food allergy diet - HELP!!

[Miscka]

My Dr. put me on a "food allergy elimination diet" . Basically for 3 weeks I can eat nothing with dairy, wheat/gluten, shellfish, rye, soy, peanuts, caffeine, sugar, honey....and the list goes on. Argh! So what am I supposed to do? I am starving! I feel like I did during my short-lived Atkins attempt- light headed and just bleah. Does anyone have any experience with this kind of thing? Any recipe suggestions??

 

[cara]

Buy rice and rice-flour pasta. And it looks like potatoes have survived your list. And corn as well? OK. Find some rice or corn based cereal. Buy rice milk (near soy milk). You can also make almond milk in a blender with blanched almonds, if almonds are allowed.

Steamed veggies, basic proteins (chicken breasts, fish), and fats have survived. Assemble spices and seasoning ingredients that are allowed. Mustard? pepper, salt, etc. Beware anything asian that might have soy in it. It will be bland but you can get enough calories. Nuts and dried fruit are great snacks as well, though you have to check if you are allowed other nuts besides peanuts. Some of those are allergens as well.

As for eliminating "sugar", your doctor needs to be more specific. Glucose is a sugar and is the fundamental unit of metabolism and you would be dead if allergic to it. Even people that are "lactose intolerant" are not allergic to lactose (sugar in dairy) - they have trouble digesting lactose but it is a digestive issue not an immune response as far as I am aware. Maybe there is a specific sugar that he would like you to avoid, but complete avoidance is impossible. At some level, all energy is converted to "sugar".

 

[Miscka]

Thanks for the thoughtful reply! I did rice milk with rice cereal this morning. For lunch I had almond butter on tapioca bread (YUCK!!!!). So I am going to get some apples, spinach, kale, fish, etc. at the grocery.

The sugar thing-it says "white or brown refined sugar". Does that mean I shouldn''t eat ANYTHING with sugar as an ingredient? Ugh.

 

[Dreamer_D]

Try making a huge pot of brown rice, it will keep for at least 5 days (I think) in the fridge, and then when you would normally have bread or pasta, try subbing brown rice! Tastes great with black beans mixed in, and salsa yummm... lemon juice and olive oil is also great, maybe some dashes of tobasco. By cooking the rice in advance you can just throw stuff on top and have it instead of sandwiches. You can add chopped carrots and chickpeas, tuna with seasoning and chopped green onions of celery, or have chunked salmon on top with a vinaigrette dressing, and plop it all on top of a bed of lettuce. Whenever I was on an elimination diet, which I did a couple times growing up, this type of easy method became my staple lunch.

Good luck! My hubby is gluten and dairy intolerant, so we feel your dietary pain!

 

[Dreamer_D]

Date: 5/6/2008 2:00:57 PM
Author: Miscka
Thanks for the thoughtful reply! I did rice milk with rice cereal this morning. For lunch I had almond butter on tapioca bread (YUCK!!!!). So I am going to get some apples, spinach, kale, fish, etc. at the grocery.

The sugar thing-it says ''white or brown refined sugar''. Does that mean I shouldn''t eat ANYTHING with sugar as an ingredient? Ugh.

This sounds like it may be to rule out the idea of candida, which supposedly is a yeast that lives in the guts and thrives on sugar. You should probably avoid anything with "sugar" listed as an ingredient. This isn''t hard if you make everything yourself. The benefit is that on this type of diet you will drop a bunch of weight and become very "regular"! Lots of fibre if you take advantage of all the whole foods that are allowed. If you are already at your optimal weght, be sure to eat a tonne of food. It takes a lot more whole foods to get the same calories you''d get from processed foods, generally speaking, because there isn''t a tonne of added sugar and fat!

PS: I''m not a medical doctor, but based on my own experiences eliminating processed foods and sugars, I suspect that if you are used to lots of sugar and simple carbs, you may get a lot of low blood sugars in the first few days. I think the body gets used to releasing a certain amount of insulin in response to a high sugar/simple carb diet, so if you suddenly switch to low glycemic index foods I think it takes a few days for your body to adjust. As long as you are getting enough calories and complex carbs, you should be fine and hopefully will feel better after a few days. But this is just anecdotal, someone else may have different/better information!

 

[dragonfly411]

I would suggest going to a local library and checking out some vegetarian cookbooks. Many have great options in your case! I know there is a recipe in existence for lasagna that is made with eggplant to sub the pasta. Maybe cous cous? Quinoa? Tofu? Have you tried these? It definitely sounds like you could do a lot of salad mixes, and use vinager or vinaigrette or olve oil. Stir Fried vegetables is delicious (and there is actually a frozen bag of it sold in stores, you could check to see what all is included). Watermelon is coming into season

. Lets see, you could do lettuce sandwiches, or lettuce wraps *subbing lettuce for bread*. Hummus? It's made with chickpeas and can sub in for dips for vegetables. I agree with rice cereals and milks. Broccoli is great steamed, or raw...or...or millions of ways! Asparagus with some herbs.

I recently did a fantastic recipe of salmon with dried dill weed, garlic, and pepper over it baked in the oven. mmmm. Or you could make home made salsa!!! Give me time to get home later tonight and I'll send you some links to vegetarian blogs I follow, they have some great alternatives, and I can go through some of my cookbooks and recipes.

You could use the rice milk, add fruits, ice, and some ground flax seeds for a filling smoothie as well
Can you have eggs?

 

[dragonfly411]

OK I''m home!!!
Here are some links to blogs that are vegetarian, and sites with some good recipes. Maybe this will help some

http://vegweb.com/
http://letsgetsconed.blogspot.com/
http://vivelevegan.blogspot.com/
http://eatair.blogspot.com/

Also for more,you can go to mine which is www.dailydietbuzz.blogspot.com - and you can link up to more through my links!!! Give it a whirl, maybe you''ll find some recipes you like!
ALSO 101 cookbooks. They''re fantastic.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Hi,

I have a bunch of food allergies and one really important rule-of-thumb is try not to eat too many left overs. The ND I've been seeing says mold forms on food overnight and she said stay clear of that just in case of a mold sensitivity, so do not eat rice that's been in the fridge for days!

dreamer_dachsie -mentioned candida. If you have food allergies, you probably DO have that problem. You'd want to cut out all carbs, including good ones, like potatoes and carrots (high glycemic foods) and try just veggies and meat for a few weeks. "The Yeast Connection" is one of the pioneer books that claims that candida is the cause of many chronic illnesses. It's currently believed by many drs./NDs that candida is said to be the cause of chronic fatique, fibromyalgia, and also food allergies, etc.

I've spent years reading up on all this stuff, so if you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Good luck!

 

[Miscka]

Thanks ladies for the help. MC-very interesting about the yeast. Bummer since I love leftovers! I am already a veggie (well, I eat fish so I am a Pescatarian

) and I think the hardest thing is the dairy!!! I miss it so much. But I do think that my body is adjusting (day 4) so hopefully it gets even easier. I am pretty cranky though! I had sushi last night (no soy sauce or shellfish) and I felt so much better-full for the first time in days. BF said he will take me on Sunday too, so that is good. It is my favorite food, but I admit not the same without soy. Thanks again!!

 

[dragonfly411]

I had always wondered if there was a term for us veggies who eat fish!!! I keep fish in my diet for the added benefits. NTM I love to go fishing lol

 

[Pandora II]

I did this very seriously about 10 years ago in an attempt to get to the bottom of my migraines.

I was only allowed rice, turkey, courgettes (zucchini), pears, olive oil and bottle water for 3 weeks - then start adding things in. It took about 9 months total as I had to rotate food groups and after every new addition I had to wait 48 hours to check for a reaction.

I am going to warn you now - as of the 3rd day I thought I was dying. I had not been in so much pain in my life as I was for the next week. Every bone in my body hurt, it was like having flu crossed with dengue fever.

My parents had done it a few years earlier and so knew how I was feeling - but hadn't warned me.

After 2 weeks you feel fantastic though. The most annoying thing was that I had hoped that it would be like eat a tomato, hour later whacking great migraine. Nope, it was much more subtle - eat bread 3 days running then stop, migraine hits 48 hours after that, but not if I only ate the bread for 2 days running. Drove me crazy working it out!

You absolutely must not cheat on this at all. Most of it is getting rid of addictions - mine were coffee and wheat. Now that I know I can have bread once or twice a week max, ditto for the coffee. You tend to be intolerant to the foods that you crave the most sadly.

I lost a ton of weight even though I could eat as much as I liked. I could also write a whole cook book on recipes for turkey, rice and courgettes!

Good luck with it!

 

[Deelight]

Date: 5/9/2008 7:43:08 PM
Author: Pandora II

You absolutely must not cheat on this at all. Most of it is getting rid of addictions - mine were coffee and wheat. Now that I know I can have bread once or twice a week max, ditto for the coffee. You tend to be intolerant to the foods that you crave the most sadly.

!

This is so true when I did my elimination the two things I craved more then anything was spaghetti bolognaise and brie cheese turns out I am intolerant to certain proteins found in most dairy and wheat which sucks because those are my two favourite foods .

Also after elimination if you do eat the food your intolerant to be prepared, I accidentally ate wheat and the stomach pain was so intense I felt like I was having a heart attack hopefully that does not happen to you.


ETA Once you finish your elimination if you are wheat intolerant you can get wheat free soy