The official Rotation Diet (still being written)

Here is what I eat.  This is why when someone asks me on Day 3 if I want to get shrimp I can't do it.  The idea of the diet is that I never eat the same food more than once in a 4 day rotation.  The foods are specific to each day.  There are some ingredients that I'll add to another day, but I try to keep this to a minimum.  My allergist wants me to increase my Omega 9 fatty acids and prescribed more "cold" olive oil on veggies, salads, etc...  While olive oil is technically only listed on Day 2 I'll still add some extra olive oil if it works with a particular dish on a different day.  

Day one is easy enough, but it gets boring.  In trying to find an alternative or addition to eggs for breakfast I happened upon Applegate Farms and their amazing chicken breakfast sausages in maple and sage.  Just recently I've added the smoothie with Sunflower Dream milk so I have even more options for breakfast.

Day 2 - When I first started the rotation I swear it was the day that I lost the most weight on.  Finding stuff to eat felt like a challenge I didn't have the energy to overcome.  Then I started using hemp milk and hemp flour and started trying out different fish on the list.  And then it's like the heavens opened up in the middle of the freezer isle at Whole Foods and I discovered Hemp & Sage burgers.  I managed to get the Merc in Lawrence  to start carrying them, too.  

Day 3

Day 4

I take a shit ton of vitamins....

Here's an upload of my allergy list.

 To my surprise not all vitamins can be taken at once.  There are some pretty specific directions on when to take a vitamin or what to take it with to ensure the body absorbs it correctly.  If you know me well you know you probably know from first hand knowledge that I'm not a directions reader and when I'm being given physical directions I'm probably zoning out even though I sound like I'm writing the shit down.  Luckily for me I can usually just google the directions and never have to admit that I was never really paying attention - why I don't just stop them and ask for an address I'll never be completely sure.  With assembly or vitamin directions, though, I tend to jump without looking.  Sure, it's a gamble.  Some times it works out and other times it's a giant, fucking disaster. In fact, most times I'm jumping into something I have limited knowledge with - like attaching spring hinges on a hutch - and the disaster is most assuredly epically shittastic.  And I manage to do it way more often than I'd like to admit because sometimes it does work out and those few times make it all worth it.

I've decided to just Google "when is the best time to take...." and have been going from there.  Again, to my surprise, I've been taking a few of my vitamins incorrectly.  Ummm, for a few years.  This time, though, Imma do it right.  For one, now that I'm on my rotation diet my body seems to respond more efficiently to the vitamins.  For two, I spend way too much money on vitamins to not be using them correctly.  For three, as a well educated person I should just know better.  If this was just a simple Flintstones multivitamin I probably wouldn't be as committed to educating myself.

When I first found out what vitamins I needed to take I didn't completely think it through before I started ordering using a best value strategy.  With Puritan's Pride massive sales - buy 2 get 241 free!!! - I thought I was doing good by getting so many of my vitamins in one place at such great prices.  Though, I had so may vitamins it looked like I was part of a vitamin pyramid scheme and bought way more than I would ever be able to actually sell.  AFTER THE FACT, I realized most of the vitamins I'd purchased and had already begun using contained ingredients that I was allergic to.  For instance, most gelatin capsules are made from gelatin - otherwise known as animal jelly from the innards of bovine or piggies, blechhhh - and even stupid veggie capsules can be off limits if they're made out of soy.  So I started looking for dry forms of vitamins if I couldn't find them in gel or capsule form made out of aloe or some other material I wasn't allergic to.  If they didn't have a dry version I tried to find an oil version.  Unsure about which oil was the "best" I checked online chat boards and comments sections which, typically, confused me even more.

I finally came to the realization that concessions were going to have to be made after spending countless hours trying to find vitamins in forms that just didn't exist.  I even called my allergist to find out what I should do about getting my Omegas because all I was really finding was fish oil that contained fish I was allergic to or contained lemon, gelatin, or even soy.  My allergist didn't give me any magic advice and pretty much agreed that I was just going to have to try to get by with what's available.

Then I found out about bioavailability and food based vitamins and I realized I needed to rethink my buying strategy yet again.  Luckily using a number of variables like the bioavailability factor, being food based, and price, I've finally found a grouping of vitamins that come from respectable companies and they seem to be working their own kind of magic.  I'll post what vitamins I take in another post because there are a lot and I've got a schedule for taking them.  This process gets a little more complicated with each layer of the onion that gets peeled away, though, every time I make a discovery or find some new piece of useful advice I am glad that I've been given the opportunity to make my body that much healthier.


L-Tyrosine should be taken on an empty stomach.  Depending on how much is prescribed - I'm currently supposed to take 500 mg per day - the easiest time is first thing in the morning.

Vitamin A, E, D and K are all fat soluble and so need to be eaten with fatty meals.  My bfasts don't usually have that much fat which means I have to stagger my giant fistful of vitamins in the morning.

Sunfilled smoothie (day 1 breakfast option)

This one was incredibly easy.  2 bananas (or how ever many you want to add) and about 4 cups of Sunflower Dream milk - I wanted to add papaya but couldn't find any at a local grocery store.  Add some ice and blend.  No need to add sugar or much of anything else.

In an effort to eat things that represent how I want to feel or that reinforce how I'm feeling I felt like ingesting something sunny might help brighten my mood.  While this recipe alone made me appreciative of the growing options for food I can eat, I was still kind of stuck reminiscing about how last few weeks kicked my ass.  The ass kicking wasn't a gentle nudge with the tip of a shoe or playful punch to the shoulder it felt like an all out war against my spirit.  It was a beat down for sure.  I am well aware that many say struggle is good and without some discomfort there is no real reason to change or be proactive about life.  And I believe that, wholeheartedly.  I just felt like I couldn't do much of anything right.  I felt like I was fumbling my life.  It all felt like a painful and bad joke - I felt like Samantha James (Anna Farris) in Just Friends when her plane catches on fire and, keeping with her idiot character, starts yelling out Ashton Kutcher's name thinking that she's been punked.  That's how I've felt from sunup to sundown.  After working so hard to stop focusing and obsessing over the bullshit things that happen, I'm right back in that nasty place where I say fuck way more than I should, and I get to the rage stage far too often and far too easily.  After all is said and done I feel chewed up and thrown out.  Thouh, any anger that arises is usually quickly followed by tears and sadness.  Which is followed then by being pissed about getting caught up in that shitty part of ego and Tolles' calls the pain body.  I'm getting stuck in a place that is depressing and annoying.  

The whole thing is cyclical.  Some days I'd get a win, start to feel like my head's back above water and then I find myself stepping in some giant pile of shit that at times was placed on purpose or another person puts some shit down and I get in trouble for putting it there, I challenge that accusation with irrefutable evidence, and then I'm taken off the hook but never apologized to for being accused and put in the hot seat unnecessarily in the first place.  I hate feeling sorry for myself and I try to make every bad situation into a learning lesson or put some positive, polly-fucking-anna spin on it.  For the most part this usually works and I can laugh my way back into a happy place.  Buuuut, I just couldn't get enough inertia to get my spin to pull the situation around.  My mom's simple advice tonight was to get past the negative and focus on the positive. I figure after she spent so many hours in labor with me I at least owe the woman the respect of giving her motherly advice the old college try.  

On that positive side I was thrilled to know that the smoothie was fantastic.  I said my thanks for having a new option come my way and began working on drying out my ipod that got wet today when I went swimming.  Another win for the weekend was yesterday when I went to see my allergist I found out that I'm 12 pounds lighter than when I last saw him a few months ago.  After spending 12 hours in KC yesterday spending a large portion of that time grocery shopping I now have a full pantry, fridge and freezer.  I'm also just 708 days - roughly- away from ridding my body of the allergic reactions to all of these foods.  The days breakdown like this - it takes 6 months to remove all traces of a food from our bodies and then up to 2 or 3 years to get the body to stop the allergic reactions.  I'm hoping those first few months are like time served so then technically I only have another year and a half until I can eat lasagna or a burger or a steak or a baked potato with sour cream.  Jesus, the more I look at the stuff I'm cutting out of my diet the more I realize all of that food is probably not a good choice for optimum health, anyway.  

Where will I be when I reach the end??  

Monk Fish and Sea Urchin over rice noodles (day 3)

Initially we went to Seafood Thyme for fresh Tilapia - my usual go to dish that doesn't require much preparation to make it taste fantastic.  I noticed a nasty pile of Monk Fish - it's a day 3 food - and asked Tressie to give me a run down.  She said it's considered the poor man's lobster, it's firm and holds together even while being grilled. She had me at the lobster part.

I rubbed just a little bit of corn oil and sprinkled just a little bit of sea salt on it before I steamed it for about 10-15 minutes.  I used my ninja cooker and made Notta pasta rice noodles  along with the fish.  The piece de resistance was the four pieces from the sea urchin that I bought at the Merc in Lawrence last weekend.  The guy in the seafood department told me to cut the top with sharp scissors.  I couldn't find any shears that were sharp enough so I took out my Wustof knife prepared to open that urchin up.  I sawed - for lack of a better word - until I realized that knife wasn't doing anything.  I finally started just pulling the shell from the middle and breaking pieces off  and then took a really small spoon to dig out the meat - it's the orange pieces that look kind of like tongues.

I ate the pieces in conjunction with the monk fish and dipped it in some melted  Earth Balance soy free butter - normally I'm supposed to only eat butter on my Day 4 but I was eager to try out my poor man's lobster with some butter.  I went through the urchin pretty quickly and it was divine.  The Monk fish was also pretty fantastic.  It's about 1.5 grams of fat per serving and while its raw appearance is pretty nasty, once cooked it's become a gorgeous white, firm fish.  The rice noodles added a little something extra , though, any past would probably have been a tasty addition.

Easy a$$ recipes

Because they really are easy ass recipes to boo they're also tasty and inexpensive.

Butternut squash soup - peel and cut up a butternut squash, in a medium sauce pan boil the squash. If you want to add some additional flavor add some onions and salt. When the squash is soft, pour out the water and add then put it in the Ninja and blend to a soup's consistency. If you want to give it a little more fat or taste add extra olive oil before you puree. Serve immediately or store in the fridge to heat up and eat the next day. This is one of my favorites.


Tapioca and coconut milk

A new beet -
Peel carrots, fresh beets and cut up. Add them to boiling water in medium sauce pan. When they are soft, pour out the water. Add frozen pees, dill and a little salt. It's actually a filling meal especially with a bean blizzard.

Bean blizzard -
My favorite beans to mix are kidney, garbanzo and pinto beans. Mix the beans first take whatever amount from the mix and add to the ninja. Mix briefly then add a little water. Continue mixing until the consistency is smooth or to taste. I usually add a little tahini, lime and salt before blending. This can be eaten as a side or you can mix in some baked chicken.

Topeoka (tapioca)
I can't eat the quick prepare tapioca so I have to make it from scratch. My favorite brand is and can be found at Whole Foods and the health food store here in Topeka at 21st and Washburn. The easiest recipe I've found is

Pumpcakes (pumpkin pancakes allergen free)

I love these pancakes!!!  Because of the pumpkin i put them on my Day 2 diet, though, with all of the extra flours it becomes a bit of a stretch - I figure if I only eat these once in awhile I'm not totally screwing up the balance that the rotation diet is intended to construct.  This recipe is from a number of other recipes i found on the internet and I've altered certain ingredients to make it allergen free for me.  

1/2 c sorghum flour

1/2 c rice flour

1/2 c tapioca flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp pumpkin spice - I left this out and instead used several teaspoons of vanilla

1/2 tsp salt

2 tbs spoons sugar - I substituted with palm sugar

6 heaping tablespoons of pumpkin puree - I bought the organic, unsweetened kind

2 tbsp butter- I used olive oil instead

1 cup water or nut milk - I used coconut milk instead

1 egg - egg powder substitute can also be used

I think the original recipe said to mix everything separately but I just threw it all in the same container.  You can make A LOT of alterations to this recipe like using cinnamon or using earth balance butter (it's soy and dairy free).  You can add pecans or other tasties that you think would work in this recipe.  Cook these like you would cook regular pancakes and serve.  Buen provecho!!

Eureka!!! Vinegar free mustard and tomato and vinegar free ketchup

Mustard without vinegar

2tsp dry mustard

1 cup water

3 teaspoons arrowroot

¼ teaspoon turmeric

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon unbuffered Vitamin C crystals

Combine dry mustard and water in a saucepan and allow to stand for 10 minutes, stir in the arrowroot, turmeric and salt and heat the mixture over medium heat stirring often until it thickens and boils.  Stir in the Vitamin C crystals and refrigerate the mustard.  (The consistency is a little more like pudding than mustard)

Vinegar free mustard!!!!

Ketchup

1 can of beets drained

1 can of carrots, drained

2 tbs fresh lime juice (alternative to vinegar)

1/4 cup water

2-3 tbsp oregano

1.5 tbsp garlic powder

2-3 tbsp basil

2 tsp sugar - I use palm sugar instead because cane sugar sets off yeast more aggressively

Puree everything in a food processor or blener and refrigerate.  This can be used as ketchup or even as a base to switch out conventional marinara.   

Yogrit by Tia Nia (day 2 delight!!!)

Considering the many alterations I've had to make to MULTIPLE recipes that I found on the internet, I think I've finally found a starting place for future yogurt made at home.  The best part of this?  The whole thing for me is allergy free. Hells yeah!!!  No more having to worry about pectin!!!

My day 2 allows for hemp and tapioca so I made a special batch made of exactly these 2 things - I can either add it to my Avoguava hemp smoothie or eat by itself.  For other days I simply alter the recipe.

The recipe
The ratio:
1 heaping tbsp of tapioca flour or arrowroot for every 2 cups of nondairy milk
 - you can also use Agar Agar or even arrowroot.  The tapioca flour is the cheapest I think.
Whisk the above together - for tapioca be sure to whisk until the flour no longer clumps
Put in a sauce pan - I use a medium sized one because I only do a few cups of milk at a time.  Adjust the size for the amount of milk used.
Heat the mixture to 180 degrees or until it starts to boil and the bubbling starts to build up.
Remove from the heat and let cool to 110 or below - this took maybe 45 minutes, and a skin forms on the top.
Once it's at the cooled temp, add in the culture starter - be sure the yogurt has cooled to at least 110 degrees otherwise the cultures will not survive the heat.
Put in jars and place in the yogurt maker.
Leave in the machine for at least 8 hours - leave in for longer if you're wanting a more sour taste.  When it tastes the way you want it to, place in the fridge and let it set.  From what I've read this yogurt will last 5 to 8 days.

I did a lot of research on culture starters.  If you can have dairy or if pectin isn't an issue then you can always go to the store and buy some yogurt then take some from that yogurt to start the culture.  Pectin is typically made from lemons, apples, oranges or a mixture of a whole bunch of fruits and as luck would painfully have it I'm allergic to just about everything that pectin is made from and so I try to avoid that mess like the plague. The starter I finally decided on was GI Prostart - the website is below - and really liked it because it's dairy free and also free of soy, wheat, etc.....  It's kind of expensive and they have to ship it in a cold pack, but ultimately if it means I have more freedom to make yogurt then I'm willing to spend some extra cash.

http://www.giprohealth.com/giprostart.aspx

Jicama with lotus root (day 3 recipe)

Day 3 is one of my favorite days.  It sounds ridiculous but I love this day because I get to put yummy rice milk in my coffee AND I eat a giant bowl of popcorn for breakfast.  Lunch usually consists of buffalo cooked with green salsa, water chestnuts, bamboo, and sweet corn, all over rice noodles.  Yummers for sure.

Dinner gets a little more complicated or boring depending on my mood.  One dish that I've discovered and is honestly one of my favorites consists of the following

1 peeled jicama - depending on how much you want to eat - cut into long square sections (shaped like french fries)
a handful of lotus root pieces
2 tbs avocado oil or rice oil or corn oil

Heat the oil up then throw in the jicama and lotus root.  Stir frequently until the jicama becomes soft but firm. The whole thing takes less than 20 minutes to put together and it's delicious.  Lotus root absorbs flavor yet still holds onto a unique taste of it's own.  It's kind of like a potato, but so much better - kind of chewy but crunchy too.  If you don't want to use the entire jicama you can always save a part of it for desert or a snack later on and add palm sugar or a lime chili powder to it and eat it raw.  Mexico City made me fall in love with jicama while I lived there so being able to use it within my rotation diet makes me very happy.

Both veggies are touted as rooting vegetables and so eating foods like this can be extremely helpful during those times when I'm needing some help grounding.  I spend A LOT of time in the upper chakras which, without fail, leads to significant imbalances both emotionally and physically.

While this rotation diet can honestly be a giant, expensive pain in my ass, it has also forced me to look at how foods affect me on the whole and how important it is to know what I'm eating.  Maintaining that awareness throughout the day can't be exhausting, though, the payoffs are well worth the extra hoops I'm jumping through if it means I'm healthier.

It's a yeast feast in my body (Oregano oil - go buy some!!!)

I've got 167 days to go until I hit my 6 month mark for clearing allergens from my system.  In the past when I've committed myself to staying on the rotation I start out strong, the wind at my back, and I am determined to murder these allergies.  Then something triggers my evil side and the level of frustration and being pissed off reach epic proportions.  At that point I manage to justify getting a beer and pizza.

As with previous starts to the rotation diet, this time when I could feel angry Andreana approaching I tried increasing my anxiety meds and even added a few, tried meditating, tried talking to my therapist, tried stuffing myself with foods that I'm not allergic to (but still taste really good), and tried a sweat lodge.  Nothing cured my nerves which pissed me off even more.

During one of my recent episodes I remembered a conversation I had with the woman who originally turned me on to my allergist. She warned me that within the first few days of starting the rotation I might find myself craving sugar like never before, be moody and ridiculously emotional. According to her the strong reactions were due to yeast dying a long, painful death and ultimately screaming out for SUGAR!!!!  According to her, the aggravation and cravings were yeasts final call to action - a last ditch attempt to continue living in my body being fed by my love of carbs and Pepsi.  She suggested I take either grape seed oil or oil of oregano which help to kill the yeast.


Remembering her advice and in a last ditch effort last night to bring down the intensity I downed 40 drops of oil of oregano mixed with some water.  In the past I've usually done taken the oil along with doing a cleanse, though, this time I either forgot or just got lazy.  Within a few hours I felt like a giant "bite me!!" had been lifted from my back, the hateful thoughts started to retreat back into the shadows, and I didn't feel like I wanted to rip my skin off any longer.

Today, I'm feeling MUCH better - unlike my symptoms with PMDD, today I haven't swung to the other extreme.  I feel normal and confident that taking the Oregano oil did one of 2 things - took care of the louder yeast beasts or in just taking it the placebo affect radically adjusted my nasty attitude.  What's best about getting rid of the yeast, though, is that I don't bloat as easily and I don't look pregnant when I'm naked.



Here's a link to some of the other uses for Oregano Oil: http://www.naturalnews.com/024685_oregano_oil_of.html
My friend Ann also suggested grapeseed oil as a means of eradicating yeast - I actually started off with grapeseed until I found out that I'm allergic to grapes (probably due to the thousands of glasses and bottles of wine I drank on a daily basis).  Regardless, I think knowing about Oregano oil would probably be helpful for anyone going off carbs or anyone wanting to get rid of the yeast in their body.

The "homemades" and here we go again, for reals...

It's been way too long since I last wrote in here.  I was so ready to attack my allergies, invest several years to getting rid of this huge nuissance, and then life happened.  I just got overwhelmed with finally living on my own again - I rented a house! then had to deal with an expensive water bill from a toilet that was always running, a leaky basement, and a GIANT heating bill due to a window being broken that I didn't discover until AFTER several months of freezing temps and snow.  To add insult to injury, my overtime ended and the money spigot got shut off real quick.  And my landlord ended up being shady as shit.  Looking back that whole time I was struggling to be independent again and self sufficient.  Before moving back to Kansas and living with my dad, I had lived with a man for 2 1/2 years.  Without getting into an entirely new topic, living alone was not what I had bargained for.  The house was a piece of shit and I was lonely.  To fill that void?  Drinking and eating regardless of the damage and pain I was inflicting on myself.

Nearly 2 1/2 years later and I'm back to where I started.  I'm at the tail end of day 1 in my 2nd rotation.  I've got 170 days until my 6 months are up - from there I do blood tests and then prepare for 1 1/2 more years of the rotation diet or at least until my body stops having allergic reactions to so many freaking foods.

In trying to add some variety to my diet I'm always on the lookout for things that use milk substitutes like yogurt made with coconut milk or almond milk.  Oh look!  There's finally an option that doesn't contain milk or soy!!!  Yay!!  The back of the damn container tells a story that isn't so yay, though.  This yay f'ing yogurt is made with pectin.  Pectin is the bain of my existence.  Er, one of the bains.  (Holy shit, is that even a word?)  Pectin is typically made with apples.  I'm allergic to apples.  If I eat the almond milk yogurt I'm reintroducing apple into my body which makes weeks or months of no apples in my system completely worthless.  I can see my weird, needs to clear his throat BADLY allergist wooking at me and saywing "wewll, the cwock stahts over."  Son of a turd.

Pectin, citric acid (no, this shit is NOT from lemons or citric fruits), celery salt, whey.  At this point in my life I genuinely hate these ingredients or additives.  I'm an obsessive label reader - I hate looking at labels when other people are around though because I feel like they're looking at me thinking I'm looking at fat and calorie content, I realize I need to lose weight but my rotation diet is not a diet to lose weight, it's a diet to rid my body of allergens and allergic reactions.  Jesus, writing that out and admitting it is kind of refreshing but also a little mad.  Oh, weird hangups, you keep me entertained especially when I'm talking to myself about them.

I digress.  I use more amaranth than I ever thought I would - I didn't even know this wonderful grain even existed until these stupid allergies appeared.  Regardless, a bag of Amaranth flour can be pricey so I always thought about making my own.  I read a blog post about how to make flour at home and how easy it is.  Whoever wrote that shit is either stupid or cruel.  I was at TJMaxx a few months ago and picked up a bag of Amaranth seeds - what a bargain at $5.99!!! - and now that I'm comitted to this rotation again I decided it was time to test out the recipe.  Holy Jesus.  I'm still not done blending a cup of the seeds and I started last night.  I decided to give my blender another day of rest and moved onto homemade yogurt.

I've been researching the yogurt for some time and even bought a yogurt maker.  I couldn't find an exact recipe that utilized a yogurt maker - pictures of a goddamn crockpot stuffed with jars and towels has created a screwed up conditioned response of rage, like I can't even stay on the page.  I can't use a store bought yogurt starter because it either has dairy or it's going to have pectin.  I have to pretty much use substitutes all over the place - tapioca flour for thickening or arrowroot flour- and a $35 bottle of live culture.  While I hate that these allergies make my life so f'ed up, I will admit they have opened a new world of food and healthy living.  The fact that I know pretty much everything that goes into my body - foodwise, k?- makes for a healthier body.   So here we go.  I'm making almond milk in 2 jars and 2 jars of hemp milk yogurt.  I'll post the recipe and how it turned out in my next post.  Wish me luck.