and down the tubes it goes

I just finished enjoying a piece of my daughter's birthday cake, a delightful creation out of The Vegan Table. I happen to agree with her that Red Velvet Cake tastes much better without the food colouring and with a little more cocoa. Of course, that makes the cake a chocolate one, and not so much with the velvety redness.

She used wheat flour in the cake. So much for my grand plan--wheat was next week's introduction.

So far, I have experienced a rumbling tummy and a whole lot of gas. We'll see what happens next, if anything.

Renee's Gourmet Poppy Seed Dressing

i enjoy poppy seed salad dressing, but i have had trouble finding a decent vegan version, let alone one that's wheat-free. this one fits the bill nicely. i also appreciate that this company believes in its ingredients enough to allow the dressing to stand without the support of artificial colour or flavour.

i paid 3.98$ CDN for the jar and i'd be willing to pay it again.

Day 4 of Soy

I've eaten soy all weekend, whether as milk or in stir-fry, as TVP or as an incidental ingredient in damn near everything else i've consumed (lecithin, soybean oil, etc)

My left eye is very tender and the surrounding tissues slightly swollen. My stomach feels okay for the last day or two, but my head has been sore, with a migraine hovering in the background.

I don't know what any of this means. I don't know if these symptoms relate to my diet in any way. I wish I had a doctor who was willing to follow this blog and give me feedback, but those I've seen seem happy to allow me to explore this on my own. I wish this stupid reaction happened more frequently and with direct relation to my eating habits.

I don't want to go back to feeling slightly sick all the time. I've felt very good these last two weeks--full of energy and far more engaged, like my brain has been switched back on.

I don't know what to do.

so much discomfort and a recipe review

i have a terrible rash on my chest, but that showed up before i drank the soy milk. pretty sure it's from the heat, as a matter of fact. my eyes have been terribly itchy all day, but i'm pretty sure that's due to environmental influences. i have a rash on my wrist that has developed out of nowhere and my stomach has ached since the soy milk and now more so after the tofu. for the last hour and a bit, my throat has become progressively more swollen and sore and so have my ears and the back of my nose, but Jacqui has a cold, so maybe i've caught one, too. mostly, i feel very uncomfortable in general and i have no idea if soy has attributed to any of it.

the good news? my face is a normal size and i can breathe, in a somewhat restricted manner, without wheezing. oh, and no diarrhea.

Orange Chicken Style Tofu

this was fantastic! so easy and so delicious. i actually found myself wondering how i've managed to miss an encounter with such a simple sauce before now. also, it kept well in the pan for the fifteen minutes the quinoa required to catch up with the rest of supper.

i rate this one 9/10 (only because i thought it needed a veggie; i tossed in some red peppers).

Day 12--What's a Day or Two Among Friends?

out of growing impatience, i've decided to challenge soy today instead of waiting until Monday. really, i doubt those two days will make much of a difference and this way i'll have plenty of time to react if i'm going. i did not relish the thought of missing any part of Folkfest to ballooning body parts. i suppose i could then sell this as a purely practical decision, but i'd be lying through my teeth.

so, this day, the... um... 29th! of July, i am drinking my first glass of soy milk in 12 days. i plan to stirfry tofu this evening with organic, wheat-free soy sauce (Bragg's--expect a review). tomorrow, i'll make a soy smoothie for breakfast. if this is a soy allergy, i should expect some kind of reaction shortly. if this is an intolerance, then, well, it could take a day or two to manifest.

an interesting side note that could be important--i have a chronically swollen gland under my right ear that has shrunk to a normal size for the first in several years over the course of this elimination.

Days 10&11--almost there

i can't wait to change things up a bit with this diet. although i haven't had any serious issues with the food i'm eating in terms of flavour, i miss some of my favourite meals like Ma Pa Tofu and sushi (i'm avoiding sushi because I can't imagine eating it without soy sauce). and the almond milk isn't bad, but i miss my soy milk.

as for my judgmental lapse, this next week includes both Heritage Fest and the Edmonton Folk Festival, both places of many interesting food choices. even reconciled to foregoing any experimentation, i face the possibility of a reaction in the middle of one of these events since this will be the first challenge week. soy will be my first challenger and i'm not too worried, but there's always the chance.

actually, i've been thinking about the order in which i should reintroduce these foods. i chose soy because i wanted to reintroduced my biggest source of protein and the least likely culprit first. if i go with wheat instead, then I get the most likely suspect out of the way immediately. hm. not sure what to do, but i should figure it out soon.

'course, then there's the possibility that the reaction comes from a combination of foods or that it's none of these things. i try very hard not think about that. i'll deal with whatever happens as it comes.

Some Interesting Side Effects

not sure what to make of this, but my other allergies are much much worse than usual after that first week of the diet. i can hardly touch the cats without my eyes itching and swelling and cutting the grass has transformed my nose into a tap.

possible causes:

1. i haven't taken any anti-histamines since setting off on this journey. i've gone for stretches without taking any and this hasn't happened that i've noticed. certainly not to this extent. still, something to consider.

2. perhaps i am definitely allergic/sensitive to one of the elimination foods and the constant ingestion of the substance has masked the effects of other allergens. not sure of the plausibility of this situation, but it sounds good.

shrug

bottom-line? i miss cuddling my schmurns.

recipe review: Cranberry-Apricot Muffins by Gluten-Free Goddess

i don't have quinoa flour, so i used an extra 1/4 cup of sorghum and i used flax as an egg replacer instead of the Ener-Egg stuff since i can't eat corn right now. also, i subbed minced dry apricots for the preserves and reconstituted some craisins instead of using fresh or frozen cranberries. the bit of liquid left over from draining the craisins helped make of for the lask of moisture in the dried apricots. oh, and i used my homemade almond milk.

the result? moist, hearty, delicious perfection. i gobbled two on the spot and have frozen the rest for breakfast throughout the week. i'd like to try this again with coconut or shredded almonds.

Day 8, 9--nothing new under the sun

yesterday, i ate nothing out of the ordinary except some french fries, which was probably a bad idea since no guarantees that they used canola oil and not soy. nothing gastrically unusual happened either.

today, i went back to A Taste of Edmonton and had some more cabbage rolls and a tomato salad that was mostly iceberg lettuce. go figure. did some shopping on Whyte with Lorne and Kathy, too, and had a nice time with them.

word of the day: nihilism

1. Philosophy
a. An extreme form of skepticism that denies all existence.
b. A doctrine holding that all values are baseless and that nothing can be known or communicated.
2. Rejection of all distinctions in moral or religious value and a willingness to repudiate all previous theories of morality or religious belief.
3. The belief that destruction of existing political or social institutions is necessary for future improvement.
4. also Nihilism A diffuse, revolutionary movement of mid 19th-century Russia that scorned authority and tradition and believed in reason, materialism, and radical change in society and government through terrorism and assassination.
5. Psychiatry A delusion, experienced in some mental disorders, that the world or one's mind, body, or self does not exist.

Day Seven--i am an idiot

i had a grievous lapse in judgement when i decided that these were the best two weeks to launch this process.

today, Jacqui and I went to A Taste of Edmonton where many local restaurants set up little booths and offer choice dishes to the public in exchange for purchased tickets (i forgot to ask who cashes in on the profits). i managed to avoid the delicious vegan offerings of my favourite restaurants to which i've never actually gone and the not-so-vegan delight that is Deep-Fried Mars Bars (i deliberately block out the name of that proprietor--i do not need to know where to get those things on a daily basis). instead, i indulged in several other delights:

rice-stuffed cabbage rolls from Taste of Ukraine--Darren will be happy to know that they serve entire plates of vegan cabbage rolls as well as an interesting salad that includes pickles as an ingredient. why would he care about these items? well, if i can find something to eat in a Ukrainian restaurant, my Ukrainian husband can eat all the pyrohi and kielbasa that he wants without any guilt whatsoever.

bean sprout salad with peanut dressing: very tasty and, no, i did not note the name of the place. Zeljka didn't like this at all, so Jacqui and i ate hers. made up for the fact that we later handed Z our remaining tickets so that she could have another Deep-Fried Mars Bar (i derive incalculable delight from the fact that my friends' names include so many high pointing Scrabble letters. i just need to befriend a Max or an Xavier and i'll have them all)

wine: a dry, spanish red. mucho yummy wine.

sweet potato fries: perfectly fried to a light crisp and full of flavour

more cabbage rolls: i haven't had good ones in years. now, i am tempted to make my own

i ate the usual for breakfast as well as some orange juice throughout the day. for supper, i had leftover lentils, leftover potato soup, half a cuke, and celery with peanut butter. later, i snacked on rice crackers and hummus and some thawed berries.

this evening, i've felt bloated and gassy, but nothing particularly uncomfortable. had a hot bath earlier and thought i was going to pass out, but that's not unusual. i think i like the idea of baths more than i like the actual practice. mostly, i feel cramped, uncomfortable and vaguely uneasy in the tub.

since i slept for only four hours last night, i think i'll head 'er. tomorrow dawns on yet another ridiculously busy day.

Day Six--Temptation Averted

the West Edmonton Mall.

i don't think i need to describe my day further.

breakfast: banana, cereal (yeah, the puffed stuff)
lunch: 'Very Berry' Booster Juice, no yoghurt, no booster
snack: almonds, craisins, veggie chips (the mixed ones with yams and shit)
supper: vichysoisse (potatoes, leeks, onions, sea salt, pepper)
munchies: wierd gelatinous rice doodads (yuck), lentil dip, hummus, rice crisps

the story today lies in what i didn't eat: orange almond cake (froze some for wheat challenge), cinnamon buns, little pineapple pastry thingies, bamboo crisps, taro brittle... i was fine until we brought out the cake. it smelled so good. i can't wait to try it.

Days Four and Five in Brief

Day Four:

Breakfast: banana, rice and quinoa puffs, almond milk
Lunch: hummus w/ rice crackers
Supper: channa dhal (chick peas, tomato, garlic, turmeric, black mustard seeds, olive oil

finished the dresses, had a giant blow out w/ Sara, went from feeling great to feeling wilted and ineffectual, Mom and Phil came, had a nice evening.

Day Five:

Breakfast: rice/quinoa puffs, almond milk, banana
Lunch: hummus w/ sesame rice crackers
Supper: stir fried veggies (broccoli, red pepper, habanero pepper, carrot, celery, onion, peanut oil), quinoa, tarka dhal (red lentils, black mustard, turmeric, garlic, lemon juice, dry red chili, peanut oil)

went for a run, had some wine with the neighbours, hung out with Mom and Phil, noticed right eye get itchy and begin to swell but then remembered that Chip smacked in that eye with his paw.

have noticed no stomach symptoms at all this week and have been sleeping very well until last night. sleep was broken, but not terrible.

Day Two, Three--how quickly it all blurs together.

mostly, i'm just lazy. and forgetful. and busy enough that by the time i have a moment to blog, i'm closing my eyes and falling asleep.

i've finished my chemise and this morning i will complete the overdress. i've even cut out a dress for Sara, but i have some serious misgivings about sewing chiffon. handling that stuff is like trying to arrange water in a straight line. i can hardly feel it.

as for my eating, well, i had puffed rice/quinoa cereal with homemade almond milk and a banana both mornings for breakfast. i ate the leftover lentil soup on Tuesday for lunch and salad with hashbrowns yesterday. for supper on Tuesday i had marinara sauce over potatoes and yesterday i had some undercooked rice. i forgot to eat a snack last night, but the night before i had some sliced cukes, rice crackers w/almond mash, olives and pickles.

i've been very constipated and my poo is pale and dense. maybe i'm not getting enough liquid or perhaps i'm eating too much rice, potato, and banana. all three are known for their constipating qualities. tuesday, i had a massive migraine most of the day. that's the main reason i didn't blog. my head was about to explode once bedtime came around.

yesterday, i had a lot of energy and felt great. got all that sewing done and went for a run/walk with Jacqui. we spent a lot of time talking about her bakery/cafe idea. i know it's her baby, but i'm ridiculously excited about the whole thing.

i'm up early again today, so we'll see how things go. Mom and Phil arrive this evening so not only do i have to finish this dress, i also have to clean the house and get the place ready for guests. they stay 'til Sunday and then Dad comes. plus, my aunt and uncle come tonight, too, though they stay with Grandpa. should be a fun weekend. i'll try to at least keep up with the food diary and some reflections on my physical state until things slow down a bit.

Day One, Volume Two--doing it right this time

Breakfast: quinoa w/ organic raisins and brown sugar
Lunch: boiled potatoes w/ margarine, salt, and pepper
Snack: a banana, rice crackers w/ sweetened almond mash (spiced w/ cinnamon, cloves)
Supper: lentil soup (onions, turmeric, canned toms, garlic, chili peppers, lentils)
Snack: an apple, rice crackers w/ more mash, craisins, raisins.

i may have stumbled upon the two most perfect weeks for an allergy elimination diet. i have a shit-ton of sewing to finish before August and who has time to miss bread when they have Medieval costumes to assemble? i cut out the first dress and ironed the material for the second, but since i also had to do some grocery shopping, make almond milk, go for a run, and, well, eat, i didn't finish much else. probably a good thing since my back is killing me today and i'm not sure i could handle much leaning over.

my plan consists of eliminating soy, corn, cumin, coriander, oats, and wheat from my diet for two weeks. then, for one week each, i will bring them back in the order listed. hopefully, the elimination period will allow my body to accustom itself to the lack of these foods and, if one is the culprit, i will have symptoms once i reintroduce it. i planned a menu for the first two weeks and that has made a big difference in my general outlook. knowing that i have food in the house to eat and having planned ahead to include snacks has reduced the stress of this whole crazy business down to almost nothing.

the almond milk turned out well. i used a recipe from Vegweb which goes somewhat as follows:

2 cups raw, unblanched almonds, soaked for at least an hour, preferably overnight
8 cups fresh water
(calls for vanilla and sugar, both of which i left out)

place almonds and 1/2 water into food processor. turn on high. turn off immediately. mop up water and curse the lid for a total lack of seal. determine that the food processor might not be the best tool anyway because for the short while that the almonds were in there, they appeared to be just bouncing around. dump the water, pour almonds into the blender, and add fresh water (this time, all of it).

turn on high. discover why this particular blender/food processor was sold for so cheap and turn off blender. strain out 2/3 of the water and try again. turn off blender so as to place a tea towel under the base to soak up the steady stream of liquid pouring out of the spout. try again. once the almonds seem pretty munched up, strain them with metal strainer (next time i will use cheese cloth) and replace them in the blender with just enough water to cover. turn blender on high again and reduce almonds to mush. again, strain out as much water as possible and set mash aside.

pour milk into a jug and top up with fresh water to 2L. refridgerate. mop counter and floor. stare at the leftover ground up almonds and wonder for a moment what to do with them. taste test. discover the light and fluffy goodness that is almond mash. sweeten with 30 mL of sugar and add spices. refrigerate that too.

apparently, you can dry the mash and use the resulting meal as flour. i thought i might try using it in cake at some point. all in all, aside from the mess and the realisation that i need a higher quality blender/food processor, almond milk was easy-peasy and i would definitely make it again. looking forward to trying it tomorrow on my rice puff cereal.

timing and other considerations

i can't decide whether to start this elimination right away or to wait until after i return from that reunion and from visiting family. if i start right away, i'm just that much closer to finishing. if i wait, i can avoid most of the awkwardness that comes from eating drastically different food from those around me. of course, i plan to bring most of my own food anyway because i already eat demonstrably different from nearly everyone who will be there--how much would the elimination really affect my experience?

and then there's the brownies in my fridge right now. because i brought them outside to cool, they dried into something resembling fudge biscotti. perfect for dipping into coffee. and D doesn't seem that interested in eating them and S isn't here, so what's a pre-menstrual female to do?

knit until her fingers bleed, perhaps? keeps me out of the fridge. actually, that could be the upside to this whole process. knitting and walking keep me from snacking and my snacks are more likely to contain wheat than anything else i might eat. cooking a supper without wheat is an easy project. breakfast is a little more imposing, but only in that i like to eat cereal and toast and homemade pancakes. and cinnamon buns. i really like cinnamon buns. anyway, i can probably finish a lot of projects this summer and get a lot of exercise.

not that snacking is inherently evil or anything. it's just that my snacks tend to be wheat-based and i need to change that so that i can continue this process with some level of comfort.

all that and i still haven't come to any conclusions. i'm leaning toward starting right away. i can spend the next few days preparing foods i can eat over the weekend and i can buy groceries when we get there, too. i have a big cooler. i'm sure i'll be fine.

Buckwheat-Sorghum Biscuits

i'm resurrecting this blog because my relief that cumin was the culprit was short-lived. i gorged on Indian food last week and had nary a tummy flutter that wasn't directly due to the sheer volume of food i ate. back to the drawing board, which means, yup, a major elimination diet.

in honour of my renewed attempts to determine the cause of my reactions, i tooled around with an adaptation of my tried 'n' true baking powder biscuit recipe...

1 cup sorghum flour
1 cup potato starch
1/3 cup buckwheat flour
2 tsp xanthan gum
3.5 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

--sift/whisk together

4.5 tbsp margarine

--cut into flour mix until crumbly

3/4 cup milk (actually, just a tad more)

--work into crumbly mix until smooth.

--pat out dough into 3/4 inch thick block and slice into 12 portions. arrange on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
bake for 20 minutes @ 450F.

these are surprisingly tasty! enjoy with margarine or honey or your favourite jam.

mm mmm! cookie goodness!

i love cookies. it's been difficult living without for the last couple of weeks, but i've found the perfect replacement for my family chocolate chip cookie recipe:

Buckwheat Chocolate Chip Cookies by Gluten-Free Goddess

this simple and straightforward receipt produces delicious, nicely shaped, pleasantly textured cookies with a crisp edge and chewy interior. i made a couple of my own substituions: flax for ener-egg, Becel for the shortening, and i left out the milk entirely since the resulting dough was wet enough as it was.

she suggests rolling a tablespoon of dough into a ball and then gently flattening each ball on the sheet. i used a couple of teaspoons and dropped a large lumps (just over a tablespoon worth each) onto the sheet. this is so very much less messy! i also managed to double the number of cookies--she says the dough should yield twenty cookies, but i made just over forty perfect three bite cookies.

i highly recommend this recipe! 9/10

your cereal sticks to my teeth

Glutino's Gluten Free Cereal Apple & Cinnamon

the nutritional info for these corny Os compares across the board to other cereals except for the lack of fibre. if i had noticed that lack, i would never have bought them. fiber is the whole point of breakfast, as far as i'm concerned. and corn has never done it for me in that department anyway. everyone talks about how eating corn is like flushing a toilet, but no, not for me. has the exactly opposite effect.

fiber concerns aside, i do like the realism of the apple-cinnamon flavour and the sweetening, a combo of cane juice and honey, is delightfully subtle, something conventional cereals distinctly lack. the texture, though... blech. gummy on the outside and weirdly crisp on the inside. i'm not sure if my toothbrush will be tool enough to free my choppers from this coating.

6/10

recipe review among other considerations

i found an easy source of various alternative flours: my /many/ local Indian grocers. granted, the flours they supply have been processed in places that also process wheat. if this is a serious intolerance, i may have issues down the road, but i feel reasonably safe with today's purchase, which included sporghum, millet, brown rice, handva (mix of rice, pea, garbanzo, and lentil) and corn flours. with buckwheat flour, potato starch and xantham gum (gotta find guar gum somewhere) available at a mainstream grocer a couple of block down the street, i was all set to experiment with some bread.

Gluten Goddess' Best Gluten-Free Bread is a straightforward receipt with many pointers as to what i may have done wrong to end with a slightly gummy end product. i baked my loaf for an hour (her suggestion for high altitude baking, which we are not here in Edmonton, AB) and it's still overly moist in the centre and hardly browned on top. that said, the bread tastes and feels far superior to CeliMix's rice bread, i'm willing to try again. she notes that flax seed egg replacer might contribute to this, so i will keep that in mind for next time.

tomorrow, i hope to review a cold cereal i picked up today. i won't dream of replacing my Shreddies, but hopefully these O things fit the bill.

day 3 wheat-free

i'm not sure how i feel about this process. on the one hand, i see a lot of food that i really enjoy eating going into the mouths of my family and i feel sad because i cannot join them. on the other hand, i enjoy a challenge. i've been exploring the natural foods sections of the my local grocery stores because i've never really paid attention to the gluten-free offerings. i'm looking into creative recipes (brownies, i found brownies!!). i'm discovering new websites and blogs.

one such blog, The Gluten-Free Goddess has provided a wealth of information as well as some inspiration: she suggests that instead of wallowing about because i miss food i used to eat, i should try rejoicing in all the foods i get to eat. that last bit would be so much easier if i had taken the time to stock up on ingredients before leaping into this elimination, but i'm a do or die kinda chick. an empty of g-f foods pantry wasn't about to stop me once i realised that i needed to do this. i have since purchased some supplies and i would like to share my impressions of these products...

CeliMix Rice Bread Mix

this company operates out of Winnipeg, MB, which excited me because i was born there. birthplace coincidence aside, i can't say that i enjoyed the bread that resulted from this mix. Rice Bread has a very strange texture, one that i can't imagine would improve even i hadn't allowed the batter to over-rise. the bread is grainy and cannot sustain shape long enough for a simple sandwich to survive the distance between my plate and my mouth on the first bite. not good at all. even the weight of enough jam to make the flavour tolerable threatens to completely disintegrate each slice. not sure what i will do with the rest of the mix. maybe i can try mixing it with one of their other breads. i will let you know how that works out.

Bob's Red Mill Mighty Tasty Hot Cereal

i enjoy hot cereals occasionally, but i have to say that i'm more of a cold cereal gal. when it comes time to challenge my body with some, i plan to pour a giant heaping bowl of Shreddies. that said, this hot mixture of corn, brown rice, white sporghum, and buckwheat was really very good. i added a little brown sugar and would've added raisins except that i had forgotten that we don't have any. oh well. tomorrow, i will add strawberries and bananas and see how that goes.

MI-DEL Wheat-free, Gluten-free Ginger Snaps

they taste just like cookies and i love cookies. if someone had served these to me, i would've never noticed anything out of the ordinary about them. very good. i'm eating one right now. mm mmm...

damn. i just read the ingredients and somehow i missed the egg-whites. i don't think i even read the list when i purchased them because most ginger snaps don't have eggs. duh. oh well. i don't think eggs are the problem, but i did want to eliminate them as well just because they are a common irritant.

my friends and family keep telling me that they hope that wheat isn't the problem, but i actually hope the opposite. despite the difficulty in avoiding wheat, i would rather know that i have a concrete nemesis as opposed to moving on to 'the next step'. i have no idea where to go from here.

my inner space

i have a big problem. i have no idea the source of my problem; however, i am intimately aquainted with its character. diarrhoea. itchy, dry eyes. swelling facial tissue. wheezing breath and a heavy chest. the reaction happens after i eat my evening meal. i've cut out milk and eggs to no effect. i've consulted allergists to no avail.

what i do know:

• in the last round of allergy testing, i responded to cumin (+3), coriander (+2), wheat and rye (+1), cats (+2), grass (+5), mould (+3), and birch (+3).
• my allergist has suggested eliminating wheat.
  
• my blood work came back clean, but gluten intolerance can return a false negative.
• my brother cannot eat oats without experiencing diarrhoea.
• the reactions are getting far more frequent particularly in the last year and especially in the last few weeks.
• i am afraid to eat.

this blog will document my attempts to discern the cause of these reactions. i will go back in time a bit--by two and a half weeks--so that i can include the documentation of my last major reaction as well as the last few smaller ones. i intend to use this space as a food log and as a place to store links that i have either found helpful or not so much. i might rant a little. i might cry a little. hopefully, at some point i will rejoice. if anyone has any ideas, please feel free to contribute. otherwise, maybe i can supply some information for someone else.

first day of the elimination (almost)

also, birth of this blog...

breakfast:

rice with tsp of brown sugar, and a sprinkling of cinnamon. very yummy. must buy rice steamer

lunch:

a carrot and a celery stick spread with peanut butter.

supper:

• stir-fried mung beans--cumin (yeah, i know), black mustard seeds, ginger, red pepper, hot green chili, cauliflower, carrots
• rice
• soy sauce--it occurred to me after that soy sauce contains wheat. doh!

reaction:

8:08 major rolling stomach and completely liquid poo. 2 bouts already, another on it's way from the feel of things. i do not know whether this is from the cumin (which i haven't eaten for a while now) or from the soy sauce. could also be from whatever is still in my system. and, of course, this entire reaction could have nothing whatsoever to do with food intolerance.

must go shopping! i have very little easy to eat food in the house that doesn't not contain wheat. i very nearly ate a cookie and a muffin, not from lack of will-power, but simply out of habit!

almost daily now

1 february 2010

made various phone calls, scheduled appts, etc. got CT scan

breakfast:
banana, soycream bar, coffee

lunch:
two homemade banana oat bran muffins, 4 egg omelet
cookie, coffee

supper:
homemade Kraft pizza with hot pepper, green pepper, pineapples, artichoke hearts (in oil), sundried tomatoes, feta, parmesan.

reaction:

diarrhoea, upset stomach, itchy eyes, swollen throat

lasted most of the evening. this is about when my fear of eating hardened into something quite visceral. i did a lot of research and decided to begin a wheat-, oat-, dairy-, egg-, and sulphite-free elimination diet immediately.

again?!

30 january 2010

went climbing

breakfast:
banana, soy milk, homemade banana oat bran muffin

snack:
cinnamon bun from MillCreek Cafe, americano

supper:
MAMA soup, red pepper, pretzels, orange juice

reaction:

• rolling stomach, itchy throat
• 10:30 more rolling, in bowels now, gas
• throat still itchy and eyes a little bit
• 10:38 giant dump; had 'that smell': vaguely oat-y, sick smell

no other symptoms. the itchy throat may or may not be new. i can't remember feeling that way during other reactions, but maybe i wasn't paying attention distracted as i was by my face.

once more into the breech

26 january 2010

activities:

• dancing in the kitchen until 8:30~
• Chip was lovey dovey all day
• made bread

working backwards:

• tums
• kettle chips, sweet onion
• nutloaf
• red pepper
• carrots
• applesauce, sweetened, organic
• cucumber
• chocolate soy milk
• three 'after 8' sticks
• MAMA soup, contains MSG
• homemade bread with honey
• 1/2 honeynut oats
• cinnamon raisin bagel (Costco)
• Earl Grey tea, 3 cps

reaction:

• 9:10 itchy eyes, swelling
• 9:12 took anti-histamine
• 9:17 nose itching, heavy chest

swelling lasted until morning, but disappeared quickly after that.

by this time, i am wondering what's going on. i've never had this many reactions, minor or otherwise, in such a short period of time.

a week earlier...

9 january 2010

breakfast:

• cheerios, soy milk, banana
• coffee, starbucks

supper:

• long island iceberg (moxie's)
• szechwan green bean appetizer

symptoms:

• diarrhea, smelled like oats
• some wheeziness, no swelling

ended fairly quickly. i ate the rest of my supper (coconut curry rice bowl, no cream) when it arrived and experienced no other symptoms.

in which my face swells to freakish proportions

15 january 2010

breakfast:

• 1 cinnamon raisin bagel;
• 3 eggs, w/ cumin, marjoram, green onions;
• 6 melba toasts;
• coffee with kahlua;
• orange juice

supper:

• basmati rice;
• Aloo Gobi--potato, cauliflower, onion, garlic, ginger, cumin, coriander, hot pepper, turmeric;
• One a Day vitamin, Vitamin D3, naproxin--perscribed

symptoms:

• bowel unrest, bloating, wheeziness
• eyes began to get itchy
• tummy became more upset, no movement yet
• eyes itchier and began to swell--swelling continued
  throughout the next hour and half
• swelling increased and bowels moved--not yet diarrhea

at 9:00 woke D--he said I felt warm. I told him that I would wait for double dose of antihistamines (taken at ~8:55) to kick in--haven't yet (9:28).

8:02

8:03

8:10

8:20

8:29

8:44

9:06

9:20--cheek appears swollen; Sara confirms

9:41--swelling is sagging down the cheek; skin feels tingly when touched. tummy is calm

10:11--i look like I've had a stroke; stomach feels empty

10:33--you can see the swelling a bit better in this light; eyes are very sore and red, skin very tingly.

the swelling did not disappear by midday as per usual; instead, my face was visibly distorted until evening Sunday (reaction began Friday night)