Ursula, Lectin Help Needed, Please

[plantime]

Hi Ursula. I bought the Eat Right 4 Your Blood Type book, and learned that it is all about how different lectins affect your blood. I am trying to follow the diet, but since mine says no corn or potatoes, I am almost lost. I know that those foods make me feel sluggish and worn out, but what do I eat instead? I have been eating squashes, but they take a long time to cook.

I get no dairy, but almost all the meat and fish I want. Do you cook ahead? How do you handle days when you don't have time to cook? Or even sit down to eat?

I have checked out your links, I really appreciate you putting them in your signature. I have managed to stick to the plan for one whole day, but have really cut back otherwise. Even just cutting the bad lectins has made a big difference in how I feel.

[happygirl]

Dessa,

I have severely limited my lectins also. Corn is in everything. Make sure you check out cornallergen.com...hope it helps some. And, no, no eating out.

Laura

[plantime]

So eating out is out. Do you carry a lunch with you when you are going to be gone all day?

[Ursa Major]

Hi Dessa,

I find that if I eat out (once every few months), I can tolerate a caesar salad. No croutons, obviously, and bacon bits only if they're real bacon. Fake bacon bits are made with wheat. It's probably not a very good idea, but I take my chances at times. It is not possible to be 100% safe with the many intolerances I have, anyway.

I don't believe in the blood type diet. I think if you suspect you're intolerant to lectins, you need to figure out by an elimination diet which groups you can and cannot tolerate. Of course, if you KNOW already which of them make you feel bad, don't eat them.

My kind of 'fast food' is a salad with tuna. I take a prepackaged salad (mostly iceberg, it's the only one I can tolerate, even though it has little nutritional value), put a whole can of tuna over a plateful of that, and use my special, safe, salad dressing with it. My salad dressing consists of one freshly squeezed lime (lemons are too high in salicylates), maple syrup, sea salt and cold pressed sunflower oil. I really like it, fortunately.

Today I went to take my second-oldest daughter and little Zoey shopping. It takes me 1 1/2 hours to get to her place. I ate some cream of buckwheat cooked with a cut-up apple for breakfast, and took my lunch with me. I cooked myself a stir fry last night, and my lunch was leftovers from that, plus a portion can of diced pears for dessert. I took some sesame snaps for a snack, and a bottle of water as well.

If we would have gone to a restaurant, I'd just eat my food, while Karen would order a lunch. But because I was up most of the night with terrible stomach pains (or possible another ulcer in the esophagus, I am afraid), I was late to get going. So, Karen ate lunch before I got to her house, and I ate my lunch on my way to the next town, where the mall is, while she was driving my car (she knows her way around there, and I don't).

In general, I don't eat out. It isn't safe and not worth the risk. If I go visiting people that are too far away to bring all my food already precooked, I bring my own stainless steel frying pan, spatula, sometimes a small pot, and a cooler of safe foods with me. I then cook all my own food. I can only visit people who understand, of course, and won't get offended by me doing that.

One of my friends will cook me safe foods, and I've always been okay eating at her house. But that is a rarity.

I eat mostly stir fries. The meat can be ground beef, beef strips, chicken or turkey strips (or squares), fish, steaks, really anything. I cook the meat with diced shallots (onions are too high in salicylates to eat too often). When the meat is pretty much done, I add whatever diced/cut up vegetables I am having with it (or frozen veggies, if I have no energy to prepare fresh ones), season it all with sea salt, and just let it simmer until done. I try to cook enough in the morning to last me all day. But often my kids will eat it, and then I might not have enough energy left to start over again, and only eat sesame snaps, or a salad for the rest of the day. Not good, I know. But I have very little energy (sometimes none at all), and if I don't look after myself, nobody will. It's an extremely rare thing for anybody to be willing to cook for me. They think it's my duty to cook for them instead. They don't understand that I am not well enough for that most of the time, and resent me for it (and when I say kids, I mean my two youngest daughters, who are 21 and 15 years old, the three oldest are married and moved out).

[Anne AMP]

Hi Dessa,

I find that if I eat out (once every few months), I can tolerate a caesar salad. No croutons, obviously, and bacon bits only if they're real bacon. Fake bacon bits are made with wheat. It's probably not a very good idea, but I take my chances at times. It is not possible to be 100% safe with the many intolerances I have, anyway.

I don't believe in the blood type diet. I think if you suspect you're intolerant to lectins, you need to figure out by an elimination diet which groups you can and cannot tolerate. Of course, if you KNOW already which of them make you feel bad, don't eat them.

My kind of 'fast food' is a salad with tuna. I take a prepackaged salad (mostly iceberg, it's the only one I can tolerate, even though it has little nutritional value), put a whole can of tuna over a plateful of that, and use my special, safe, salad dressing with it. My salad dressing consists of one freshly squeezed lime (lemons are too high in salicylates), maple syrup, sea salt and cold pressed sunflower oil. I really like it, fortunately.

Today I went to take my second-oldest daughter and little Zoey shopping. It takes me 1 1/2 hours to get to her place. I ate some cream of buckwheat cooked with a cut-up apple for breakfast, and took my lunch with me. I cooked myself a stir fry last night, and my lunch was leftovers from that, plus a portion can of diced pears for dessert. I took some sesame snaps for a snack, and a bottle of water as well.

If we would have gone to a restaurant, I'd just eat my food, while Karen would order a lunch. But because I was up most of the night with terrible stomach pains (or possible another ulcer in the esophagus, I am afraid), I was late to get going. So, Karen ate lunch before I got to her house, and I ate my lunch on my way to the next town, where the mall is, while she was driving my car (she knows her way around there, and I don't).

In general, I don't eat out. It isn't safe and not worth the risk. If I go visiting people that are too far away to bring all my food already precooked, I bring my own stainless steel frying pan, spatula, sometimes a small pot, and a cooler of safe foods with me. I then cook all my own food. I can only visit people who understand, of course, and won't get offended by me doing that.

One of my friends will cook me safe foods, and I've always been okay eating at her house. But that is a rarity.

I eat mostly stir fries. The meat can be ground beef, beef strips, chicken or turkey strips (or squares), fish, steaks, really anything. I cook the meat with diced shallots (onions are too high in salicylates to eat too often). When the meat is pretty much done, I add whatever diced/cut up vegetables I am having with it (or frozen veggies, if I have no energy to prepare fresh ones), season it all with sea salt, and just let it simmer until done. I try to cook enough in the morning to last me all day. But often my kids will eat it, and then I might not have enough energy left to start over again, and only eat sesame snaps, or a salad for the rest of the day. Not good, I know. But I have very little energy (sometimes none at all), and if I don't look after myself, nobody will. It's an extremely rare thing for anybody to be willing to cook for me. They think it's my duty to cook for them instead. They don't understand that I am not well enough for that most of the time, and resent me for it (and when I say kids, I mean my two youngest daughters, who are 21 and 15 years old, the three oldest are married and moved out).

Ursula,

You have been the most wonderful resource for me. You can come visit me anytime! I am still struggling with the tremendous intolorances and am back to eating only four foods - beef, chicken, butternut squash, and cooked pears. I did get the Thorne Research Vitamins but got a migraine and fog brain taking just one. I guess its the filler, Leucine, (which I found out is an amino acid ) caused the problem. One more sensitivity for me - amines. I have been on this diet for about 6 weeks now and can't believe how intolorant I still am.

Anne

[Ursa Major]

Anne, it is very likely that in time you'll be able to tolerate more foods. Sometimes low thyroid function can be the cause of allergies and/or intolerances, as it will cause your bowels to be sluggish, and not functioning right. The same goes for adrenal fatigue/burnout.

You might want to try the hypoallergenic vitamins from Open Original Shared Link. I am taking those, and they seem to be okay. What I really like is the option to only order a sample which will last you a couple of weeks, for $3.85, to test if you can tolerate them, before you spend a lot of money. I did that. I wished you'd have that option every time you try something new!

[Anne AMP]

Thanks Ursula. I will try that brand of vitamins.- Anne

[plantime]

Thanks for the advice, Ursula. I'm using the book as a starting point, and I already knew many foods I am intolerant of. It's not easy, but like you said, "if I don't look after myself, nobody will." My husband is having fits, saying that I don't eat enough as it is. I tried to explain to him that I can eat as much as I want of foods that don't make me sick, but he just doesn't get it. Corn is definitely a problem for me, not an allergy, but it makes me feel rundown and sluggish, so I am trying to find all of the places it is hiding in my diet and eliminate it. I found it in my "unsweetened" applesauce, and my sweet potatoes, and I about had a breakdown in the store over it. It just looks like I have to go back to the basics, and work my diet from there. The biggest problem is that I don't have the oomph to cook a full meal by the time dinnertime arrives.

I'm sorry your kids are whiny about you not feeling up to cooking for them. I told mine to cook for themselves, I taught them how when they were kids. I keep microwaveables in the house for them, so I only need to worry about me. My husband lives and works overseas, so he deals with his own food. The big problem with him is that he expects to eat out for every meal when he is home on leave. I will worry about that when he next comes home.

[happygirl]

Dessa, good luck to you! it can be hard to navigate all this.

and yes, I bring my food everywhere. I was just the matron of honor in my best friend's wedding last weekend...I brought dinner to the rehearsal dinner, snacks for the wedding, did not take communion during the service, and brought my own dinner for the wedding. I bring my lunch every day to work. It stinks, but it is worth it for me.

Let me know if I can help in anyway.

[corinne]

I too can eat very few foods (8) and squash is one thing that is ok. If you have a microwave, you can cook squash fairly quickly. I stick a whole butternut squash (or acorn or turban etc) in the microwave for 4 minutes when I walk in the door from work. After I sort the mail and change, I flip the squash over and microwave it for another 4 minutes. Then I split it in half and remove the seeds and it's ready to eat.

[plantime]

I got out my crockpot yesterday, and put some beef and acorn squash in it to cook all night. I ate some for breakfast, and will have more for either lunch or dinner. After spending the past week trying to figure out how to handle breakfast on a busy morning, maybe I have finally hit on the solution! Now I will just have to experiment with crockpot meals. A smaller crockpot would help, too, but I will worry about that later!

[jerseyangel]

You know, that's a good idea. I also avoid lectins as well as several other foods.

Breakfast is far and away the hardest meal for me--I need to eat in the morning, and include protein. Since I can't eat eggs, that narrows things down even more.

To adress your inital post, I don't eat out at all (well, really twice in the year and a half I've been gluten-free)--when we visit family out of town, I bring all of my food with me. I'm that sensitive, and don't want to risk getting sick away from home (bad enough when it happens at home )

If I'm to be out of the house for anything, I always have some food in my purse, so I don't get caught without.

[Guest AutumnE]

I also never eat out. I always feel yucky afterwards if I do. One thing that helps me is when I make a meal that is safe for me (I cook separate meals because mine get boring for my family) I freeze them in a freezer safe separated plate. Usually 2 or 3 meals. If I know Im going to be busy the next day I just put it in the fridge the night before and heat it up the next day, otherwise I would never have the time to cook.