Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Gluten Free/Dairy Free-Day Six

That's right.  The girl who hates labels officially has a label-I'm gluten and dairy free-well for the past six days I've been gluten and dairy free.

I've known for the majority of my adult life that certain foods bother my stomach-dairy is the number one culprit.  I've curtailed the issue by taking lactaid before eating cheese, eating cheese in small amounts, and realizing what bothers me (soft cheeses) and what irritates me (everything else) and what I cannot eat-ice cream.  Still, I'd buy fancy cheese at the farmer's market, add half and half to my iced coffee, and eat small bites of ice cream hoping and praying that nothing would happen-and it always would.  I won't get into details, use your imagination.

In the past year or so I've noticed that other items have been effecting my stomach as well.  I'd eat a piece of bread and within twenty minutes I'd be visibly bloated.  I'd attribute it to weight gain, PMS, anything to avoid the fact that the reason I was in pain with a distended stomach had to do with the wheaty, yummy goodness I was putting into my mouth.  I noticed it when I ate breads, crackers or pasta.

In addition to my tummy issues I have eczema-a fun skin rash that has shown itself on my body for my entire life in many variations.  From cracked, bleeding and puss-y fingers in my youth, to outbreaks around my eyes, to outbreaks in the crooks of my arms and behind my knees to this latest outbreak on and around my nipples and breasts.  I know that there are a slew of foods that I cannot eat-citrus fruits, tomatoes, avocados and have either eaten them sparingly or opened my mouth REALLY WIDE to avoid the juices touching my lips-which often didn't work and resulted in eczema on the insides of my lips.  Gross, sure. It's mostly incredibly uncomfortable.

Visit after visit my dermatologist would recommend an allergy test and instead I opted for Vanos-miracle cream extraordinaire. This stuff was amazing-literally upon application my eczema would clear up almost completely.  The cream was great, but as I kept putting the foods that irritate my skin into my body the cream sort of stopped working.  Now I only use it for severe outbreaks and have decided to take a good hard look at the things that I eat and how they effect me.

So I Googled foods that irritate eczema and both wheat and dairy come up-along with soy products, meat, nuts and a host of others.

So what am I going to eat?  That's what we're going to figure out.  I'm back ladies and gents.