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!
