Simplify Your Food Allergies

Sep 23, 2022Coaching, Food, Metabolic Balance®

Simplifying Your Food Allergies

When you have allergies, it can be tough navigating what food you can and can’t have. When I was navigating the world of processed foods with a dairy allergy, gluten, corn, and yeast sensitivities, I felt severely limited. People even ask me now, “What do you eat!?” What cleared the air was learning how to cook with whole foods! So my answer to that question now is, “Whole foods!” It took out all the label reading, time searching through the grocery aisles, and emotional stress .

Simplify Label Reading

When you work with whole foods, there are no labels to read. Simple as that. If you are unsure a grain has gluten or not, you can easily look it up. You don’t have to worry about additives within that food either.

Reading labels can be confusing at times as well. When you have a sensitivity to corn, you find corn is in everything!

For example, corn is found in:

baby food, baking powder, candy, coffee whitener, dried soups, instant breakfast meals, instant pudding, instant tea, salad dressings, spray cooking oil, precooked frozen meals, salt, seasoning mixes, gum, food coloring, frozen and dried eggs, ice cream, peanut butter, sausage, tomato sauces, etc.

You can see how reading labels can be overwhelming. If you don’t have access to a natural food store, it can be hard to find processed products without it. Now, not only is corn found in food, it is also found in various drugs and pharmaceuticals a person can take. When you care what goes into your body, you can feel the emotional struggle is real!

Working with whole foods, it simplifies things. You don’t have to work about what is mixed in your food because you know what you are making. This also takes us back to the art of cooking! When you focus on eating whole foods, you naturally focus and practice the skills of cooking. You get to explore food! You miss having a certain processed food? Get creative, get your whole foods ingredients together and try it out! You can make your own ice cream! Choose healthy ingredients or healthier sourced ingredients, and go for it!

Simplifying Your Time in the Aisles

I don’t have to tell you that by eliminating the label reading, you are saving time grocery shopping. Not only are you saving time not reading labels, you tend to have a certain area of the grocery store you shop within. Most grocery stores are set up about the same. Produce, dairy, and meat all tend to be around the outside of the store. Occasionally you might venture into an aisle, thought typically you round the perimeter of the store and have a cart full of food.

Sometimes when we think of whole food, we just think of vegetables and fruit. But it includes starches such as potatoes and rice as well as protein such as meat, poultry and fish. These may be some of the more obvious whole food items, but you also have your legumes, which might be found in an aisle as well. Either way, your time in the aisles will be reduced going up and down that zig zag!

Simplifying Your Emotional Stress

While I can’t say you will never be emotionally stressed about food again; you do find surprising resources when you start paying attention. Keep your eyes and options open and discover there are places you will find food that fits your lifestyle.

Now when you are having meals with your family and friends, you can always offer to make something you know you can eat and satisfy you. Not only are you serving yourself but giving the opportunity for others to discover cooking with whole foods. Mentally prepare to be around food you maybe can’t have but also arm yourself with the knowledge and skills of knowing how to make something delicious for yourself in a healthy way.

Simply Whole Foods

While allergies and sensitivities can be a pain no matter how long you have worked with them, learning to explore and cook with whole foods can be a freeing experience. You are taking control of your food choices in a healthy way and building a skill of cooking that we often leave to the professionals or “elders” in the family. Check out some of our simple recipe blogs to learn more about how to pick whole foods and prepare them in a healthy and simple way. Learn more about how a nutrition plan full of whole foods, personalized for you by Metabolic Balance®, can help you lose weight, gain health and sustain it with a lifestyle shift! Book a Discovery Call to learn more and if this is the next step for your health journey.