food allergy results

i searched years and years for a cause of my exercise-induced asthma, but never found a connection. just in the last several months i've finally considered wheat to be a possibility, and then sugar. of course those were behind dairy which had already been removed from my diet. i didn't have any hard evidence or proof that wheat could be a cause, just a hunch. then i went to TrueNorth, fasted, and ended up being 6 weeks free from wheat (they don't allow any wheat there - too many people have issues!). while i was there i had a food allergy test done and after my return home i received a letter from the doctor saying i should remove certain things from my diet and that the full report would be sent in the mail soon.

the list from the doctor had two categories - high and medium. In the high list was pumpkin and tarragon. In the medium list were apples, blueberries, watermelon, kiwi, ginger, and a couple of other things. when i first read this email i was perplexed. first of all, there is no explanation as to what happens to me if i eat these things, so i don't know if the food allergy is related to my asthma, acne, mood swings, bloating, constipation, fatigue, ANYthing! i have no idea, so i'm racking my brain trying to think of what kind of reaction i've gotten after eating pumpkin - all i know is that i've never had a MAJOR, life threatening reaction to ANY of the foods on the list, so i'm thankful for that.

but more perplexing is ... what do apples and pumpkin and ginger and watermelon have in common??? why tarragon, but not other spices? why blueberries but not blackberries? what is it about these foods that my body isn't liking? so i did what any questioning mind does - i turned to Google! i literally Googled, "what do apples, pumpkin, tarragon, and ginger have in common?" and the results came back - salicylates. and of course there were bigger food lists, most of the items on my list being on those lists too. very interesting! but what is a salicylate? it's a chemical that's naturally found in fruits & veggies, in some health and beauty products, and even in aspirin. interesting!

so i purposely didn't buy any apples, and i gave away the blueberries i'd just bought, but i still ate the oatmeal french toast i'd just made with apple juice - the week after i used grape juice. i made sure not to eat any pumpkin or tarragon. i continued my non-wheat experiment, and of course kept out the dairy and meat.

then i went to Phoenix and ran the half marathon. my goal was to finish at 2:59:59 or under, and i did!!! 2:56:49 to be exact. i was thrilled i didn't fall out on the ground half way through, begging for a taxi. :-)  moreover, my asthma was never an issue. the biggest pain were my legs and knees, and especially afterward, but while i was running my asthma never flared up. i made sure to run at a slow pace, but when i realized i'd reached 7 miles and had only paused long enough to grab a few swigs of water at the drink stations, i was excited. in fact, there was even a moment where i thought, "i might just run this whole dang thing!" and then my legs stiffened up. LOL  but i wonder, what i not taken 5 weeks off to fast, how would my legs have held up? would i have been able to run 10 miles without walking?

i just got home yesterday and found the full allergy report waiting for me. i opened it up and found the other columns, low and no factor. there were a LOT of foods i eat all the time in the low column and everything else i eat was in the no factor area. but at the bottom left of the report was a gluten box - ah ha! here we go. i had to read it very carefully as the wording was confusing. it says, "you have no reaction to gluten and severe reaction to gliadin. you should avoid eating wheat, barley, rye, and oats."  hmmm... that's interesting. so what is gliadin? how is it different than gluten but still in the same category as wheat?

we've all heard of the "gluten-free" craze - it seems like everyone is gluten intolerant anymore. well, i read "The Wheat Belly" when i was at TrueNorth and i can totally see why everyone at this point in our culture would have an issue with wheat. that is if the facts in that book are truly facts. again i turned to my reliable source and Googled "what is Gliadin" and up came the results - Gliadin and Glutenin make up Gluten found in wheat. Gliadin is the soluble part, Glutenin is insoluble. Gliadin is also found in barley and rye - the jury is still out about oats. when someone has Celiac disease, it's actually Gliadin they are intolerant of. after reading several sources i ran across this blurb about Gliadin from "The Wheat Belly Blog" - "Gliadin, particularly the omega fraction, is also responsible for allergic responses, including Bakers’ asthma and the odd wheat-dependent, exercise-induced analyphylaxis (WDEIA).)"

did you see that? "exercise-induced." thankfully i've never gone into analphylactic shock during exercise, not the point of needing medical assistance anyway, but still ... there it is, pretty dang close to saying "Gliadin causes exercise-induced asthma!" so that's it, i'm done with wheat. i'm going to continue eating rice, rice pasta, rice crackers, and will find gluten-free oats and bread, and will read labels even more carefully from now on. you'd be surprised where wheat is found. ketchup? soy sauce?

this is a lot of information to take in. i mean, i've already made such extreme changes to my diet, i have to make sure apples and watermelon are nowhere near, too? and what about the bananas? they're in the low list, do i avoid them too? no! the point of the report is to help me be mindful of things that may or may not cause an issue, OF SOME TYPE, for me. and to test my body as necessary. if i want to know what kind of reaction i have to apples, i should abstain from all things apple for 6 months, then eat them mindfully and record reactions to exercise, skin, bloating, etc.

ultimately i don't find any of this info as overwhelming or disappointing. i don't feel like i have to deprive myself. it's actually more interesting than anything. now i can experiment and see what happens! i am in control and can determine if pumpkin REALLY IS an issue. and how exciting to maybe actually have an answer, after all these years!