The Reluctant Raw Foodist
"I used to be a' foodie' and now I am a "foodist'"
Welcome to my health and wellbeing blog.
I’m not a raw foodist by choice. I was recently diagnosed as having a complicated autoimmune condition including severe Histamine Intolerance and a form of reactive arthritis. I have become hypersensitive to high histamine foods, pollen, dust and some everyday chemicals. My condition affects every area of my life.
I have Mast Cell Activation Disease (MCAD).
I was prescribed a low histamine diet and then a raw food diet to ease my symptoms and over the past 2 years I have overcome my reluctance to a new way of eating and living. I have been experimenting to combine the two diets and I have been learning how to eat a diet comprising mainly of low histamine raw fruit and vegetables and how to change the habits of a life time.
I am starting to feel healthier than I have ever been before. I have also lost 35 lbs in weight.
I will be sharing with you how I got here and I'll be exploring low histamine raw recipes, natural beauty products, how to cope with being "allergic to everything" and generally how to regain health and fitness and live life to the full despite my unusual condition!
Please feel free to message me with any suggestions, questions, or comments. I'd love to hear from you!
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These are some ads for where I buy my coconut water and stuff like that :
As soon as I get on a plane I fall asleep. It seems as though my brain cuts out. I think I react to the air pressure/ air conditioning. The air stewards usually cannot wake me. I also cannot cope with the smell of strong perfume as my body starts to go into shock. I can have a problem on air conditioned trains but at least I can switch seats to avoid perfume. I have had my things stolen from me on trains in the past as I was so deeply asleep I did not notice. My condition is better now that I do not eat high histamine, triggering foods. Maybe air travel is a thing of the past for me? Pros and cons….
Hmm thinking about whether to try again and see….
Yum! Let’s share these!
If you are not affected by histamine then you take red and I will take blue/black :))
(via vegfreak)
This all sounds like what I call chemical sensitivity. All sorts of smells can make me feel very ill. My mast cells respond to what I am smelling so that I flush, get hot, feel sick, start to itch, my throat constricts, joints suddenly hurt, my headaches etc etc …. even those smells I used to love, such as perfume, can now do this to me.
I think sometimes when people used see me turn away smell of alcohol (which I used to drink) or to cigarette smoke they may have read into it that I was censuring them. Since my chemical sensitivity has become more acute and i show physical signs of reaction it is easier to see that I am, in fact, reacting to the smell itself .
People can be really rude about allergies, but I’ve noticed it’s ridiculous with alcohol allergies. Is it a cultural thing or something?
anonplz.
I’m the same way with smoke. I don’t tolerate it when other people smoke around me, and I don’t care if it’s tobacco, marijuana, or grass from your front lawn.
I wish I could eat strawberries x
(via ourlittlelovechild)
My list of symptoms was long and I had a myriad of tests over the years:
Symptoms I have had:
headaches, muzzy head, brain fog, sudden throat constriction, reflux, swollen lips, sore scalp, freezing painful fingers and toes, feeling cold without warning , feeling very hot without warning, sudden crippling joint pain especially over night or after drinking alcohol, sudden prickling pains in my knees and feet, red swollen painful joints, high rheumatoid factor, painful ear lobes - so sore I can scream, sudden large mouth ulcers, swollen tongue, dizziness, feeling faint/ fainting, vertigo, asthma like breathing, low blood pressure, sweats, diarrhoea, sickness, stomach pains, anxiety, heart pounding, heart missing beats, choking while asleep, choking while eating, anaphylaxis, cold shakes, weight gain, skin rashes, itchy skin, dry swollen eyes, narcolepsy type symptoms where I suddenly fall asleep anywhere, hair loss/bald patches, etc the list goes on and on.
It was Dirk Budka that actually showed me they were all down largely to the same condition.
Well, I didn’t understand what I had to do at first so it has take some trial and error and a lot of support from Dirk and some of my family and close friends but I did wake up recently and thought - ”I am really going to make even more changes and go for it” and its working :)
(via fairylightsanddiscos)
I keep getting asked about the histamine content of foods.
Actually it can all be about levels in your body so I might be able to eat some foods on one day and not on another, depending on my levels. Dirk gave me a list of foods to avoid when I first met him and that list, by and large, still holds true for me today, 3 years on.
Since going to high raw I have found I can eat slightly more foods containing histamine (such as a tomato or a little avocado) than I used to but then I don’t drink any alcohol, eat any bread etc.
Please remember I am a patient rather than an expert on histamine as such. I experiment and as I am very sensitive to what is going on in my body, I can make adjustments.
If you are at all concerned about Histamine, Dirk is the expert not me. I really recommend him as he knows his stuff.
I am “expert” in what works for me and how to get here. I have made mistakes along the way but I learn from them.
Any food you are not sure about, approach cautiously and eat a little rather than a lot and eat very slowly. I nearly choked to death on an aubergine and on another occasion on edamame beans and no I am not allergic to them as such. Years ago I used to eat them. Peanut butter makes me really ill now and I used to love the stuff. I guess bodies change.
Dirk, if you are reading this, I need you to write a book on histamine and food :))
x
Currently drinking half a watermelon blitzed in the blender. It made 3 full glasses like this. My breakfast this morning …
I do not eat or drink the following:
alcohol,
sodas (I drink sparkling water),
some vegetables such as white potatoes and spinach, (sometimes I try a little spinach),
cheese (I can eat a little feta or goat’s cheese but do not usually have this much now),
milk,
meat,
fish,
fermented…
I don’t understand the fruit part?
Oh because these particular fruits are high in histamine and I have a condition that makes it difficult for me to process too much histamine.
