The biggest change was an accidental weight loss of about 30 lbs. I say accidental, because while certainly welcome, it was the end result of finding out I'm allergic to a lot of things I was eating on a regular basis. I ended up cutting out about 1/3 of the things I was eating on a regular basis and before I knew it, I'd lost 10 lbs, then 20 and finally 30. I've been at this current weight about 5 or 6 months, so I think I've found where my body wants to be with all the changes I was forced to make.
If you're wondering how you can apply the changes I made to your own life (because I've had friends tell me they wish they were allergic to food), I will tell you my secrets.
I am allergic to soy, which is surprisingly in EVERYTHING. Seriously. Go to your cupboard and check out the canned and pre-packaged goods, if you don't believe me. I'll wait for you... Now that you've seen it, you will understand the necessity of the first change I made: No more snacking. This meant cutting back on chocolate bars, too (since soy is used as the emulsifier in the majority of commercially available chocolate bars - it's cheaper than the alternatives), so in effect the no snacking rule also meant cutting back on my sugar intake.
The other major change was potatoes (I'm allergic to night shades - tomato, red pepper, white potato and eggplant), which I LOVED eating as french fries. So, this change meant cutting back on fried foods.
Now, that said, I can still eat certain foods I'm allergic too IF they are prepared in a certain way - basically, they need to be cooked at 200 degrees or above for a minimum of 20 minutes. This kills the allergens and my body does not recognize that a baked potato is bad, but since fries are cooked too briefly, they are in the no go column. Confused? Yeah, me too. I just know it works, but as a precaution, I carry Zyrtec in case I feel the familiar tingle. I haven't had a reaction since January, so I must be doing something right.
There's more, but the above will give you the gist of the changes I've made. Initially, it was difficult, but the fear of having a reaction made it easier (very easy to avoid fries when you compare it to the thought of itching and swelling from them).
The end result is I have a whole new body to sew for, and honestly, I am still not seeing it in the mirror. I keep buying and making things for the old one, and I am working to change that. I finally went and tried clothes on and found out what size I am (2 sizes down from where I was - I am still shocked by this, again my friends hate when I say this, but I think it is important to note we can all have body image issues no matter if we gain or lose weight).
So that brings us to the more crafty, less wordy part of this entry! I have decided to take part in the Coletterie fall palette challenge, if for no other reason to make new clothes to go with my new body! I picked out my colors, which I am sharing below. They go with a lot of things I already have, and I think the grey will be a nice neutral (as I think black is too harsh for me now). I've actually already got a lot of these colors in my fabric and yarn stash, and just need to finalize what to make before posting that.
I hope my post about food allergies is useful for others. I was really lucky to have had other friends who had gone through something similar and was able to discuss it with them, which made it a less stressful experience. If anyone needs recommendations for companies that do not use soy in their product, please let me know - I've found a few I can recommend.
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