Cake Diet

Our family has had to cut out various things for the sake of their health.

Mum has had a strained relationship with dairy her entire life (ironically born the daughter of a dairy farmer and growing up on that farm), as well as suffering some sort of salt intolerance, suspicions about wheat, vanilla, perfumes, and who knows what else. She’s had numerous eczema flare-ups her entire life. My brother has inherited them,  but hasn’t gone into trying to find out what causes them. He was allergic to eggs when he was young, but has no idea whether they’re an issue now. Mum did the IgG test before me, and unfortunately for her, her last indulgence, eggs, featured on the list. Suddenly she knew how I felt (though my egg allergy was always VERY obvious).

Dad has only suffered allergies when he’s had too much of a certain toxin (I’m ordering a book that discusses this so that I can explain it properly) such as bananas or walnuts. What he DID have to give up, though, was salt. He started developing hypertension, and was put on medication as well as told to reduce/eliminate salt. Now, Mum had always encouraged a “low salt” diet with us kids, but I guess Dad had just put more on his and somehow got away with it. But he told me the other day that he used to sneak extra salt while Mum wasn’t looking, because he was so used to it and he craved it so much.

I guess my original food allergies were really obvious- honey started giving me a strange, itchy feeling where it hit any part of my digestive system (often in my trachea), sometimes extending to my Eustachian tubes (from my throat to my inner ear). Eggs did a similar thing, but it was more of an itchy swelling feeling in my mouth. I stopped honey immediately (I was VERY hypersensitive to it) and figured out that trace amounts of egg seemed okay, as well as maybe one egg a week (but took precautionary antihistamine beforehand). So I’d basically already eliminated it.

Wheat was another that I’d already mostly eliminated. I’d seen my GP  for pelvic cramps, which we put down to “adhesions and some slight IBS, maybe,” and been told to watch out for known irritants- wheat, nightshades, and too much fibre. So wheat had mostly been replaced by rice and rye already.

I’d wanted to help Mum try different milks, so I’d already tasted most non-dairy milks and already identified my favourites. One of my most beloved dishes is a Cauliflower soup with rice milk! So it wasn’t a huge shift in my thinking to remove dairy and replace it with alt milks. It was an emotional shift, however, as I was consuming so much milk (we estimated maybe 1L/day), especially in my coffee and tea, with a late night warm Milo if I was having trouble sleeping (read: having milk withdrawls). I knew this would be the one I would be craving when I eliminated it. So I just allowed myself to have my morning coffee with milk, or one cappuccino instead of a latte. I was weaning myself off it.

But when I realised that no egg/milk/wheat meant “nothing pre-made at the store unless I’m very lucky,” I went out and bought myself cookbooks. I found recipes online. I got EXCITED about food substitutions, and treated it like a game or a challenge. I knew that my reward would be health!

But this reaction was so foreign to my parents, with their “forbidden foods” and guilt trips. Suddenly, after about two or three days, they got overly proud of me… I think they realised that I’d probably been pretty sick for quite a long time, probably for about fifteen years, maybe longer. Maybe it’s more like twenty years, and those cute little rosy red cheeks were symptoms of histamine flashing around my system, and maybe that’s why I had appendicitis (this is purely speculation, don’t try to tell me that this isn’t how it works. All I’m saying is that this could have been lurking in me for a very long time). So Dad decided to provide me with $100 for “new pantry” food, and bought me some extra bits and pieces for the kitchen. Also because I “stole” one of his saucepans and he wants it back

So it’s nice to know that, simply by having a good attitude to this change, I’m inspiring my parents, and they’re recognising that I need some “inspiration” and reassurance, too. It’s nice to know they’re proud of who I am and how I live my life