Elimination Diet: Week 2

We have now completed week two of our elimination diet.  You can read about week one in my previous post on the topic.

In the past week our diet has seemed almost normal.  I go to the market, buy lots of good meat, chicken, eggs, and a little fish, plus a lot of pears, leeks, cabbage, green beans, and a few other vegetables.  Now that I know what we need, and have the larder stocked, the market shopping is actually easier than it was before the diet.  I've also found that following recipes is very easy when you already have all the ingredients, so I've been able to try lots of new foods without the hassle I usually associate with it.  And the food, for the most part, has been really good.  I'll be sad to relinquish the cookbooks to the library when they're due.

I must admit that I am starting to get a little tired of cabbage and green beans.  We have one or the other every night.  And my son must miss strawberries; when we read "I Am A Bunny" and "The Very Hungry Catapillar", we can no longer get past the pages with the strawberries on them.  He keeps flipping back to them and calling out "straaaaw-be".  Nevertheless, my husband continues to be amazed by the meals I am coming up with and is now quite content to be on the diet (especially when he gets to eat anything he wants when he's at work).

On a more positive note, I've been losing weight, despite eating absurd quantities of food, especially goodies like carob fudge, cookies, meringues, and homemade granola bars (now that I know what goes into them I'll never again consider them a healthful snack).

We had two major social challenges of the past week, both of which went very well.  The first was a hike followed by a BBQ.  I packed rice crackers and green beans to keep my son happy on the hike, and we brought all of our own food to the BBQ, including marinated chicken breasts, pear and bean salad (very tasty), a noodle and cabbage salad that replicated the one provided by the host, and a potato torte to share with everyone (there were two other beautiful desserts, so it's a wonder anyone found space for this one).  My husband pigged out, eating some of everything we brought and also tasting everything cooked by the hosts!  My son was really good about eating only what we offered him, even skipping the flavored rice crackers that had been left well within his reach before dinner.  Only once did he notice the corn sitting on the table (one of his favorite foods) and beg, but fortunately we were able to distract him.  Unlike our outing last week, there were actually two things I could eat: steak and potatoes, however the chicken and salad were so nice that I declined.

Our second challenge was last night, when we hosted a dinner for overseas friends.  I did a poor job of selecting menu items and found myself juggling four pots at the stove right before dinner.  But nothing was burnt or undercooked and everyone enjoyed the meal (lamb noisettes with pear glaze, steamed green beans, steamed red and green cabbage with a creamy leek sauce, and brown rice) and dessert (poached pears with sabayon).  Next time I'm cooking a roast.

However, the biggest challenge of the week was Melbourne Cup Day, which closed the market Tuesday, when I would usually do the fresh food shopping.  Since the market is only open Tuesday and Thursday through Saturday, I dropped into the local butcher, where I don't normally shop because the selection and convenience aren't as good as the market.  I nearly bought three porterhouse steaks, until I noticed the butcher pulling out a big cryovaced piece of meat.  When I asked how old the meat was, he said about a week and a half, then paused and said maybe two weeks.  It was clear that he wasn't really sure.  Amines continue to form as meat ages, regardless of how the meat is packaged or if it is frozen, so eating fresh meat is critical to sticking to the diet.  We ate vegetarian for three days.

My son's skin no longer seems to be improving and I'm concerned that we will need to eliminate wheat and dairy.  I feel like we should start immediately, but I'm procrastinating until I've had a chance to experiment with the recipes and build up an inventory of wheat and dairy free staples.  Of course, I'm also hoping that the current flare is just the withdrawal symptoms taking their time to subside.  I think I could happily continue this diet for quite some time the way it is, but to eliminate wheat and dairy would require major changes.  Of course, that's how I initially felt about cutting out fruit.