Bread that I can eat!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. This week was busier than I expected, but a lot of fun.

Last weekend I found bread at Wholefoods Bellingham that I can eat!!! Food for Life Brown Rice Bread is wheat-, gluten-, soy-, dairy-, corn- (which doesn't matter to me, but it may affect someone else) and yeast- free. The ingredients are White Rice Flour, Brown Rice Flour, Water, Tapioca Flour, Cellulose Gum, Organic Sunflower Oil, Agar-Agar, Black Strap Molasses, Sea Salt, Grape Concentrate, Pear Concentrate, Rice Dextrin, and Carrot Fiber.

Not only can I eat it, but I have found it delicious. It is a little dry, but I have added a sauce or spread and it has been fine. I have been eating it as a hot dog bun with chicken hot dogs, a burger bun with turkey burgers, or as regular sandwich bread with chicken salad. I added hot sauce or ketchup to the hot dogs and turkey burgers. The only downside is that when I bend it around the hot dog, it usually breaks in the middle. It doesn't bother me that much because I can actually eat bread!

Bread is the one thing that I have been missing. No warm, crunchy bread for months is awful. This bread is not crunchy, but it is like a regular white sandwich bread which is close enough for me.

I hope everyone had a great week. I have so many things in my head, so I will be writing more soon. Enjoy the weather today. It looks beautiful out!

La Cantina Framingham

Thursday night the girls and I went out to La Cantina in Framingham. I have never been before and have heard mixed reviews about it. They have a gluten-free menu so I could potentially eat there without getting sick. However, the menu is not user friendly when it comes to finding gluten-free items. There are just notes in the specific sections, like above pasta it says "gluten-free penne available add $1.99." I had to ask what kind of gluten-free penne they had and the waitress didn't know. (If you only have one kind, then I think you should have your waitresses memorize it or put it on your menu.) She asked the kitchen and told me it was brown rice. I'm not a fan of rice pasta, but it was my only option there. I got it with meat sauce.

My meal didn't look appetizing since it was brownish cream colored pasta just slopped in a dish with sauce over it. More importantly, it didn't taste like anything.It's disappointing. I spent $24 with drink and tip. I left the restaurant feeling kind of sick and not feeling satisfied.

I go to a restaurant to get something that I can't make at home. This meal I make 3 times a week at home and mine is delicious. Corn pasta with meat sauce is my favorite dinner right now. This inferior meal at La Cantina was expensive and tasteless. I will not be going back there again.

Vitamin Deficiencies

I touched on my vitamin deficiencies in that blog, so now I will go into more detail. I feel extremely tired for almost every minute of every day and have stomach/digestion issues. I was tested in November 2009 for vitamin deficiencies (the same day as the food sensitivity testing) and found out that I had multiple deficiencies too.

Here are my deficiencies and what I took/am taking to fix them:

Vitamin D—it affects bones and can cause osteoporosis. I took 4000 IU a day (which I didn’t mind because it tasted like chocolate). Since November my levels have improved dramatically.

Vitamin C—it affects my energy. It is an antioxidant. I was supposed to take 4 packets of Emergen-C a day, but it was too much for me. I took a couple of packets whenever I felt I needed them, but it didn’t make a difference. In June 2010, I had an IV of Vitamin C. It didn’t seem to make me feel any different and I cannot afford to keep going (it is $85 an IV).

Vitamin B12—deficiency can cause problems with energy, sleep, tingling of extremities, memory, and migraines. I took “End Fatigue Daily Energy B Complex” for a while, but when I got retested in June 2010 it wasn’t enough. I now do Vitamin B12 shots every Sunday. I will be switching back to the pills after the shots are done to try and keep the levels up.

Carnitine—affects metabolism and energy levels. I take a teaspoon of L-Carnitine every day. It is a thick, sticky liquid that tastes like raspberry and mint. It is kind of weird tasting, but not entirely disgusting. I have been taking it since November. As of June my levels were still low so I have to keep going for now.

CoQ10—an antioxidant that boosts metabolism. I get extremely bloated and have stomach fat that doesn’t go away. I take 200mg a day to combat both issues. I originally had an IV of Glutathione (a more powerful antioxidant), but the pills are cheaper.

Iron—can cause anemia and fatigue. I take 27mg of Ferrochel a day. I have been taking it since November and my levels are up since November. I continue to take it every day because I still have pills that I need to use up.

Probiotics—aid with digestion. I took them from November until a few months ago. I need to start taking them again since my body doesn’t digest food correctly. They made me feel a little better while on them.

Magnesium—helps with digestion. I take 150mg of Magnesium Citrate to help my stomach and intestines. It relieves constipation and makes sure everything moves through.

Berberine—restores the intestinal barrier that was damaged from food sensitivities. I took 900mg two to three times a day. It helped me feel much better. I was taken off of Berberine when I started the Magnesium Citrate.

Fish Oil—helps with dry skin. I took it for a few weeks, but the Cod in the pills caused problems for me. I stopped taking the Fish oil and it made me feel better. I still have extremely dry skin, but it is better than me feeling sick all the time.

Travacor—sleep aid and anti-anxiety pill. I wasn’t sleeping well for a few months when Brett was out of town. I took 2 pills every night for a month or two, but was taken off of it because I felt extremely groggy in the morning.

Other than those supplements, I take birth control and 3 shots a week for year round and fall allergies.

Every time I see my PCP she adds and takes away supplements. We are still trying to find the right balance for me. I get my vitamin levels checked every 6 months to figure out what has changed. I don't get most of the vitamins from food so I have to supplement them for now.

Enjoy your night!

Chicken Soup with Zucchini "Noodles"

I made Chicken Soup with Zucchini "Noodles" for lunch today. Here is the recipe:

1 Quart Chicken Stock (Make sure that it is sensitivity free. It took me awhile to find one that I could use. I used "More Than Gourmet Chicken Stock")
1 carrot, chopped
1 rib of celery, chopped
1 leek stalk, chopped
1 small zucchini, made into "noodles"
3 small chicken thighs, cooked (or any kind of cooked chicken that you like)

I brought the chicken stock to a boil while I chopped the vegetables. I chopped up the carrot, celery, and leek, then added it to the pot. I brought the soup down to a simmer for 10-20 minutes until the carrots were tender. I chopped the chicken and dropped it into the pot. I made the zucchini into matchsticks and added them into the pot. I let it simmer for 10 minutes.

Extremely easy to make. I added salt and pepper into my individual bowls as I dished it out, but you could add any spices you like into this soup.

Welcome to my blog!

Hi. My name is Angela. I’m 23 years old and a recent college graduate. I am writing this because I have been diagnosed with many, many food sensitivities in the past few months and have not found enough information online that helps me cope with multiple sensitivities. Before I get too much into my problems now, I am going to give you some of my back story so you can understand what I have already dealt with.

On and off for about 13 years of my life I have battled with an eating disorder. When I got into college it started to consume me. It got to the point where I decided that I could not continue the way I was going or I was going to die. A month after my 21^st birthday (February 2008), I checked myself into a treatment facility. Even though I hated it at first, I complied with the treatment and did everything I needed to do to get out. I did a few weeks of Partial Hospitalization, which was Monday to Friday 8:30am-2:30pm, then a month of Intensive Outpatient, Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday 5:15pm-8:30pm. I came out of treatment with new friends, new skills to handle stress (otherwise known as life), and a new outlook. I continued to work with my outpatient team, which consisted of my therapist and my nutritionist, for about 6 months before I decided that I could do it on my own. I stopped seeing my therapist, but before I got to stop going to my nutritionist I got extremely bad pains in my kidneys. My PCP decided that it had to do with the eating disorder and thought I was lying when I said that I was behavior free for over 6 months. My nutritionist believed that it was kidney stones. After several weeks of pain in my kidneys, the pain spread to my stomach. I wish I could accurately describe the pain that I experienced. Almost every night I would curl up on the couch or in bed and just hope that I found a position that would let me sleep.

I knew that I couldn’t go back to the PCP who thought that I was lying, so my nutritionist recommended that I see someone at the place that she works. They specialize in natural and supplemental medicine. I switched to Visions Medical Center and had tests upon tests done. Food sensitivity tests, Vitamin tests, traditional blood tests, and many more that I cannot think of at the moment. My initial list of food sensitivities: dairy, beef liver, cod, lamb, clam, cilantro, sage, broccoli, peas, green beans, kale, cucumber, cantaloupe, pineapple, date, ginger, sesame, safflower oil, walnut, and vanilla. I already knew I was allergic to soy and was lactose-intolerant, but I had no idea about all of these sensitivities. I found this out the day before Thanksgiving 2009. My boyfriend, Brett, and I went to his sister’s house for Thanksgiving and I ate turkey, leftover rice, and cranberry sauce. I couldn’t eat anything else. It was not fun, but I eliminated these foods immediately and started to feel a little better.

A few months later I started getting the same pains again. My second sensitivity test showed these sensitivities: beef, yeast (brewer’s and baker’s), banana, peanut, and aspergillus niger (mold found in leftovers that are more than 2 days old and bruised fruits). My nutritionist put me on the Anti-Candida Diet which consisted of rice and chicken for every meal. NO Yeast, Sugars, Acids, or Processed Foods of any kind. I made rice pudding with unsweetened rice milk and cinnamon. It was my only treat on that diet. My new PCP didn’t agree with the diet because of my past and took me off of it 2 weeks later since my Candida (an overgrowth of yeast in the body) tests came back negative. She wanted to add in foods gradually, starting with carrots for 3 days, then moving to something else for 3 days, then something else for 3 days. I refused to go along with it and ate almost everything in sight (that didn’t include any of my sensitivities). You can’t deprive me of chocolate for 2 weeks and expect me to not eat it for a couple more months. My will power is not that strong.

Again, I felt fine for a few months, then (like before) I started to feel worse. I was checked for more food sensitivities and got this list: gluten, wheat, lobster, red beans, horseradish, mango, pistachio, oyster, black-eyed peas, radish, rosemary, teff, and turmeric. This is where I am now. I am still trying to figure out meals that do not include any of these sensitivities and are still healthy. I need to diversify what foods I eat, so that I don’t end up with more sensitivities.

For the past few weeks I have been trying to find blogs that are gluten-, soy-, and dairy- free. I have found many on the Autism diets, but I don’t need to know how to adapt kid’s food. I want something more than Mac & Cheese and chicken nuggets. I have decided to start this blog to keep track of the changes in my life and to hopefully find others in my position so we can help each other. I want to figure out why all these sensitivities are showing up all of a sudden. Is it just because I had an eating disorder in my past? Or could it be genetic? Or could they just be popping up for no reason?

Thanks for reading.