Food for the Gastronomically Challenged

I love food. I have always loved trying new and exotic foods, and throughly enjoyed dining. Before I got sick, I was a hardcore vegan for 3 years. The last two I was 80% raw. Unfortunately, this diet was horrible on my body and largely contributed to the eventual breakdown.

The illness also brought on a head-spinning array of food intolerances, and there was even a period of a couple months when I literally had 1 food that I could eat with minimal reactions.

I never took a food intolerance test being that they are so expensive and famously unreliable.The skin prick test, of course, revealed that I am only mildly allergic to pears (of all things!) so I went the route of the elimination diet. It was really hard to figure out what I was reacting to in the beginning, but by diligently keeping a food diary I was able to get a handle on it.

The Failsafe diet, developed by Sue Dengate for the most sensitive of the sensitive literally saved my life. When I stumbled upon this diet I was on a water fast because I could not put one thing in my mouth without a serious reaction. You can read more about the Failsafe Diet below.

Aside from my environmental allergies and food sensitivities, I have very poor digestion. I pretty much treat my gut like a newborn baby. In order to heal my gut I've cut out  alcohol, all processed and refined foods, caffeine, and raw vegetables (I will go into this in more detail in another post).
My major intolerances:

  • Gluten
  • Salicylates
  • Soy
  • Amines
  • Artificial Additives, flavors, preservatives, and colors
  • Sulfites, and foods high in sulfur
It doesn't seem like much, but you would be amazed at how many foods contain one or more of these ingredients. Restaurants are totally out of the question for me, as are any packaged snack (with the exception of Organic Plain Kettle Potato Chips!)

I also have weak adrenals that cause me to have sodium retention issues and mild hypoglycemia. This means that I have to monitor my foods very carefully, and I must eat at the first signs of hunger.  I viciously cut carbs for many months and continued to feel like hell until I stumbled upon the work of Matt Stone at 180 degree health. I talk about this in my post about low carb below.


There is one question that everyone asks me, and if I had a nickel for every time I would probably own my own island by now. "So what do you eat??" Good question!! I eat chicken, potatoes, white rice, milk, and home made ice cream. For real.

Now one would think that this is a pretty boring diet, and guess what- it really is! Especially coming from veganism and discovering that I needed to eat twice as much protein as the average person. It was not an easy change to say the least.

But, on the bright side I have gotten very CREATIVE. The first year was awful, but this past year I have actually become quite the cook. Me! The same girl that swore against any form of domestication! Now I spend at least 3 days of the week in an apron. Just goes to show that you can never know what the future might bring! Not to mention my skin is FINALLY free of acne, and I can fit into my skinny jeans with no problem, even if I decide to eat a whole bag of potato chips every day for a week.

Below you'll find links about the rotten food chemicals that I tangle with on a daily basis, as well as some safe brands I've discovered and more.

Please be patient. My blog is a baby and I am running at 1/2 the capacity of a normal human, but I will try to post new info and tips once a week


The Failsafe Diet




About Food Chemicals


Sulfites- the hidden lurker

What the heck am I reacting to?

 Why LESS veggies can actually be better for you



Safe Brands and Other Tips/Useful Info
What the animal eats will affect you!

Gluten free doesn't always mean gluten free

Choosing Meats

Not all Dairy is Evil! 

 The Humble Potato- the world's most ostracized vegetable


Navigating the Supplement Minefield

A promising probiotic

Not all vitamin C was created equal


Learn From My Fails

Over the past few years I've been on every crazy diet out there to try and heal my body. Don't always believe what the gurus say. Learn from my fails. 

How Low Carb Tanked My Thyroid

GAPS= Histamine Hell!

The Fallacy of the PH and Alkaline Diets

 The Candida Diet DOES NOT WORK

 My Adventures as a Vegan

 Shannon's Tips on How to Become Malnourished

 Saying goodbye to Grok and the OCD of the Paleo Diet

 "Healing Reactions" and "Die off" from foods






1 comment:

  1. UnknownApril 19, 2013 at 2:45 PM

    Shannon, Have you thought about writing a cook book for the gastronomically challenged?

    ReplyDelete

I would love to hear your thoughts and opinions about anything I say in my posts. All I ask is that you please be respectful, and use the manners that your parents should have taught you :) Thanks!

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