The Food Allergy & Sensitivity Success Guide
How to eat with pleasure when your options are temporarily limited
A bowl of marinated, roast chicken, shiitake mushrooms, avocado, and tomatoes - one of many new dishes sparked by an elimination diet.
One of the few times a medical visit left me truly demoralized was last year.
After a few weeks of mystery symptoms — intense headaches and arthritis pain — I called my doctor, who suggested I take an updated test for food allergies and sensitivities. The test he ordered screened for an antibody (IgG) reaction to various foods and as he handed me the results, all I saw were bright red lines, indicating strong reactions to over a dozen foods.
I had sensitivities to all forms of dairy (casein), gluten, eggs, and soy. In addition, my body was reacting to unexpected foods like garlic, basil, oats, peppers, and many of the foods that I ate on a daily basis.
I looked at my doctor, dumbfounded. He kindly reminded me that food sensitivities are only temporary and that if I could avoid the foods and follow an elimination protocol, my gut would heal and the sensitivities would disappear.
I was willing to follow an elimination diet and eager to heal my gut — but I had no idea what to make for dinner once I got home. How is an Italian-American woman supposed to cook without garlic or gluten?
Eventually, I adapted my diet and routine to the sensitivities and my gut started healing. Within a couple months, I even started to enjoy the creative challenge food sensitivities presented — a mindset I help those I work with cultivate.
Whether you’re starting an elimination diet or just trying to make positive changes in how you eat, the transition for both mind and body can be tricky. Here are the biggest lessons I learned about making dramatic changes to your diet and enjoying yourself in the process.
#1. Substitute for staple foods first
The hardest foods to give up are usually the staples of your diet.
Everyone has foods that form the basis of their meals and bring them comfort. For me, these foods were bread, grains, and eggs. I could make a delicious salad or roast chicken, but my meals felt empty without a side of bread or a bowl of grains to balance them out. Breakfast didn’t feel right without scrambled eggs or oatmeal.
These basic foods were the ones I decided to replace first. After a bit of exploring, I realized how many creative and delicious substitutes exist. Some of my new favorite staple foods are:
Spaghetti Squash: A type of squash that easily tears into delicious spaghetti strands after roasting. Delicious with spices and as a basis for roast vegetables or any savory topping.
Cauliflower rice: A grain substitute simpler than rice itself. Throw ½ of a cauliflower into a blender with your favorite herbs and blend on low for about 10 seconds. Use raw as the basis for a bowl or sautee with olive oil in a pan.
Chickpeas: Chickpeas are one of the most versatile foods. They can be transformed into hummus, a crunchy snack, or blended with water and spices to create a substitute for scrambled eggs.
Sweet potatoes: Roast with rosemary, olive oil, and sea salt, cut into french fries, or cook whole and then mash, sweet potatoes are one of the most wonderful comfort foods out there.
New staple foods, from top-left: curry roasted chickpeas, spaghetti squash with kale and sundried tomatoes, cauliflower rice with herbs, chickpea scrambled eggs with a side salad
Once you’ve found even 2–3 replacements for your most regular foods, changing the rest of your diet will become substantially easier because you have something to build it on.
#2. Borrow from other cultures
One of the hardest parts of adapting to food sensitivities is they often pull you out of the cuisine you’ve cooked in your entire life. If you grow up eating japanese food and develop a soy sensitivity or are German and can no longer eat bread, a food sensitivity can block you from a deeply rooted part of your culture. Though the change is only temporary, it can be an incredibly disorienting experience to overcome.
As a child, I grew up eating bread, butter, eggs, and milk on a daily basis. Giving them up didn’t just mean changing a few dishes — it meant changing how I cooked.
Luckily, at the same time as I was changing my diet, a new housemate from India moved into my co-living space. Each week, he whipped up an endless variety of dishes — including chickpea curries and spinach daal — on the basis of onions, tomatoes, olive oil, and mouth-watering spices. He shared his favorite food with me and I discovered to my excitement that I felt good after every meal.
Over time, he taught me his recipes and I eventually bought a masala box to hold my own blend of Indian spices: coriander, cumin, garam masala, turmeric, mustard seeds, chili, and cinnamon.
With that silver box, a new world opened for me. I felt like I had a fresh culinary palette and a new basis for cooking. I built on the curries and lentil dishes I knew, added different proteins and vegetables, and never struggled with my food sensitivities. Dairy, gluten, eggs, and soy weren’t ingredients in the dishes I was making.
While one culinary door had closed, another one opened.
Whatever your sensitivities are, look for cultures that cook without them. Even if it means going outside your comfort zone.
#3. Plan ahead for snacks
One of the most frustrating aspects of living with food sensitivities is finding yourself away from home with nothing to eat. Whether you are out to dinner with friends or taking a business trip to a place where you can’t eat anything, the lack of control can be stressful.
As I learned after attending a wedding in Ireland, there are some places where “dairy-free” options are unlikely to catch on anytime soon.
Though you can’t always control the options where you are, you can plan ahead and bring snacks.
Some of my favorite sweet and savory snacks are:
Smoked salmon with horseradish on rice crackers
Apple slices with tahini or almond butter
When you have a snack that you can carry with you or whip up in 5–10 min, you gain much more flexibility in your daily life, knowing you will always have something to eat.
#4. Build on what makes you feel good
When you’ve been diagnosed with food sensitivities, it’s easy to focus on what you can’t have.
Switching the focus to what you can have and what makes you feel great is a powerful way to shift perspective and open up new possibilities.
When I focused on what makes me feel good and what I enjoy most, a few foods stood out: blueberries, salmon, squash, and red beets.
Building on what I felt good eating, new dishes became much easier to make. Here are some of the following dishes I adopted based on what made me feel good:
Red beet carpaccio
Roasted beet and pear salad
Red beet hummus
Smoked salmon with horseradish
Salmon with a honey mustard crust
Autumn squash soup
Squash and pomegranate salad
Spaghetti squash with kale salad
Squash three ways (L to R): Squash soup, squash and pomegranate salad, spaghetti squash with kale and sundried tomatoes
When you start from a place of possibility and pleasure rather than restriction, it becomes much easier to create new dishes.
Conclusion
So many of the people I meet and work with struggle with chronic inflammation and food sensitivities. In many cases, they know which foods irritate their guts but can’t imagine daily life without them.
Having lived with over a dozen food sensitivities myself, I know the challenge of having your diet and daily routine destroyed. I know the frustration and disruption they cause to your social life. I know the feeling of accidentally eating something at a restaurant and struggling with inflammation for hours or days after.
But I also know how good it feels to overcome the challenge, discover new creativity in your cooking, and to experience the relief of your gut finally relaxing and starting to heal. And it’s worth it.
What are you biggest challenges with food allergies, sensitivities, or changing your diet generally? Share in the comments!
