Depression and Food Allergies

Many people with Lupus suffer from depression. Please click on the links below and read how avoiding food allergens can help break the cycle of depression. 

http://www.alternativementalhealth.com/articles/brainallergies.htm

http://www.cure-your-depression.com/allergies-and-depression.html

Lions and Tigers and Bears Oh My!!!????

I just thought of that famous saying "Lions and Tigers and Bears Oh My!" from the Wizard of Oz.

I realized that I could subsitute anyone saying (myself included)
 "Gluten Free and Raw Food and Macrobiotics OH MY!"

Sometimes these things seem daunting how could you possibly change your diet???

I also realized I am now posting macrobiotic recipes..... but let me go back to grass roots and say even if you have found out you have allergies or think you might have allergies, God gave us PLENTY of foods to choose from, there is ALWAYS something left to eat! I promise!

For instance if you have an issue with gluten , put together a dinner of  fish/meat, rice or potatoes and vegetables or a salad(watch the salad dressing and NO CROUTONS (unless there from gluten free bread). Then you've got an easy GF(gluten free) meal. No rolls/bread/breading/breadcrumbs/ watch gravies, etc.

I have been studying nutrition on the internet, at the library,through famous holistic doctors and the books articles they write,  through various doctors I have gone to and now my macrobiotics counsellor. I hope one day to formally study and get a certification/degree.

I REALLY believe the reason that people feel so much better when they are on a raw food diet or a macrobiotic diet is that those diets are free from dairy, eggs,  and many people can easily make them wheat/gluten free also. They also include tons of veggies and some fruits (for extra nutrition) and  both take out ALL processed boxed, salty, sugary, preservatives and artificial colors from the diet. This is a WIN WIN situation. Be healthy and happy.

Don't Forget to Look at my Healing Plan

My Lupus Hope Healing Plan Blog combines all of my research in one quick and easy to read blog. Then if you need more information or have any questions, just email me ( Lonedoggy@netzero.com ) or post a comment and I'll get back to you. You can also search this blog for more information.

The great thing about this blog is you can see how bad my symptoms were, how I was diagnosed with Lupus and what I did to be healthier. Also more healing modalities that I want to check into in the future. Also included are the "books on healing" that you can read that support my blog's information. You can get many of these books at your local library. Click on the link below and read my story.

http://www.lupushopehealingplan.blogspot.com/

Secret Chemicals in Popular Perfumes by Care 2

Think twice before you put on your favorite perfume...another way for toxins and cancer causing and hormone disrupting chemicals to be absorbed through your skin.

http://www.care2.com/greenliving/secret-chemicals-in-popular-perfumes.html

A Macrobiotic Glossary

The white discs are daikon radish, I used a cookie cutter and a knife to make a flower and a heart from daikon radish and carrot.

This glossary explains what these foods are,  as well as why they are used and the benefits of the various macrobiotic foods.

http://macrobiotics.co.uk/glossary.htm

Kicking It Up a Notch

I had been "cheating" on my macrobiotic food plan more often, and it upset me. My macrobiotic counsellor said I didn't need to be perfect, but I wasn't doing as well as I wanted... I think it had to do with me getting bored with my food choices....especially the lack of great healthy macrobiotic desserts. Here are some foods I made yesterday and today...YUM! I will post the recipes soon.

Blackberries and Strawberries

Chocolate Tofu MoussePan fried tofu and Veggies

Hipchick Jessica Porter Macrobiotics Classes

I liked watching Jessica's sample class, she gives a lot of information as she cooks! Click on the link below and check it out!

http://www.hipchicksmacrobiotics.com/blog/intro-to-macrobiotic-cooking/

2 Very Interesting Articles About Fats/Cholesterol

I have been following Pure Jeevan's Blog about their research into Wendy's Lyme Disease and how to cure it. They are only researchers, not doctors but I find their journey and research fascinating so I thought I would share it. If you want to continue hearing about their research you can subscribe to their blog for yourself. They mentioned sterol and fatty acid imbalance... the second link is an article I found explaining this.
Enjoy!

http://purejeevan.com/blog/?p=2454&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+PureJeevan+%28Pure+Jeevan%3A+Transform+Your+Life+with+Living+Foods%29&utm_content=Yahoo%21+Mail

http://www.nutri-spec.net/cholesterol.htm

Charlotte Gerson Interview

In this interview with Kevin Gianni, Charlotte Gerson tells about her father's work and how he curesd cancer with food, through trial and error. Please read this and watch the video it has great information! If you or a loved one has health issues maybe research the Gerson Institute for yourself or your loved one!

http://www.renegadehealth.com/gersontapes/

My Daughter's Creation

My daughter had a cute one the other day and I thought I'd share...as I said something "got me" the other day, probably something I ate and I was under the weather headache, neck and shoulder pain, sinus pain etc. I'm better now...

My daughter started singing (to the tune of Rain Rain Go Away...)

Pain Pain Go Away
Don't come back any other day.

I said I LOVED the song and I said I would post it on my blog, so here it is! Hope you all can relate and I hope you are all having a pain free day!

Happy Belated Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms here! Had a mellow one here, stayed home and relaxed but it was a blog free day....

Something "Got Me" Again... (also cravings...)

The reason I talk so much about food allergies and what avoiding those foods/allergies has done for the quality of my life, is it really is AMAZING! When I avoid the foods I have tested allergic/intolerant to I have no pains, aches, have more energy, etc.

 But occasionally things "get me"...I have a good amount of pain in my neck/shoulder area and a headache and sinus pressure and more heart palpitations this morning . What does that all add up to? Something I ate "got to me". Could be something that "snuck in" (cross contamination either here at home or from a company's prepared foods, or I ate something I thought I am OK with but I am not...  Sometimes even exposure to the sun can do this to me also or extra added stress...Also to add to the confusion not all foods I eat are on my food allergy tests, so some foods are just trial and error as to how they make me feel. Sometimes I will try to just drink water and or eat veggies(ones I KNOW I'm not allergic to)  for 1/2 a day and usually whatever was in my system will be digested and I will feel better. Sometimes I have to be quite the detective to figure it out and sometimes it is as plain as day, like the day I ate olives and just felt like my heart was racing afterwards...had an allergy test a few months later and sure enough olives were a high allergen...but I could tell without the test...

Even though I am allergic/ intolerant to certain foods my family and my pets still eat some of the things I can't have. For instance my dogs and cats eat eggs, I must prepare their foods much of the time...I always try to wash my hands well etc. after preparing them. My son can eat wheat, I sometimes need to prepare his foods...so you see cross contamination is very easy here when not careful...

On another note, I was doing VERY well without having cravings/cheating on my diet then something just shifted, I was cheating like there was no tomorrow.... I decided that what is missing are delicious healthy macrobiotic desserts and I am going all out to find some great recipes, or make up some of my own.  I found when I was eating raw foods there were so many interesting and delicious desserts, I know I will find great desserts with macrobiotics too, I just need to search harder...one thing I have found is that macrobiotics is less popular on the internet for You Tube preparation videos and such. Well, I will be making more videos of my own soon...so I will change that a bit...I will be adding macrobiotic cooking, gluten free baking and cooking, and raw food also. I will try to post more pictures and videos of the foods on my recipe blogs
http://www.lupushopecookbook.blogspot.com/  (super healthy healing recipes) and  http://www.myfamilysfavoritegfcfrecipes.blogspot.com/ (foods to be eaten when have a craving... eat sparingly on special occasions--not super healthy recipes, but much better than store bought because you know the quality ingredientst you put in)

Try To Buy Organic Flowers

I try to do everything that I can for the environment and for my health as well as all my family members and friends. Read the following article , it also tells places to buy organic flowers. Also check with your local organic farmers. I just searched this morning for organic farms in my area and there used to be only a couple, now there are at least a dozen! I'm already so psyched that the farm stand opens here on Memorial Day weekend! Yea! Fresh produce...and flowers!

http://www.care2.com/greenliving/why-organic-flowers.html

Healthy Macrobiotic Desserts

http://www.macrobioticmeals.com/healthy_desserts.html (If GF (Gluten Free) change out the wheat flour with GF flour/mix)

Celiac Disease Foundation Conference

Sorry for the late notice on this...It's on May 15th 2010 in California...well if you can make it...wish I could do it, sounds like a lot of fun and great information. maybe I'll try for next year.Take a look at the page below,

http://www.celiac.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=92&Itemid=205

Also for anyone in the New York area the Suffolk County Celiacs have a great GF vendor fair the end of August 2010. http://www.suffolkcountyceliacs.org/Events.html

Celiac Disease and Lupus and Thyroid Etc.

Celiac Disease

Dermatitis herpetiformis is also present in some people with celiac disease. Other autoimmune disorders that people with CD are at greater risk to develop include Addison' s disease, autoimmune chronic active hepatitis, Alopecia Areata, Graves' disease, insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (type 1), myasthenia gravis, scleroderma, Sjogren's syndrome, lupus, and thyroid disease. Thyroid diseases and diabetes are the two most commonly associated diseases found with celiac disease. Thyroid disease is most commonly associated with DH.

Other conditions frequently seen in persons with gluten intolerance include anemia, early bone disease, Downs Syndrome, and fertility problems. Some persons with DH also have a higher incidence of other skin conditions, such as eczema.
 While other connections have been suggested - such as with autism, MS, and mycosis fungoides, the research is either inconclusive, suggests a weak connection or offers no substantial connection.

My Take (written by Toni) --I have seen other places that MS has a much more substantial link to Celiac Disease see Ann Sawyer' sbook "The MS Recovery Diet  Also see Dr. Peter Green's book "Celiac Disease : A Hidden Epidemic"



As knowledge of gluten intolerance diseases expands and new findings become available, you can expect that the list of associated health problems and conditions will also change.
 To learn more about the recently published multi-center prevalence study of celiac disease visit, http://www.celiaccenter.org/.


Taken from the University of Maryland Center for Celiac Research

Is Your Body Contaminated With Pesticides?

http://www.care2.com/greenliving/is-your-body-contaminated-with-pesticides.html

Some New Cookbooks

"The Allergen Free Baker's Handbook.." Cybele Pascal  (Gluten Free Vegan Classic Crumb Cake on Page 50)
"The Body Ecology Diet.." Donna Gates (recipes and also an anti- candida diet/book)
"The Vegan Table" by Coleen Patrick-Goudreau (I think I will buy this one- pad thai recipe was in here)
"Vegan with a Vengeance" Isa Chandra Moskowitz (many wheat recipes)
" Vegan Soups and Hearty Stews for All Seasons" by Nava Atlas
"Matha Stewart's Dinner at Home" by  Martha Stewart (has a good amount of vegan/vegetarian choices/ many wheat recipes, but can change them failry easily)

My Cooking Skills Can Be Used For GOOD or EVIL!

Hi Everyone! What a weekend! I am tired and just slightly under the weather...I will explain...
I decided to get a bunch of new cookbooks from the library last week.(I will put the titles on my next post) I am eating mostly macrobiotics and have many food allergies/intolerances, I will post below and my daughter has a good amount of allergies. My son can't have dairy and my husband can't have gluten and egg yolks (they just got retested and we should get the new results in about a week or so.) All together as a family we are trying to eat less meat (at present I only eat fish about 1 time a week)

As far as being under the weather, I ate gluten free egg free dairy free coffee cake that I made over the weekend...I also had homemade pad thai for dinner (and something with both of them did not make me feel too wonderful, plus it is "that time of the month" and one dog that sleeps in our bed has fleas and she is up all night itching and keeping my husband and I up all night too....We also went for a 3 mile walk at a beautiful park yesterday, but 3 miles at a clip( we walked pretty fast) is more than we're used to... OK I am TIRED! To make me feel better that it was not ONLY me my husband was tired too...

The crumb cake and the pad thai was cooking for evil...even though the recipes were gluten free, dairy free and egg free,the coffee cake was baked (no baked foods for Lupus on macrobiotics, Bad Toni) , it had sugar, cinnamon,coconut oil, and the pad thai had red pepper flakes and other things I shouldn't eat...

On the other hand I can make delicious healthy things for myself like miso soup, salmon, mochi treats, tofu, beans and greens/veggies and other delicious foods that are GREAT for my body. Sometimes the devil sits on my shoulder and says make this "for your family" and then just "try a bite" GRRRR! I hate that voice...being a good cook can also make me stray more also....Here are my daughter's and my allergies/intolerances that we know of  at present...PS they can change if you have an issue with leaky gut...

Toni Allergies/intolerances-- dairy, beef, lamb, chicken, eggs, yeast, banana, crab, shrimp, asparagus,cranberries, gluten, wheat, spelt, corn, garlic, beets, cauliflower, haddock, malt, oat, black pepper, hops, mustard,olive, sunflower, lots more foods are mild intolerances that I should rotate and not have each day.

My daughters allergies/intolerances--dairy, eggs, chicken,coffee, sugar, cranberry, lobster, oyster, asparagus, wheat, gluten, oats, peanuts, rye, sesame, spelt

Mark Hyman MD and Reasons to Avoid Dairy

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/dairy-free-dairy-6-reason_b_558876.html