Welcome to Hardhead's elimination diet!

[Elidor]

Three weeks ago I developed food allergies from hell. This is my new diet:

Breakfast: oatmeal
Lunch: salad
Dinner: oatmeal or rice

Because this is a strict diet, penalties are severe:
1st offense: your hands will become covered with angry red welts and will itch like mad all day and night
2nd offense: severe chest pain and/or abdominal cramps
3rd offense: your throat will become too sore to swallow and will begin swelling shut. Additionally, your brain will begin to slowly shut down, leaving you confused and irritable.

I haven't gotten to the fourth offense yet, but I just learned that my expensive new Epi-Pen epinephrine injector contains SULFITES! One of the main suspects on my allergy list! Joy! In case of medical emergency, please do yourself in, then report to the hospital.

I did have a yam today. And it didn't kill me. And it was the best damn yam that's ever been eaten in the history of the world.

But I cannot eat ANY-damn-THING else. Every other day I go into a reaction. Bread. Peanuts. Bananas. Pork. Eggs. Soy. Chocolate. Bacon. Beef. Anything from a bag or a can or a freezer. Anything from a restaurant. Anything at ALL! Except oatmeal, rice and raw spinach with olive oil. AAAAGH!!! Okay, I'm better now.

[Lars39]

1. Good grief!

I hope things straighten out soon for you. :hug:

[LynzM]

2. HH, that sucks, dude

I'm sorry you're going through it.

A suggestion: you could look up recipes intended for mothers who are breastfeeding and have allergy-prone or food-sensitive babies. There is a LOT of information out there on how to cook without X, Y, Z, and Q... if you want, I can find you some links. Any idea what brought this all on?

[Elidor]

5. The funny thing is, I'm an excellent cook

I delight in cooking. And I've learned a great deal about food allergies recently and how to accommodate them. But I think what started it all was too much chablis. I've always been sensitive to wine, and I overdid it. Now all preservatives are like poison. It's just bee-zarre.

[hickman1937]

3. Can you eat garlic?

One of my favorite things is olive oil, garlic, and spinach, slow cooked on the stove.

[Elidor]

4. Oh, man, I LOVE garlic!

I can't get enough of it. I could even eat garlic ice cream, if there is such a thing. But I haven't dared try it. I'll put it on my list of things to try.

[hickman1937]

6. Just be careful. Go slow.

Water chestnuts thrown in make it a meal. I think that I forgot to add that you need to put some hot water in the skillet after you fry the garlic in the olive oil and just before you put the spinach in.