Can you diagnose me?

[mykdsmomy]

I have dealt with problems of varying degrees from food since I was a child. My mom cooked very traditional meals.....LOTS of roast beef/roast pork , mashed potatos (gravy was practically a beverage), veggies.....everything had lots of salt and cheese and until my dad had his heart attack 5 years ago, my parents thought that was "healthy" eating. Well obviously, I dont make those types of meals but I have found that I feel sick or get colitis attacks or headaches or depression when I eat ......any dairy (including yogurt), chocolate, coffee, eggs, anything too greasy (tacos, burgers), fruit juice, iced tea.....(i'm sure there's more) but here's the deal......WHAT DO I DO? I am a coffee drinker, addicted to chocolate and HATE to cook......I looked into some of the detox type diets but there's so many things I cant eat or I get sick...
Is there a way to find out for sure if I'm allergic to these foods? Can I find out if my kids are allergic? I'm ready to completly overhaul our diet but I need to give my husband proof that we're actually dealing with allergies or he wont be supportive of making drastic changes.... Any suggestions?

[livinwithmcs]

Food Allergies

First I would mentally prepare myself and then do a two week elimination diet. It's very difficult, unless you like eating lots of veggies, brown rice and grilled chicken. You have to eliminate almost everything and you do go thorugh withdrawal but it is so worth it in the end. Thing is though that once you start it you CANNOT cheat or else you have to start over.

After the two weeks is up then you re-introduce a food back into your diet one at a time to guage your reactions. Believe me the reactions can be pretty severe, that's how you will know if your "sensitive" to a food. I say sensitive instead of allergic because a true allergy will respond to medication such as benedryl. A sensitivity is different in that the ony way to not have a reaction is to not eat the food.

I found out that I am sensitive to wheat and chocolate It's funny but my doctor told me you actually crave what you are sensitive/allergic to and he is right because before I found this out I would always eat bread, pasta and chocolate!

The second thing I would do is to only eat all natural and/or organic foods and beverages as you could be reacting to artificial ingredients such as preservatives, colorings, flavorings, etc.

If you want more info on the elimination diet let me know. Good luck and it really is worth going to hell for two weeks to feel better the rest of your life!