Earlier this year, my girlfriend underwent a general overhaul to improve her health. She was diagnosed with fibromyalgia and chronic myofascial pain a couple of years ago and she learned of a clinic in the area that creates a completely individual holistic health plan to combat chronic ailments such as these. She underwent copious allergy tests for all sorts of different food stuffs to isolate those items in her diet that could trigger a flare or be the root cause of different health issues she's experienced over the last few years. The first things they advised her to cut out completely from her diet were: gluten, dairy, alcohol, sugar, and caffeine. I have a few friends who also suffer from fibromyalgia and both of them have cut gluten out of their diets with successful results. This list was difficult, but rather easy to work around. Most restaurants near us cater to alternative diets and special dietary needs. Most of what I cooked could be easily altered to accommodate these, too. After further testing, though, the list grew to a staggering 36 total items that were to be removed from her diet for at least 3 months.
The numbers next to each item are a ranking to how much of an allergic effect they have on her body. (1s are fairly mild, but 4s are very harsh). Unfortunately, there are a lot of common ingredients on this list: beans, soy, garlic, ginger, lemon, pepper, tomatoes, eggs, nuts... You find these in pretty much ANY commercially prepared food and/or food prepared at restaurants. Eating out can easily turn stressful, if the waiter or kitchen staff are either unaware or reluctant to share what they put in their food. Eventually, we learned the best way we could eat a meal together is if I cooked.
At first, I stuck to very simple meals. Things I knew really well. Baked potatoes were a great option for us. Making a few adjustments to the lamb mixture from Whole-Wheat Flatbreads with Lamb and Yogurt, made for a flavorful and hearty meal. While she wasn't able to eat cow or goat dairy, Whole Foods carries a sheeps milk yogurt that she CAN eat, which topped baked potatoes quite well. Tacos were also a great option, too. Quick and fast, I adjusted a recipe from Sunset (Sweet Potato and Chorizo Tacos). I couldn't use the chorizo, so I substituted some broiled chicken breasts. Since I wanted to use more than just sweet potatoes, I added some Italian peppers and onions, making our tacos more like fajitas. We topped them with some sheeps milk yogurt, a squeeze of lime, and avocado. They were delicious! For a while, salads weren't an easy option, simply because most vinegars contain malt or other items that could potentially be a problem. Eventually, her doctors gave her the OK to use apple cider vinegar, which allowed me to make a delicious nectarine salad with a basil vinaigrette, that paired really well with a steak. Stir-fries were a challenge at first, because I never met a stir-fry without garlic and ginger and soy, but eventually we found ingredients that DID work. The closest non-soy soy sauce we found were coconut aminos. It's not nearly as salty as soy, but paired with lime juice makes for a really tasty sauce. I also found that coconut oil is great to stir-fry with, too! Vegetable oils, unless specifically canola, all contain a mixture that includes soy. Olive oil, while loved by her doctors, does not do well with extreme high-heat cooking, such as stir-fry. I gave coconut oil a try and it was great! It leaves a little bit of a coconut aroma, but not so much in flavor. Shannon and I went on a road trip over the summer and in order to keep the cost down, we camped and cooked for ourselves. We ate out only at the start and the very end of our trip. The rest of the meals were made at the campsite. The last campsite we stayed at was in the middle of absolute nowhere in Nevada. On the road we stopped at the only "grocery store" in town, which was essentially nothing more than a convenience store. Our meal that night, made from what we found at the store, was spiced black bean chili (bacon, onions, black beans, and ground cumin) with avocado and warmed corn tortillas. It was hearty and delicious, and made for a very comforting meal in a very isolated place.
What has helped significantly when creating dishes on the spot has been her weekly CSA box. Personally selected by her so as to avoid getting anything on this list, this box would provide a veritable bounty of options. Plus, every week's box came with recipes, most of which were easily modified to make them "Shannon-friendly". I liked having these boxes because they helped provide me with a jumping off point from which to make a full meal. It was better than heading to the grocery store and standing in the produce section and being so overwhelmed by the options to make a decision. I knew what I had to work with and it made for some excellent meals.
Reintroducing items has been trying, as the clinic's recommended process is to eat a ton of that one item at each meal in one day and record the effects. It also requires a lot of patience and effort to really eat a lot of that one item. Shannon works and is also currently getting her MFA in photography, so her days are packed and on the go. Adding on top of that remembering what food or item she's reintroducing that day can easily get derailed and she has to start all over again. It's tough and has sometimes turned eating into a chore. Eating should never be a chore. I've always thought food and eating should be pleasurable experiences. She's successfully reintroduced a few things: red chile powder (nothing spicy, so no cayenne or paprika just yet), cinnamon, and garlic. Unfortunately, the attempt to reintroduce black pepper resulted in some pretty awful side effects, so that has continued to be avoided. As an Italian, I am very happy that garlic is back in my arsenal again! I'm hoping one day tomatoes will be OK and I can make us a decent sauce with which to smother a bowl of mushy polenta.
When Shannon first shared this list with me, she was worried it would be too much of a hassle. The thing is, it's actually opened my eyes to a lot of new food possibilities and I've added some really awesome dishes to my repertoire in the process! I made this really awesome steak taco salad with thin slices of steak, lettuce, crispy tortilla strips, black beans, roasted sweet potato, corn, toasted pumpkin seeds, red onion, and avocado, dressed simply with lime and olive oil, that before I wouldn't think of to do without looking up a recipe. I gained a confidence in my cooking that made creating this dish a fun experience. I took this list as a challenge to what I could accomplish in the kitchen and I've met that challenge happily. I've loved using my brain and realizing that I do have the capacity to cook using just my wits. Ultimately, though, I just love cooking for the ones I love, using whatever means are necessary. Their happy faces when they sit down to eat makes all the effort worthwhile.
