Amazing August Abundant Alternatives Chat

[WuWei]

We're going to all send healing vibes for allowing abundant (food) alternatives for our allergy associated aggravations. (how is that for alliteration)


Join us if you are new in the Allergy forum. Here we just talk about all things allergies and MORE. Everyone welcome to chime in, ponder, whine or chat. (this is the catchall thread for the mamas supporting each other through their allergy journey)

What is on your mind?

Here are some old threads to chew on (allergen free). But, they might make you crazy-(ier).

We started off with:
whoMe's MTHFR, salicylates and adrenals
and then it started taking over.
We have:
changing seasons' "I'm done with food trials"
whoMe's methyl-what now? huh?
whoMe's detox guinea pig
Tanya's avoidance vs not discussion
whoMe's histamine and dopamine
whoMe's Detox while breastfeeding
Tanya's clay and allergies and gut health
my Detox, HTG, HCl and candida
neveryoumindthere's Do this, do that thread
Changing Season's Nancy Drew thread


Don't know where your question or Ah-ha! will fit, it'll fit here! Celebrations welcome too!! :

And the most exciting development of the month: prenatal allergy prevention, nutrition-style.


Pat

[Lady Lilya]

Good morning, Pat!

I'm not noticing any change from having been glutened yesterday.

[kjbrown92]

Are we doing monthly chats now, instead of weekly? The only thing is (for search purposes) that all the other ones actually had chat in the title.... not a complaint, just an observation... (since I'm always having to search old chat threads to remember things).

[kjbrown92]

I wanted to ask too... How does that FitDay thing you were talking about work, Kathy? I was thinking about going over there to check it out before I start planning snacks into our meal plan so I could use the snacks to potentially "shore up" anything (nutrients) we may be missing.

You put in the foods you eat each day (you could probably track each person in your family; right now, I'm just tracking me). Then at the bottom of the page, you can look at a pie chart that tells you fat, protein, carbs, alcohol, or you can look at the RDA chart to see what you're missing (green: you have enough; red: you're deficient), but so far I haven't figured out a way to put supplements in there to track those too, but maybe I just have to do that as a customized food... yeah, I'll do that. I have found that I eat a lot of fat (good fats like pine nuts and coconut milk) which must be keeping me from losing any weight (my weight is very stable) even on this restricted diet.

Oh, and I told SIL about the beet test because we were talking about her reflux (which still hasn't gone away after the doctor told her to avoid dairy, which I think is a gluten thing, but she won't listen to me; she had avoided gluten for 2 weeks in the fall, then ate it abundantly and went into a deep depression and ended up checking herself in as suicidal around Christmas time; and she originally thought that gluten was a problem, but her naturopath said it wasn't -- hello? reactions trump results?). And I mentioned the red pee being a sign of low stomach acid, and she said "Well the doctor said that my stomach acid test was inconclusive" like that made more sense than the beet test even though she's got reflux. Argh. And little miss "healthy" had Manwiches last night with white bread rolls and canned manwich (with my TOUGH swiss chard and my scalloped poatoes that "didn't taste au gratin" (I told them that it was scalloped not au gratin but do they listen). They're leaving today... Sorry about the rant, but I can't rant out loud here!!

[Theloose]

Yeah, it's really annoying when people know just enough to think they're on top of things cause they're totally wrong and won't listen to you at all...

Anyone know what causes muscle twitches? Like the little ones that look like a monster trying to break free of your elbow?

[changingseasons]

Originally Posted by JacquelineR

Okay, so I believe I've mentioned my extensive meal planning before. I finally got a full 5 week meal plan for breakfast, lunch and supper. Breakfast and lunch have a lot of repeats and stuff, so I'm still not done on that front but I feel a lot better about it. However, now I'm reorganizing how I'm doing my plan. Instead of keeping it in my 3-ring binder, I'm going to hang it on my cupboard door. It's just so hard to always be going in a binder. I did this with my "chore list" a long time ago and it's what has kept our house from looking like a tornado came through (some of the time anyway ). I'm going to put each week on a separate sheet of paper and then just change it out every week. I'm working on a "Master shopping list" for each week, as well as a "Pantry stocking list" (items we buy at Costco or other stores in the city- dry goods). Ultimately, I see this saving me a whole lot of time.

You are my hero. I've been meaning to make a chore list for a while now... for one, to help me get stuff done and not keep getting so behind, and two- so that DP can see exactly how much I'm doing around the house and how little he's doing.

But a menu plan too? Wow. I'm light-years away from that... Although that really would help us get back onto some sort of rotation. hmmm...

Shannon- wouldn't muscle twitches be a mag thing?

[changingseasons]

Serial posting... forgot to ask-

Does the FitDay thing track just basic stuff (protein, carbs, etc.) or does it track nutrients too? I've used CalorieKing software for a few years now- it does the basics, but I'd love to get something that really tracks all the nutrients. Of course if I would get myself into a nutrition program, I'm sure I would get to use cool software like that.

I think next spring, when DP is done with school, I will start. We may start TTC around that time too!!

[Theloose]

Originally Posted by changingseasons

Shannon- wouldn't muscle twitches be a mag thing?

I think I'm up on mag... I'm wondering about some electrolyte thing though, like some combo of cal/mag/sodium/potassium/water... Too much? Too little?

[mamafish9]

Back in my synchronized swimming days, muscle twitches like that were low potassium...

[kjbrown92]

Originally Posted by whoMe

Anyone know what causes muscle twitches? Like the little ones that look like a monster trying to break free of your elbow?

I thought mag too. But potassium makes sense as well.

Originally Posted by changingseasons

Serial posting... forgot to ask-

Does the FitDay thing track just basic stuff (protein, carbs, etc.) or does it track nutrients too? I've used CalorieKing software for a few years now- it does the basics, but I'd love to get something that really tracks all the nutrients. Of course if I would get myself into a nutrition program, I'm sure I would get to use cool software like that.

The FitDay does RDA of nutrients (shows you the percentage of RDA and the numbers are either red - deficient or green-over 100%). I haven't played around with it too much to see if you can track it over time too. And what I use is the free version. They have more options if you pay for it. I am just having trouble remembering to stick my food in there. Then it'll be a couple days later and I can't remember what I ate.

Oh AND something else funny... when she said that she might go off soy to see if it was that, she was lamenting all the processed foods she couldn't eat and my brother was saying "Twinkies" like what a shame it would be to give up Twinkies. I said that I made something similar. And he said, "Yeah, but do yours stay good for 100 years?" like that was a GOOD thing.

It's drizzly and chilly. I'm thinking of baking... maybe some creme brulee. But I really want a cookie. Why do I always want cookies.... mmmm... pignoli cookies... why do I always want pine nuts? I need to de-stress-ify in the kitchen today.

[lil_miss_understood]

Bah. I've been working on it for years. The beginning of this current manifestation (hah) started about 2 years ago when I was dx'd with Hashi's and decided to "pare down" on what I did until I got to feeling better. I'm still working on that last part. I have several "chore lists": daily, weekly, monthly and seasonal. My daily list is kept in a plastic sleeve and I stroke things off on it with a dry erase marker and add things to the bottom which need to be done that day from the other lists. I don't often get past my weekly chores lately. Not sure why.
I started the menu plan as a way to get more time out of my day. I hate having to sit there and figure out "What am I doing for supper today?" and then realizing that whatever I was going to do can't be done for some reason and having to figure something else out. I was wasting literally hours out of my day doing this (I don't multi-task nearly so well as I did prior to my thyroid tanking- I cannot do one thing and think about something else). I suppose that might not be as much of an issue for you, with such limited choices though.
Anyway, speaking of chores... I need to get back to work.

And thanks for the explanation of FitDay, Kathy. I think I'll go check it out this evening.

And thanks for the new chat, Pat! : I was thinking about doing one yesterday but got sidetracked.

[kjbrown92]

Originally Posted by mamafish9

Back in my synchronized swimming days, muscle twitches like that were low potassium...

By the way, I always thought that was one of the coolest Olympic sports. I remember my brother and I trying to do it when we were teenagers. I'm sure it was comical to watch us since neither of us were very good swimmers and both of us plugged our noses when we went under water! Got any helpful hints? Maybe I can get my kids to start practicing....

[WuWei]

What is the link to Kathy's recipes?

Thanks, Pat

[WuWei]

This is an informative article about MTHFR and folate and moods. http://wholelifenutrition.net/id2.html


Pat

[kjbrown92]

Originally Posted by WuWei

What is the link to Kathy's recipes?

Thanks, Pat

me?
www.kathysrecipebox.com

And for those egg people that are non-dairy, non-soy, non-corn, etc., the coconut creme brulee turned out fantastic! Just ate my second bowl. My niece, who is staying with us for the week, thought it was fab, and dd1 begrudgingly said it was "okay", and dd2 scarfed her's down in a hurry. And using my kitchen torch again was FUN. I'll try to get it on my website tonight... though the picture might not get there yet.

The pignoli cookie dough is in the fridge chilling. Have I had enough sugar yet?

[chlobo]

Originally Posted by kjbrown92

me?
www.kathysrecipebox.com

And for those egg people that are non-dairy, non-soy, non-corn, etc., the coconut creme brulee turned out fantastic! Just ate my second bowl. My niece, who is staying with us for the week, thought it was fab, and dd1 begrudgingly said it was "okay", and dd2 scarfed her's down in a hurry. And using my kitchen torch again was FUN. I'll try to get it on my website tonight... though the picture might not get there yet.

The pignoli cookie dough is in the fridge chilling. Have I had enough sugar yet?

Ooooh. That sounds divine. How about chocolate brownies & creme brulee for Adam's birthday treats?

Still trying to find a cake recipe.

[WuWei]

Originally Posted by kjbrown92

me?
www.kathysrecipebox.com

Yes, clever name. I've seen it 100 times and hadn't bookmarked it.

Pat

[mamafish9]

Originally Posted by kjbrown92

By the way, I always thought that was one of the coolest Olympic sports. I remember my brother and I trying to do it when we were teenagers. I'm sure it was comical to watch us since neither of us were very good swimmers and both of us plugged our noses when we went under water! Got any helpful hints? Maybe I can get my kids to start practicing....

LOL - I didn't start until college, although I competed on my college team with an ex-Olympian. She was a lot better than I was . You need noseplugs, however - it is just insane to be upside down in water without them.

Pat, that linkie you posted reminded me about my folate question. Anyone have a source of folate that is easy to get into a small child (without juice/drinking it)? Does it pass through bm? I'm taking the Perque multi, which has folate, and juicing/eating lots of greens... We have no obvious MTHFR symptoms, but it seems like folate is a no-brainer for an ASD kid, rather than hoping their body has all the pieces to convert folic acid.

On the no MTHFR symptoms thing - very little seems to match, except one thing that struck me reading the old MTHFR and sals thread. Basically, I think I would never have had babies without the miracle of baby aspirin. We TTCed before DD for a long time, until I tried baby aspirin (a friend's IVF doc recommended it for all women with infertility struggles, and I was pretty ready to try anything). I got pg the first month I took it - it gave a MASSIVE energy boost to my ovulating (feel eggs exploding out kind of energy). We didn't do anything to prevent another child, and didn't get pg for 2.5 years, although I was bfing most of that time. Took baby aspirin again, got pg the first month I took it, same turbo-charged ovulation. Does that sound MTHFR related? Or are there other causes of high homocysteine? (That seems to me like a thought thread worth pursuing, given DS' issues).

And I think we are seeing progress on digestion issues - CORN tortilla seems to be fine. (A couple of months ago, corn caused screaming within the hour). I'm not going to jump on the corn bandwagon or anything, and it was homemade, GMO free organic corn tortilla, but that's progress. I think it might be that we are getting his zinc levels up from the practically zero that his hair test showed. Maybe time to do the beet test again...

[Theloose]

Originally Posted by mamafish9

Pat, that linkie you posted reminded me about my folate question. Anyone have a source of folate that is easy to get into a small child (without juice/drinking it)? Does it pass through bm? I'm taking the Perque multi, which has folate, and juicing/eating lots of greens... We have no obvious MTHFR symptoms, but it seems like folate is a no-brainer for an ASD kid, rather than hoping their body has all the pieces to convert folic acid.

On the no MTHFR symptoms thing - very little seems to match, except one thing that struck me reading the old MTHFR and sals thread. Basically, I think I would never have had babies without the miracle of baby aspirin. We TTCed before DD for a long time, until I tried baby aspirin (a friend's IVF doc recommended it for all women with infertility struggles, and I was pretty ready to try anything). I got pg the first month I took it - it gave a MASSIVE energy boost to my ovulating (feel eggs exploding out kind of energy). We didn't do anything to prevent another child, and didn't get pg for 2.5 years, although I was bfing most of that time. Took baby aspirin again, got pg the first month I took it, same turbo-charged ovulation. Does that sound MTHFR related? Or are there other causes of high homocysteine? (That seems to me like a thought thread worth pursuing, given DS' issues).

And I think we are seeing progress on digestion issues - CORN tortilla seems to be fine. (A couple of months ago, corn caused screaming within the hour). I'm not going to jump on the corn bandwagon or anything, and it was homemade, GMO free organic corn tortilla, but that's progress. I think it might be that we are getting his zinc levels up from the practically zero that his hair test showed. Maybe time to do the beet test again...

Folate *definitely* goes through milk, ime. The thorne 5-mthf is powder in capsules that's pretty much tasteless.

Other causes of high homocysteine could be low B12 (due to low hcl/zinc?).

Yay on corn! We actually bought some more corn on the cob for dinner :

[Theloose]

totally OT - we just ordered new hardwood flooring and it's going to be here on TUESDAY! And we're installing it ourselves! And we've never done anything of the sort before!



I'm excited