Getting Clean!

As you may recall, I went on a bit of a rant about cleaning products earlier this month. Of course, for my one or two actual readers, you probably forgot because it's been two weeks since I last blogged, but nonetheless, I did. Well. Have I got some news for you!

I got the full line of Shaklee cleaning products! I frickin' love this stuff. An allergenistas best friend when it comes to cleaning. Not only is it eco-friendly, but the stuff cleans everything quickly, easily, without toxic chemicals or harsh perfumes! Woohoo! As a result, I can happily say my house is much cleaner than it's been in a while and I actually... wait for it.... want to clean now! Amazing what happens when you don't feel sick from cleaning, huh? Yeah!

I got the starter kit, which has all of the cleaning products in it, including hand soap. Now, you might find it funny that I mention hand soap... but for me, this is a huge one. Think about most any handsoap you have ever used... ok, now think about how it smells. Yup, that fragrance is enough to make me want to rip my skin right off, and usually makes me nauseous, too. When you are allergic to fragrances, the typical precautions everyone else follows to prevent the spread of flu and colds or just basic personal cleaning, I guess, becomes off limits. Call me gross, but I just don't use the stuff 98% of the time, not out of laziness or lack of caring, but out of lack of ability. However, I can tell you I don't get the flu, so I think it actually might help my immunity on that one. That's a story for another day though.

Being excited about hand soap... sure doesn't get anymore thrilling than that in this allergenistas life. :)

A Conversation

I've been chatting a bit with one of my most favorite girlfriends about "getting the diagnosis" of food allergies. Her daughter has life threatening peanut allergies as well as a host of other medical concerns that have caused my friend a lot challenges in making sure her little "Pumpkin" is safe and healthy. The last year or so, she and I have developed a great support system through each other and share information about food allergies and the allergen-free lifestyle. To say she has been a great support for me, would be an understatement. She is one of my few friends I actually consider a "safe" friend- meaning I trust she will always be sure that my allergies are considered and observed. Takes one to know one in a way.

Anyway, she and I were messaging about getting the diagnosis of food allergies, and I think her response to the conversation was both profound and elegant. Even though she is not the one in her household suffering with food allergies, she has to deal with this life-altering crisis as well as any person who gets the diagnosis themselves as she cares for her little girl. I have to share this:

I had an incredibly difficult time adjusting to [daughter's] food allergies, but had no choice since my options were life or death, you know? Going to the grocery store gave me so much anxiety, it took me nearly three times as long to shop for "safe" foods than it used to, and even then, the labels were wrong and caused allergic reactions. It's just not truly "safe" out there. We all learn by taking risks of what our bodies tolerate us being exposed to, and depending on the severity of allergy, it can be incredibly stressful and cause stand-still amounts of anxiety.

[Our newly diagnosised friend is] also an adult who can choose whether or not she wants to avoid those foods. Emma Jo has less of a choice; I choose for her, and to me, it wasn't a choice, it was a HAD TO, you know? [Others] may not perceive [their] allergies as a "have to" when it comes to strict avoidance. Also, constantly battling for inclusion and equality while living with food allergies -especially during the holidays!- may cause strain in family relationships while [a person] grows to learn about how to live successfully in spite of them. Also for me, I had to let go of the importance food had in my life. I really didn't want to find alternatives to foods that were so easy and had comforted me so well throughout my life when the truth was it was the people that made the time valuable and not the food. When I finally let go of the power I let food have over me, I was more willing to try new things and settle into our new version of "normal."

My allergy free bagels will never taste as good as Panera bagels, and my snickerdoodles will never be the "same" as the ones I had growing up, but that had to be OK, you know? For a long time, it wasn't, and I was angry because I had to find a new way to cope with the emotions I was eating for all those years. I still over eat from time to time, but I feel much worse nowadays when I don't value myself enough to take better care of my eating habits than I ever did before. This also doesn't mean I'm not going to balloon up to 300 lb.s if Pumpkin ever outgrows her food allergies!! I have a list of things that are on my top "must buy and scarf immediately" if/when she passes a peanut oral challenge :o)

Maybe [friend] just needs some time to grieve her old foods. Food has a significant role in our lives and culture. Letting go of that may take a long time.

Couldn't have said it any better myself. I think that is one of the things that food allergies does for us- teaches us how to view food in a whole new way then we did before, and it's importance becomes less of a festivity but more of what it aught to be in the first place- nourishment so we can live and breathe and do what really matters in life. If the whole country took that viewpoint on food, we could solve this healthcare crisis pretty quick... well, that, and some excercise. :)

Getting the Diagnosis

I remember when I first confirmed that, yes, I did in fact have food allergies. I was in Chicago, and it was the summer after my first year in grad school, 2003. I had just gone to a new allergist about a mile south of my apartment on inner Lake Shore Drive. I did two rounds of allergy scratch tests- environmental and food. I asked them why I was doing the food allergy testing- it wasn't something my previous doctors had ever done before. They told me they did it with all of their patients, so I went along with it thinking I wouldn't have any reactions. Boy, was I wrong- and all of the little light bulbs in my head starting going on when I saw the results. Apples, carrots, peas, cantaloupe, berries, egg, and the list goes on. The struggles of the whole last year came crashing over me- all of the strange lip rashes, hives and other unexplained "reactions." I couldn't believe it, but I finally had my answer to making my mouth stop hurting and swelling. Granted, I had one good friend (he was fabulously gay, I loved him) told me people paid good money to have lips like I got after eating foods I was allergic to, but theirs probably didn't puss and itch in quite the same way.

For me, the results were both a relief and a knife in the heart. Carrots, peas and apples were my most favorite, coveted foods. I ate them all the time and had been since I was little. I was relieved to know that I could finally stop the swollen lips (which were quite uncomfortable, I might add) and hurting esophagus, but I was at a lost for what to eat. With so many foods taken away from me, how could I ever eat again? And what would I eat? Surely nothing could be healthy, because they just don't make healthy food without those items?

Obviously, through this blog alone, I think we have shown that healthy comes in a million different varieties, and I can do it all allergen free. But, we are also talking about a good 7 years experience under my belt, and a lot of label reading and trail and error behind it.

I've also gotten quite good at responding to people about my long list of food allergies. For example- and I've been meaning to share this one!- at my work holiday party last weekend (which was a blast), my coworker who organized it was diligent and had given my list of food allergies to the catering company. The catering company assured her that at least one dish would be safe for me to eat. I got to the party and watched the catering staff in the kitchen preparing the food- it looked absolutely scrumptious and poisonous all at the same time- carrots were everywhere (yikes!) and what didn't have carrots in it was slathered in cheese (double yikes!). Clearly the catering company chose to ignore my food allergy list completely. My coworker was mortified on my behalf and I assured her that I knew she had given the list and it was okay (she's a bit of a people pleaser). So, being the responsible allergenista that I am, I spoke to the caterers to double check ingredients and see what we could make happen for me. One of the caterers happens to also be a coworker so I talked to her. After having to painfully explain to her that I "no, I cannot eat the beef tenderloin wraps with the carrots if you just take the carrot out because the carrot has already gotten it's juices on the food and made a lovely sauce in the pain that, subsequently is filled with carrot juice," she asked for me to list off more of my allergies. After giving her the cliffnotes version, she looked at me and said, "girl, what do you eat?" My response? It's brilliant- "I eat food just like you and everyone else, it just doesn't have things I'm allergic to in it." I thought that was good, no? I was proud of myself for not only standing up for myself, but, I felt, for everyone who has food allergies like mine.

She ended up scraping cheese out of one of the chicken phyllo dough wraps they made (it was at least not so heavily covered in cheese so I could eat it without fear of spending the whole night in the bathroom), and then she whipped me up a great spinach salad with zucchini and pear. I have to say, the dinner was quite satisfying and tasty.

Anyway, after 7 years of experience, and especially after going through the last year and a half with my new found food restrictions/sensitivities I can look through my allergenista lenses with a positive, fulfilled frame of mind. I no longer see the restrictions, I only see the opportunities. And that's kind of fun!

The reason for this post is because I have a friend who just had blood tests done to determine if she had food allergies and the results were a definite "yes." She is definitely grieving for her losses right now, and I understand where she is coming from. I just hope that by sharing information with her and all the great resources I have discovered she can find the same level of excitement and contentment I have of life with food allergies. There are so many foods out there, the possibilities are endless even if you can't have a few of them. Here is her official diagnosis:

Basil, Blueberry, cottage cheese, swiss cheese, coconut, crab, GLUTEN, lettuce, Cows Milk, peas, pineapple, white potatoes, safflower, strawberries, tomatoes, wheat, bakers and brewers yeast, yogurt, buffalo, blue cheese, cranberries, flaxseed, kiwi, goats milk, nutmeg, paprika, radish, red snapper..., vanilla bean, whey, some molds

The list seems long, and there are quite a few zingers on there (lettuce, vanilla, etc), but my brain is already going to a million places of the wonderful things she can eat without these items in them. It will be GFCF diet, and she definitely has some extra challenges because of the potato allergy (a common ingredient in GF foods), but manageable nonetheless.

So, to my girlfriend Liz. Welcome to the food allergy club, I promise we are a friendly bunch. Love and hugs!

Toxic Chemicals

It might not come as a surprise to most who know me, but I have a SEVERE allergy/sensitivity/aversion to disinfecting wipes- namely the super toxic ones that everyone is obsessed with, Clorox and Lysol. One whiff of them is enough to send me in to a full blown asthma attack at times. Somedays, I can tolerate them so long as I'm not touching them, but it snowballs the more exposure I get.

Case in point: today. Part of my responsibilities at work at to clean the office at night. Everyone chips in, but due to my work schedule, the bulk of the responsibility falls on me. Yes, this allergic girl is responsible for cleaning. Stupid right? When I got hired that wasn't the case, we had a part-time cleaning person, but as the economy would have it, to save cost we let him go at the beginning of the year. Hence, I am now responsible since I work the late shift when there are less people in the office. Well, I have managed to continually pawn off the vaccuuming duties to other coworkers (which makes my nose bleed from the dust) for the most part, but the one job that continually falls on me that is most irritating to my nervous system is sanitizing the doorknobs and adjusting tables. For a long time we had these great hospital grade, fragrance free, germidical wipes. I loved them! They didn't irritate my lungs or skin or eyes. However, we stopped purchasing them because of cost and switched entirely to Clorox/Lysol wipes. A month or so ago when the last of the good fragrance free wipes started running out completely I mentioned to our person who orders supplies that I really needed the non-toxic wipes and could he please buy the Green Works or Method "natural" disinfecting wipes. Well, he forgot and then when he went to look he said he couldn't find them. How he missed the large section at Wal-mart, I'm not sure.

Anyway, cut to the last few weeks. Most of the time I wear gloves while using the disinfecting wipes (did you know that it actually says on the box that, basically, because they are so toxic you should always wear gloves while using them? Makes you wonder if you should use them around your children then, huh? Oh, wait, it says they aren't safe for children right on the box as well!), however I didn't few times last week because I was feeling brave. Go figure, ever since then I've been having issues with occassional asthma symptoms as well as some other strange feelings in my body- my liver seems to be kind of upset with me, but in the "attack" sort of way I usually get. Today, was apparently my body's last straw. Less then five minutes after I was done using the wipes, I developed asthma, my esophagus started spasming, and a large rash began to develop on my chest. My nervous system went in to full blown freak out mode- hence the uncontrollable crying that followed a few moments later.

Thankfully, I have an understanding supervisor and I told her that I was not disinfecting anything anymore. She is going to personally talk to our supply manager to make sure the natural wipes are purchased so I can still do the job that is asked of me- but safely. Fingers crossed everyone follows through and I can breathe safely at work again. And for the rest of my coworkers' sakes who have to use the wipes several times throughout the day, I hope they get the more natural wipes too.

Thanksgiving- Doing It A New Way: Healthy!

First, I have to comment that I am currently on cloud nine. Not only did I have a very fun and successful Thanksgiving (did I mention it was my first year hosting), but I just watched my all-time favorite Christmas movie, Love, Actually. How can you not feel good after watching this movie? Warm, fuzzy feelings abound and I can't stop smiling thinking about it!

Like I said, this was my first year hosting Thanksgiving. I had the in-laws over and even though it was a small crowd, I had an excuse to break out my China and to FINALLY eat the Thanksgiving meal I want to eat after five long years of eating their food. Thanksgiving dinner is alright at my in-laws, but it's neither anything remotely the same as what I grew up with or healthy. Sure it features the same foods-- turkey, stuffing, gravy, potatoes, cranberry sauce, and some sides-- but the quality and flavor of the food just was never there for me. And did I mention that they use whole milk in everything? I'm pretty sure I have been sick every year since I started eating Thanksgiving with them- one year was so bad I had to drive home with the window rolled down in 20 degree temps so the cold air would keep me from feeling like vomiting. Gross, gross, gross. Needless to say, when the opportunity arose to host this year, I jumped at the chance- and not just to show of my culinary prowress.

The suprise of the day for me was that everyone liked- make that LOVED my food! Even my hubby's grandmother who is an extremely picky eater, asked for seconds and took some home! I couldn't believe it! I wish I had taken pictures of the feast, but completely forgot and I could kick myself for it. So I will attempt to describe the food as best I can.

The turkey was a Giada de Laurentiis recipe that I have made before with herbs d'Provence and citrus. The flavor and moisture of this turkey is second to none. I can't say enough about this recipe, and even though I usually alter recipes I make, this one I do not. It needs no changing. Mouth-watering.

The stuffing/dressing was a Clean Eating magazine recipe that uses whole wheat sourdough bread with sauteed portabello mushrooms, leeks, and celery (recipe orginally called for carrots, I left them out as an good food allergic person should do, naturally). Healthy, and fresh and the sourdough gave a whole new dimension to the dish. Turns out sourdough is a favorite of my hubby's grandmother, hence her attraction to the recipe! And did I mention it is far lower in calories, sodium, and fat than a traditional stuffing? Oh, and lots more fiber! This recipe is a keeper!

For mashed potatoes I took a slightly different approach and added parsnips to the mix. Also, rather than using milk, I substituted chicken stock which actually gives them a different dimension of flavor that is quite nice. No one noticed the lack of whole milk (or dairy altogether, with the exception of butter- which actually is very low in lactose so is tolerable for people like me) and the parsnips in the mash got rave reviews.

Wanting a solid vegetable with the meal I made Clean Eating magazine's green bean with shallot recipe. This recipe called for chestnuts, but I left them out because of my allergies and whatnot. Honestly though, I'm not sure why they needed to be in there in the first place? I often wonder this with recipes-- frequently recipes will have nuts or cheese or other garnishy-type additions to them that you can just leave out and not notice an ounce of difference in taste. So my question to these recipe writers is, "why?" Why do we need to keep throwing cheese and nuts on every dish known to man? It's getting harder and harder to find dishes without dairy in the grocery store, have you noticed? But I digress... back to green beans. One of my favorite tricks that CE mag does is to put fresh lemon juice on sauteed vegetables. Brightens the flavor right up, and did not go unnoticed in this dish. It was quite good, though I think everyone forgot about them with the other food offered!

Finally, cranberries. I wanted cranberry sauce with the dinner so I made the CE mag recipe for it that has ginger and lemon and honey- so refreshing! I think I didn't put quite enough ginger in, but I used everything I had left on hand so it was good enough without having to go out and buy more. I also am known for my signature cranberry-pear pie as the holidays, so I found a recipe to make it a little healthier and lighter as a crisp. Excellent substitute for the pie, and it was gobbled up by everyone, even though they were hesitant at first to veer from the pumpkin pie comfort zone (I don't care for pumpkin pie so I had someone else bring it). Once everyone had a bite of it they were sold, as I knew they would be.

So the holidays don't have to be unhealthy? Who knew, right? I think the highest compliment today was that everyone loved the food but no one felt so overstuffed they were uncomfortable- even though A LOT of food was eaten!

Returned from the unknown... or something like it

I've been a bit delinquent. Ok, "a bit" might be an understatement, I've been very delinquent. It's been a few months since I've updated ye' old blog, but I promise it's because I was achieving beautiful and wonderful things. Which is actually totally true- I spent from August to October checking off a major item on the bucket list. The pride and sense of accomplishment I feel at having done that are immeasurable, and it has propelled me forward in my life with momentum I had lost somewhere along the way. It feels good to be back. :)

Over the past few months I've had the usual ups and downs with my health, but nothing too traumatic. I actually even spent a few weeks experimenting with/testing my food allergy to apples. At first, things went really well! I did several food challenges, spaced days or weeks apart eating organic apples. I was excited to discover that perhaps the food allergy had been a sensitivity to the pesticides and chemicals sprayed on the conventional apples!

And then, the itching started. A few weeks in to the challenge, when I was starting to eat the apples more closely together (days vs weeks) I noticed my ears starting to get itchy every time I ate one. Then I started to notice that I got full very quickly while eating them- just like with seafood when it's not cooked completely or I've been eating it to frequently. My body started to let me know it was at its breaking point. Wanting to give it one more go, I decided to test apple juice.

The taste of the juice on my lips was like pure gold and I gulped it down with a delight I can't explain in words. The taste was a symphony on my tongue- an old familiar friend coming back in to my life with a warm embrace.

Well, that warm embrace lasted less than two minutes. My right eye started to feel like it was bulging out of my head and an intense headache started to develop. About fifteen minutes later I felt like I needed to sleep and was so drowsy I headed straight for bed (thank goodness it was a Saturday). I was out cold. The puddle of drool that I awoke to was probably fit for a world record title of some sort. It was probably a good two-three solid hours that I slept (and drooled) after drinking the juice. Grouchy and groggy doesn't begin to explain how crappy I felt-- food allergy hangovers are unforgiving.

It was just over two weeks ago that I did the apple juice challenge and my body has not been the same since. Hives on my body, renewed sensitivities to body care products (even the hypoallergenic ones), irritation in my eyes that appears to be at some points like a mild form of pink eye from allergies, and continued sensitivities to food. Needless to say apples are out.

I was so looking forward to drinking apple cider or making an apple pie, but I guess I will have to stick with pears. But you know what? Pears are pretty darn good too!

Gallbladder Soup

As a follow up to my last post I need to share with you a recipe from gallbladderattack.com. It is called "Green Soup" but I think of it as gallbladder soup. It is recommended to help avoid gallbladder pain and relieve pain. Not to be used when in the middle of an attack, it is more useful to help clean out the system and ease the "load" on the digestive system.

You have never tasted freshness like this. While all of the veggies in it are season it tastes especially good, so even though I've not been having GB pain, I made it last week for fun. SO GOOD! I add extra water to the recipe and a pinch of salt.

Strange Validation

About a month ago I started taking piano lessons. As a singer- who hopefully will do something with the TWO degrees I have in music someday- I decided that it was important for me to get my piano skills up to snuff so that maybe I could consider teaching as an option. Lessons have been going well and my piano teacher is a very interesting person- kind, loving, and always looking for an opportunity to teach. She obviously spends most of her time with young children, and that is clearly her expertise. But, she works just fine for me so if she teaches me like she would a six year old, I'm okay with it so long as I'm learning.

At my lesson last week, she shared with me that after my lesson the week before she ended up going in to the hospital for emergency surgery. Apparently she was driving down the road and all the sudden had massive pain on her right side. Gallbladder. Of course, when she got to the hospital they immediately took her in for surgery and took it out. I wasn't surprised- even though she did not have stones or a previous history of gallbladder attack- as this is the protocol hospitals and "regular" doctors follow. She told me she had never felt better in her life and had not had any pain since.

The red light when on in my head.

While I was happy to hear she was having such great success after a week, I warned her the majority of gallbladder removal patients still have pain after surgery and to watch what she eats carefully so as to avoid any other potential flare-ups. She dismissed my warnings and assured me that she eats a healthy diet, avoids dairy, and eats all organic for the last few years.

Okay. I guess.

I was excited for her apparent returned health and thought perhaps she was one of the small portion of gallbladder removal patients that does not have continued pain after surgery. Yet, looking at her, and listening to her, and knowing that they removed her gallbladder when there were no large stones (only small minuscule ones) I still wondered if there wasn't something else going on with the liver. Nonetheless, I was happy she was feeling so good.

This Monday I showed up for my piano lesson at the scheduled time. She wasn't there. I thought perhaps I went to the wrong location as this was the week were supposed to start doing lessons at her regular studio instead of her house. The receptionist at the church thought it was odd that she wasn't there, wasn't like her to not be there for a lesson. We called her on her cell. She was in the hospital.

Gallbladder flare-up.

She told me that at 2 AM she had gone to the hospital because she was in such severe pain and had been there since. She apologized profusely for not being there, and I assured her it was okay and that she needed to concentrate on getting better.

I left the church, got in to my car, and it hit my like a ton of bricks. What strange validation? The path I chose- the path less followed- was right. I am doing the right thing. I have saved my health and my gallbladder. Had I listened to that doctor just over one year ago, and had my gallbladder removed, I would have been in the same situation as her-- wondering, "why am I still in pain? Why has it not gone away?"

This is the second time on my journey that I received such validation. About two months in to it, right after I started working for my chiropractor/acupuncturist, we had a patient with almost the same exact story. Had the surgery, and two weeks after gallbladder removal she was in as much, if not more pain than before. I can remember the pain in her voice and the confusion she had as to why it still hurt so much. I had told her about the gallbladderattack.com website before her surgery and urged her to follow it's advice, but she had brushed it off because she had already chosen to have it removed and that was going to be the "answer" for her. When I talked to her those two weeks later, I told her about the website again and she eagerly wrote it down. I haven't seen her since, but I can only hope that she did go to the website and follow its advice. Doing that saved my health, and taking that path has made all the difference in my life.

Not quite with it lately.

I feel an overwhelming amount of, what I would call, "phantom" stress lately. It's been manifesting itself every which way and the result is that I am completely exhausted- mentally, emotionally, physically. To cope I have, as I always use to, been turning to food, which is not good. Last week, I had more Starbucks than I have in the last few months combined and by the end of the week I was drinking venti cappuccino's instead of the healthier, more digestively friendly, and less caffeinated iced green teas. Every cappuccino gave me that old familiar high and sense of relaxation though, it made me feel calmer and less agitated, despite it making me shaky and dizzy later from the caffeine, sugar, and dairy combo. By the end of the day Friday I was completely hyped up on caffeine, sugar and dairy, crashed almost immediately after work from exhaustion, but couldn't sleep because the caffeine was still having it's affect on me.

So, I'm not feeling completely with it. The stress is making my tummy turn and my head feel funny, but, thankfully, there has been little to no gallbladder activity.

I realized the other day that it is the peak of summer, all of the fresh fruits and vegetables are coming available, and I have no interest in eating them. Can you say stress? All I want is caffeine, sugar, and dairy- as we have already concluded- and additionally protein and fat with a little bit of carbs. It's the weirdest thing and I'm not feeling as though I have the energy to combat the food cravings and to force myself to eat healthier again. I have managed to keep portion size in control though, so I've at least got that going for me.

I need to work on strategies to destress and to refocus my energy... mainly, so I have more. The exhaustion is killing me! My therapist gave me a fun exercise to play with silly putty to help me destress. It is surprisingly effective. I got really nauseous the other night while discussing some stressful things with a friend. It just happened to be the day I got the silly putty, too. I got off the phone with her and determined the nausea could be due in part to having discussed the stressful "trigger" topics we had been talking about. Pulled out the silly putty. Well, whaddya know? Within five minutes almost all of the nausea was gone. Who knew silly putty could be such a powerful thing?

Tonight I need to play with the silly putty some more, I think. Off, I go... silly putty, read, maybe a long hot shower, and then bed. Need to rest up to destress!

Growing food and doin' a whole lot of nothin'

Well, it's been... a few...weeks. But better late than never!

The last two weeks I've been on a mission to do nothing. Absolutely nothing. Exhaustion from over committing and over socializing finally caught up and the hubs and I decided to spend some quality time being hermits. It's been wonderful. Fourth of July weekend kicked it off, and we spent all day the 4th watching movies and doing a whole lot of nothing. It was a rainy, dreary day, so that worked in favor of our goal of doing nothing, we didn't even go out for the fireworks. The rain had cleared by then, only misting occassionally, but we still didn't feel obligated to move from our comfortable positions on the couch. I think the most movement we did that day was to do a yoga video for about thirty minutes, just for the sake of movement. On the 5th we did decide to spend the morning cleaning the house, then we quickly resumed our couch potato status to finish out the weekend strong.

Last weekend we pretty much did the same thing, though not quite as many movies. Mostly computer and video games. Feeling a bit more relaxed and refreshed, and while I wish it could last longer, it's time to move on with life.

Speaking of, we finally started to harvest from our garden! We have harvested a batch of green beans (which I may or not determine to be allergic to in the near future, the verdict is still out, though things did not go well the other day with that batch or an item I got from a restaurant earlier in the week), and we've harvested a batch of cucumbers as well. The cucumbers are just fantastic. I've been enjoying them in sandwiches for lunch the last few days, and today I decided to add a slice of salami (my latest obsession) to the mix and it was divine. Can't wait to eat another for lunch tomorrow!

So I've got some new pictures of the garden to share that I took earlier this week. Who knew growing your own food could be so fun and fascinating!?

Starting to get strawberries! As of today, one is almost entirely red and ready for me to eat!

Between my two plants I have about four peppers growing, and many blossoms starting to show. Yesterday my husband and I noticed that our hot peppers were starting to get some flowers too, so we are excited for chilis and serranos to come soon!

The butternut squash plant is about to overgrow it's container. It looks really neat. Plus, I noticed the first tiny flower bud today! I love butternut squash. I can't wait to make lots of stocks and risottos and soups!

It turns out, when you grow cucumbers in a hanging position,they start to look like this. I kind of think they are cute. Didn't taste any different either, and that's what matters!

Still waiting for the tomatoes to turn red. Lots of romas working their way out!

And finally, the green beans. Not sure what I was having an allergic reaction to, so I will have to do a food challenge next time the crop is ready. They are part of the legume family, so there is a possibility that allergy is finally manifesting itself, but I'm not so sure. I'm wondering if the sauce on the ones I ate at the restaurant earlier in the week didn't have some fish sauce or something on them...

Vegan Red Velvet Cupcakes

Last week at work was my bosses' (plural, husband and wife own the business) wedding anniversary. Apparently, red velvet cake is her favorite thing and they had it on their wedding day. So all of us chipped in and had a red velvet cake made for their anniversary, and, naturally, they shared a little bit with us before taking it home for the evening. It was good, and the baker is a patient at our office who has a small home based bakery business so I know it was made with real high quality ingredients.

Here is the problem with red velvet cake-- massive quantities of red food coloring. Not natural. So I was thinking to myself, I wonder if you can make red velvet cake with something other than food coloring? Did some research and come to find out red velvet cake was traditionally made with beets to get the red coloring. Farmers would get rid of some of their excess beets by using them in this unexpected way. The natural sweetness of beets lends itself to desserts in a way, but dessert is definitely not the first thing you think of for them. Well, at least I don't.

I searched the Internet for recipes using beets and stumbled upon a vegan recipe. Jackpot! Not only could I eliminate the red food coloring, but also the eggs and dairy which don't do well with me... eggs especially lately, I'm putting them on the do not eat list for a while. Anyway, I had a bunch of beets in the fridge and whipped them up. The result was beautiful.

Look at that color!

I attempted to make a frosting to go with it, but didn't have quite enough powdered sugar for the job, so ignore how weird the frosting looks. Funny enough, I found that I actually enjoyed them more without the frosting. I will say, as well, that next time I am going to measure how much beet I put in, because I think I might have done a bit much. They are quite beetlicious on the first bite, but after that the chocolate does start to come through.

After making these (and devouring them) I'm starting to wonder what other fruits/veggies I can make in to vegan cupcakes. These were so good, I'm sure other variations would work!

Stuffed Peppers are so versatile

I've been a bit delinquent at blogging, but things have been busy. First, the good news. I'm feeling eons better than I was last month. Diet and health seem to be getting back on track. No gallbladder complaints in a few weeks. Woohoo! I think cutting back on sugar and processed foods again has made a huge difference! Not perfect about my eating (like I was a year ago) but still focused and keeping it healthy and in moderation. This last week I've been exercising more and it's been making a huge difference not only in the shape of my body, but in how it feels. Pilates and yoga are what I'm focusing on right now, and I love it. I even made the hubs do yoga with me the other night! It was fun!

Anyway, I have lots I've been meaning to post and still have a few great pics stored in my camera that I will try to get up later this week. But for now I wanted to share one of my new favorite foods: Turkey and Wild Rice Stuffed Peppers. I got the recipe out of Clean Eating Magazine (one of my new favorites), made a few alterations to the recipe (using canned instead of fresh tomatoes because I had them in the pantry, and using fresh herbs from my garden instead of dried because I had them in my garden) and it was a hit. I made it twice in one week.

Making this recipe made me realize something: no matter what you stuff in a pepper, it's gonna be great. They are so versatile! And healthy, too. Whenever I make stuffed peppers I make sure to make extras for leftovers during the week, and since I'm usually just serving my husband and myself we get anywhere from one to two extra meals out of them. Such a great meal. They might take a bit of time getting all the ingredients put together, but with so many leftovers, it's worth it to me for quick and healthy meals later in the week that I just pop in the microwave.

Ok, more to come later this week... vegan red velvet cupcakes, more garden pics, lettuce soup... good stuff!

Gardening for Health

As I (think) I mentioned before, I started a garden this year. It's my first ever, and due to my allergies we did a lot of container gardening so I could control/minimize my contact with grass and dirt and all sorts of that kind of stuff. The hubs helps with most of the hard labor, but I am an excellent waterer. :) Although there was a bit of start-up cost for the containers and soils and seeds, I hope that it ends up paying for itself with a lot of veggies and herbs! So far, the herbs are already proving to be a cost savings, and very handy to have when I want to flavor a recipe! Plus, eating fruits and veggies straight from the garden maximizes nutrient value as they are at their freshest and eaten quickly after picking.

I thought I would share some pix of how my garden is doing. Things are starting to flower and I am hopeful that in the next thirty days or so I will be able to start harvesting more than just herbs!

Tomato flower! From my understanding, we should have a tomato to harvest about thirty days after the bloom comes... which means we should have a tomato by early to mid July.

The large garden. Although we thought we were going to only container garden this year, we had no option but to make a plot in the yard due to overplanting in the containers (I couldn't just throw out all of the plants that were growing so well!) and buying extras from the farmer's market because the hubs wanted tomatoes earlier in the season and freebies from his mother. She gave us a purple tomato plant- can't wait to see how that turns out. Most of the plants in this garden are extra tomato and hot pepper plants that we had to weed out of their containers. Surprisingly, they all seem to have taken to the ground quite well and there don't appear to be an casualties. After this, it's survival of the fittest in my mind since we planted them in small groups not knowing if they would all take to the ground.

Green beans! I planted more in the large garden though I don't know if they will take, plus since I just planted them last week who knows if they will have enough time to get a crop. Sadly, the bunny rabbits in my yard have been eating the leaves of this plant, and I noticed today a few of the leaves off the top were completely eaten off. Sigh. So long as they don't eat the actual green beans I will be okay. There is nothing quite as good as a snappy green bean fresh from the garden.

My pepper flower. I think this is the green pepper plant. I can't wait for peppers!

Where all of the tomato plants started, Roma specifically. There are at least 8-10 plants in here. We actually had so many seeds that took we had to transplant the rest in to the big garden (as seen above). We will have more tomatoes than we know what to do with! Must learn how to can this year, I think.

Cucumbers! I love that when you get close to the plant you can smell the cucumber even though they aren't grown yet. Sprouts did shoot out from the buds earlier this week after a good rain storm. I'm excited for lots of cucumbers! Cucumber sandwiches are a summertime favorite of mine.

My lovely herb garden. Since taking this picture I have added a rosemary bush and sage. Forgot to plant sage and the rosemary I planted only produced two plants that aren't growing so well- hence the fact you can't see them!

Butternut squash- a staple for my carrot-free vegetable stocks and for wintertime risottos and soups. Two of these are squash, the other two are weeds. Haven't figured out which is which yet!

We can't all be perfect all the time...

This weekend I went a bit overboard. Clearly I am not doing "perfect" on this round of detox. Oh well. I'm trying and staying focused as much as I can. I've already started to notice the sugar cravings going down, so I think I'm making progress, nonetheless.

Back to this weekend. I went to my favorite restaurant, June, again with a good friend from work and her husband. We did a double date. I had gotten her a gift certificate for their wedding a few months back and promised to go with when they used it. Well, this weekend was it. Granted, it was a last minute decision but I couldn't say no when they didn't have any of their kids for the weekend, which only happens about once a month. So, off we went for a lovely dinner. And four bottles of wine later...

Oh boy. Here is the good news though. No headache, no gallbladder/liver problems, only a slight headache the next day (which is to be expected after drinking four bottles of wine with friends). The last few times I drank I didn't fair quite as well. The last time I did this well was back when I was doing really well health wise in the wintertime and had gotten down to taking only a few supplements for my gallbladder. To me, despite breaking my detox diet to have the wine (I did good otherwise, though!), this is a good sign that I am heading in the right direction. Now, I won't be drinking anymore wine for a good while and I plan on staying focused on the healthy, clean eating, but at least I had a good sign that I was heading in the right direction.

What was the wine I was drinking? Elena Walch Merlot 2006, Kastelaz, Italy. As we described it during the night: dangerous. It was quite possibly the smoothest Merlot I have ever drank, with a great dark berry (a hint of cherry even) aroma at the beginning and finishing with a smooth blueberry and blackberry taste. At least that was how it tasted to my pallet. Highly recommend it.

Yeast overload

I can't even remember where I am in the detox diet. Day 11 probably, being that I started on the first. Things are going okay. Definitely confirmed the sugar problem the other day though. Candida is full-blown and has taken over my digestive system. Here is the lovely chunk of yeast that was in my throat and I coughed up the other day. Beware, very gross, but I had to share what this stuff looks like. (sorry my camera sucks, this was the best I could do)

That chunk in between my two fingers is yeast that was inside of my throat. Disgusting. Note to world: stop eating refined sugars and too much sugar in general- it rots your insides out!

This is not the first time I've had this stuff in my throat and coughed it up. It's been happening a lot lately, and it has everything to do with all the sugar I was consuming. So I am trying to refocus on cutting out the sugar to the level I did last year (so difficult now that I don't feel as sick!) so that my body can get rid of the candida in my gut. Only natural sugars from fruit, honey, and agave or maple syrups will be consumed, and it will be limited severely.

Good-bye dessert. You were good to eat, but not good for my belly. In a few months maybe we can visit again occasionally... but I think it's best we go our separate ways for a while...

PS I think I have a sensitivity to pineapple. Large sore in the back of my mouth from eating it today. No fun. I'm adding it to the list... not the first time it's happened. Boo!

Detox Diet: Days 6 & 7

Despite the fact that I am not doing as wonderfully as I should about detoxing I believe discovered something this week. Sugar makes me not feel so good. Yet still I made another two loaves of gluten-free lemon poppyseed bread. Glutton for punishment.

Yup, I started to put two and two together. Sinus headaches, indigestion, gerd when I wake-up in the morning, liver/gallbladder flare-ups, all coinciding with sugar consumption. Bad tastes in my mouth, fun yeast chunks in my throat (I know you totally wanted a visual on that, right?), and subsequent itchiness elsewhere all coinciding with large amounts of sugar consumption. I also realized that my digestion started to get not so great again when I started allowing myself more and more sugar. Both refined and non-refined. I have a candida problem and it's making me sick.

Funny thing is that when I eat it I feel fine for a while, even a few days, and then I hit a wall and all the sudden I'm having flare-ups all throughout my body. And of course, I'm addicted. Sugar is my arch nemesis... I can't fight this addiction. I was really close at the end of my three month detox a year ago, but then I started letting myself eat it again and the addiction started all over.

That being said, I need to make this detox be about going sugar free. Natural sugars from fruit and produce only. Forget processed versus non-processed. I can't eat sugar, lest I want to be sickly. Time to get creative to trick my body, because I know this means I need to cut back on fruit too. Oh boy, this is gonna be rough... No more maple syrup with my turkey sausage in the morning!

Detox Diet Day 5

Ok, so yesterday was not as detoxifying as it could be. We had a going away party for one of our doctors who is leaving us to take over his father's business. Potluck meals are dangerous for any food allergy sufferer, and especially when you are a food allergy sufferer who is detoxing. I did okay. I supplied one of the few healthy dishes there- which is surprising at a health and wellness office, but I guess we all have to live at some point- a fresh from the farmer's market salad with strawberries, cucumbers, and mushrooms and homemade balsamic vinaigrette. My current staple salad, you've seen pictures.

While my salad was awesome (of course), but it did not a meal make. And because there were few healthy choices otherwise, and it was a party afterall, I decided to give myself some leeway to eat a few not so healthy things. Two beef ribs (the Dr is from St Louis, so bbq ribs were his special request), a quarter of a twice baked potato, and a cookie and a half. In the real world, this is not considered bad, I guess. But when you are following a detox diet, it's not the most detoxifying meal you could eat. At least I ate a huge serving of salad first!

Detox Diet Day 4

Sugar cravings were rampant today. I did however discover that in a pinch some organic raisins do the trick quite nicely to get rid of the cravings. Hit the spot. I think I will be carrying them around with me all day long just in case. I have issues with sugar... bad. Hence the need for detox right?

Because I am avoiding processed sugars I decided to try something different today. I bought organic pure cane sugar to use in my gluten-free lemon poppyseed bread. Yes, yes, it's cheating a bit on the diet, but I thought I would try it.

Unfortunately, since I also decided to use grapeseed oil in the recipe I can't tell if the flavor of the bread was changed by the oil or the sugar. I think it was a combo of the two. The bread wasn't as sweet as with the processed white sugar, and there was definitely a different taste from the grapeseed. Did not, however, keep the hubby from eating almost the entire loaf in one sitting though. At least he thinks it's still just as fabulous.

I did however have some cooking victories today. Dinner was sinfully delicious but so healthy. Grilled broccoli, red peppers and shrimp with EVOO, garlic, and seasoning served over wild rice. My husband gave it an A+, and I think I would second that vote. It was so good.

As you can see the sun was setting on my food, but I kind of like the artistic touch it gave to the picture. Anyway, we will definitely be having this dish again in the next week. You don't get much healthier than this!

I was super excited to find the wild rice mix though because most of the wild rice mixes in the store have flavoring added to them, which inevitably have carrots or some other allergen in them. I was so excited to find this mix and even more excited to be able to eat whole grain wild rice without allergic reactions!

Detox Diet- Day 2 and 3

I came to a realization yesterday. This detox diet will not go like the last one. When I started my detox diet last year I was starting at a very sickly place. I wasn't digesting, I had serious gastrointestinal issues that needed addressing, and my body was in a complete and total state of toxicity. Well, my body has come a long way and I don't need that level of cleansing anymore. Don't get me wrong, I need some cleansing and a good dose of refocusing (ie stop eating those darned cupcakes from Kroger), but I can't do it the way I did last time.

That being said I decided that this go round I need to include much more protein than I did last time. Last time I was borderline vegan for three full months before I started eating meat consistently again. And most of my protein came from fish once or twice a week, tofu in my miso soup, or the occassional lamb stuffed veggies that I would make. The rest of the diet was vegan. And at that time my body needed to cleanse at that level, but now, I need the protein to keep me going. So I hit the grocery store yesterday and bought some organic, all natural, turkey breakfast sausages (yummy!), my favorite chicken and fennel dinner sausages, and a new high protein breakfast option: puffed millet cereal and hempmilk. The millet cereal with hempmilk and strawberries is officially my new favorite food. I was really surprised by how creamy the hempmilk is, I am so glad my vegan girlfriend recommended it!

I might not keep up the high protein thing, but at least for this week I need it. I'm still detoxing by cutting out processed sugars, gluten (though I did eat some whole wheat bread yesterday in desperation), and eating whole foods again. And even though I've had to derail slightly a few times already- the chocolate on Monday (and again today... but I limited myself to the portion size on the box of three pieces) and meatballs with bbq sauce at last night's work event (the only healthy food available at the event had things I was allergic to so I didn't have much option in the matter), and the bread with peanut butter last night- I am lightyears better than I was last week. And I think we are moving in the right direction again.

Detox Diet- Day1

Yesterday was NOT a good day. I did great on eating healthy, but my body wanted nothing to do with it as it was too focused on making me feel miserable. For the past two weeks I have been getting excruciating headaches, doubled with a sinus headache from allergies (usually), and bloating. I tried everything to make that headache go away yesterday to no avail. First I tried a chiropractic adjustment... the headache subsided and lessened for about 30 minutes. Then I tried a massage during my lunch break... the headache went away with the exception of some sinus pain above my left eye for about an hour and a half. And when it came back, it came back hard. I couldn't hear right, I couldn't see straight, I felt confused, and started to even feel a bit nauseous from it. I had the hubs drop off some Sudafed after taking some Aleve hadn't helped at all. The Sudafed got things down to a more bearable level and that helped me to feel safe enough to drive home.

Went to bed by 9:30 and woke up throughout the night with the headache still mildly bothering me. Around 5:00 am I woke up and it was finally gone. Thank goodness for small miracles! After eating a snack and drinking some water (I was hungry from not eating much for dinner), I went back to bed until about 8am. Still headache free, but I can tell by the pinching nerve in my back that it's threatening to flair up again.

Based on how the headache withstood any medication I could take and looking back at the last two weeks of headaches and bloating, I believe I have determined this to all be related to PMS. TMI, I know, but we are chronically my health struggles so we have to document this stuff, people! I have not had PMS this bad since I can remember... maybe a year or two. But what got me thinking was all of the bad food I ate in May. I ate a lot of overly processed cupcakes, so much so that the food coloring from the frosting was altering the color of both my husband and my bowel movement (we compared notes because we both thought it was funny). Though I tell you what, nothing says "you shouldn't eat this" than food coloring dyed poo. :)

So, this detox diet is definitely due. With the exception of the three pieces of chocolate I ate last night to see if a smidgen of caffeine would help the headache (it did, believe it or not) I ate very healthy. Not sure I got quite enough calories in, so I am reevaluating a few things to ensure that doesn't happen again, but otherwise the eating part of day 1 went very well.

Day2 is starting out much better. Fingers crossed it remains headache free. Time to go ice my neck to help out with the cause...

Detox Diet Challenge, Day 0

Tomorrow is the big day. I'm starting on a detox diet and will stick to it 100% through the month of June.

Ok, so it's not really rocket science, this diet. It's the same thing I did last year when I was diagnosed with gallstones. I know I can follow the diet since I did it before and I can't wait to see what kind of differences there are (or aren't) in my digestion.

So how did I spend my last day of (relative) food freedom? Over eating a bit, and eating some sugary stuff, but still with plenty of healthy veggies and fats. Breakfast today was the last of my gluten-free poppyseed bread covered in lemon icing (to make up for the fact that I forgot the lemon in the recipe). Lunch was a leftover natural chicken sausage from the night before and a garden fresh salad with my own homegrown lettuces. And dinner was my favorite tuna recipe with avocado with a splurge at the end of two slices of homemade whole wheat bread with my mother-in-laws grape jelly and some butter. Definitely overate a bit, especially at dinner, but if I'm not going to be stuffing my face with processed cupcakes at least I could do something bad.

I can't wait for tomorrow. I can't wait to feel great again and get my energy back. I can't wait to discover new things about my body and foods and test my own personal resolve for the sake of my continued improved health. These things are important, and as I refocus I plan to make this refocusing effort a lifelong commitment. Who need processed cupcakes anyway?

STRAWBERRIES!!!!

Local strawberries are in season! Ok, well not completely local, but within my state an hour or two south, which is close enough for me. Heck, it's infinitely closer than California which is a four hour plane ride.

Now, I'm not sure if these strawberries are organic, but since I've had plenty of them the last two weeks with no reactions I have to guess they are at least pretty close to organic if not completely organic. I will double check next time. All I know is that they are the sweetest, juiciest strawberries I've ever had. My favorite way to eat them? On a spinach salad with homemade balsamic vinaigrette. Delicious!

According to World's Healthiest Foods, strawberries are really good for you too. Of course, that goes with out saying that they are really good for you, but they are really high in Vitamin C and manganese and good source of all sorts of other nutrients. They are at their peak from April through July so eat them up now while they are their best!

"Clean" eating here I come

Starting June 1st, I am refocusing. Since I started feeling better in the fall my diet has slowly, but surely, gotten off track. Not surprisingly, I've noticed some health issues and I've had some gallbladder flare-ups as well. Got to refocus. Now that the summer is upon us again, I've decided it's time to refocus, especially while fresh, local, healthy produce is so abundant.

Here is the goal of the diet:

1. "Clean" foods only. Whole foods, no processed or genetically modified food. With the exception of a few "clean label" snack or breakfast products I must make everything from scratch.
2. Organic whenever possible. Local as much as possible. This maximizes nutrient availability of the food.
3. Portion control, portion control, portion control. Three small meals and 2-3 small snacks in between.
4. Vegetarian primarily, though fish and small amounts of fresh turkey or chicken are okay a few times a week. Since I can't eat beans, lentils, or nuts (food allergies) I need to have a few protein options.
5. Dairy free.
6. Gluten free.
7. Corn free.
8. No refined sugars. Sugar can only come from agave, honey, or raw organic brown sugar.

While it looks like a lot of rules, it's the diet I followed last summer during the first three months. Shouldn't be hard. Plus I am hoping to test out a few potential food intolerances during the process to see if those might be the culprits to my diseased gallbladder and possibily some of my other allergies and health issues. Hopefully this will lead up to a liver/gallbladder flush, too. I'm warming to the idea and think it's a step I need to take, and it will be much easier to do when following this diet.

I've recruited my coworker Martha to follow the diet with me. Things are always easier when you have a support system and friend to do it with you. My husband isn't willing to go so far, but he loves the homemade whole wheat (high fiber!) bread I made for him the other night (pic to come) so he's agreed to eat that bread for his sandwiches. Now, since it's not gluten free, I won't be eating it but I'm glad he's at least taking a small step toward a healthier diet. His diet is horrendous if I'm not feeding him!

If you want to follow the same diet, let me know. You can be part of the time to eat healthier- which is not only healthier for you but the planet as well! Like usual, I'll be blogging about it right here!

Protein cravings

I don't know what was with yesterday, but I needed protein. That was pretty much all I ate yesterday. I started the day good, eating the snack/meal you see above of spinach, light spreadable cheese, and rye crisps with some deli sliced summer sausage. The day didn't end as healthy though. Protein cravings went haywire! Here is a note I sent to my girlfriend yesterday about it. I figured it was easier to copy and paste this rather than rewrite the story...

Funny thing is, I'm usually not a protein nut at all! Even around that time of the month. This time apparently is different though. I started bloating a week ago (which freaking annoying! I feel like my gut is busting out, it's so uncomfortable!), and now today I started craving some serious meat product! Weirdo! This period is going to be rough, and I still have a week till it gets here!

The craving started after my personal training session this morning. I literally went straight to the grocery store to buy some turkey sausage. It was baaaaad! Ate that and some rye cracker with soft cheese on it (also don't eat cheese cuz of the dairy intolerance issues, right?). For lunch I ate the crackers with cheese again and put some summer sausage Griffin had in the fridge on it with some of my farmer's market spinach. It was soooo good!

Then I'm doing my weekly acupuncture session, and while my mind is wandering and I'm in my zen place I start thinking about how my VEGAN girlfriend had a status update earlier today that she was craving a Big Mac. I started laughing to myself.... and then, I got super hungry for a Big Mac! Ugh! Luckily my co-worker had a piece of chicken in the fridge she wasn't going to eat so I had that for a snack.

The rest of the day went on and by closing I hadn't eaten dinner yet, and that was at 8:30pm. The Big Mac craving was in full swing again... needed protein. So I got the Big Mac once Griffin agreed to share it with me, and picked him up a McFlurry, too. I haven't had ice cream in almost a year but it took all my willpower to NOT eat his McFlurry on the way home. Ice cold dairy sounded soooooo good! One small victory for the day, at least I didn't indulge in that! Anyway, I cut the Big Mac in half intending to give Griffin half of it. I was a good girl and ate my veggies from the dinner I originally planned to eat before eating the Big Mac. They tasted really good and I almost didn't eat the Big Mac, but the smell was too alluring. I couldn't eat just half. I had half of the other half too, and Griffin got mad he wouldn't get his whole half. :)

I'm already drooling about turkey sausage for breakfast tomorrow... can't wait. Yum. Protein.

And PS, I don't eat red meat, or cheese anymore and today that was all I wanted! And my acupuncturist, despite me having eaten these things today, commented on how my tongue looked better- no problem with the liver or gallbladder! What gives!

Needless to say, the Big Mac reminded me why I don't eat them anymore. Thankfully, no GB attacks, but definitely had some serious indigestion. Still proud of myself for not eating the ice cream- almost at the one year mark, don't want to ruin things now!

Just thought I would share some pics of the McDonald's breakdown. First, the calorie and nutrition info of said Big Mac. GROSS!!!! Then, my first attempt at trying to cut the Big Mac in half... yeah, I halved the other half after that. Thankfully no Big Mac cravings today. I don't need that nutritionally deficient overly processed and genetically engineered "food."

My new favorite show

I have a discovered the best cooking show on TV. Emeril Green on the Planet Green Channel. He teaches people recipes- out of a Whole Foods nonetheless- that are "clean," healthy, environmentally friendly, and super tasty and nutritious! I love this show! You must watch it.

This is how people should eat. This is how people should live. LOVE IT! I can't wait to try some of the recipes out!