Sharing lunch with Mayhem (from FBO Cats.)
So I have a confession… I cheated.
The first time was mostly by accident. During the first week of detox Dad and I went to my favorite Mexican restaurant and I’d avoided the nacho chips because I wasn’t sure whether they were made with flour or not…. Well, Dad and I went there again for our weekly Father/Daughter lunch…. and I thought, “what the heck, they’re probably all corn”… and I ate the nachos. Afterward I got that pain in my side again. (It’s not my tummy, exactly… more like just off the edge of my hipbone… I had no idea what was causing it and was pretty surprised when it went away after I started the whole detox… it was another one of those good “side-effects.”) I got a tiny bit of a “buzz” in my head and a bit of stomach upset…. nothing huge. I did not eat the sour cream or the guacamole this time since I was already concerned about the chips.
The second time was totally premeditated. My little sis is engaged (eep!) and we’re doing the whole Wedding Show thing….. I was NOT going to miss out on trying all the delicious wedding cake samples! So, I learned two things: 1) I am a cake snob. 2) I didn’t really want it as bad as I thought I would. The first, I already knew, really… If it’s not amazing, why eat it? The second was a HUGE surprise! I expected that I would CRAVE cupcakes (one of my particular weaknesses)… But, I haven’t really had any bad cravings, except for the chocolate in the beginning… and I found milk-free chocolate, so that’s no big deal now. I ate the first piece of cake (we’re talking about 1.5″ square…. not a PIECE of cake, by any means…). Oh! I was so delighted with the first taste…. Oooooohhhhh…. cake! Then I drug myself out of my sugary daze…. and actually listend to Skye talking about the cake and how she liked the icing….. Ummm… wait a minute…. I didn’t actually like the icing (gritty)…. hmm…. The second sample was actually better and I really did like it…. Skye didn’t (this is going to be difficult)… by the third sample… Enh….. and when we got to the ice cream samples… I didn’t even bother… it wasn’t as enjoyable as I’d convinced myself it would be… Gee! A revelation. Afterward I had a bit of a headache, but that could have had something to do with having skipped breakfast (Brian made my oatmeal really soupy and I didn’t eat it…) then cake for lunch… and no dinner until 6:30….. (I told you this wasn’t going to be super scientific.) The big thing was I didn’t sleep well that night and my hands hurt the next day.
The third cheat was yesterday. Since today is officially my last day of the two week detox, I didn’t think it would be catastrophic if I had chicken for diner. (Remember, poultry has the same proteins as eggs, so chicken and turkey are out too.) I didn’t have anything else with wheat, milk or egg, so I thought a piece of chicken would be a fine. What I really wanted was the Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce that we’d had the night before with the rib… so good! and I thought the chicken would be a good surface for the BBQ sauce. It didn’t bother my head or my stomach, but I didn’t sleep well last night and my hands hurt today.
It was good though.
So as the two week detox comes to a close I can say that it seems like I had a lot more bad side-effects from the food allergies than I realized: Stomach upset, killer joint pain (hands and knees), headaches, bloating, weight gain and sleep disruptions. Wow! That is just what I have recognized in two weeks. I won’t be surprised to discover there are other side-effects that I just haven’t caught on to yet. When I started the detox, I’d hoped to be able to work wheat, milk and eggs back into my diet a bit more. Taking them out of my diet really wasn’t as bad as I had expected. I’ve found a numer of great substitutes and I’m enjoying experimenting with all the new recipes. Frankly, anything that screws up my sleep, I can do without. I’m planning to stay as gluten-free as I possibly can. I’ve found some great substitute flours and milk is so easy to replace (as long as I’m doing the cooking). Eggs are a bit harder to replace… and I miss cooking with ground turkey. I’d like to have mozzarella cheese back…. That’s really about it. Of course if my hands are going to swell up and I won’t be able to sleep after I eat those things…. maybe I can do without.
BBQ Chicken
No measurements… just kind of eyeballed
- Chicken Breast
- Corn Flakes, crushed
- Paprika
- Garlic Salt
- Pepper
- Ancho Chili Powder
- Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ Sauce (I like Hickory Smoked)
Combine the corn flakes and spices in a medium bowl. Place the chicken in a small bowl and coat with the BBQ sauce. Next, squish the sauce coated chicken in the corn flake mixture; cover completely.
Transfer coated chicken to a greased baking pan.
Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes (depends on the thickness of your chicken).
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