Friday, March 15, 2013

Re-Strategize

Hey Ya'll,
I went to see my allergist today and offered myself up to be poked and prodded in the name of medical diagnosis. Well, not quite. It was more in the name of knowing my enemy (i.e. allergic triggers) for my own self-serving purposes. I learned that I am reactive to pretty much all grasses... Hmm, that explains the sick feeling I had after I took those two shots of wheat grass at the beginning of the year. I thought my stomach was going to slosh right on up and out. *blech* I also have a little battle with Fall and Spring trees, that explains my current responses during this week's high Oak pollen count. Surprisingly enough I seem to have built up a tolerance to some of the most common allergens that are found in my area. I guess living in the general vicinity for most of my life has helped with those triggers.

I did get a chance to discuss my eczema concerns and my elimination diet to identify my triggers. I think I really chose the right doctor to see because he actually acknowledged the fact that food can have an affect of the body beyond the sensationalized urgent/severe reactions. He did say that because I have a general idea of what may be the culprit that I did not necessarily have to go through such a highly restrictive elimination diet, but that the foods I do choose to eliminate I should do for a bit longer than originally planned. So I will be adding back the foods that I am comfortable with and keeping gluten and dairy at bay for a total of 4 weeks. I am almost certain that my skin problems are coming from one (or both) of these foods. The mission has merely been adjusted rather than aborted. I will be eating gluten and dairy free meals for another 3 weeks (this week was my first) and then I will add one for a week and evaluate my reactions. Then I will eliminate it again for a week. After that week I will add the other food for a week and evaluate my reactions. By the time I finish with my evaluations I will be returning to the doctor to discuss my progress and findings. Which is really nice, because it makes me feel as though he actually cares about how I am doing. So far my skin is really beginning to clear up. For the last month, no matter what I used to wash or moisturize, I just could not get the patches to clear up. But after literally 5 days of my elimination diet I am finally seeing some relief. There is less itching and the dry patches are beginning to smooth over and slowly feel normal again. *Praises Lifted High*

All I can hope is that this keeps improving and I can identify which food has the more negative effect on my body. But here is what I have been eating lately:
Cold baked sweet potato that I seasoned with Garam Marsala and seared in the pan until hot through the middle.

Cinnamon, coconut milk rice pudding sweetened with dates, bananas, and raisins.

"Cabbage Roll Casserole" layered the bottom of the dish with a small broken up head of cabbage. Layered a brown rice ground turkey mixture over the cabbage. Then layered Brussels sprouts on top. All seasoned with salt, pepper, cumin, and chili powder and roasted at 400 F for 20 minutes until the cabbage was tender. 

The cabbage roll casserole and spiced sweet potato was dinner two nights ago.

Hmm, I think I really am going to have to embrace a gluten-free menu around here, mostly because I have the sneaking suspicion that gluten is my true nemesis here. *Le Sigh* Oh well, I am sure that nothing but good can come from me purposely limiting my gluten consumption. Especially since so much tends to be processed beyond nutritional recognition. Good thing I already released the processed foods for Lent. Do any of you have favorite gluten and dairy free meals?
Namaste Ya'll

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