Hello Everyone!
As many of you know, I have been on a milk free diet for a while now. The main reason being that it makes my stomach really upset when I eat it (lactose/allergy). I have had a couple of diet trials several months ago, where I removed gluten and other foods from my diet.
Then, over this past Christmas and Thanksgiving holiday, I allowed myself to eat all the gluten and foods I wanted as long as it didn’t contain wheat. I did get a couple of bad stomach episodes, and it was hard to tell what could have caused it. I ate things such as apple pie, pecan pie, rolls, and other things. Overall, I only had about 2-3 bad stomach cramps throughout the break-which did make me curious as to what else could have been upsetting my stomach.
But I did notice one thing. I was extremely reactive. I broke into hives over the slightest warming. I was cutting the turkey, and where the kitchen heated up I had hives. I also would get hives if I just jumped around the apartment for a few seconds–even when it was really cold. It was quite frustrating, but I didn’t think anything of it.
Then, starting December 30, I went back on a really strict diet. I posted this in my last post on my New Year’s resolution. The main goal was to simply get healthier, and lose a a few pounds, and to feel better. So on Dec. 30, I cut out gluten and all “Junk” foods. All I can say is that the hives difference is noticeable. I can jump around, eat vinegar/pineapple, and other things without getting so itchy like I normally would.
Don’t get me wrong, I still can get itchy. But I always find it strange how I get less intense after starting a new diet. It is not a placebo effect either. I know I still have hives if I push it. But before the slightest thing would trigger an attack, and now I am much less reactive. I am enjoying it!
This is the only thing I have literally eaten for the past few days:
Breakfast: Rice Chex Cereal (gluten free), with Rice Milk, and lots of Honey on it (yum). Believe it or not I usually eat about 3 big bowls of this stuff for breakfast. My wife eats it too, and we have been consuming about a box per day (I eat it as a snack later when hungry and craving something sweet). I also ate eggs one day as well as an alternative.
Lunch/Dinner: We have been using the crockpot method again. Basically, we take 3 pieces of chicken breasts (boneless), 3-4 large sweet potatoes (we skin them and cut them in 2), some carrots, and green beans. We cook this on high for about 6-7 hours, or put it on low if we cook it overnight. It is not only delicious and healthy, but it makes life easy not having to cook for every meal (it lasts all day or even 1 1/2 days. If you have never ate a sweet potato from a crockpot, you are missing out! It has a sweet taste to it, it is loaded with cancer fighting chemicals and vitamins, and it gets really soft and tender.
Snacks: In between meals I have been eating fruits and cereal as a snack. I eat raisins, pineapple slices, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, and more Rice Chex cereal w/honey. It is really good.
I drink all of my foods down with water, except for cereal in which case I use Rice Dream rice milk.
That is literally all I have been eating all day. I am less reactive (so far), my stomach has no bloating, and hardly any gas at all during the day, my digestion feels great, I have more energy, and even my abs are starting to come through again! My wife and I have both noticed a significant loss of weight in only 6-7 days.
I am a little over 6′ tall (not quite 6’1), and weigh about 152 pounds. So I am not overweight by any means. I am just doing the diet for my health and digestion to feel better, and I am enjoying the increased energy, better digestion, and the less reactive Cholinergic Urticaria. It is always interesting that my hives seem to back off when I eat a really strict diet and avoid junk, gluten, soy, dairy, and other potential allergens.
UPDATE: 1/21/13 This is an old archived post, and I have made more recent posts regarding my new diet and how I was able to finally get my hives under control. Read more about it on my cholinergic urticaria diet page. What I essentially did was keep a journal and do several allergy elimination diets.