Friday, May 14, 2010

Mad

I have to admit, I'm mad. I don't eat any grains. Zip, zilch, nada, not even a grain of rice. (I did cheat for my book club and Mother's Day, but that is very rare.) I don't drink milk, can't use buttermilk, cream or sour cream in recipes. Cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, cream cheese (am I making you hungry?) are all no nos for me due to allergies. No refined sugar, I stay away from most anything sweet, except to use a low glycemic natural sweetener for certain recipes in small amounts. I found I could live with this. It was hard but with a lot of searching the internet, low carb books, etc. I have found a good bunch of recipes I can live on quite well when I have the energy to cook them.

Enter extreme and constant bladder pressure, sometimes excruciating pain. This has been going on for years, and is really, really bad at times, and others it is bearable but always uncomfortable. Nope, no infection. Yep, I've had it checked and even x-rayed by doctors. Another super fun mystery in my life. I've been told this may be caused or exacerbated by a food allergy. According to a natural doctor, I am allergic to hot peppers, as well as grapes, olives and a couple other things. No olive oil? Fine. Grapes are too sweet for me right now anyway. But these babies?

I am not huge on really spicy food, but I had no idea how much this little fruit/vegetable/spice was used in things, including my own cooking. I didn't realize how much I relied on it and loved it.... from the scrambled eggs my dad taught me to make with a couple dashes of hot sauce for flavor, (it doesn't make them spicy!) barbecue sauce, worcestershire sauce, or the delicious pork made so easily in the crockpot with salsa and enchilada sauce... (OK I did realize that had it in there, but seriously? That is one of our most favorite and easiest dinners.) I would not have guessed that 8 out of 10 dinners I am drawn to has some kind of hot pepper ingredient in it. I wasn't mad about grains. I coped. I wasn't mad about getting rid of most dairy. I coped. But this, I can't seem to live with.

Silly, huh?

6 comments:

Braden Bell said...

No, not silly at all! You've given up a lot and this was one thing you thought you could do. I hope you are able to figure out a solution and sorry you are suffering.

Suz said...

Ok yeah, I'd actually be totally pissed so I get ya. Geez, how frustrating!!

Sara said...

OH NO!!!!!
So not silly. So very sad!
I'm so sorry Natalie. You are such a good sport. Honestly I don't know what I would do... definitely not be as optimistic as you are.

Sara said...

uh...not to rub it in, but I want that pork recipe:)

Jana said...

Man oh man!! Soon enough you'll just get to eat baby food and call it good!! Good luck with everything! Let us know if you find any other great recipe you can eat! :)

Susan Anderson said...

I think when you already have a lot of limitations, every additional one is all the harder to get used to. At least, that's been my experience.

Hang in there!

=)