HELP! Food allergies limiting diet!

youngmomtaz wrote: »

So you eat meat, veg and fruit. Limited, verified uncomtaminated graines and legumes. Not a biggie. Add in oils and fats as needed for cooking. I see no need to debate the ops diagnosis. There is far too much of that here. Weight loss is about calories. Not about any specific foods but about specific amounts of foods weighed properly for your needs. It sounds like you have some work to do, so find some meals that work for you and that you enjoy and stick with those while you learn new ways to cook and branch out. When I figured out it was gluten that triggered my migraines it was a big shift and lots of learning but soon it becomes second nature.

shaumom wrote: »

time4thebell wrote: »

Hi! I’ve found out that I am highly allergic to...gluten, dairy, eggs, & rice (among other things). Most gluten free items are made with brown rice, so that’s a no go. I’m finding it hard to find ways to be creative! Any suggestions? Feel free to add me!

Heya! I will add you, and see what I can suggest!! (I have big ole allergies as well, and while I can now do rice sometimes, I couldn't for quite a while, nor do dairy, gluten, eggs...and other things. So most of what I have to suggest is pretty much personal experience. :-)

Also, just wanted to say, based on some of the other comments - congrats on getting the doctor to look at the test results and actually pay attention and agree! I completely sympathize with getting little to no help by your regular doctors and needing to go outside of that group to GET help. I think many people who don't have rare or quirky problems do not realize just many issues are nearly impossible to get help with unless you are really, really lucky with your doctor.

So, onto the suggestions

First - if you wanna list all that you can't have, I would be happy to suggest as specifically as I can. I was so sick for a while that I had about 5 foods I could eat, plus salt, and had had to work my way back up to more foods. So I have a lot of different food variations as a result. :-)

Second - This little cookbook might be useful. Gluten-Free Without Rice: Easy Cooking for Variety on a Gluten-Free Diet by Nicolette M. Dumke

You can find it at Amazon. I would only buy this second hand, for as cheap as possible. It's a pamphlet rather than an actual book and no way is it worth the full price (like $13 or some ridiculous thing). Maybe worth $2-$5 or so, I'd say. Mostly it has some flour mixture ideas that don't involve rice flour, so it's nice for that.

However...the recipes weren't that great, honestly. I mostly was grateful for it for ideas for where to start, like for a base to build off of, if that makes sense?

Third - Even though I just made the 'without rice' suggestion, honestly, the easiest, and cheapest, way to go for me was to just avoid GF baking. Just switch the entire diet over, you know? Avoid almost all grains, basically. In large part for this reason: if you have trouble with almost any grain but gluten, it's nearly impossible to avoid cross-contamination in OTHER grains and flours. I have problems with oats, even GF ones, and it's been difficult to find most grains that aren't cross-contaminated with oats. I imagine rice might have similar limitations. For me, I end up with lower level, slowly worsening symptoms when I get this kind of contamination.

Fourth - if you are making foods and want a carb dish/base for it, however, here's some things I have tried:
- cauliflower rice - rice blended up until it is small like rice and then cooked with seasonings. I didn't used to like cauliflower, but with some proper seasonings (I used fresh turmeric, ginger and/or finely minced and browned onions, usually) this is pretty good.
- mashed root veggies. Potato, celery root, turnips, parsnips, or any combination thereof - blend it with meat or veg broth, and it's usually pretty nice.
- polenta - if you can tolerate corn. And depending on the gluten free needs - I've had a hard time finding truly GF polenta you can make yourself (not just pre-made in a tube).
- cubed and fried or baked root veggies - sweet potato, potato, turnip, etc...
- Porridge fries - if there is any porridge you can manage, from any grain, make it really thick, add some seasonings, and put it in a bread pan in the fridge. When it is super firm, you take it out, cut it into 'fry' shapes, and then fry it. It ends up crispy outside, but very soft inside. I don't do this almost at all, but when I have, it was awesome.
- Beans. Also, if you can, get a grinder and you can make legume based flours yourself. There are lots of fun things you can do with legume based flours, that are traditional recipes from other countries (socca for example is a French flatbread that is chickpea based. India has some chickpea based ones as well. Veggies burgers can be made with various legume based flours - if not with just mashed legumes. )
- Falafel - I LOVE homemade falafal. You can make it without flour or starches if you have raw, soaked chickpeas, onion (or zucchini), parsley, and salt. Blend it all up together in a food processor until it is like very thick paste (or mortar and pestle. If the dough is too wet, it needs more beans. Too dry, it needs more onion. You can cook it in 1/2-1 inch high oil in frying pan, slightly flattened little rounds about golf ball size, for a couple minutes each side. It will JUST hold together when you gently put it in the pan, if you do it right. IT is great to have with pickled veggies, homemade hummus (you can make it without tahini and just use olive oil, if you like), wrapped in a lettuce leaf.

Fifth - If you can have nuts and haven't tried cashew cream, I highly recommend. You can make it yourself easy - just soak raw cashews overnight, then blend up with a little water and bam, cashew cream. It thickens when heated, much like dairy, so is great for something creamy and thick. It has a slight sweet taste, so is better with highly seasoned things, or things that sweet pairs well with. YOu can even make it with roasted cashews, but then it only pairs with savory foods.

Sixth - I highly recommend an herb garden. I helps SO much to add a lot of variety in flavors to dishes that may otherwise be the same. But at the same time, if you have the herbs yourself, it doesn't cost so much to try and buy tons at the store, you know?

That's all that's coming to mind right off, but again, if you can list a few more things you can't have, I'd be happy to add some suggestions in.

Feel free to message me, if you like. :-)

sofchak wrote: »

Like you, I am also allergic to wheat and rice. Brown rice specifically has a chance to kill me, so it’s awful to find so many gluten free goodies that have rice as the substitute. Very frustrating!

With that said, doesn’t help with the egg, but look up Paleo recipes. That’s one of the top elimination diets (removes most of the top foods people are allergic to: wheat, rice, dairy, legumes) out there in terms of popularity. I used Paleo to self diagnose my gluten allergy when I first started realizing my autoimmune disease was flaring up based on what I was eating. Paleo might help you, too. Not necessarily as an eating strategy altogether, but perhaps some ideas on new recipes you can make.

Good luck!