A new direction

My vegan journey has taken a huge left turn over the last few years, and this year particularly has been hard. I've decided to use this old, abandoned blog to record recipes I've found or come up with (travel-convenient or not) and to continue to record how I get by while traveling.

So what's going on? Rheumatoid arthritis.

In 2011, I was diagnosed with RA and threatened with "chemo drugs" by my rheumatologist. Since I'm not cool with drugs that have "serious infections" and "lymphoma" listed as side effects, I looked around for alternatives. And I found stuff that worked. I did an elimination diet to determine my food triggers (wheat/gluten, dairy, egg, flesh, and tomatoes--so aside from the bread and the maters, I was good to go), cut those triggers from my diet, increased my intake of fermented foods (I made my own sauerkraut, kombucha, and water kefir), and supplemented my diet with B12, D3, Culturelle, and turmeric.

As of last year, I was in remission. I had no flare ups, and the only pain I felt was during BJJ training when a joint that probably has permanent damage took too much strain. I also was able to add gluten back in. I was able to return tomatoes to my diet about six months after cutting them.

So what happened next is a replay of what happened when I initially got sick. At our house in California, the owner never disclosed a mold problem (dick), so we were shocked when we moved our furniture out, and the walls they'd concealed were covered in black mold. I had been so sick during our time in that house, and this explained everything. I didn't connect mold to my RA until later, when I read that a lot of auto-immune cases begin with mold exposure, particularly in grains.

Earlier this year, our most recent house (in Virginia) developed a gnarly mold problem our new landlord took his sweet time fixing (cockburger), and my RA returned with a vengeance. We're out of that house and loping towards Hawaii, but I'm in a lot of pain. I've been eliminating again to find new triggers, and I think I've got them. I HOPE I have all of them because ugh. Check this:

• gluten/wheat
• dairy and eggs (accidental exposure revealed these huzzah)
• I assume meat continues and will not eliminate for that because vegan duh
• soy
• nightshades (tomatoes again but also now eggplant, potatoes, paprika, and peppers)

Finding ways around my triggers will be fun! And exciting! Especially as I head to a place that would have offered so much wonderful cuisine. Ah, well. Health first.

This ain't going to be no professional blog with purty pictures and schmancy recipes. I will post photos with my phone and offer tidbits I've found to get around these dietary restrictions (especially as I travel or find myself in spots where food options are limited), but I hope making these public will help others who've realized their new dietary rule is "If it's tasty, I can't eat it" and are ready to take up arms to prove that rule wrong.

So the first thing I'm going to do is link to a fantastic website I just stumbled across. I was looking for ways to get around nightshades because I have a hankering for vegan jambalaya, and I found Vegetalion and her umeboshi paste, tamarind paste, PB, and squash recommendations. So stoked!!

Strap in, and if you've stumbled across this blog in your search for filling, nutritious, comforting food while dealing with allergies/food triggers, hollah.