I am still feeling miserable today and am home with a horrible head cold, fever and headache. It is a beautiful day outside (sunny/73 degrees) and I am feeling sorry for myself (making macaroni and cheese).
Maybe it’s because it’s so hot and humid that the paint is starting to curl.
Maybe it’s because I’m dying to wear my fall clothes to work.
Maybe it’s because I’m itching to make cornbread, squash and stews.
Maybe it’s because my girlfriends are having difficulty adjusting to their boyfriends’ football season ticket package.
Maybe it’s just because.
My bike-friendly, GF/CF (gluten free/casein free) mobile lunch: Goat cheese rolled in chopped chives and rosemary, prosciutto di parma, Chebe pizza crust crackers and fresh blueberries. All of this I packed in my Topeak MTX trunk bag on the back of my K2 T:Nine Whirlwind along with a change of clothes for work. I live 2.5 miles away from the office which makes biking to work a breeze.
Well, I’ve abandoned the LEAP program diet. Why, after all the pain of withdrawal symptoms and having shown some progress on elimination, would I quit this program? Quite simply, because I wasn’t happy… at all. It was true I had some wonderful days with no physical symptoms, but once I started adding foods back into the diet I had many absolutely horrible, pain-filled days. Also, I never had enough energy to do the things I love to do like swimming and biking because I couldn’t seem to get enough calories and nutrients into my system. Finally, I wasn’t allowed to have red wine. (I should have just listed this first because all other reasons are void and inconsequential….I’m not sayin’, I’m just sayin.)
Baked potato with sauteed onions, zucchini and green pepper with fresh bartlett pears.
I would describe the last two weeks as a roller coaster. I have days when I am high on energy and feel great, and days when I am barely functional and sick. The LEAP program is a challenge and infinitely more difficult than any gluten or dairy free diet. But, despite the difficulty, I am optimistic that this is absolutely worth it. In the end, if I can identify all of my food sensitivities and mitigate reactions, I will ultimately be able to live a healthy, happy lifestyle without fear of eating.
This CNN article explores the many challenges in diagnosing food allergies and intolerance. While I am pleased that awareness of diet-related symptoms is increasing, I can’t help but continue to feel frustrated by the lack of medical solutions to these problems.
I, too, have had a “skin-prick” allergy test for approximately forty different types of allergens and the results were all negative. The allergists’ advice to me was inconclusive and unhelpful at best: see an IBS specialist. I asked whether an IBS specialist would be able to help me identify causes of other symptoms such as skin irritation, migraines, fatigue, etc. The allergists’ response was that I am absolutely not allergic to any foods (or, I can assume, just the forty allergens he actually tested me for…), but that if I really believe I have diet-related symptoms then I need to practice a limited diet. I asked how I could medically determine which foods I should avoid if the allergy test was inconclusive. He didn’t have any answer for me other than, “avoid what makes you sick.”
It is unseasonably cold in Iowa this month and I am feeling it! I managed to pick up one of the many bugs going around and am home sick with a cold and sore throat. Fortunately, I have a go-to recipe for mulled apple cider that I think is the perfect warm up beverage.
I made a huge batch of this on Saturday and took it to my friends who were dancing at the World Food Festival downtown. Considering the temperature was hovering between 35-45 degrees, the hot cider was a huge hit!
I decided to challenge myself this summer by coming up with the best chicken wing sauce recipe….ever.
I’d never made wing sauce until this week, but I’ve always been a huge hot wing girl! As I was in the middle of my first attempt at wing saucing, my scattered brain went in a million different directions as it usually does halfway through a new recipe. What if I added spicy mustard? Does this need honey? Chili pepper? Cayenne pepper? Lemonjuicebrownsugarketchuphabaneropeppervinegar? I decided that my challenge will be to invent a number of amazingly awesome different kinds of wing sauces. And with that, I give you… the first wing sauce of 2009!
Arrabbiatta or “Angry” style sauce is a traditional Italian tomato sauce full of fiesty flavor. The “angry” comes from the addition of red chilies which add a fiery heat to an otherwise basic tomato sauce.
