At the beginning of the year I had an AlCAT food sensitivity test that checked my food sensitivities to 200 foods. I am sensitive to 39. What does this mean? Well, some foods I can’t eat at all while others I may be able to eat after avoiding them for a period of time. Sometimes if you avoid a food for a while (6 months), you can eat it again occasionally. There is some hope for my taste buds.

The worst part was finding out I can’t eat chicken, rice, vanilla, and maple sugar. These had become staples in my diet, so it actually wasn’t a surprise that I developed food sensitivities to them. It doesn’t make going out to eat easy, that is for sure. When you can’t eat wheat, chicken and rice, what can you eat? Salad? Did I mention iceberg lettuce and romaine were also on my ‘do not eat’ list? The other complication, is that it is recommended to eat all foods only once every 4 days. If you eat barley on Monday, you can’t have it again until Friday. To manage this I have a chart on my refrigerator that has the foods I can eat each day listed by food category. I also carry a list in my purse for dinners out or when I go to the grocery store. How do you remember not to eat 39 foods? It isn’t easy.

It has been almost 2 weeks since I started this journey (or some would call insanity). I have been reading a lot of food labels, searching for simple recipes, and eating a lot of obscure foods (like brussels sprouts). As I try to navigate my food selections day by day I have found I like a lot of these foods but somehow forgot about them. Some I never tried cooking from scratch (black-eyed peas) others I cooked and ate for the first time (lamb). Although I have spent endless hours asking myself the question,”What am I going to eat?”, I have discovered that I like to eat almost everything on my “ok to eat” list. One night I actually craved broccoli. Who does that? You are only supposed to crave Ben and Jerry’s ice cream or a Crispy Cream Doughnut, or at least that is what advertisers hope. I am starting to see food differently according to the motto, “eat to live”, not “live to eat”. I am not sure what the next weeks and months will bring as far as meals go, but I am eating healthier than I was before. By eating more vegetables, fish, nuts and fruits I feel better already. What are you eating on Monday?