More on my food allergy

I wrote a week or so ago about a possible food allergy I may have.  When the hives first appeared, my husband and I thought it was some sort of insect bites, but after eliminating that possibility and the possibility of a reaction to detergent or other outside sources, we began to think it might be some sort of food allergy.

We found out that glutton can mask sensitivities to some foods.  Once you eliminate the glutton from your diet, it's possible that you will notice sensitivities to foods that were never a problem before.

I began to suspect it might be raw almonds causing the problem.  I ate a lot of nut mix over the summer (fuel for long, strenuous hikes) when the outbreak was at its worst.  The trail mix contains a variety of nuts, but mainly almonds.  When I started eating the nut mix as a snack while on the 21 Day Sugar Detox, I had a breakout of hives again.  I stopped eating the nut mix.

Sunday I woke up with another outbreak of hives.  I thought back to what I ate and I hadn't had anything new that would have caused the reaction.  But when I broke down the ingredients of what I was eating, both my breakfast and dinner contained quite a bit of almond flour, as did two of the snacks I ate.  Apparently I can handle the almond flour in small amounts, but on Saturday I had overloaded my system enough to cause the outbreak. 

I'm glad that I have (most likely) found the culprit, but it means I will need to be more aware of what I'm eating during the day and limit my almond flour/raw almond consumption.  Not sure I'm ready to eliminate it entirely.  That would be mean giving up the awesome biscuits and yummy Pumpkin Spice Doughnuts my Hubby makes.  Not to mention the wonderful Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies that Juli made for us.  So for now, I'll cut back and limit my intake of almonds.

On a happier note, I survived my first day off the detox without going overboard on sweets.  In fact, the only "sweet" I had was one of the Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies that Juli had made.  (Totally awesome cookie!)   I did have a banana and some cashews, but other than my normal eating plan, that was it. I wasn't even tempted by the movie theater popcorn yesterday, which is a first for me!  I can avoid it, though I usually start drooling when I walk in the theater, but yesterday I bought my large water and didn't give the popcorn a second thought.

I do have some pretty big challenges coming up.  Hubby and I will be traveling over the weekend, so all our meals will be eaten out.  We may be able to take some of our own snacks, so that will help.  Then the following weekend I will be attending a scrapbook retreat.  Big challenge.  Lots of (not-so-healthy) snacks and some consumption of alcohol.  Should be interesting to see how I do. 

But for now, things are going along smoothly.  Feeling good, happy, and positive.  Most of all, just loving life.