Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

Some weeks start off perfectly normal and you can tell that it's just going to be another week where the only goal is to get to Friday. This week though, this week was not one of those weeks.

My husband may or may not have a food allergy. After about 30 gallons of blood drained and the whole gamut of tests, he saw a new doctor on Monday who suggested an elimination diet for 3 weeks to completely clear his system. Which, in a nutshell, is the you-can't-eat-anything-that-you-usually-eat diet. You get rid of all the common trigger foods and then at the end of the three weeks, start re-introducing them back to your system and see which ones accompany the return of your symptoms. When he came home and handed me the list of ingredients he couldn't eat anymore, I basically resolved that all I could make for him was salad, hold the dressing. Three weeks of lettuce.

Thanks to Pinterest, Google, my mom, my sister, friends who have gone through similar troubleshooting, and the mega-popularity of gluten-free and paleo diets, we have a plan and it doesn't completely revolve around lettuce! We're a few days into this thing and we're not completely starving!

If you ever get in a rut with your cooking, try to plan a meal that adheres to this diet. This diet changes everything. Do you even know how much corn, soy, and sugar is in everything? Because I didn't. It does take a lot more thought and planning since everything has to be made from scratch. Grocery trips also take longer and you spend a lot of time reading every single ingredient on every single label. Finding a can of tomatoes that don't have added sugar is a struggle.

So far I'm still having fun thinking up new recipes and re-working old ones. I don't know though, check back in after the three weeks is up and I might be singing a different tune.

Anyway, here it is, the comprehensive list of all the no-no foods:

Corn
Wheat
Barley
Rye
Oats
Bulgar
Couscous
Durum
Einkorn
Emmer
Faro
Graham
Kamut
Somlina
Spelt
Triticale
Oranges
Grapefruit
Shellfish
Processed meats
Canned meats
Hot dogs
Sausage
Eggs
Dairy products
All soy products
All animal milks
All cheeses
Ghee
Butter
Cream
Kefir
Yogurt
Casein
Whey
Soy yogurt
Soy cheese
Creamed vegetables
Peanuts
Peanut oil
Corn oil
Soybean oil
White sugar
Brown sugar
Corn syrup
Barley malt
High fructose corn syrup
Evaporated cane juice
Honey
Chocolate
Artificial sweeteners
Coffee
Tea (excluding herbal)
Hot chocolate
Alcohol
Soda pop
Soy sauce
Mayonnaise
Most ketchup
Teriyaki sauce
Pepper products (Tabasco, hot peppers, etc.)

See what I mean? What is there left to eat? Well. Here goes three weeks worth of ideas. The good, the bad, the amazing, and the downright inedible.


Image source: The New Yorker