Food Allergy Madness

Dear Gentle Readers,

I finally got my Spectracell test results back as well as the extended food allergy panel (testing an additional ninety-five foods/spices/herbs).

The good news is - I am only deficient in vitamin B 12, B 2, and the antioxidants selenium, vitamin C and E. Easy enough to take care of, I think. (I even managed to find a gluten-free milk-free soy-free egg-free vitamin E yesterday! ;) No small feat.

The allergy news is - I have even more additional foods to avoid due to severe allergy:

Coconut/coconut milk, cashews/pistachios, pinto beans, chick peas/hummus, navy beans, summer squash and zucchini, red bell peppers, melon, alfalfa sprouts, okra, mustard, curry, ginger, turmeric...

I also have a moderate allergy to brown rice (but not white rice!); so that makes my daily staple of rice milk now off limits; I now need to rotate any food containing brown rice [such as my pastas, my brown rice vinegar, protein powder, baking mixes, etc.] to once every four days. I did find some white rice pasta and quinoa pasta at Whole Foods, along with white rice and tapioca flours (for which I tested negative).

MY NP told me to avoid all nuts at this point (well, yeah - I'm allergic to all except pecan) just to be safe...and beans. The only legumes I'm not allergic to are lentils and lima beans.

The saddest part - for me - is having to let go of almost all of my favorite recipes. I have 200 recipes posted on Gluten-Free Goddess blog! Now most are off-limits to me. How ironic is that?

That said, Babycakes, I am stoked to know these additional troublemakers. Many of them are really not a total surprise. When I look back, knowing what I know now, my body was giving me various signals about these pesky irritants (though some are nearly impossible to discover - hidden as "Spices" and "Natural Flavors" so ubiquitous in foods).

Hiding under the umbrella of "Proprietary Blend" anything with "spices" and "natural flavors" must now remain off limits - as a hesitant voice on the phone this morning explained to me regarding Emergen-C Cranberry Flavor vitamin and mineral powder, "Proprietary blends might contain" an allergic ingredient such as ginger, lemon or pineapple extract, but she's not at liberty to tell me if the blend indeed does or does not contain ginger, lemon or pineapple. Why? Because well, "It's proprietary."

So the company formula is protected but the consumer is not?

What I wish?

I wish that - looking back to six years ago - my doctors had understood celiac disease and malabsorption better; and that s/he had ordered additional food allergy testing back then.

I might have healed faster and even avoided developing some of my additional food sensitivities IF I had been given the proper information six years ago, and eliminated problematic foods along with gluten, while rotating other moderate culprits.

Dairy, especially, comes to mind - I think I've been allergic to dairy all my life. Why should I be different? Fifty percent of celiacs are allergic to casein, the protein in cow's milk.

My message to you::

If you - or your children - have any (even minor) reactions to certain foods - mouth or tongue irritation, sinus drip or congestion, bloating and gas, digestive trouble including heart burn and GERD, headaches and visual migraines, hives, eczema, breathing difficulty - please, get tested.

If an allergy is not recognized, it keeps the body in a state of inflammation and the severity of symptoms may worsen over time. What may begin as a minor allergic reaction can escalate into anaphylaxis, or asthma, and at the very least, keep your autoimmune system on high alert and trigger chronic inflammation.

It also is vital to know that food allergies, such as a casein allergy, can cause symptoms similar to gluten ingestion.

So if you blame a rough day now and then on cross contamination or too much coffee, please pay attention. It just might be an additional food allergy. I wondered why, for instance, I still suffered visual migraines after going gluten-free. When I gave up casein in June, my migraines disappeared.

Here is where I had my food allergy testing done: Meridian Valley Labs. It's a simple blood test.

All in all - I'm relieved and happy to know the truth; and because I prefer *knowing* to *not knowing* I am already adjusting to my new restrictions. It's all good.

Last night we had wild caught salmon grilled with a quickie sauce I made with organic maple syrup, minced garlic, balsamic vinegar and olive oil. We roasted purple and gold potatoes with onion, portobellas, cubes of butternut squash, garlic, olive oil and sea salt.

How bad is that?

Love,

Your gluten, wheat, dairy, egg, soy, tree nut, peanut, coconut, chick pea, kidney-pinto-navy bean, green beans, brown rice, alfalfa, Brussels sprouts, chicken, turkey, mollusk, avocado, red pepper, sunflower seed, flax seed, stevia, lemon, orange, pineapple, papaya, raspberry, cantaloupe, honeydew, zucchini, red pepper, summer squash, watercress, okra, curry, ginger, turmeric, mustard FREE goddess.

Phew.

gluten free food allergies