What this title now represents is my life and living without. As we all take a journey toward a better self we always grow and change. When we start a diet we live without different foods, when we start working out we live without couch time. Any step towards a healthier you means living without a former vice or habit. It is inevitable. My weight loss journey however took me to a whole other level of living without.
After nearly a year of being sick, feeling horrible and tired all of the time I finally pin pointed the cause. Allergies to food, and lots of them. The most common question I find I am asked when the topic of my inability to eat something comes up is "How did you find this out". Well it goes a bit like this.
As I have written before July 2011 I suffered from severe salmonella poisoning which hospitalized me for 4 days. I lost over 20 pounds in 36 hours and was essentially wasting away. I was never the same afterward. I was endlessly tired with an almost debilitating fatigue at times. I was moody and had problems concentrating and focusing a lot of the time. I started doing research online and read that people who suffer from this type of poisoning take 2-3 years to heal. I don't like to be sick so I was determined to heal faster than 3 years.
I started trying various diets and exercise and started this blog as my pledge to beat this. I did well for a long time and began losing weight and feeling great as you have seen here in past posts. To step it up a notch I decided to try the Paleo Diet which is a body healing anti-inflammatory diet. After an intense detox and a 3 week healing period I hit a level of amazing energy and vitality. I was on the road to feeling myself again when I ate a non-paleo food and one that contained a lot of wheat. I was a miserable mess and felt horrible. After weeks of feeling this way and being completely off of the Paleo way of eating I read a book called G Free about celiac. By the end of the book I was so convinced I had celiac I stopped eating gluten entirely and went to see my doctor. I already felt better one week gluten free and had no doubt in my mind I had it.
After blood tests I got a letter from my doctor telling me I did not in fact have celiac. I was so upset because I know I couldn't eat gluten and when I did it made me sick, so I felt like a crazy hypochondriac. I read about mainstream doctors and how they can't diagnose celiac properly yada yada. My doctor requested I have a biopsy of my gut done which I was all for until I found out how they get that little sample...no thanks. So while I was pining on what to do, genetic testing, celiac specialist, I went to a beer brewing store with my husband. When I walked into the place it felt like I was trying to breath solid air. I thought it was just the old building, something catching my breath. Over the next 5 minutes however I began feeling strange and my eyes were burning and itching. I looked over at my husband who was grinding wheat grains in an open container and he gave me a "What in the hell is wrong with you look" My eyes were red and burning and itchy. While we were waiting in line to leave it hit me, I am having an allergic reaction...to wheat.
I went home and called an allergist to have a skin test done on foods. I went in and they plotted my back and arm with 67 different foods, scratching them into my skin, much like an environmental test. After 2 minutes I was an itchy mess and I had a whelp on my arm next to a big W. After agonizing for 15 min the doctor came in charted my reactions and had me come to his office. He looked at me and said "well you are in fact allergic to wheat" score I am not crazy!! He also added Oats, Soy, Rice, Coffee, Cottonseed oil, Barley, Shellfish, lettuce, sweet potatoes, pears, grapefruit, apricots, MSG, Tuna, Mushrooms, Peanuts, pepper, and lettuce (yes I know who is allergic to lettuce). I was told to avoid aspartame, bht and a half a dozen other preservatives. I quickly stopped celebrating and tried my best to get through the visit without huge tears. He also explained the difference between my food allergies and celiac. Told me that he felt most of them would go away as my body healed, gave me a stack of brochures and sent me on my way. I promptly went to my car called my husband and cried. Don't get me wrong I wanted the answers but it was all very overwhelming.
Hi, I am Jaimelee and I have severe food allergies. Dramatic? Yes I know, it felt that way in the beginning and at times it does now. I am now that person who calls restaurants before I come to eat to make sure I can be accommodated. I am a whole new level of high maintenance out of necessity for my safety. I have had a couple of big reactions to food that were scary, I always feel like I am going to die. In the past two months I have eat out at two places, one Japanese place that threw me into a scary "why didn't I ask for an epi pin" reaction and chickfila which I have no problems eating (thank goodness for the grilled nuggets). I am scared to eat out because there is no guarantee and I can't just order a grilled piece of meat salad. I also tend to forget the msg part which is why I suspect I got so sick from the japanese place. But I am learning to live without slowly but surely.
First know there are 2 types of food allergic reactions. One is a skin reaction, example my doctor doesn't think I have a true peanut allergy ( I am not risking it, because I have read horror stories) the other is a GI reaction which can range from upset stomach, violent vomiting to the hard core call in the epi pin and ems reaction. For two weeks I had to purge all allergy foods from my diet. At the end of two weeks I was able to reintroduce foods one at a time, giving 5 days in between foods. Pepper went first and I passed with flying colors, no adverse reactions. I can not say so much for everything else. I have actually stopped trying new foods because I hate feeling sick. I would rather just live without, however I would really like to try to see if I can tolerate lettuce since rice (a hypoallergenic food I might add) is completely off of the table. But we will see where I go with it.
So the plus side. I am forced to eat healthy, and nearly paleo for that matter. I do eat cheese which is a paleo no no and I eat corn (mainly as in tortilla chips). This has resulted in an increase of weight loss. I also feel like I am running on 10 red bulls at all times (until I ingest an allergen then it is a 2 day recovery at least) so exercise is actually desired because I am so restless. My skin has cleared up where it was dull and splotchy and all of my chicken skin is almost gone from my arms and legs. My teeth are much brighter but I think that is because I am no longer drinking a pot of coffee a day, which ironically was making me more tired. BTW I didn't even detox from caffeine which I think was because I felt so amazing after eliminating coffee. I am still getting used to all of this and am learning to adjust but so far I can't complain. I have my first dinner party in a week and I have made the hostess aware of my eating challenges and she is eager to accommodate, which is a blessing. I lament often foods I will never be able to eat again, wheat is off of the table forever as well as soy, cottonseed oil, oats and some others. It is a new life but it isn't entirely bad. My husband found me an allergy free chocolate and Diet Coke with splenda so I have vices when needed. The best part is this...
Here is my first side by side ^
Here is my last picture
There isn't a whole lot of weight loss in pounds here but I have been losing lots of inches. My belly is actually a bit swollen here from an accidental wheat product ingestion on father's day. I have lost a lot in my arms and shoulders and ankles. I have always joked I lose weight from the out to the in. As in my weight loss starts in my finger tips and toes and end at my belly button haha.
So all in all it is a big lifestyle change but I am learning to live with it. Sometimes I feel like I live off of just meat and cheese but then I just up my fruits and vegetables. I may even live longer eating this way. I also cut back my kids wheat eats because who knows what they will develop. I can't really complain, I have my answers, I feel amazing and I have effortless weight loss. I may actually get to run a marathon!!
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