I haven't been feeling great since mid April after I returned from my visit to Philly. When I don't feel great, I don't feel like writing. I'm writing now because I feel very unproductive and like I don't deserve to to take up space unless I do something today. I usually write out of inspiration or because I want to share some information that I think is important. Today, I write out of a pretty dark place and I guess my only goal is to feel a bit of accomplishment and to let my friends that share my issues with depression, food issues, and/or digestive issues know that they aren't alone.
Last Friday, I got the results of my food intolerance blood test and had quite a few surprises. The list of foods that my body does not tolerate is longer than I'd hoped and includes some of my favorite foods. Thankfully there is a list of foods that my body likes and I can eat off of that list until I start feeling good. Then, I can slowly reintroduce some of my favorite foods and see how I feel. I've been eating a fairly restricted diet (but 'cheating' fairly regularly) for the last several months. Some of the foods that my doctor and I thought were safe are actually not good for me, such as avocado, rice, vanilla, cherrries, pineapple, spinach, cabbage, lettuces, and turkey. It will be interesting to see what happens when I get them out of my system. I'm also more allergic than the average person to molds. And I'm intolerant of a few food colorings. More on that some other time.
Good news is that I don't have a problem with Candida Albicans or the entire family of nightshades. So I can add back in more fruit and spicy peppers (as long as it doesn't give me heartburn).
So, here is my list:
Severe Intolerance: apricot, avocado, clam, corn, halibut, psyllium, walnut.
Moderate Intolerance: banana, bay leaf, cabbage, carrot, coconut, cow's milk, garlic, green pea, hops, iceberg lettuce, lime, orange, peach, pineapple, sardine, sole, spinach, tuna, wheat, (plus, because of gluten: barley, malt, rye and oats)
Mild Intolerance: artichoke, asparagus, beet, black pepper, blueberry, buckwheat, cane sugar, caraway, cherry, clove, date, duck, egg yolk, honeydew melon, kiwi, lemon, lobster, mustard, olive, onion, parsley, plum, rice, safflower, sesame, string bean, sunflower, thyme, tomato, trout, turkey, vanilla, white potato.
Acceptable Foods
- Vegetables/Legumes: black-eyed peas, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, celery, chick pea, cucumber, eggplant, green pepper, kidney bean, lentil bean, lima bean, mushroom, navy bean, pinto bean, radish, soybean, squash (yellow), sweet potato, turnip.
- Fruits: apple, blackberry cantaloupe, cranberry, fig, grape, grapefruit, mango, papaya, pear, pumpkin, raspberry, strawberry, watermelon.
- Meat: beef, chicken, lamb, pork, veal.
- Dairy: egg white, goat's milk
- Seafood: bass, codfish, crab, haddock, herring, oyster, salmon, scallop, shrimp snapper, tilapia.
- Grains: millet, tapioca.
- Herbs/Spices: basil, cayenne, cinnamon, cumin, dill, ginger, mint, nutmeg, oregano, paprika, sage.
- Nuts/Oils and Misc: almond, baker's yeast, beet sugar, blk/green tea, brewer's yeast, carob, cashew, cocoa, coffee, cottonseed, flaxseed, HFCS, hazelnut, honey, peanut, pecan, pistachio.
I still have some confusion since there are things for which I was not tested that I'd like to eat, like kale (can't have cabbage but can have broccoli, so what about kale?). They didn't test for quinoa or amaranth, but my doctor said to go ahead and eat them since they are gluten free. I'm a little nervous about quinoa though, because it is related to spinach and beets - both are on my bad list. We also discussed oats and I'll eat the gluten free kind. Also, I think that some of the foods on the acceptable list might give me heartburn, so I'd have to cut those.
I'll let you know how it goes. Today is DAY 1, since I ate whatever I wanted over the weekend because of two special events. No wonder I feel like crapola today.
DAY 1
Breakfast: Egg Whites
Snack: Juice of crenshaw melon (not on my list, but I already had it here - hoping it is okay) and strawberries
Lunch: Leftover special chili (beef, pureed red pepper, acceptable spices) Delicious. Thank you , Rick!
Dinner? Probably left over pork, amaranth, and broccoli.
Sorry for the lack of eloquence and/or enthusiasm, but hopefully that will change over the next month.
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