Playing doctor…but not in the good way
As I continue to suffer with daily hives and avoiding everything peanut*, I recently came across some interesting info. Was reading in books by my fav nutrition/lifestyle guru, Dr. Weil, and came across the info that too much protein aggravates allergies! Now, this is actually a huge revelation to me, because my allergy problems began when I began a more “competition” diet last summer when I started up with Cathy! I was to eat protein at every meal, and I did—and took in way too much. According to Dr. Weil, on a 2,000 calorie diet a person should have between 50-100 grams of protein; I’d read on some fitness boards that people were saying to make your protein gram intake equal to your goal weight, or something to that effect. Needless to say, my protein intake was definitely over 100 grams a day, and I only take in 1600-1800 calories MAX per day—and I tend toward the lower end of that range, especially when the semester is going. So to be having well over 100 grams of protein is MUCH too much! My nutritionist said I most likely have a food *intolerance*, which aggravates more & more over time if you keep putting the offending item into your system, and eventually looks like an allergy. This makes sense; I kept eating too much protein, and ignoring my body’s signs that something was wrong, and finally I had the ultimate reaction to protein: facial swelling, etc, that had me in an emergency room and now carrying and Epi-pen.
Of course I’ve not had this confirmed by a doctor; this is only my own observations (no money right now for allergy tests). When I cut back on my protein intake, my hives got slightly better. I hadn’t deliberately cut back on protein; I was simply eliminating things I thought I was allergic to. But as of yesterday, I am actively trying to cut protein back to 50 grams max per day. Dr. Weil says to keep protein lower than 50 if you have allergies, but because I’m doing weight training, I don’t want to go too low (and 50 might be too low; I’m waiting to hear back from my trainer & nutritionist to see what they say about my crack diagnosis, lol). I’m also starting to get more protein from plant sources as opposed to animal; I’m trying to work in more soy, tofu, fish.
We’ll see if these changes make a difference.
*It really should be criminal that if peanut allergies are the fastest-growing allergy in the country, and can be deadly, that there are not more choices for peanut-free items—as in not just sans peanuts, but not made on the double-damned “shared equipment.” I’m not talking just chocolate, although if I had the money to start a peanut-free chocolate company I would become a billionaire. I’m talking all kinds of items; for example, I have yet to find sunflower seeds I can buy, because they are all packaged on shared equipment, as are flax seeds. Food in the Publix deli, for crissakes, is all made on shared equipment. A lot of bread is, too! I’ll keep looking, but I just think it’s ridiculous that peanuts “taint” so much of our food.