Food Sensitivies

Well sometimes you just can't win...

Almost two years ago my doc did a wacky food allergy test on me, muscle testing (arm goes down, it's bad, VERY scientific {cough, not}). He said no wheat or coffee, but dairy was ok (which surprised him, since most people fail the dairy arm test apparently). So I tried to give up wheat (switched to spelt for baking and things like rice pasta but giving up wheat entirely is tough!), and I gave up coffee completely (I was a 2 Starbucks Grande's a day kind of girl). I decided his arm strength test was bullshit but I was interested in the concept and decided to do a more scientific test. So I did a blood test that measures the level of anti-bodies in your blood to certain foods. http://www.optimumhealthresource.com/

Came back very different from my docs arm test (what a surprise). High on most dairy. So I got off dairy (except for butter every once in a while and mozzerella on my weekly homemade pizza). I gave up my beloved skim milk with meals, having water instead, and I switched to soymilk for those times when milk was a "necessity" like with cereal or when cooking. All the grains were in the no-reaction category. Thank god, I thought to myself, just trying to stay away from wheat on my doc's recommendation had been really, really tough. You know what's coming next, don't you?

I did another test this year. With this nasty lung condition I wanted to make sure my body wasn't spending energy dealing with food sensitivities that it should be spending on healing my lungs. This year's results? Soy (almost a max reading which is a little scary because I just don't have that much of it), Honey (again, a little scary since I hardly have any of that either), and...drumroll...Wheat (whole wheat, wheat gliadin and gluten), Spelt and Rye. Well, CRAP. No more Ezekiel bread english muffins. No substituting spelt for wheat. That means no grains. That means no pizza. Well, CRAP. No Mike's Kick Ass Multi-Grain Toast and eggs for Sunday breakfast. Well, CRAP.

Good news? If you stay away from trigger foods your body "forgets" it doesn't like them and you can re-introduce them later. They recommend complete avoidance for a few months, then once reintroduced they recommend having it only once every 4 days to avoid developing a sensitivity to it again. I know avoidance works because this year's test showed no reaction to dairy, although now I'm of the mind that cow milk should be for baby cows, not people. Not doing complete withdrawal until after Thanksgiving weekend. Should be interesting!