Lightbulb?

Today I developed two "itchy bumps". If you didn't know, that's my shorthand for dermatitis herpetiformis. This is a skin condition that technically only Celiac patients develop. So since I'm "non-celiac gluten intolerant" thanks to my blood test, I guess the itchy bumps don't exist and aren't what they are? Anyway. Whatevers. That part is not really relevant anyway.

Those darn things can turn into a nice little psoriasis spot for me. I try to avoid them, and to heal them as fast as possible when they crop up for this reason.

I got to thinking today when the second itchy bump made me aware of its presence. What has been different over the last few days? One thing, and one thing only. Onion.

I freakin love onions! Raw, cooked, sauteed, gimme! They add great depth of flavor to anything you toss them in. (And people like to have lengthy conversations with you if you've eaten a whole bunch of onion. Promise! Go try it! I'll wait here.) But I don't have them very often. I've had a couple rings of raw onion on my Larkburger (of which I've had 2 in the last month) but no reaction. But yesterday, I tossed a bunch of dried minced onion in with my ground beef. Voila! Itchy bumps.

I have no idea why dried then sauteed minced onion would cause a reaction when raw onion has not. Usually it's the opposite situation when it comes to food reactions. But I've often been accused of being unusual, so I guess it follows. I have to look in to this one. Maybe I just didn't have all that much raw onion in the first place so my reaction wasn't noticeable? I don't know.

In the grand scheme of things, I would feel slightly sad (but I won't cry) to give up the onion. But I'd be much more sad to have to give up eggs for always. Today is day, um, hang on. Day 22 of no eggs. I CAN'T WAIT to eat eggs for breakfast on my first reintroduction day. Seriously, I just really like bacon and eggs for breakfast, so I truly hope I don't have to give that up. Begin your finger crossing now ok?

So that was a random bundle of words up there. I'm going to finish my bone broth - and think of how much you're missing out on with that C ;) - and unload the dishwasher. I know, my life is crazy exciting. Bet you want to be me huh?

Egg Free-Day 5

I forgot to tell you! I'm doing a Paleo Autoimmune Protocol. I eat this way most of the time since going Paleo as it is, but the big thing was eggs. You may remember, I wasn't a fan of cutting them out the first time round. But that was in my first 30 days and I was trying to find my way through.

I've never been a big fan of nuts, so that's not been hard. Though I do still have almond milk in my morning tea. However, what people tend to react to in almonds is the outer skin, which is removed in the process of making almond milk. Plus, it's like a whole 1/4 cup of almond milk a day. Big friggin woop. It's not going anywhere yet is what I'm getting at.

I gave up tomatoes a while back. I have never liked raw tomatoes, so really my only source was in chili as tomato paste, or pizza sauce. Since I've not been eating pizza since going Paleo, and since I just don't eat chili all that much (I made the conscious decision to have Melissa's Chocolate Chili last week. Seriously so worth it. Buy the damn cookbook! You can thank me later.) it wasn't hard on me either.

Peppers...that was kinda hard and I only officially cut them out as well on Monday along with eggs. Not long after (maybe a week or two?) starting Paleo, I made fajitas with red and green bell peppers. My stomach protested. I was sad. So I gave those up - with the hope of reintroducing them after a long period of healing. But I have Chalula hot sauce on my scrambled eggs every morning. Didn't seem to be having a reaction, but that's the only time I eat any form of nightshade now, so it was automatically cut when eggs went out the window.

This week has been hard for breakfast. I've basically been having the same salad I have for lunch at breakfast. But it's a lot of food, and my tummy is not ready for that volume first thing in the morning. I eat as much as I can, but end up having a good portion of my breakfast at lunch too. Problem? I'm starting to get hungry again by 10:30. My egg and bacon breakfasts had been keeping me comfortably full until around 11:30 and lunch is noon, so that wasn't a problem. First world problems I know, but getting back to good health (though I question when I was ever actually truly healthy...) is my number one goal. I'm also not much of a snacker. Thankfully Dallas and Melissa think that's good :) Maybe I'll add another strip or two of bacon! :) For the fat you know... Keeps your stomach satisfied longer. I love bacon.

This is going to be a sad thing to admit. I'll start with the good. My psoriasis seems to be clearing more. I should be jumping for joy over that. And don't get me wrong, it does make me happy. But I love eggs! I obviously can't conclusively link the healing directly to cutting them out. I just finished paying up my girl club dues, and my psoriasis always seems a bit better after that for some reason (something else to research) so it could just be that. Or it could be that even though I didn't think I was reacting to the seriously miniscule amount of nightshades in Chalula, maybe I was. Doubtful, but a girl can dream can't she? I'd much rather give up peppers than eggs.

I'm doing this for at least 30 days before I do any reintroduction. Then I'll know. Cross your fingers I only have to give up hot sauce!