Creative Elimination: New Foods!!!

Saturday, December 8, 2012

New Foods!!!

I was feeling extremely limited by the prior food list (see the bottom of this post). It was hard, and I felt I was not going to be able to stay with the diet. So, I modified my list by switching up some of the low reactive foods. With the new foods and the recognition that citrus can be a huge component in both sweet and savory dishes, I feel I could stay on this diet for a while. I'm also having a lot less GI symptoms. I still have more headaches than usual (which is expected as I've dramatically cut down on caffeine), but my fatigue is better than it has been in as long as I can remember (which is surprising as I've dramatically cut down on caffeine). In the past doctors have questioned whether I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, so it's really amazing for me to not feel totally wiped out all the time. Hopefully this keeps up.

I now have tapioca, lemon, leek, & scallop. I've started avoiding broccoli & lentils, and I'm not eating codfish anymore just because I'm not really a fan of it (it smells too fishy). That leaves me with only 2 protein sources, so I wonder if I will have to test to either the lentil or codfish soon.

So the food list is now as follows:

1. Egg

2. Scallop

3. Rice

4. Millet

5. Oats

6. Sweet potato (no skin, limit to 1 serving per day)

7. Amaranth

8. Tapioca

9. Green bean

10. Green pea

11. Carrot

12. Zucchini/yellow squash

13. Leek

14. Grapefruit

15. Avocado

16. Raspberry

17. Strawberry

18. Lemon

19. Clarified butter or ghee

20. Cashew

21. Cinnamon

22. Turmeric

23. Black pepper

24. Ginger

25. Cane sugar

27. White distilled vinegar

28. Baking soda

29. Salt

30. Green tea

Water

Tapioca

Lemon

Leeks

Scallops

Previously the food list was:

Proteins: egg, lentil, cod

Starch: rice, millet, oats, sweet potato (no skin, limit to 1 serving per day), amaranth

Veg: green bean, green pea, broccoli, carrot, zucchini And yellow squash

Dairy: clarified butter or ghee

Nut: cashew

Spices: cinnamon, turmeric, black pepper, ginger

Sweetener: cane sugar

White distilled vinegar

Baking soda

Salt

Water

Green tea

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My Blog

I had the LEAP blood test for 150 food and chemical sensitivities in November 2012. Afterward, I went on (an extreme) elimination diet. The first several posts on this blog show the foods I was able to eat, with some questions for my dietitians. The following posts include some recipes I've adapted to fit my diet and used.

I am no longer technically on an elimination diet, but I try my best to not eat many of the foods that I was identified as being highly sensitive to. I'm also vegetarian and wheat free. When I say a food is "red," it means that it's one of the foods I had the highest sensitivity too. When I say a food is "yellow," that is sort of the second highest. Both foods apparently resulted in a strong immune reaction for me. The final list of foods are "green." Green foods supposedly had a lower immune reaction in my blood. There is error in any test, however, so the foods that test as "high green" might overlap in their sensitivity with the "yellow" testing range. Because of that, I try my best to limit consumption of red, yellow, and high green foods. Here's a list of foods on my list.

Red: Basil, Beef, Buckwheat, Cocoa, Salmon

Yellow: Cabbage, Candida Albicans, Celery, Cola, Dill, FD&C Blue #1, Yellow #6, Garbanzo beans, Honey, Soy Lecithin, Lettuce, Maple, MSG, Mushroom, Olive, Papaya, Parsley, Rye, Sesame, Shrimp, Sole, Sorbic acid, Tilapia, Tuna, Vanilla, Walnut

High Green: More chemicals & preservatives (Potassium Nitrate, FD&C Blue #2 and Yellow #5, Acetaminophen, Caffeine, Ibuprofen, Solanine), Herbs/spices (Mint, Oregano, Cayenne Pepper), Fruits (Apricot, Mango, Pear), Veg (Cauliflower, Eggplant, Beet, Spinach), Grains (Quinoa, Wheat), Fish (Catfish, Crab), Coffee, and Legumes (Pistachio, Sunflower Seed, Lima Bean)

I should note, that I try and pay attention to food relatives when it comes to vegetables, for example, spinach and beets are high green and so their cousin chard might also fall in the same range.

I want to integrate more high green foods into my diet but less frequently, and have done so for some foods already (e.g., mango, soy). I am also a cola fanatic. I never said I was perfect...