It’s been well over a month since I stopped eating wheat. I started my wheat free journey on the 4th June and it’s been hard, there’s a lot of hidden wheat in foods and I do miss having a slice of slightly burnt toast with Marmite. However, I am noticing the benefits of having a wheat free diet. I’m less bloated and have found that my skin has cleared up, especially on my face. Unfortunately, the hives on my hands haven’t totally gone. For the first few weeks they did improve, they weren’t itchy but they were still there.
During June I changed my lunch time sandwich to a salad and started using dairy on a regular basis. I’ve had a low dairy diet since around 2010 and now I remember why. The hives/rashes on my hands became much worse when I started to eat more cheese (I kept a food diary). We’re now well into July and I’m trying very hard not to have wheat or dairy in my diet. I’ve also been avoiding eggs this month, but I wouldn’t suggest cutting too many things out at once, it can make it hard to determine the real culprits.
On Tuesday I failed. I had food at a local BBQ restaurant and suddenly I had little heat lumps appear on my lips. It’s been quite some time since that happened (Munich 2009) and I really don’t know what triggered it. It’s possible that this reaction is to something a little more specific than wheat as it’s something I only get every few years. You can read more about it in my last post. I have a photo of the ingredients from the bottle of sauce but it’s unlikely to be anything in that. I think it could have been something the meat or chips were cooked in. Maybe I could ring and ask the restaurant, it would be very helpful to know. It took about 10 minutes and lots of cold water to cool my lips and face down but it’s safe to say that I didn’t get to enjoy much more of the meal.
Phil’s sister introduced us to some delicious chocolate biscuits and I decided to have one or three. They were so so good, if you can eat wheat and dairy then you must try them! The following few days have meant that the rashes on my hands and arms have been very sore. I’ve stopped with my Tuesday wheat binge and now I’m well and truly back onto the no wheat and dairy diet. I’m ready to see the back of these hives/rashes and I hope I don’t have to cut anything extra out. I’ll keep you updated on how it’s all going, feel free to join me on Twitter if you’re suffering from something similar.
I’ve been reading about people who have a histamine intolerance, I think this is a possibility for the causes of my hives but I can’t be sure yet. If any of you know anything about having a histamine intolerance then I’d love to have a chat with you.
I’ve got an exciting post coming up with some wheat and dairy free brands for you to try out.