I recently shared that my doctor found I had a intestinal yeast overgrowth as well as a pancreas that wasn’t functioning properly. The next step was to find out what vitamins and minerals I was deficient in and to begin supplements. The final step was learning my food intolerances.
Boy, was I surprised!
I have long thought that my food intolerances were dairy and soy. When I eat dairy, I feel like my chest is going to explode and that I can’t breathe. I also have gastrointestinal issues. Because the physical symptoms are so severe, I have not had dairy in over two years.
Lately, I have been feeling the chest tightness again along with other symptoms like feeling dizzy when I stand up from sitting or crouching or feeling like something is blocking my throat, so I had a feeling that I had additional intolerances.
My guesses? I wondered about gluten, and even went off gluten for a while this summer. I also guessed that I had a problem with eggs, especially since I have been eating them so frequently lately.
So, what did I discover? Some big surprises, and some more expected results.
These are my intolerances, yes, all 26 of them:
Fruit
Banana
Cantaloupe
Pineapple
Vegetables
Carrots
Lettuce
Sweet Potato
Dairy
Cheddar Cheese
Cottage Cheese
Swiss Cheese (these were the only three cheeses they tested, but I am sure it is all cheeses)
Milk
Yogurt
Seafood
Clam
Crab
Eggs (Yolks and Whites)
Coffee
Grains
Gluten
Yeast (Baker’s and Brewer’s)
Rye
Wheat
Condiments & Seasonings
Garlic
Mustard
Black Pepper
Safflower
The surprise? I am not soy intolerant.
So, while I have shared recipes on this blog that are dairy and soy free, I will now also be egg and gluten free, in addition to all of these other foods.
The kicker is that I think I added pepper and garlic to almost all of our freezer meals. I will still feed them to the family, but I will probably have separate meals for myself to avoid those ingredients.
At this point I am wondering just what I will be able to eat, so if you are gluten and egg free (as well as dairy), I would love it if you would share some of your favorite meals.
I am going cold turkey off all of these foods to see if that improves how I feel. I’ll let you know, but it is certain to be a steep learning curve.
Wow…I feel for you! I recently found out I’m allergic to dairy and meat of all things plus peanuts which I’ve been eating quite a bit of since I stopped eating gluten. I’m okay with eggs, but its a challenge figuring out what to eat. You inspire me with meals that your whole family eats. It seems like I am stuck making separate meals for all three of us.
You know about flax seed eggs right? I’ve heard that they work well as a substitue for eggs.
I was thankful that I can still eat meat. What do you eat for protein without meats, nuts, and eggs?
I have a very good friend who is Gluten Free (GF). As a result, I have learned quite about about GF cooking from him. One thing I highly recommend is Tinkyada brand pasta. In my opinion, it is the only GF pasta that duplicates regular pasta… in fact, I like the taste of it better and often make it for myself. The ingredients are brown rice flour and water, so you should be safe. In my area it is carried in most major supermarkets and even Walmart.
I have never seen that brand of pasta. I wonder if it is sold near here. Thanks for the tip.
Yikes! No wonder you haven’t felt the greatest. I don’t have any suggestions as I’d probably starve. 🙂 I eat eggs and cheese multiple times a week (on salads or as breakfast for supper). Plus I love garlic anything, black pepper, and mustard is the only condiment that touches my cheeseburgers and brats.
On the bananas – is it just raw or all? My sister-in-law can’t eat raw bananas due to an intolerance but is fine if they’re baked into banana bread (I know – that may be out due to the egg and gluten issue). Evidentally one of the enzyemes in the raw form gets broken down enough when it’s cooked that she can eat it.
At least finding out that soy isn’t an issue for you opens up a few more options. Good luck on finding recipes that fit your needs that your family will also eat. If I come across anything, I’ll pass it along.
Please do. I am finding myself a bit at a loss, too. I know there are plenty of good foods I can still eat, but it is taking awhile to adjust to losing some of my favorites like bananas, carrots and garlic.
Was scrolling thru the list of top 100 free Kindle books on Amazon and came across this one – The Food Allergy Mama’s Baking Book. It’s dairy and egg free, but not specifically gluten-free. Hopefully it’ll give you some ideas or you can make easy gluten free substitutions 🙂
http://www.amazon.com/Food-Allergy-Mamas-Baking-ebook/dp/B003UBAX62/ref=zg_bs_digital-text_f_17
Thank you. I have that one, and it is very good. I think I will be using it even more now.
Ugh, that’s really limiting! As for ‘intolerances’ — is that another way of saying you are allergic to these items…? In any case, it’s bound to be really inconvenient to try to avoid these common foods, but, at least you’re getting to the bottom of things….
I feel things like chest tightness and I have gastrointestinal issues. I am lucky in that they are intolerances and not true allergies that could cause a rash, etc. Still, I feel miserable when I eat something I am intolerant to.
Oh I can so relate to this. I recently found out I have oral food allergy which is broken down into two categories pollen food allergy and latex food allergy. I am more allergic to the latex then the pollen foods but they cross over each other. Through a ellimination process I am either allergic or intolerant to gluten,soy,dairy,eggs,fish,shellfish,nuts,some seeds,all fruits,and most veggies. I struggle to find anything I can safely eat at any store including health food stores as even if it is soy free it can still include a vegetable like celery that I am highly allergic to. Not only do I have to watch foods but also anything I come in contact with for the latex. It’s a daily struggle to get enough food in my body that I don’t starve. My creativity comes in handy to make everything from scratch and become my own personal chef to survive.
I am so sorry to hear this! Is there any possibility you will overcome any of these intolerances?
I just came across your post and boy do I know how you feel. In reading about your diagnosis I am left wondering if you could possibly have what I do which is EE or Eocinophillic Esophagitis…My symptoms sound very much like yours, I also would cough and get asthma like symptoms when eating things that I was allergic to but did not know it for years…I would get this severe throat pain, food stuck, and sometimes I would vomit my food! It became so bad I went to a gastro dr. who diagnosed above after an endoscopy biopsy…Eocinophills (sp?) are the allergic cells that attack the body…Mine are high and attack my esophagus when certain foods are eaten…I only ate white meat but found I am allergic to the protein in all meat, carrots, green beans, peas, squash, peaches, and the wierdest one is lettuce…That is after about 100 skin patch tests! I still continue to have problems with foods that are supposed to be ok?? Who knows 🙁 If you look up on google about allergies to lettuce and carrots it seems to mean you have a pretty severe allergy! Hope things are going well for you!
So sorry to hear you have this. Thanks for letting me know about the condition, though. I read about it, and my symptoms don’t seem that severe, but I have only had this problem since July. I’ll ask the doctor.