some of things I have found? Well, potatoes were the thing I missed
the most. Potato starch is in a
lot of gluten free products. It’s
in crackers, pretzels, mixes, recipes…..everywhere! In the world of gluten free, it’s as prevalent as
wheat! Cooking without it is
easy. I sub cornstarch in any
recipe it’s called for. Finding
gluten free products I can eat is a whole other issue. Not much I can do there but look for
brands without it.
Because of my potato allergy, I have discovered other
vegetables. Rutabagas are
great! I am becoming very fond of
them. My favorite thing is to
roast them with onions and garlic.
I use them in soups or any other place you might use a potato. I recently tried celery root and kind
of like that too. Not as much as
rutabagas, but I would like to experiment so more. Cassava root is also very much like a potato. You can buy chips that taste very
similar to potato chips. I really like those! I miss potato chips.
Tea was another big thing for me. I drank ice tea daily.
I had a really hard time giving it up. I rarely drink pop/soda. I just don’t care for all that sugar. I decided to try something new and
bought some sparkling water. My
favorite thing to do is add some Pom Wonderful juice and or a wedge of lime. I love Pom juice or anything to do with Pomegranates. Pom juice is really good for you! Lot’s of antioxidants and vitamin C. Adding the sparkling water to it makes
it like a soda without being so sweet. Did you know the Pom people even have a Pom blog? Did you know they even make Pom coffee?? I totally did not know that until looking at their website just now! Now you know I'm going to have to try that!
Lately, I’ve been making ice tea out of herb tea. The tea I’m allergic to is regular old
black tea/green tea. It comes from
the same plant. I can have herbal
tea. Those are different
plants. I just have to make sure
there are no fruits added that I am allergic to. I really like Celestial Seasonings teas. Sometimes I will brew a pot, cool it
and enjoy it iced.
The other thing I really missed was red wine. I’m not a big drinker, except for red
wine. One glass, in the
evening. Wine has brewers yeast in
it, which is on my list. There is
no substitute for red wine. I
tried grape juice. In a wine
glass. No. No good. It’s like trying to replace coffee. Not happening. I kept it out of my diet for about 3
months. I really didn’t see a lot
of difference when I added it back.
And, I test pretty high on the allergy spectrum on brewers yeast. If you find yourself allergic to
brewers yeast, I don’t know what to tell you on that one.
Bacon is a problem.
Turkey is on my allergy list too.
So for a while I couldn’t even eat turkey bacon. That just doesn’t seem fair, does
it? Sometimes, a girl just has to
have bacon! One time, a couple
years ago, Kati and I cooked a pound of bacon and ate the whole thing while
watching The Gilmore Girls on DVD!
You can see that we love bacon.
I’m not allergic to chicken and they don’t make chicken
bacon. At least now, I can have it
occasionally without too many ill effects. They do make chicken sausage though and I do buy that a
lot. I even use that on
pizza. It makes a fair substitute
for sausage pizza and I’m sure a whole lot healthier.
Sunflower is almost like potato starch. It’s everywhere! The oil is used in so many baked and
pre-packaged goods. It does bother
me when I eat too much of it.
Mostly I have to stay away from products that contain it. In recipes where sunflower seeds are
called for, I just use another type of nut or seed.
Also, this year our son found out he is allergic to wheat
and casein. That presented even
more challenges in the kitchen.
Being that he is a young guy, he tries to stick with his diet, but
mostly cheats. It’s been hard for
him to make the change. One day, I
think it will catch up with him and he will be sorry. He’s a big boy (man) though, and mom can only hope he will
take care of himself. It has made
me experiment a bit with dairy free cooking even though he doesn’t live with
us. And, if I make something just
for him, I make it wheat free/casein free.
Casein free living is pretty tricky. I don’t know how one lives without
cheese. I don’t want to know
either. I have enough to deal
with! One little trick I learn for
Bryan, was to use ground cashews on pizza instead of cheese. It’s really weird, but it’s similar to
Parmesan cheese! If you are
casein free, you really have to be careful about cheese substitutes because so
many of them are made with casein.
I have found only one we really like. It called Follow your Heart.
To replace butter, I use Earth Balance. I have been using Earth Balance for a
while now because it’s trans fat
free. They also make
several types of Earth Balance so you can find the one right for you, like
their new Soy Free Spread for those of you that can’t do soy. My favorite is the one with olive
oil. I use it in baking and
anything else I would normally do with butter. I still use real butter from time to time but this can be
used in any recipe that would call for butter. They even make peanut butter. And, it’s good for you!
As far as milk goes, Bryan has pretty much given up drinking
milk. He has been buying chocolate
soy milk and is fairly happy with that.
Milk is so easy to replace in recipes. My favorite is almond milk or coconut milk in baked
goods. I know quite a few people
like hemp milk. Especially for
soups, because it has a rich consistency.
What have you had to give up? How did you cope?
What do you use now instead?
Are you just now finding out you have to give something up and having
and hard time coping? Remember,
sometimes we put ourselves in a box.
A safe, little, convenient box.
We live in that box and do everything the same way all the time. While that’s comforting, it’s not
challenging. We learn the most
about ourselves when we are challenged.
Maybe this is your calling to step out of that box. Try something new!
