Don't Put That In Your Mouth

Apologies for the extended lapse in posting, but life has been running away with me. Most of the time, that's a good thing. Lately, the best thing I can say about it is it sure isn't boring!

Hopefully I'll get around (eventually) to describing our December comings and goings, maybe even some details about our trip back to the Northwest last summer (some day) or even get organized enough to post my niece's wedding photos (yeah, right). All things that are on my list, but not in the top ten. Luckily, my knitting adventures are still available on Ravelry.

This last week we've been having to adjust to a new family diet. No, this isn't some New Year's Resolution to get healthier. This is all my husband's fault, really. He had been dealing with a skin irritation thing for months (if not over a year) but unwilling to go have it checked. I went to the pharmacy to have his symptoms diagnosed as best as they were able and we got some pills, but the doctor suggested that a blood test for allergies would be the best (and easiest) way to find the cause rather than continue to treat the symptoms. Hubby wouldn't go for it. Fine, no problem, doesn't affect me, so what do I care, right?

Then comes the day when our daughter, N, has a similar rash on her cheeks and what came to be lovingly called 'orange peel' skin on her forehead. Well, hubby can stick his head in the proverbial sand as long as he chooses, but nothing's harming my daughter. So, I take her into the doc and he says the quickest and easiest thing would be to have the entire family go on a gluten-free and dairy-free diet for two months. Hubby doesn't want to have the entire family's diet turned upside down "on a whim", but does actually agree on getting her blood tested for allergies and food sensitivities since he feels more willing to follow restrictions if there's a medical necessity for them. (He just wanted something definite on paper.)

So we do that. Luckily for us, the two weeks while we're waiting for the results were filled with visiting family, holiday feasts, and lots of good cheer. Come the first week in January, we've got the results. She's sensitive to 26 things including milk (but not cheese), flax, soy, almonds, eggs, garlic, yogurt, and gluten. A few will, most likely, be permanent though the majority of them should subside as we deal with a major systematic Candida issue.

Now it's two months without any of the offending foods. That would have been totally do-able, no sweat. Enter Candida. With this bad boy, we also must cut out ALL fruit, sweeteners, fermented or cultured foods (like cheese, pickles, and vinegar), molds and fungi (mushrooms, peanuts, pistachios, dried herbs) and high-carb starches like corn, potatoes, squash, oats, carrots, etc.

I immediately went through our fridge and pantry and had a friend come take everything away (in two car loads!). Our first day's breakfast? Tea, sliced green bell pepper, and rice crackers (which did have garlic, but it was all we had). Yum. The kids were, shall we say, less than thrilled. That was the day, however, we went to the library and bookstores to scour cookbooks for appropriate recipes. Then it was off to the store(s) for disheartening trips where I simultaneously hunt for elusive items uncontaminated with the offending foods and gently repeat a dozen versions of "no" to my kids as they ask for samples and/or other foods that we no longer can have.

After two days, I've reached my limit and put a moritorium on complaining about everything we can't have. It felt at times that I was the big mean mommy and the other three members of our family were victims of my stinginess. Enough, I said. We're doing this to help N and we just have to deal with it. We can only talk about the things we CAN have, face forward, stay positive.

It became obvious very quickly that there are still lots of food choices available to us, but in order to avoid the NOs, we're going to have to make a lot of our own foods. Our own salsa, spaghetti sauce, and salad dressing. So I need to plan ahead, spend more time on preparation, and buy even more food fresh, but those are all good things, right?

Once we had our fridge and pantry restocked with the good stuff, things got a lot easier. Fresh salsa and guacamole were a big hit. (Yes, I know avocados and tomatoes are fruits, but I made exceptions due to their lower sugar content and versatility. Don't take away my tomatoes!) Last night we had coconut chicken and rice with broccoli and almost felt "normal".

Our son has had the hardest time, I think, because he puts up a lot of self-inflicted restrictions himself. "I don't like that, That looks weird, I'll have something else" was all we heard for a while. It's hard for us too, because we know he's growing and needs his protein, but the main sources are either unavailable or unappealing. My mother has offered to pay for his own blood test so that we can stop restricting food unnecessarily. It'll add another layer of complexity to our meal planning, but could be better in the long run. Of course, then hubby and I'll want to have our own tests done. Won't dinner be exciting then!

Now I'm researching wherever I can to locate acceptable substitutions. It's amazing how excited we all get to find some little tidbit of information that allows us to have a previously denied food. Like ghee. Oh my goodness. You should have heard the squeals of delight when I found that was allowed within our restrictions. I immediately started to make some and that night we had plain popcorn with ghee and, again, the kids felt "normal". (The high-carb starches turned out to be acceptable "in moderation".)

What to use to make tunafish when all the condiments are restricted? Hummus! And the kids actually like it!

The egg issue had been a stickler as all the usual substitutions for eggs were also unacceptable. Yet, I just found that salba seeds can be used as you would flaxseed as a substitution, so I'm anxious to try that! Yeah! Salba are chia seeds and it's nice to think that they're good for something other than obnoxious holiday gifts from the 1970s.

This first week of New Food has been quite a rollercoaster. At least for now, we're still enjoying the ride.