Food Re-introductions

In March of 2017 I was finally able to start putting some food back into my life. I was living on lots of veggies, sweet potatoes and wild caught fish and organic chicken. I was making my own salad dressings as everything else on the market had soy in it. I was making collagen gummies and my own yeast free, gluten free bread as well as my favorite banana, blueberry muffins with no gluten, dairy or sugar! I will post some of these recipes at a later time. I also had to remove most of the pre and post workout junk I was having too, as just about everything had gluten, dairy, soy or all of the “ose’s” in it, (dextrose, fructose, sucralose and maltodextrin). I drank lots of La Croix because all other drinks had erythritol in it or some other fake sugar. I really became more educated than I thought I was because of reading what was in all the food I was consuming! I was eating lots of zucchini noodles instead of pasta and cauliflower rice instead of real rice. I started drinking bone broth and Kevita (sparkling probiotic drink like Kombucha without the yeast).

Food re-introducing can be tricky. There are certain foods you should start with and others that need to wait. I began with the least obnoxious ones for me. I would eat one new thing a day, wait 15 mins and see how I reacted and then eat a little more. If I was ok I would try a little more and wait for a reaction. If I had no reaction then the next day I would try something else on my list. This is how I went down my list of food allergies for the next few weeks until I made it through all of them. Lucky for me, a food reaction usually triggers in about 10-15 mins and depending on what I eat can relay different symptoms. I still go by this self guide even today. If I eat something I’m not supposed to have, I will get warm, my hands will swell, my heart rate increases and I get full of mucus in my sinuses or my right ear. I am now eating gluten free oats, white jasmine rice, gluten free pancakes, and occasional gluten free beer (but I pay for it later), organic wine and Titos! I can’t barely drink anymore, which is a good thing I guess, but I can at least have 1-2 drinks if I go out now. I am also fortunate to have wonderful farms around me that I can purchase quality pasture raised meats, raw cheeses and fortunately we grow our own vegatables.

Yeast is something I still can’t do a lot of. If I have 2 pieces of gluten free bread and then a Kombucha, I feel that my stuffy, sinus, mucus drainage starts up again. I also can not do gluten, dairy, corn or soy as well as coffee, caffeine and eggs(these are gluten reactive to me, meaning my body thinks it’s gluten). I buy duck eggs which I am fine with and thank heavens Shady Maple carries them! I have gotten used to preparing all my food from scratch and traveling with all of MY SPECIAL FOOD. I have gone to weddings, vacations, picnics you name it, I just bring my food with me! I’m not letting this get in the way of life and socializing and I feel that if I plan ahead I will never be in a situation where I can make bad decisions. Which on a side note, people often ask me why we like to go to Jamaica so much, the biggest reason is the people and the warm weather, but I have realized now with the past few trips that I can eat just about everything down there without any consequences! I have not tried gluten yet, but I have eaten ice cream, had coffee, cheese, cheese cake, corn tortillas, eggs and bacon. I would also have a gluten free pizza every day for lunch! I can not eat any of this here in the states!

As for desserts, I make my own chocolate chip cookies and I used to make my own brownies until I found Namaste brand which makes a very good brownie mix and pizza crust mix without the yeast! I was making my own dough with arrow root starch for pizza! Luckily I don’t have that much of a sweet tooth. My cravings are more for breads and sticky buns. Do you know how hard it is to find gluten free sticky buns! I found a wonderful baker up in Pottstown named Beverly’s Bakery and one of the bakers has Celiac and another is Diabetic! I love going up there to get any “special” treats! I did manage to get some gluten free sticky buns for Christmas and they were heavenly! And So Delicious makes dairy free coconut milk ice cream which is pretty good for the days I crave some ice cream when its hot outside. Again these treats I do in very small amounts because I still need to mind the amount of sugar I ingest as sugar also feeds yeast and inflammation.

My family has slowly over the past 2 years adapted to some of the changes in our diets, my poor husband doesn’t have a choice! I now drink out of glass jars and ditched the deadly plastic, I removed my old pots and pans and changed to ceramic, we had our water tested to make sure it was healthy and no strange creatures were lurking in it! I removed all toxic cleansers in the house and removed any toxic face washes to more natural/organic ones like many of the things that Young Living offers! I have been a distributor since 2005. We removed our fluoride toothpaste, and I am still searching for a natural deodorant that doesn’t leave me smelly after 2 hours! I don’t microwave in plastic bowls anymore and would love to ditch the microwave all together, but I need to heat up food during the day at work. The next thing I am searching for is some type of EMF protector with all the cell phone use, WiFi and this 5G epidemic that is to bombard us in the near future! I am thankful we live somewhat off the beaten path, not near any pipelines, power lines, power plants, in the woods, with healthy soil and fresh water. I could never live in a city, I’m a country girl and the more remote the better! I love visting my friends cabin in the middle of nowhere with no cable, no cell service! I have learned to not only heal my physical body, but to listen to it more and give it what it wants. I have learned to let things go, not give a crap, create boundaries, rest more, relax better, try to live in the present, to be impreccable with my word, not take things personally, don’t make assumptions and always do my best.