A few weeks ago I did a huge food allergy test, the Cyrex Panel #10, to see what I was really allergic/reacting to. Originally I had planned to do Panel #4 for gluten cross-reactivity but didn’t want to have to eat some gluten-free bread to challenge my system first so Dr. Keller recommended this test instead plus it covers way more foods than the cross-reactivity test. I cared most about a few foods – eggs, coffee, chocolate and rice, all of which are on the cross-reactive test too but also nightshades and some other things that were also covered on the Panel #10. I had been trying to test some of these foods using the Bulletproof FoodDetective app on my iPhone but results seemed kind of inconclusive using the heart rate change test.
I got my results back on Saturday and they were interesting and, for the most part, made sense to me. First, what am I fairly reactive to:
- Almonds – I had a feeling about this one and stopped almond milk/flour products about six months ago
- Cashews – I never did handle these well ever since getting SIBO so this makes sense too
- Peanuts – gave these up when I gave up legumes so I haven’t tried them in over a year
- Hazelnuts – good-bye Nutella, oh well
- Cooked broccoli – I have a hard time buying this one, I seem to eat it OK
- Lemon & Lime – what???? Again, I seem to handle these but only do a small amount of juice really. There go margaritas, even NorCal ones.
- Cooked Tuna – no biggie, I get plenty of good non-mercury filled fish
- Various gums – I’ve given these up too since they are all bacteria food and really high FODMAP. Again, not a big deal for me.
- Yogurt – kind of knew this one.
- Pinto Beans – again no big deal, I’ve given up on legumes anyway.
Weird were some of the borderline foods, things I eat pretty much every day:
- Carrots, cooked – I’m wondering if this is just from eating so many of these over the last year.
- Okra, cooked – no big deal, wasn’t a huge okra fan to start with and it is too mucilaginous for me anyway.
- Potato, white cooked – no big deal, I really don’t want potatoes
- Pumpkin & Squash, cooked – like carrots, I eat these almost daily
- Yam & Sweet Potato, cooked – been eating some of these too, not as much.
Otherwise I’m pretty clear on everything else including eggs, coffee and chocolate. So may plan now is to slowly add a few more foods in my diet and see how I do with them, specifically nightshades. I’ve been eating eggs again kind of regularly but not daily, more like 2-3x a week. I had some tomato last week and seemed OK with it so this week I’m adding back in some eggplant. Peppers will be next which I’ve also had in small quantities here and there, there will be venison chili soon on the menu. Rice is a tough one, I thought about adding in a bit of white jasmine rice to help with increasing carbs a bit and keep my weight up so I can run, it is part of the Paleo Diet for Athletes suggestion and Dr. Siebecker also recommends it for a lot of people who have weight issues. I’m going to give it a while before I try it though, I’d rather focus on adding in more veggies and fruits first and go there later. I also may be OK with goat milk so am planning on trying that at some point in the future too. I know it isn’t Paleo but it is Primal but I want my gut to heal a bit more before I attempt it.
Since finding my weight at 152.6 on Saturday morning I started what I’m calling Operation Feed Bag. I’m back to tracking calories in and am shooting for 3500 per day. I’ve been pretty good so far for the last 3 days and have actually put on 4.25 lbs since then. I haven’t run now in about 10 days but am still lifting. If I can get back up around 157 I’ll add in running and try to also keep my calories way up and see if I can maintain weight, if not then maybe the rice will come into play or try adding some other high carb thing like plantain to my diet.