Clean Food

Tonight’s dinner was Bok Choy and Mung Bean Sprout Sauté with Peanuts and Scallions from Clean Food by Terry Walters with a side of black quinoa. It was mighty tasty! Fortunately I’m not allergic to peanuts, so I piled them on.

If you’re unfamiliar with quinoa, you absolutely must try it. Not only is it delicious, it’s extremely nutritious. It’s a complete protein, is high in iron, magnesium, B vitamins and fiber. Studies show that it helps prevent migranes and lessens the risk for heart disease.

Clean Food has has a lot of wheat and soy free recipes, so I’m going to be cooking from it a lot. Stay warm and stay tuned…

Spelt: The Staff of Life

It’s a snowy Sunday here in NJ, and what better way to spend the day than baking? I’ve decided to use up the wheat flour, soy milk and nuts by baking cookies to give as Christmas presents. I made chocolate chip, almond and tahini coconut walnut cookies. (All of the recipes are from Sweet Utopia by Sharon Valencik.)

It would just be cruel and unusual punishment to do all of this baking without making a sweet treat for myself so I decided to make chocolate chip spelt scones. The recipe is from Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s Vegan Bruch. The book does contain spelt scone recipes, but this wasn’t one of them, so I substituted the wheat flour for spelt flour and the almond milk for hemp milk.

According to the package of Arrowhead Mills Organic Spelt flour, spelt is “the Staff of Life”. The package also says that spelt is “an ancient cousin to the modern wheat, delicious and nutritious. Spelt was one of the first grains to be grown by early farmers as long ago as 5,000 BC”. Spelt is high in protein, manganese, magnesium, copper, niacin, thiamine and riboflavin. Although spelt is in the wheat family, people with intolerances to wheat can usually tolerate it, so I decided to give it a try.

This was my first attempt ever at making scones, and I have to say that they came out pretty well. They weren’t very “sconey”, but instead seem more like giant healthy chocolate chip cookies, which still taste good. Since I have to stay away from regular tea, I made myself a cup of red rooibos. It was the perfect snowy Sunday treat!


Allergen-Free Shopping Trip

Today was my first wheat-soy-corn-nut-free shopping trip to Whole Foods. I made the mistake of picking a day that we’re expecting a big snow storm to go to the grocery store, but I managed to make it in and out in one piece.

I picked up some Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour, Spelt Flour, Pancake Mix and Xanthan Gum. (What would I do without Bob’s Red Mill?) I also got some sample sized packets of Vega protein shake powder as well some hemp powder to help out with amino acid transport problem. The doctor said I should increase my oil intake and vary the oils I cook with, so I bought grape seed oil, avocado oil and peanut oil. Also on the shopping list were spelt bagels, red rice bread, rice macaroni and spelt noodles. Yesterday bought some vegan wheat free baked goodies at The Montclair Bread Company.
I was planning on weaning myself off of offending foods and I didn’t want to throw anything away, but I just had too much of all of it in the house. After having tofu salad on a whole wheat wrap for lunch, I decided to clean out the cabinets. I’m sure I will be feeling the affects of that sandwich later and I’m anxious to start eating allergen-free. I threw away a few things and put aside some things to give to friends. I’m going to bake some cookies to give as gifts later so that I can get rid of some the wheat flour and nuts I still have. There are still a few things let in the house that I’m allergic to, but I’m getting closer to being allergen free.
Tonight’s dinner will be a red curry, and it will probably be the last for a while since coconut milk is on my list of no-nos. I’m also planning on making spelt chocolate chip scones later.
If you’re on the east coast, stay inside where it’s cozy and warm!

Diagnosis

Greetings and welcome to my first blog post!

Over the course of the past month, I’ve been undergoing food allergy tests. I eat a healthy vegan diet, but for a while, I’ve been feeling that something’s “not quite right” and after learning a little about food allergies at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, I decided to get tested to see what’s going on.

There are different types of allergic reactions – skin scratches test for one, and blood tests check for another. Based on my random list of symptoms, the doctor suspected that I had both and ordered all sorts of tests.
On Monday I received the test results and was shocked to find out just how bad my allergies are! Blood tests showed that I’m highly allergic to wheat! I knew that wheat was a common allergen and many people have a sensitivity to it, but it never really occurred to me that I would be one of those many! Soy and corn are also allergens for me. The blood tests also showed that I’m also highly allergic to egg and cow’s milk, so it’s a good thing I’m vegan!
I didn’t have any bad reactions to anything in the skin scratch test, but I did have many minor ones. The biggest reaction I had was for almonds. (The beloved almond!) The rest of the foods I had a reaction too are:
Asparagus
Barley
Beef
Cucumber
Walnut
Garlic (Ack!)
Lamb
Pear
Pecan
Black Pepper
Pistachio
Plum
Spinach (Noooooo!!)
Tea (Now this is just getting cruel.)
Turkey
Watermelon
Chicken
Coconut
Buckwheat
Cow’s Milk
Goat’s Milk
My blood tests also showed that I am deficient in vitamin D and magnesium, and I have a problem with my amino acid transporters.
The doctor prescribed a bunch of supplements and told me to stay away from everything on the allergen list for a few months. I will be going back in two months to repeat the blood tests to my progress can be monitored.
I have so many of the offending foods in the house, and I don’t want to waste food and money, so I’m gradually weening myself off of soy, wheat, corn, nuts and all of the other yummy foods I had reactions too. I eat so many of these foods on a regular basis, that this is going to be a difficult few months, but I like to get creative in the kitchen and I’m always up for a challenge, so I know I’ll survive it.
The purpose of this blog is to record my progress with all of this. Since I am a creative person, I know it’s a little lame that I am using blogger and am not uploading my own artwork, but I’ve got enough to do right now. At some point, I’ll probably be moving the blog over to veggiegirl.com and making it look all pretty-like, but for now, its home will be here on blogger.
Thanks for tuning in…
Dr. Fuhrman