Food Intolerance

I don't remember if I've commented about it on this blog yet, but one of the chiropractors I see is also a functional medicine practitioner.  (Functional medicine is all about improving a person's health from the cellular level up.  This is largely through diet and supplements to ensure the body has the nutrients and resources it needs to function optimally.)  They took blood at the end of May to run an IgG allergy test. (I've since learned that these tests aren't accepted by traditional medicine as being useful or definitive, largely because they haven't been vetted through large trials and research yet; this tends to be true of most holistic and complementary methods.  But I figure - what the hell? My regular, traditional med docs don't have any interest in helping me get *healthy,* only not sick, and I really need to get healthy, so why not give it a whirl?)

I got my results back today, and tomorrow begin an elimination diet to remove those things the test showed I have a sensitivity to.

Luckily for me, most of my big no-nos are stuff I don't eat anyway, like cottage cheese and mushrooms.  I was really worried I was going to turn out to have a digestive issue with corn or wheat because they're in SO MUCH anymore there's very little way to avoid them and still be able to eat, you know, food.  Thankfully, I'm not allergic to either.

(Quick aside to explain: IgG "allergies" are reactions to certain proteins.  Rather than making a person swell up, get hives, or experience the terror of anaphylaxis, they affect the system anywhere between a couple hours and two or three days later.  They cause an inflammatory response in the body as various processes get interrupted. They can also injure the lining of the intestines, which causes food particles to enter the blood stream and travel to places around the body they're never supposed to be where they act as toxins. (This is called Leaky Gut.)  My body composition test a couple months back already suggested I had a lot of toxins in my system and (along with my general progression of symptoms over the last decade or so) a general worsening of systemic inflammation (goiter, anyone?).  IgG problems might be responsible for digestive issues like IBS or chronic, whole-body problems like fibromyalgia; again, not a lot of scientific research yet.  So when I say "allergies" in this post, I don't mean antibody-specific; I mean possible negative, inflammatory response happening way down deep.)

I am apparently super sensitive to baker's yeast and cow's milk.

Which potentially means I can never have bread again (if I want to stay healthy, anyway...).  Or ice cream.  Or hot dog buns. Or soft pretzels. Or pudding. I have to go back to butter substitutes.  I can't eat pizza, except on no-rise dough.  And I shouldn't eat CHOCOLATE (except the dark stuff, which I don't like).

BREAD!  CHOCOLATE!  AAAAARGH!

So, starting tomorrow, no bread. No chocolate. No milk. No barley or fermented beverages (take THAT every peer pressurer who told me I was full of poo when I said alcohol makes me feel lousy! This only bums me out because I can't have my favorite canned soup).  No nuts. No peanut butter. No oregano. Limited cheese (but I can still have yogurt - yay for protein changes during various food processes!). There are a bunch of smaller ones I should cut out, too, like onions and cinnamon.

One month of a heavily restricted diet, and then I can start adding the minor sensitivities back in to see if they bother me.  Three months on the modified diet, hopefully with a healed gut, and I can start trying out the moderate and significant sensitivities.  ('Cause again, the test is a tool to find possible problems, not a definitive answer like an IgE allergy test, which says, "If you come into contact with this, you could die...or just have a super stuffy head.")

3 months without bread, chocolate, or milk.

You know the funny thing? I started limiting my milk (except in cooking and the occasional bowl of cereal) and bread intake months ago.  Score one for intuition!

I can't have almond milk or almond butter, so...I dunno what I will use for nice alternatives.  Goat's milk?  I shouldn't have soy because of my thyroid, so my options are kind of limited.  I can still get my calcium from yogurt, which is a pretty big staple of my diet right now, anyway.  So no worries on that front.

Bread and buns I can replace with pitas and those green wrap things they use in restaurants.  I might have to find an unleavened bread recipe for my bread maker so it can be of use again.  (I really wish I had the recipe for our old church's communion bread - it was some dark molasses thing, and it was TASTY.)

I'm also supposed to cut out all artificial sweeteners, which was on my list of dietary changes to eventually make, anyway.  I need to buy a filter for our Brita pitcher so I can go back to drinking tap water without flavoring.

I go back in a week to review my big health picture.  Then a week after that to discuss nutritional needs, supplementation, and possible detox.

Meanwhile, my chiropractor adjusted my ankle today after spraining it.  Holy bells on a hell hound, that HURT!  Also, I've discovered that I bruised the living daylights out of the entire outside line of my foot and ankle from falling on it.  That hurts almost as bad with even the lightest touch.  Owwww.  Next week, if it's not back to top form, he's going to use ultrasound on it to help the muscles and tendons heal.  That'll be a fun first. :)