A couple of months ago I learned I have a LOT of food allergies, via a blood test that tested 150 foods and spices.  I’d always suspected that I was sensitive to foods in the Dairy family, but was very surprised to learn that there were lots of spices, eggs, and yeasts that I am sensitive to as well.  For the first couple of weeks, I admit that I whined a lot and felt sorry for myself.  Now that I have been eating on a rotation diet for two months, I am beginning to see the difference and can now see that it is worth it.

What is a rotation diet?

First off, it is NOT Die with a T!  There are lots of rotation diets out there, but mine takes different foods I CAN have and categorizes them, like meats, grains, vegetables, and spices and rotate them so that they are not repeated for four days.  They say it takes about 4 days to get things out of your system.  Apparently, many of us have food sensitivities that we don’t realize because we repeat them before they get out of our system.

What is the positive?

Health benefits would be one, but honestly, I’m still working on that one.  I am beginning to slowly see benefits like, some weight loss, hungry more often, can swallow without gagging, feet don’t hurt, and more energy.  There are still things that need to improve, but it takes time.

Another positive is that I am exploring more creative ways to eat food.  There were 50 foods for me to avoid, but 100 that I should focus on.  One of my biggest whines was that being sensitive to eggs and yeast means no cookies and bread.  So, I’m slowly looking for alternatives since those were my favorite bad things to eat.  This kind of makes me want to take some cooking classes and share with others having similar issues.

What is challenging?

Eating out is the biggest challenge.  For the most part, I don’t since it is a lot of trouble.  The other thing that is a challenge is that you have to cook every meal and it is a challenge to eat any leftovers.  I’d much rather eat leftovers from dinner for lunch since I can’t just make a sandwich.

What is next?

My nutritionist said that once she’s seen some improvements as my body heals, we can add back some of the foods that I am sensitive to.  Some things that were “low” on my list were things like egg yolks, ginger, and coffee.  It is kind of hard to give up coffee when you are married to someone who roasts their own coffee.  I’m not sure what it looks like to add foods back, but I imagine that they will be rotated in like the foods I’m eating now.

What new fun recipe have I found?

Here is one I have been working on the past few weeks.  It is kind of a challenge to test new recipes like this when you can only eat them every four days.  🙂  This is something I’ve made up from ideas gleaned from several scones recipes I’ve used over the years.  No eggs, cream, wheat, or butter in these tasty treats! (I can have wheat though!)

Coconut Cherry Scones

1 1/4 cups whole spelt flour (or 1/2 cup whole wheat 4/3 cup all purpose flour)
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
dash of salt
1/8 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup coconut (unsweetened if you can find it)
1/4 cup frozen cherries, chopped
1/2 cup almond milk
sugar

Preheat oven to 400.  Line baking sheet with parchment; set aside.  Combine dry ingredients. Add coconut and chopped frozen cherries (still frozen so they don’t bleed too much).  Pour almond milk in at once and stir with a fork until dough forms.  On a floured board, knead 8 times.  Dough is going to be sticky, which is what you want.  Pat dough into a 4″ x 11″ rectangle.  Cut into thirds, then each third is cut on the diagonal so that you have 6 right triangle-shaped scones.  Use a wide knife or spatula to scrape off of the board and onto the parchment-lined sheet.  If you added too much flour you can pat on some almond milk on the tops, then sprinkle sugar on each scone.  Bake 15 minutes. Serve warm or cold.

What I like about these scones is that the moist dough makes moist scones, so I don’t miss the fact that I can’t put butter on them.  I don’t like to cook with homogenized fats, so I eliminate it when I can or make a substitution.  Scones usually have butter in them.  I did try margarine, since I am not supposed to have butter, but I couldn’t tell the difference without either.  Maybe it is the coconut that helps in this case?  Still, now I’m just sad that I have to wait four more days until I can have another!  🙂