My Diet Before the Test
Before having the allergy test, I pretty much ate everything. Little by little over the years I figured out on my own that my digestive system couldn't handle certain foods like milk, cheese and eggs. I experimented for a while with gluten free products and even soy, but neither of these did any good and may have even made my symptoms worse at times. It was obvious to me that tomatoes most definitely upset my stomach, but I occasionally ate them anyway due to my cravings for Italian foods. For the most part, however, my diet evolved to just eating chicken and rice most of the time and I little by little cut out all vegetables and fruits, as well as whole wheat, soy and anything with a high fat content. A bland diet would be an understatement and nutrition was obviously not the focus here either.
My Diet After the Test
After learning of all the foods I was technically allergic to, my diet changed dramatically. I immediately cut out all of the offending foods and began introducing nutritious foods, fruits and vegetables back into my daily diet. No more dairy. I cut out potatoes, tomatoes, corn, beef, paprika, scallops, tuna, cranberries, oranges, soy, baker's yeast (bread), eggs, cocoa, almonds, peanuts, rice, peas, celery, basil, cinnamon and licorice.
My diet now consists of basic staples. I eat chicken and turkey daily. I also eat a lot of shrimp. A salad or two everyday, which consists of romaine, carrots, black olives, walnuts, peppers, onions etc. My salad dressing is usually a spritz of olive oil and maybe a raspberry vinegar with some salt and pepper. Fruits include: pineapple, papaya, apples, blueberries, lemons, limes, grapefruit, bananas etc.
I no longer eat regular breads, which is difficult for me. Bread was always such a treat for me and now with it completely out of the diet, its a hard adjustment to make to say the least. I have been experimenting with baking yeast free breads, which are so far not quite as delicious, but maybe I'll get used to them in time.
So for the most part my diet is actually very much improved from before the testing. I now get some nutrition out of my daily diet, whereas before, I was simply eating what I could to get by. My overall feeling day by day is also getting better each day as a result and I'm looking forward to what is to come. |
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