My Annual Allergic Reaction to Spring

Every spring since we've moved here (this is our fourth spring), I've broken out with icky, itchy rashes. I call them poison ivy, and I know at least some of them have been caused by poison ivy, but I'm fairly certain some are caused by a local tree pollen. (I came up negative on all my allergy tests, so they weren't any help in figuring out what the culprit is.)

This spring, I'm now at 4 for 4. Or is that 0 for 4? I guess it depends on your perspective.

In any case, it's happened already: I've had my first itchy rash of the year. I've been dreading it since I knew I wouldn't be able to take prednisone like I have in the past. Thankfully, it's been milder than in the past.

Instead of masses of itching, oozing bumps that spread like wild fire, my legs have just been covered in itchy hives. No oozing and spreading, which is the worst part of it, so I'm not complaining. Too much :)

I have two theories as to why it's been milder this time:

1. I got hit by a different allergen than usual, one that's not as problematic for me.
2. Doing GAPS has improved the state of my autoimmune system enough that I'm not reacting as violently (GAPS is the reason I'm pregnant, after all).

Either one is possible, so I'm curious to see how my next round goes. It never stops at just one round...

****

In other news, I'm feeling "squadgy" these days. Isn't that a great word? I feel like it's very descriptive.

I haven't gained any weight yet, but I'm starting to look like I have. Since I have a short torso the baby is already pushing things up and out of the way, and there's really only one place for things to go: my upper abdomen. Hence the reason I've been feeling squadgy.

Craving GAPS

We got another snow storm Sunday! This was taken Sunday afternoon, and by Monday morning there was even more snow.

When the nausea, sensitivity to food smells, and lack of appetite set in around the 6th or 7th week, I knew I was looking at 6-8 weeks of not eating right and just trying to get *some* of the nutrients I need. I wasn't looking forward to it, but knew that given our current situation there really wasn't another option.

While the nausea has let up a lot, I am still struggling with a lack of appetite- food just doesn't sound that good/appetizing. It's been enough of a problem that we've been eating out one meal a day 4 or 5 days a week just to make sure I'm getting enough protein. It's been killing the food budget, but at least I have the energy to still function. We've been alternating between bunless burgers and fries at 5 Guys, burrito bowls at Chipotle, and gluten free pad thai at Noodles and Co.

Uggh. I'm definitely ready to stop eating all that rice and potatoes. Though I have noticed I've been reacting a bit better to the potatoes than the rice. And the rice and potatoes have helped with the nausea, interestingly enough.

My body really wants to be back on GAPS, but my brain/hormones/whatever is causing the nausea and lack of appetite is resisting. I felt so much better when we were doing GAPS, and I want to feel like that again. If only I could get all parts of my body on the same page....

I've set the goal to get back on GAPS the week after Easter. I'll be officially in the second trimester by then and since the nausea has been letting up (it got worse over time, it didn't hit me like a bag of bricks), I have hope that in another week and a half things will have improved enough for me to be able to handle cooking and eating normal food again.

Hopefully my appetite comes back too.

Wow, that's not something I ever thought I'd say.

I wrote that a few days ago, but hadn't posted this yet, so here's a bit more I want to add.

Another reason we need to get back on GAPS? The last few days I've realized that the main source of nausea is the food I'm eating, not the pregnancy. How do I know? It's no longer just nausea, it's the pain in the stomach that comes when I eat something that my body just can't handle. At this point, the main culprit is dairy, though rice products aren't far behind.

I figure if I can get all the foods that don't agree with me out of my system, the nausea should be completely gone and my motivation to do stuff (like prepare and eat real food) should return. I tend to lose motivation to do things when I'm eating foods that don't agree with me, so I'm really thankful I've managed to be as productive as I have been lately.

The Little Miss will deny it, but I know she's looking forward to eating real food again too. Gluten free chicken nuggets and corn dogs have lost their appeal- she's actually been turning them down :)

Food intolerance Manifestations

for your enjoyment: 

a picture I found of me leaping (unsuccessfully, I might add) over a stream during the mud run. isn't my outfit super attractive?

Over the last few years, I've learned to pay attention to my body and can usually identify when I'm reacting to something I ate. I've also learned to watch the Little Miss for her reactions.

That said, I still sometimes miss things.

My reactions have evolved from stomach pain and throat swelling. Now I get eczema under my wedding ring (weird, I know) and in my scalp. It took me awhile to figure out that the rash under my rings wasn't poison ivy like I originally thought, but directly related to what I eat. It also took me awhile to make the connection between the itchy "dandruff" and what I eat. Thankfully my hair hides most of the damage, but I do go around looking like I have a bad case of dandruff if I haven't been eating right.

With LMS, it's a bit trickier. Some things are fairly obvious, like intestinal issues, but others are less cut and dried. Changes in her behavior sometimes don't click right away with me, even though I know (and have known for some time) that her behavior is greatly influenced by what she eats.

Recently I've finally made another connection that has eluded me for months.

This past fall LMS and I went on a road trip with my sister for a few days and LMS started coughing. I chalked it up to the dry air in the car (I always get dehydrated when road tripping) and when we got home I turned her humidifier on each night and the cough went away.

The cough re-surfaced around Christmas, which coincided with another road trip, and some actual winter weather. LMS got sick on New Years, and even though she got better, the cough hung around. Last week she got a bit sick again and the cough evolved from a dry, unproductive cough (so annoying to listen to) to a pleghmy cough. I'd been thinking about taking her to the doctor, but with the phlegm and cold, the doctor would just say to keep an eye on things.

I've been praying about how to help her, and I finally made the connection between the cough she had in September and her current cough. And I realized that it wasn't caused by the dry air- it was caused by eating things that don't agree with her. When we road trip, we are a lot more lenient about what we eat since we invariably have to eat at restaurants at least part of the time. We hadn't started GAPS yet when we went on the road trip with my sister, but we were pretty close. When we returned home, we went back to eating more carefully and her cough cleared up because she wasn't eating the offending foods any more, not because the humidifier made a difference.

At Christmas we cheated on GAPS while traveling to my sister's, and we've been cheating in one way or another (for one reason or another) ever since. LMS's cough hasn't been able to clear up because of the continued cheating.

Yeah, it's only taken me since September to realize that coughing is one of LMS's food intolerance manifestations. I'm not always the fastest on the uptake, that's for sure.

My super-sensitive sense of smell seems to be disappearing (thankfully!). I only have a couple weeks left before I hit the second trimester and I'm really hoping the nausea and lack of appetite clear up then so I can start cooking food again, which will enable us to get back on the GAPS wagon.  I can't wait for LMS's cough to go away....

CSA

pretty spring flowers we bought yesterday

I've wanted to join a CSA for 3 or 4 years now, but could never quite justify the cost in my mind.

Then I realized I was going to the grocery store and only buying produce and spending X amount of dollars to do it. I vaguely recalled that the CSA's I'd investigated were not that expensive.

I did some research, and found a local CSA that has a winter option- reduced offerings, but it does include random items like local cider, local raw honey, local pastured beef, etc to make sure you're getting your money's worth. And it's a lot less than what I was spending at the grocery store.

I still need to buy some produce items at the grocery store (our current diet is restricted enough that we have to eat some veggies out of season, though I'd like to be able to eat with the seasons), but it's a lot less than before. I'm still buying our weekly pastured chicken at Whole Foods, but I may switch to getting it from the CSA- it's a little more expensive (not much), but it would mostly eliminate the need to go to Whole Foods every week. It's not nicknamed Whole Paycheck without reason.... I'm also trying to reduce the number of stores I'll have to go to each week once the baby comes- less running around with a newborn is always a good thing.

I really like how flexible our CSA is:

• monthly, bi-weekly, or weekly options
• small, medium, and large boxes of produce
• milk, eggs, fish, beef, pork, chicken, bread options (varying delivery options available)
• al a carte- you can order more of something if you want, and just pay for that
• very allergy friendly- easy substitutions
• you can quit any time it stops working for you- you pay weekly, as opposed to for the season
• Pickup and delivery options- less options in the winter, but more the rest of the year

I should mention that our CSA is not an actual farm that sells just what it produces: it finds local sources  for everything and builds the boxes from there. They tell us where everything comes from and whether it's organic, low-spray, etc.

So we get a large box of produce once a week, with a portion of pork (local, pastured pork- can't find that at Whole Foods) once a month. They send out an email each week stating what's in the boxes that week and I just respond and ask them to substitute the items we can't eat. They have the info in their computer, but responding each week allows me to state a preference for what we'd like instead- usually apples one week, squash another week, etc. Right now I drive downtown to pick up our box each week, but next month I'll be able to pick it up at a location that's a lot closer and more convenient- they'll be starting their regular spring/summer routine.

I hear everyone talking about Bountiful Baskets, but they're not available in our area :(
Do you get food from a CSA?

Another reason GAPS is what I need right now

Remember how I said we'd made progress just in the 7 or so weeks we did GAPS before Christmas? We were able to eat things over Christmas and at Disney that usually give us problems, but with fewer problems.

Something else happened too. My cycle regulated enough for this to happen:

Super crazy, right? After all this time (almost 6 years since my last pregnancy, which ended in miscarriage), I'd pretty much given up hope of getting pregnant again. Though I knew in the back of my mind it was possible my body could heal enough for this to happen, I certainly wasn't expecting it or counting on it. And definitely not this soon.

I had my first appointment this morning (after waiting impatiently for 3 weeks) and so far everything looks good. They did an ultrasound to see how far along I am (which I already knew, based on when Mr M was home) and I got to see the heartbeat. I hadn't realized just how important that was to me till I was looking up at the screen and saw that tiny movement. Because of the timing of doctor visits over the years, I've been able to see the heartbeat of each of our babies, even the two that didn't make it. That is something I treasure.

I am still concerned about miscarrying, but praying about it has calmed my fears significantly. And I didn't have the symptoms I'm experiencing now with either previous miscarriage, so I'm cautiously optimistic. I'm 8 1/2 weeks along, so I have a few more weeks before I'll feel like I'm out of the woods. My due date is Sept 29, which means I get to experience the hot and humid summers here while in my 3rd trimester (not looking forward to that one- good thing we have AC!).

Staying on GAPS should ensure my intestines continue to heal and that I get the nutrients I need. Unfortunately, the constant nausea and severe aversion to smells that I'm currently experiencing is making it impossible to stay on GAPS.  I experienced this when I was pregnant with LMS, but it's worse this time around. Mr M took over all cooking duties when I was pregnant with LMS, but unfortunately he's out of the country again (only for a few more months, thankfully).

So I'm reduced to eating as little as I can get away with (things that I can't smell) and letting LMS nuke various gluten free convenience foods for herself. I'm very grateful she's able to do this, and she's loving the independence. It's not great for "family meal time" since I have to leave the room while she's warming up her food and eating it, but it should only be for a few more weeks. The resulting intestinal issues and meltdowns (from eating things she shouldn't) were expected, but not welcome.

The nausea cleared up around the end of the first trimester with LMS, and I'm praying that's the case this time. As soon as the nausea clears up I plan on getting both of us back on the GAPS wagon.

GAPS Full Diet

View from the upstairs loft in a log cabin we looked at while visiting my sister. It's a model home for a company we've had our eye on for years. Since it wasn't far from my sister, we went for a little drive to check it out.

Read why we're doing GAPS here.
Read about our GAPS Intro Week 1 here.
Read about our GAPS Intro Week 2 here.
Read about our GAPS Intro Week 3 here.
Read about our GAPS Intro Week 4 here.

Read about our GAPS Intro Week 5 here.
Read about our GAPS Intro Week 6 here.

I should have posted this before Christmas, but that obviously didn't happen, so I'll ramble on about our food for the last month.

Since completing 6 weeks of GAPS Intro, I have to say that I'm not really sure that the Intro phase was necessary for us. Our diet was already pretty close to it, and just adding broth and probiotics probably would have been enough for us.

On the other hand, we are eating a lot more veggies, which is good, and I've gotten over my aversion to veggies for breakfast (my old excuse for still eating GF rice crispies for breakfast).

We didn't do a whole lot with food our first week off the Intro phase. We finished up that first week of full GAPS just before we headed to my sister's house for Christmas, and I didn't want to worry too much about adding anything new in right then. We did cheat a bit while on that trip- partly to see how we'd react (mostly better than we have in the past) and partly because I just wasn't ready to figure out how to eat GAPS legal food while driving in the middle of winter (suggestions anyone?).

After returning from my sister's we went back to our full GAPS diet for a week or so before heading to Disney. While we were at Disney we did some more cheating, but I really don't see how it's possible to eat GAPS-legal food without a kitchen. Or at least a hotplate/camp stove. If we hadn't been on a tight schedule, we would have driven the trailer to Florida and stayed at the Disney Fort Wilderness Campground. That is why we bought the trailer, after all: so we'd be able to prepare our food when we traveled.

It was encouraging to note that while we reacted to some of the foods we ate (dairy, potatoes, and corn were the biggest offenders), the reactions were not as severe as they have been in the past. In addition, I didn't get glutened, despite multiple opportunities. Part of me hopes that my system is already less sensitive to gluten, and maybe I was exposed to it but I didn't react because of the healing that has taken place. At this point, it's hard to know for sure without going and eating something with gluten in it, but I'm not willing to do that.

We're now back on our version of full GAPS, with no trips planned for the next few months, and we're committed for the long haul. We haven't been able to add back in any of our problem foods, but we'll try them again in awhile, and one of these days our bodies will have healed enough to add things like nuts and dairy back into our diet. Looking forward to that day....

GAPS Intro Week 6

LMS during her Irish music class recital back in December

Read why we're doing GAPS here.
Read about our GAPS Intro Week 1 here.
Read about our GAPS Intro Week 2 here.
Read about our GAPS Intro Week 3 here.
Read about our GAPS Intro Week 4 here.

Read about our GAPS Intro Week 5 here.

So, we finished Week 6 more than a month ago, but with Christmas travels and our Disney trip I didn't get this written and posted.

I'm trying to remember what exactly we added the 6th week: I think it was just fruit- apples and oranges.

We could have added in ghee and cultured dairy products, but I'm holding off a while longer before we add them in. I also held off on the beans (there's a few beans that are GAPS legal) that we could have added in.

We didn't do a lot of juicing- I don't really love the flavor, and the sugar content is a bit high for me. I've realized I react to fruit sugars more strongly than I react to some other sugars, which I find interesting. Given how much fruit LMS has consumed, I'm thinking she reacts in a similar way, unfortunately. It triggers the urge to keep eating and a sense of being hungry, even when we've already eaten a good size meal.

I also spent some time experimenting with cooking down and dehydrating broth to take with us on our Disney trip. 

GAPS/Gluten Free Disney World & Universal Studios Trip

we saw lots of princesses and other characters, but LMS only got a pic with Ariel- she had a really short line because it was the end of her shift

We finished the 6 phases of the GAPS Intro Diet back before Christmas (I still need to finish that post), but since we went to my sister’s house for Christmas, I took advantage of that time to do some judicious cheating. I knew our Disney trip was coming up and I wanted to gauge how we would react to eating non-GAPS approved foods. We still reacted, but it wasn’t as bad as it used to be, which shows that we have made progress- YAY!

Since we wouldn't have access to a kitchen, we couldn't just cook all our meals. I thought about our options and made a plan. GAPS foods for breakfast, gluten free park food for lunch, miscellaneous gluten free restaurants for dinner.

Breakfast

I cooked down and dehydrated 10 quarts of chicken broth (following directions I found here) to make homemade chicken bouillon that we could take with us. I prepared butternut squash, divided it into baggies, and froze it. I blanched some broccoli, lightly sautéed some zucchini and summer squash, then froze baggies of them and some green peas. I also chopped up and divided some roast chicken.

For breakfast, I walked up two flights of stairs to the nearest microwave, where I heated up some squash, some chicken, and some veg, and made some broth using the bouillon. Not ideal, and I could have sworn there was an in-room microwave, but it all worked out.

The last two nights we were in a different hotel (more on that in another post), and there was no microwave available.  We ended up using a one cup coffee maker to make cups of broth, and ate fruit for breakfast. The coffee maker worked surprisingly well, especially compared to microwaving it.

The dried broth turned out great, though I didn't double check the instructions before starting to cook it down. I should have scooped all the fat off, but only remembered after the fact. I kept the bouillon in the fridge just to make sure it didn't go rancid, and it was fine.

The zucchini and summer squash ended up kind of soggy when reheated, so I think I'll stick with broccoli and peas in the future.

We didn't end up eating all the food we brought, but I'd rather have too much than too little.

Lunch

For lunches we ate at counter service restaurants in the parks. I tracked down the updated gluten free lists beforehand, which was helpful. Unfortunately, they made some changes in the last year, and they don’t have dedicated fryers for gluten free fries anymore L They’ll bake them for you, but they take forever, and everyone else’s food is getting cold and the little one is getting impatient….

Monday we ate at Pizzafari in the Animal Kingdom. LMS and I ordered the gluten free pizza. I don't remember the brand, maybe OMG It's Gluten Free? Whatever brand, it was disgusting. The pizzas were very small and tasted like pasty cardboard. Gross! They came with caesar salads minus the croutons and dressing, but we didn't eat them- I found multiple bread crumbs in the salads. I don't think they picked croutons off, I think the cheese or lettuce bin was contaminated with bread crumbs. Not worth the hassle to get them replaced, so we gave them to the guys. Our meals cost the same as the guys' pizzas and salads, despite the drastic difference in amount of food, and were grossly overpriced.

Tuesday we ate at Liberty Inn in Epcot. LMS and I ordered gluten free hamburgers and grapes for her and an OMG It's Gluten Free brownie for me. The wait was long, but the food tasted pretty good, though I had to save my brownie for later since it was still frozen. It tasted pretty good once it defrosted.

Wednesday we ate at Fairfax Fare in Hollywood Studios. LMS got a kids meal turkey sandwich, applesauce, and Enjoy Life gluten free chocolate chip cookies. They used a gluten free bun for the sandwich, but it was still frozen and very stale. Yuck. I ordered a half rack of ribs with slaw and baked beans. They weren't on the gluten free list because of the potential for cross-contamination, but I decided to risk it. The flavor of the sauce was good, but the cut of meat was substandard- very gristly and not at all fall-off-the-bone tender. I didn't get glutened, so I was happy.

Thursday morning we picked up our race packets, and weren’t actually in one of the parks yet, so we went to 5 Guys for burgers and fries.

Friday we went to Islands of Adventure at Universal Studios, but I hadn’t been able to find any gluten free info ahead of time, and nothing looked promising while we were there. So we made do with some snacks (Butterbeer is quite tasty!) and ate a late lunch/early dinner at PF Changs. I’ve heard good things about PF Changs in general, as well as their gluten free options. I’ve never eaten there because we don’t have one nearby, so when I found one in the Orlando area, we decided to give it a try. It was quite yummy, and a nice change from our other dinner choices.

Dinner

We ate at Outback one night- we’ve always had good luck with their gluten free menu, though it does get pricey. We also ate at Chili’s several times, but that started getting old. We ate at 5 Guys a couple times, and we did Chipotle for lunch Saturday after the races.

End result
13 meals not prepared by me, but no gluten! Unlike last year, when I got glutened two days in a row. Whether this was because there was truly no contamination or because my intestines have made progress, I don’t know, but I’m not complaining. While LMS and I did react a bit to what we ate (dairy, rice, and potatoes were the major offenders we ate), it was a lot less pronounced than I was afraid it was going to be.

Overall, our experience eating gluten free at Disney World was quite a let down after last year, when we had a much better experience. I know suppliers and options available are always changing, but having a wider variety of options that taste good would be nice.

I’m really glad I brought the broth. Before we left, we were getting sick, so I did some research and found a suggestion here to add kudzu root starch to our broth to help us get over our colds quicker. I actually had a bag of kudzu root starch in the cupboard, so I added it to our broth all week. I really think it helped LMS recover quickly and shortened my symptoms. Though running a half marathon and fighting a cold was a bit too much for my body to handle at the same time, so I did relapse a bit.