As a companion to the list of products I use, following list of what I specifically can eat.

This is a very weird, limited list because in addition to being sensitive to corny packaging, cleaners, sprays, and fertilizers, I also have a ton of issues related to my MCAS with chemical derivatives found in all of the above and then some. I also have a metabolic deficiency known as g6pd deficiency aka “favism” that causes me to hemolyse (my red blood cells explode, seriously) when I have certain foods and medications that cause oxidative stress, or an exposed to chemicals or illness that causes the same oxidative stress.  The end result of all these intersecting conditions is that I react with “allergic-type” reactions to 30+ foods besides corn, and have another long (and deep and involved) list of foods that will not cause me a reaction for 3-5 days, and may not cause me a noticeable reaction other than perhaps some fatigue if I don’t have much of it.

(Note that no noticeable reaction does NOT mean no reaction- See these articles from Dale Baker for more info: Low Level Hemolysis and Women with G6PD Defeciency. )

Foods I Can Eat

This is literally it. Items not on this list I am either allergic to, is a g6pdd trigger, or cannot yet find un-contaminated.

Oils/fats

• Allgau German grass-fed butter

Spices/Herbs  (homegrown or from safe farm unless otherwise noted)

• • Thyme
  • Oregano
  • Sage
  • Rosemary
  • Basil
  • Mint
  • Himalayan salt blocks, rinsed to remove contaminants and then ground down
  • Cinnamon (from Mountain Rose Herbs, washed and re-dehydrated.
  • Paprika (homemade from peppers I dehydrated myself.
  • Parsley
  • Dill

Vegetables  (home grown or direct from safe farms, must be preserved when in season)

• Lettuce
• Sorrel
• Purslane
• Tomatoes
• Peppers (hot and sweet)
• Dandelion Green
• Radicchio
• endive
• escarole
• chicory
• Cucumbers
• Celery
• Artichokes
• Rhubarb
• Okra
• Potatoes ( seasonal, only when I grow them myself, fertilizer is an issue even on my “safe” farms)
• Sweet potatoes (seasonal, only peeled, from one farm. Probably with skin on if i grew myself)

Fruits (mail order or from safe local farms, homegrown,  or wild foraged)

• Apples
• Strawberries
• Raspberries
• Blackberries
• blueberries
• Grapefruit
• Lemon
• Limes
• Kumquats
• Kiwis
• Peaches
• Apricots
• Plums
• Pluots
• dragon fruit (seasonal, very limited)
• dates

Meat/Protein sources

For more information about how meat can be contaminated with corn, see my Meat Post.

• Beef – grass fed, custom processed. – Note: I have cut this way back and nearly out of my diet due to signs of estrogen dominance as well as decreased esophageal motility when I eat a lot of beef. I believe the hormonal issues are due to me beginning perimenopause, and the esophageal issues are due to beef being high histamine from the aging process. Not  corn issue in either case. 
• Lamb – grass fed, custom processed. Note: I am 100% without lamb this year as it is only slaughtered once a year in springtime, and a new slaughterer contaminated my animals somehow and made them inedible to me. 
• Salmon- Wild caught, frozen whole at sea with only seawater for a glaze. From Nerka Salmon.
• Chicken – Not corn fed, processed without any corn derived cleaners or washes, packaged in safe-for-me plastic.
• Walnuts, organic, in-shell only and hand-shelled at home. (supply is sporadic)
• Pecans, organic, in-shell only and hand-shelled at home. (supply is sporadic)
• Mushrooms: pioppini, oyster, lion’s mane. NOT shiitake or crimini/portobello/button. For more info see Where’s the Corn in Mushrooms? 

Dairy

• Several varieties of french, spanish, and italian ripened cheeses – these need to be traditional varities, usually name-controlled such as french AOC, italian DOP or spanish DO. I think the big difference is “heirloom” cultures that are grown on just milk, rather than “direct set” packet cultures that seem to always have preservatives or maltodextrin. For more info see Where’s the Corn in Cheese?  For the actual cheeses I can eat, see my product list.

Sweeteners

• local honey from Sunny Honey Co.
• Mail order 100% pure maple syrup (Patterson Maple Farms)

Foods On Hand Between December and June

I’m presenting this as a separate list to emphasize how different and boring my winter/spring diet is from my summer/fall diet. Many of these are only available because I take hours per week between July and November to preserve them by either blanching/cooking and freezing or dehydrating (and still keeping in the freezer).

• Fermented pickled cucumbers
• Frozen peaches
• Frozen nectarines
• Frozen blueberries
• Beef (bones, steaks & roast, & trim only, no ground as i have no safe grinder)
• Blanched, frozen raddichio
• Frozen okra (limited)
• Pureed cooked plum
• Pureed cooked apricots
• Frozen tomato sauce
• Walnuts
• Pecans (limited qty)
• Mushrooms
• Beef
• Cheese
• butter
• Sweet potatoes (limited qty, about 20 lbs to last all winter)
• Fresh apples (most of the season until about April)
• Powdered sweet, hot & paprika peppers
• Dehydrated tomatoes
• Dehydrated celery
• Frozen parsley
• Frozen basil
• Fresh rosemary
• Fresh thyme
• Fresh oregano (limited)
• Fresh sage
• Dates
• Lemons
• Limes
• Apple sauce
• Pear Sauce
• salt

Foods I Avoid

Definitely react to the food itself

• shitake mushrooms (causes gi distress even when well cooked)
• crimini/portobello/button (allergy reaction likely from corn based growth medium)
• broccoli
• cauliflower
• cabbage,
• kale
• I avoid all other brassica family (cruciferous) veggies like turnips, radish, arugula or mizuna because it seemed like the whole family was bad times.
• Chard
• spinach
• beet greens
• beets
• I avoid all chenopods because of severe reactions to the previous 4 items.
• Garlic
• onions
• asparagus
• I avoid all alliums because of SEVERE reactions to the previous 3 items.
• winter squash – all
• pumpkin
• summer squash
• zuchinni
• all melons (but cucumber is okay)

Possibly Contaminated with something else

• Root vegetables  (think this actually the dirt/minerals/fertilizer) – carrots, parsnips
• Coconut products – whole coconut, coconut oil, coconut flakes, coconut milk
• Bananas
• Avocados
• Grasses: Rice, oats, teff
• Seeds: chia, flax, sunflower, pepitas, quinoa
• Nuts/peanuts: All other than the in-shell unsprayed walnuts & pecans

G6PDD hemolysis trigger foods

• Fava beans – listing it by itself since they sent me to the hospital needing blood transfusions.
• All legumes incl. Soy products, peanuts, licorice, and legume family herbs such as astragalus and copaiba
• Bitter gourd aka garden egg
• Tonic Water/quinine
• Ascorbic acid & Vitamin K
• Tea Extracts
• Some chinese herbs

More info: http://g6pddeficiency.org/wp/living-with-g6pd-deficiency/g6pd-deficiency-foods-to-avoid-list

 

Example Meals

To give you an idea of how the above ingredients turn into meals:

Breakfast

Summer:

• Homemade sausage made with custom processed meat ground at home, homegrown and dried spices, and himalayan sea salt.
• Fruit from a safe orchard

Winter:

• Whatever I had for dinner last night.

Lunch and Dinner

Summer:

• Huge (5+ cup container) salad of lettuce, purslane, tomatoes,  cucumbers, fresh basil, walnuts, home-pickled peppers, and whatever safe meat or cheese I have.

or

• Grilled raddichio, grilled fennel, grilled meat (cooked on hardwood lump charcoal).  Fresh fruit for dessert.

Winter:

• “Kitchen sink” soup out of meat, meat broth, frozen/thawed veggies, home-dried spices.

Snack

• Homemade fermented pickled veggies.
• Sliced cheese.
• Fresh or frozen fruit.  
• Homemade jerky.
• Homemade trail mix out of hand-shelled nuts and homemade dried fruit.

 

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