Allergy Update
Recently I've received a few questions to the tune of, "Hey, how's the diet going?" so I thought perhaps an update was in order. First the really good news:
I feel great!
I've gone from barely being able to finish a workday without fazing out with exhaustion, and missing on average one day a month of work sick, to being a virtual font of energy (well, within reason, but it's still a significant relative improvement), and I haven't missed a day of work since the diet change, nor really even had to struggle the decision whether to miss — significant because for every day I missed in the past, there were probably 3-4 others where I felt almost as bad but ended up being able to drag myself to the office in spite of how crappy I felt.
Regarding the foods, wheat is definitely the major culprit. I've happened to cheat with most of the major categories (an occasional piece of chocolate, a little cheese, some Indian dishes containing small amounts of milk, various vinegar-containing things (sushi, and various condiments), wheat-free soy sauce, a glass of wine here or there), and everything seems mostly okay as long as I stay away from wheat.
Next in line seem to be the sugar and MSG.
There was one sort of stressy day where I really splurged and ate a whole bar of white chocolate, and then I promptly threw it up about a half our later, but I think I had that coming, and that I need to limit my chocolate to one bite per day is probably better for my waistline anyway.
The benefits (unexpected or expected):
My face complexion has almost completely cleared up. It was never terrible, but it seems like there was always at least something pimply going on somewhere or another. The eczema sort of rash I've always had on the back of my arms my whole life is now 90% gone. A mild rash that showed up in the middle of my chest over my sternum a couple of years ago disappeared almost within a day of the diet change. In fact, this is my best leading indicator that I've eaten something I shouldn't have, because it turns red again about 24 hours after accidentally eating something with wheat flour in it (as I found out when eating some supposedly wheat-free bread that turned out not to be). I'd had intermittent issues with Gastric Reflux Disease, and that seems to have gone away entirely. I'd also had intermittent problems with hypoglycemia, and that seems quite a bit better.
"But still, you can't eat anything, it seems!" Honestly, at first I felt that way, but I'm surprised every day with the little pockets of "safe" food I find here or there:
Mexico City style tacos — not the greasy, cheesy Taco Bell style tacos most people first think of, but instead the tacos made with marinated chicken or fish (or pork, officially) and served on a hot soft corn tortilla with some salsa and/or fresh onions. I've developed quite a knack for making these at home South Indian food — as a rule, it's pretty startling how I can walk into a vegetarian South Indian or Sri Lankan restaurant, and eat practically anything on the menu: dosas, vada, idli, utthapam — they're made with rice, lentil, or chana flour, and no sugar or dairy (except sometimes butter, which was still okay). This has become my default favourite dining out option. Chicken Shawarma over rice — the closest thing to fast food that seems to pass the test. There's a great place right across the street from work, and now they know me by sight and get my no-pita, no-feta-cheese lunch made up for before I can even ask for it. Chicken or vegetarian Thai food — where I can get my creamy food cravings out of the way, since it's all coconut based. I'm still a little distrustful of most restaurant Thai food, however, because most commercially made fish sauces (a key ingredient in many Thai dishes) are chock full of MSG. Moroccan food – a more recent discovery, but I was feeling inspired the other day, and the first tagine recipe I ran across was completely devoid of any wheat, dairy, sugar, vinegar — any of that. In fact the dish was quite refreshingly sweet, using lots of dried dates and apricots, which was a very nice change from an almost exclusively savoury diet.
What's next? I go back to the clinic in about a week and a half to get re-tested, but I really already pretty much know what I need to know, so it's going to be more of a formality than I thought.
After that, we're going to Romania for Christmas, and that's where the true test is going to come. It seems that the entire cuisine of Romania (especially in winter) more or less consists of red meat, bread, pickled vegetables, and wine. Maybe I'll be losing a lot of weight?
I feel great!
I've gone from barely being able to finish a workday without fazing out with exhaustion, and missing on average one day a month of work sick, to being a virtual font of energy (well, within reason, but it's still a significant relative improvement), and I haven't missed a day of work since the diet change, nor really even had to struggle the decision whether to miss — significant because for every day I missed in the past, there were probably 3-4 others where I felt almost as bad but ended up being able to drag myself to the office in spite of how crappy I felt.
Regarding the foods, wheat is definitely the major culprit. I've happened to cheat with most of the major categories (an occasional piece of chocolate, a little cheese, some Indian dishes containing small amounts of milk, various vinegar-containing things (sushi, and various condiments), wheat-free soy sauce, a glass of wine here or there), and everything seems mostly okay as long as I stay away from wheat.
Next in line seem to be the sugar and MSG.
There was one sort of stressy day where I really splurged and ate a whole bar of white chocolate, and then I promptly threw it up about a half our later, but I think I had that coming, and that I need to limit my chocolate to one bite per day is probably better for my waistline anyway.
The benefits (unexpected or expected):
"But still, you can't eat anything, it seems!" Honestly, at first I felt that way, but I'm surprised every day with the little pockets of "safe" food I find here or there:
What's next? I go back to the clinic in about a week and a half to get re-tested, but I really already pretty much know what I need to know, so it's going to be more of a formality than I thought.
After that, we're going to Romania for Christmas, and that's where the true test is going to come. It seems that the entire cuisine of Romania (especially in winter) more or less consists of red meat, bread, pickled vegetables, and wine. Maybe I'll be losing a lot of weight?