Dragging Through More Food Issues

LMS with creepy googly eyes. Ick!

We've been having food issues again. I had to stop buying the pre-made guacamole because the peppers in it were giving me problems. Nobody makes guacamole that doesn't include hot peppers. It's not a huge deal, but it was convenient to have packets of guac sitting in the frig for whenever I wanted to use it.

Along the same lines, the paprika in BBQ rubs is also a problem. And every store bought rub and recipe I've found all include paprika. In case you were wondering, paprika comes from peppers. Grrrr.

We've also had to eliminate most rice products. LMS has been in denial about this for months now, but I noticed some time ago that our weekly pasta night was giving her intestinal issues. I've also noticed that pasta and rice were triggers for her- she would ask for seconds, then thirds of whichever was being served. Since she doesn't do this with other foods and I react the same way when I eat trigger foods, I was able to recognize it for what it was. I was also reacting after my morning bowl of gf rice crispies mixed with rice granola, topped off with rice milk. Yeah, it was a lot of rice.

We still have our gf rice crispies mixed with rice granola, but now we top it with hemp milk. I'm not super fond of the taste of hemp milk, but I'm not reacting as much and I still haven't come up other breakfast options. We've stopped eating rice and pasta and are substituting with cauliflower rice, spaghetti squash "noodles", and zucchini noodles. I have a package of kelp noodles and one of shiritake noodles in the frig, but we haven't been brave enough to try them yet. Some day soon....

We're doing better now that we're limiting the amount of rice we're eating, and I think it's helping me lose weight. Yay!

Over the last couple years as we've tried to figure out these food issues, I've noticed just how much what I eat affects how I feel physically and mentally. The physical part is fairly obvious, but the mental is the hardest to deal with, I think. I hate the fuzzy thinking, the memory problems, and the heightened anxiety levels. My motivation to do things plummets and my ability to focus and get things done also disappears. Combine that with my recent illness and we have the reason why I still haven't finished my current painting projects.  Thankfully I'm finally feeling better all around and have started making progress again. Now if I can just keep the status quo from getting disrupted....