My GI System Hates Me - part three: What CAN she eat?

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Note: This post is pretty old so almost all of my intolerances have changed! If you're curious, be sure to send me an email, however, hopefully I can do an updated post sometime soon!

If you've read part one: suspecting gluten was a problem and part two: eliminating gluten you'd also know that I have many other food intolerances. When most people hear my story they generally wonder what on earth I can eat - don't worry, it seems a lot worse than it is. 

First off, let's start with what I can't eat:

• Gluten
• Soy (the exception here is small amount of soy lecithin)
• Sulphur 
• Acidic foods (citrus, tomatoes, berries, stone fruit etc)
• Spicy foods (chilli, capsicum/bell peppers etc)
• Pears (yes, the most hypo-allergenic fruit) 
• Celery 
• Legumes/Lentils (chickpeas, beans etc)
• High fat foods (oils, butter, too much coconut etc) 

I think that's it.. sometimes even I can't remember the whole list. I'll be telling someone what I can't eat and my sister will pipe up with "Oh and xxxx" or my mum will add "you can't eat xxx either Kristy!" I'm sure if I've missed something, they'll leave a comment or tell me. Truth be known, I just added high fat foods because I forgot.

Now.. you're probably once again asking the question of what can she eat? - don't worry, I get it all the time. One thing I make sure I tell anyone who is feeling sorry is that.. It's all good, I can still eat peanut butter! If I couldn't eat peanut butter, it'd be a whole different story!

My food intolerances are worst for those around me than they are for myself. My family and friends hate when they're all enjoying something and they know I can't - it's especially hard for Jesse.

I cope with this by making sure I eat whatever "normal" foods I can and making meals that we can all enjoy. This means introducing quinoa to my family and making meals and baked goods that we can all enjoy, sharing "normal" foods that I can eat like popcorn and chocolate pudding. Chocolate pudding is my guilty pleasure love (if you've never put peanut butter in chocolate pudding, please for the love of all that is good go do it!)

I eat a lot of nuts, nut butters, cheese and avocado in order to get my fat levels up in a way that my body can tolerate. The general rule is; if it doesn't have peanut butter/nuts/nut butter on it, it'll have cheese.

I don't know if I could eat meat or seafood because I simply don't and never have. I eat small amounts of chicken with dinner, but I prefer to get my protein from other sources - especially nuts/nut butters, dairy products (especially cottage cheese and yogurt), oatmeal, quinoa, peanut flour, chia seed, flaxseed etc. I've recently found that I can tolerate eggs, however, I've never eaten them simply because I don't like the taste - but I use them in my ricotta cheesecakes. 

As for carbohydrates, they're obviously all gluten free. For dinner, I switch between quinoa, coral red rice and gluten free pastas (buckwheat is my favourite). For breakfast I buy gluten free cereals (both from iHerb and the grocery store) and gluten free oatmeal/hot cereal and I also make breakfast bakes or pancakes with gluten free ingredients.

I can eat bananas and apples (thankfully my favourite fruits) and I eat a lot of them, as well as carrots, cucumbers and avocados. I'm also addicted to dates, raisins and sulphur-free dried apples which I thankfully have no problems with! I can also eat blueberries (but no other berries) so they make a regular appearance, too! While I can't eat jams because I can't find blueberry jam without lemon juice, I love date spread.

My diet probably sounds a lot worse to you than it actually is. It seems terrible, but it just means that I have to be more creative than the average person. I amaze my family and friends with what I can eat with so many intolerances and I rarely eat the same thing two days in a row. I am always coming up with delicious combinations (like goats cheese and nutella - to die for) and my gluten free recipes and baked goods are my saving grace!

As much as I'd love to eat a ham and cheese croissant or devour a whole tomato sprinkled with salt and pepper - I know how sick those foods makes me so I really don't want them that bad. It's taken some adjustment to accept my diet the way it is currently, but I'm hopeful that at least my food intolerances may change in the future.

Read the rest of My GI System Hates Me here

So tell me, what's your favourite food? 

I couldn't pick a favourite but I love peanut butter, bananas, apples and carrots probably more than any other foods :P