Day 9: Waiting...

Woke up this morning feeling MUCH better than last night. Now I'm back to my baseline of allergies and milder chest tightness instead of gasping for breath. I'm feeling more confident in my ability to navigate food without any of the forbidden stuff, although I had to look up whether bacon has sulfites in it before brunch (not as far as I could tell). My chest is still tight and my nose is stuffy, but I do feel a little better. It's not a night and day difference, but it's there. I'm just waiting a few more days to see if there are any more changes. After that I suppose it's time to add things back one by one and see what happens.

Out of nowhere I got the urge to go swimming, so I went to the gym at school and swam laps for an hour for the first time in at least a couple of years. My breathing was noticeably good. I didn't have a hard time at all. I wonder if they rhythm and the forced concentration on breathing helped. I don't know what it was, but it was great to not be aware of it for an hour or so.

Washing/changing sheets is my absolute least favorite household task. I love clean sheets, but I hate that washing and changing them takes all damn day. I'm supposed to change my sheets every week so the dust mites don't attack me in my sleep. I did it last weekend, and I did it again today, but to be honest, the only reason it happened is because I forgot there was coffee in my travel mugh and it spilled and made a mess.

Day 8: I'm Allergic to School, but not to Mediterranean Pasta

On Thursday I was handed two take-home finals due this coming week, so I spent the afternoon at the library at school, like a good student. Due to budget cuts, they kicked everyone out of the library at 5:00, but there is a small bank of computers for students in my department down the hall, so I camped out there for awhile after getting the boot. It was great in that I got another three hours of work done, but I'm pretty sure I'm allergic to something in that room. Within about half an hour I could feel my chest starting to tighten and pretty soon I was having to do my big, dramatic yawn routine to get the air I wanted. By the time I left, I was a mess. More than four hours later, I still am. I hate taking an albuterol inhaler (I feel like it makes me crazy without helping my breathing much), but I've taken it twice tonight, for the first time in at least six months. I used a tincture that I got from the naturopath two or three times. I still can't breathe. It's driving me insane. I'm really hoping things will have calmed down by the time I wake up in the morning.

On the plus side, I made some good pasta for dinner...

Mediterranean Pasta:

1/2 package rice pasta (I used TJ's fusilli, or something similar)
1/2 small jar sun-dried tomatoes, packed in oil
1 14.5 ounce can garbanzo beans
1 package frozen broccoli florets
approximately 20 kalamata olives
1 small can anchovies (if you're into that kind of thing)
salt, pepper and red pepper flakes to taste

Bring a quart or two of salted water to a boil
Add the pasta and cook until just tender
Drain and set aside
Place the broccoli in a microwave-safe bowl with 2-3 tbsp. water and microwave on high for 3 minutes or until hot, but not mushy
Drain and set aside
Place a large skillet over medium-high heat
Add the sun-dried tomatoes in their oil
Open, drain and rinse the garbanzo beans
Add them to the pan with the tomatoes
Slice the kalamata olives in half and add them to the pan with the tomatoes and garbanzos
Add the pasta and the broccoli to the pan and stir until heated through
Season with salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and/or anchovies to taste
Makes 2-3 servings

I still can't breathe, but I enjoyed the hell out of dinner!

Day 7: Cooking Time - Sweet Potato and Cauliflower Stir-fry

I felt pretty good today. Still some tightness, but mostly pretty clear. And I behaved myself. At least I think so...

I spent some time in the kitchen today making food I know I can eat. The main dish was a sweet potato and cauliflower stir-fry that goes something like this:

1 small head of cauliflower, chopped into florets/bite-size chunks
1/2 lb. sweet potatoes, chopped into bite-sized pieces
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1/2 tsp. turmeric
4 tbsp. olive oil (or peanut oil, if you're not trying to avoid the damn things)
2 Serrano peppers, seeded and diced
10 oz. frozen spinach
1 can light coconut milk
salt to taste

Boil the cauliflower and sweet potatoes until tender; drain and set aside
In a food processor, combine the cilantro, Serrano peppers, turmeric and 2 tbsp. olive oil and process into a chunky paste
Steam the spinach; drain and set aside
Heat a wok, dutch oven or large skillet to medium-high heat
Add the remaining 2 tbsp. of olive oil
Once the oil is hot, add the cilantro paste and cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant
Add the sweet potatoes and cauliflower and stir until coated with the paste
Add the spinach and coconut milk and stir until well combine
Add salt to taste
Simmer until heated through
Serve on its own or over brown rice

Makes 4 reasonably generous servings

I made a pot of this yesterday and have eaten at least three of the four servings. I'll be sad to see it go...

Day 6: Suspicions and Theories and Whining

My breathing has been really tough today. My chest has been tight all day and I constantly feel like I have to yawn to get the breath I want, and then 20 seconds later I have to do it again. I'm becoming increasingly suspicious that either a) I'm not doing this right and not being quite stingent enough with watching what I'm doing, or b) food's not causing it. I tend to think it's a) since I often notice it getting harder to breathe right after I eat. But it's not like my throat swells up--it's that my chest tightens. The roof of my mouth has been itchy off and on, which seems consistent with allergies. As far as I know, I haven't had any gluten, dairy, sulfites, nuts or soy for almost a week, but my approach has been to not eat anything I knew had one of those in it instead of only eating things that I absolutely, positively was 100% sure had none of them in it. Maybe I haven't given it enough time. Maybe there's something I'm still eating that's causing it. Maybe it's something in the air and not in the food at all. A few weeks ago I avoided pretty much everything that could possibly be an allergen (dairy, wheat, soy, nuts, eggs, beans, rice, corn, citrus, along with alcohol and sugar) and within a few days I felt noticeably better. But I don't wanna eat like that again... Pity party, temper tantrum, time to just suck it up and do it better. That's the only way I'll know for sure. Meh.

The corn flake and hemp milk breakfast was great--I hadn't had cereal in forever. I'm more than halfway through the jar of sunflower seed butter since last night. I am not to be trusted.

Day 5: Sunflower Seed Butter Is..

...delicious!

I finally made it to Whole Foods tonight. I wasn't expecting much from the sunflower seed butter, but when I was checking out, the guy who was bagging my groceries stopped in his tracks to say how much he loved sunflower seed butter and that he thought it was better than peanut butter. And... he was right! It's really good!

While at the store I also got the stuff I needed to make some stuff. An the lentil soup is good, too. Recipe is here (thank you, Emily):
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/lentil-soup-recipe/index.html
I used red lentils and added some cayenne. It's really good and instead of a "taste" I ended up having about three cups.

Looking forward to corn flakes and hemp milk for breakfast...

Day 4: Thankful

I don't want to jinx anything, but I think I might be starting to feel better. There's still tightness when I go to take a full, deep breath, but overall I feel a notch or two better than the past few days.

Food was good today. I'm definitely not as freaked out by the whole proposition as I was at first. I am, however, looking forward to trying some new recipes instead of throwing random individual foods in my bag in the morning. Dinner was most of a can of garbanzo beans and five cuties eaten in the library. I'm pretty sure I can step that up a bit.

Talking to my sister tonight put everything in perspective. She's a nurse and told me about a patient who she is pretty sure lives in a car with his girlfriend. After the patient ate dinner, his girlfriend asked if she could have half of a sandwich. My sister realized that the girlfriend hadn't eaten all day, so she went to round up as much food as she could for her.

I realize how incredibly fortunate I am that while there are so many people who don't have homes or enough to eat, I have the luxury of eating (or not eating) just about anything I want. My life is good. Very, very good. And I need to remember that.

Day 3: I Think I Did...

This is the first day I think I did everything right. No eating out, no mystery ingredients, no nuts, no soy, no dairy, no gluten, and no sulfites. Lots (LOTS) of produce, brown rice and olive oil (and a little dark chocolate). The breathing is still tough--I've had a hard time catching my breath all day and I struggled for half an hour on the elliptical trainer tonight. It suddenly got pretty chilly here, and the cold, dry air could have something to do with it. I'm still trying to wait until this weekend before getting cranky if the breathing isn't easier.

In other news, thank you to everyone who has passed along tips and recipes, put me in touch with friends who've dealt with some of the same issues, made food adhering to my obnoxious list of requirements, and just generally been really supportive. I have a couple of recipes on deck that I'm looking forward to trying and am starting to feel like I just might be able to pull this off...