The Rotation Diet: New Foods

February 23, 2011 By 2 Comments

The weather has been absolutely beautiful around here the last few days. We’ve enjoyed sitting outside on our patio and other outdoor activities after being locked inside for so long during the freezing temperatures. We even sneaked out to the pool after lunch on Monday to soak up some sunshine. However, with beautiful weather comes increased allergies. Boooo!!!

I’ve been feeling kinda yucky that last couple of days. I’m already having itchy eyes and nose and it’s only February. I started looking into some more ways to relieve allergy symptoms so that I don’t have to just be miserable for the next six months. For the most part, I think I’m pretty much out of luck. The only thing that I’ve found that might help some is the rotation diet. I’ve kinda been trying to do this already, but maybe I need to be more intentional about it. The basic theory is that your body isn’t very well able to handle too much of any one thing. If you rotate foods and food groups you might be able to better handle foods that normally bother you. It is supposed to help with environmental allergies too. We’ll see if it helps.  It may sound crazy, but I’m willing to try for the sake of not having another year like last year.

The goal is to never have any food more than once in a four day period. As if I needed to make meal planning more complicated, now I have even more to keep track of. The part I’m most excited about is trying new grains and non-grain alternatives. I really miss being able to eat pasta and breads. Maybe some of these new foods will help me to miss those foods less. I drove all the way across town to check out Nutrition S’mart and they had an entire non-wheat section. Then last night I discovered they have another store right by our house. We drive past it all the time and I never noticed it until now.

New foods

The other exciting part is trying some new meats that we’ve never had before. Since we will try not to repeat anything for four days, we are definitely going to need to add more protein choices. Jesse and I made a trip to Land and Sea this morning to see what new things they might have for us. We left with ground bison, lamb shanks, and rabbit. Jesse has tried some of these, but I’ve never had any of them. Time to search for some cooking instructions!

Anyone have any recipes for any of our new items?? I’d love to hear them!

Filed Under: Allergies Tagged With: , , , ,

Discovery of Enjoy Life Foods

February 17, 2011 By 5 Comments

I have been on my allergy diet for quite some time now. I feel so much better avoiding all of the foods that we bothering me so much. However, I sure do miss the of the convenience foods we used to buy such as hamburger helper, sauce mixes, and especially snack foods. You know something can’t be too good for you when the ingredients list takes up the entire side of the box. It’s no wonder I felt crappy with all the crazy stuff that was in our food. I try to convince myself that my fresh and healthier alternatives are just as yummy, but the truth is… sometimes I need junk food!

Double chocolate brownieThat’s why I was so excited yesterday when I discovered Enjoy Life Foods. I was once again spending forever in the organic section looking for something new to try. The problem is that so many of the gluten free products use corn starch or some other form of corn. Enjoy Life cookies are free from wheat, soy, corn, milk, and eggs! I bought the double chocolate brownie cookies to try first. I was so eager to try them, I had one right after breakfast… very yummy! That was the first cake-y food I’ve enjoyed in months because I’m always so afraid of having corn syrup. I can’t wait to try more of their products. My grocery store only had a couple of their cookie varieties, but I really want to try their snack bars. The only thing I’ve been able to have for snacks is fruit. I don’t think this box of cookies will last too much longer! 🙂

The only disappointing thing about Enjoy Life Foods is that their products aren’t for sale on their website.  I don’t understand why they wouldn’t want to sell directly to the consumer.  It would be a whole lot easier to order online and have the snacks shipped right to me than to have to drive around to different stores in my area to see which store carries each item.

**Update**  Enjoy Life Foods replied to my post with a link to where I could order online!  It’s slightly cheaper than the store price too!

Filed Under: Allergies, Food Reviews Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Results!

September 29, 2010 By 2 Comments

Results

As you can see I scored very high on everything! The things that are crossed off are things that I was not tested for, not that I wasn’t allergic to them. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised with how bad I was feeling, but I didn’t think I would be so severe on everything. The one thing I was fine on was baker’s yeast. Unbelievable!

I had my first shots today. I thought it would be one big shot, but I was four small ones. Ouch! Then I have to stay there every time for thirty minutes to make sure I don’t have any bad reactions. I had slight vasovagal reaction again. I got very nauseated, sweaty, light-headed, and spotty vision. But at least I didn’t black out this time. I told the doctor I couldn’t understand why this is happening, I’m not afraid of needles. She said it just happens to some people and there was nothing I could do to control it. She also said that, unfortunately, since it happened the first time it would likely happen every time for a while.

I also talked to her about still having rash and stomach issues even though I was doing the caveman diet. Since my worst night was when I made chicken soup, she suggested I cut out chicken for a couple of days in case I’m allergic to chicken. By the way… guess what we were planning on having for dinner tonight? But my hero made a special trip to pick up steak instead. Every time I go to her, I come home with more food I can’t eat! 🙁 She also wants me to keep a food diary to be able to see a pattern of what symptoms are going with what foods. “Dear diary, tonight I ate stir fry… steak with peppers and onions.”

The great news was that she prescribed me another medicine to take before I eat a meal that I know I will be allergic to. I’m not planning on using it often, but I can take it if we out to a restaurant, to a friend’s for dinner, or for THANKSGIVING! I was getting worried that I would never be able to enjoy my favorite foods anymore. Now it wont be impossible to eat with other people. Yay!

Filed Under: Allergies Tagged With: , , , ,