What to eat

"What am I going to eat?" Usually a question I ask while peering into the recesses of the refrigerator, but a question that took on a whole new meaning for us this past week. We went to the allergist Tuesday and after a screaming, thrashing ordeal drew three vials of blood in order to do food allergy testing. The doctor tested for ten different foods, all of the most common allergens plus cashews, almonds, and rice. Friday the nurse called and said the doctor wanted to speak to me. As I sat waiting on hold, I thought to myself that Daniel must be allergic to something, because if he wasn't, the nurse would have just told me.

When the doctor started talking, I found out that Daniel was allergic to eight of the ten foods the doctor tested for: peanuts, cashews, milk, eggs, wheat, almonds, soy, and rice. I've never even heard of anybody who is allergic to rice! The only two foods we tested that he wasn't allergic to were fish and shellfish. I sat there stunned and tried to ask a few intelligent questions. I confirmed that since I'm still nursing Daniel, I would need to eliminate all of the same foods. When I hung up the phone, I felt like a deflated balloon.

Philosophically, I'm always for whole foods and making meals from scratch, but realistically, I'm tired, and sometimes, I just want to pop a frozen pizza in the oven for dinner. Unfortunately, the list of forbidden foods could easily be the ingredient list for any American convenience food I could think of. Pizza? Obviously not. Sandwiches? Nope. Hot Dogs? Maybe without the bun? Can't have that either. Fast Food? Restaurants? A minefield waiting for an allergic reaction to happen. I was overwhelmed. Completely, utterly, absolutely overwhelmed.

Once I finally emerged from the initial shock, I decided I needed to take action. Specifically, I needed to make a list. So I listed all the foods that we could have. It looked like the world's healthiest diet, except for the bacon. Tons of veggies, seafood, all kinds of meats, fruits, and obscure grains like millet and quinoa (so obscure that blogger's spell check doesn't recognize the word "quinoa"). Olive oil, grape seed oil, canola oil. Well, I have been trying to lose weight...