Thankfullness & groceries frustration

[Guest guest]

Early Friday AM Marty came home from work with his blood pressure sky high, dizzy & short of breath. I took him to the ER after I called his doctor. After EKGs, ultrasounds, blood tests and xrays, it was determined that he was fine and he was released at 3pm on Friday afternoon. He has to go back for a stress test. It appears that Sudafed (which he was taking for a bad cold) elevated his already high blood pressure (which he controls with meds) and coupled with a bad cold & stress from work, just was too much. So we now have to be even more careful what he eats. He is pre-diabetic and has high blood pressure. He has lost 30 lbs trying to be careful of what he eats but probably has 20 more to go. So I am now faced with more grocery issues. I have to have butter since I cannot have artificial ingredients. The kids cannot have butter since they are on

gluten & casein free diets for their adhd so I have one brand of margarine that they can eat. Marty cannot have butter or that brand of margarine because of the fat content so I have to buy him Promise or Benecol which is even more expensive than butter is! We use natural sweeteners like honey & maple for the kids. I can only have stevia and now Marty needs to have the "fake" sweeteners. So much fun! Ellen LaFleche-Christian Lilac Hill Homestead / Vermont http://tinyurl.com/lpfaf Do You ?

[Guest guest]

Wow....I feel for you Ellen The only thing I can say is that Marty should be OK with stevia. 100% better than fakes.

 

Barbara

 

 

 

 

Early Friday AM Marty came home from work with his blood pressure sky high, dizzy & short of breath. I took him to the ER after I called his doctor. After EKGs, ultrasounds, blood tests and xrays, it was determined that he was fine and he was released at 3pm on Friday afternoon. He has to go back for a stress test. It appears that Sudafed (which he was taking for a bad cold) elevated his already high blood pressure (which he controls with meds) and coupled with a bad cold & stress from work, just was too much.

 

So we now have to be even more careful what he eats. He is pre-diabetic and has high blood pressure. He has lost 30 lbs trying to be careful of what he eats but probably has 20 more to go.

 

So I am now faced with more grocery issues.

 

I have to have butter since I cannot have artificial ingredients. The kids cannot have butter since they are on gluten & casein free diets for their adhd so I have one brand of margarine that they can eat. Marty cannot have butter or that brand of margarine because of the fat content so I have to buy him Promise or Benecol which is even more expensive than butter is!

 

We use natural sweeteners like honey & maple for the kids. I can only have stevia and now Marty needs to have the "fake" sweeteners.

 

So much fun!

 

[Guest guest]

OMG, how scary! My husband is very sensitive to Sudafed too, although he doesn't have the added complication of high blood pressure. I'm glad all Marty's test cam back ok!

 

I wish you luck with the food issues...I know how stressful all this is on you.. :-(Cyndi

 

In a message dated 1/6/2007 6:50:10 A.M. Pacific Standard Time, scentednights2002 writes:

 

 

 

 

 

Early Friday AM Marty came home from work with his blood pressure sky high, dizzy & short of breath. I took him to the ER after I called his doctor. After EKGs, ultrasounds, blood tests and xrays, it was determined that he was fine and he was released at 3pm on Friday afternoon. He has to go back for a stress test. It appears that Sudafed (which he was taking for a bad cold) elevated his already high blood pressure (which he controls with meds) and coupled with a bad cold & stress from work, just was too much.

 

So we now have to be even more careful what he eats. He is pre-diabetic and has high blood pressure. He has lost 30 lbs trying to be careful of what he eats but probably has 20 more to go.

 

So I am now faced with more grocery issues.

 

I have to have butter since I cannot have artificial ingredients. The kids cannot have butter since they are on gluten & casein free diets for their adhd so I have one brand of margarine that they can eat. Marty cannot have butter or that brand of margarine because of the fat content so I have to buy him Promise or Benecol which is even more expensive than butter is!

 

We use natural sweeteners like honey & maple for the kids. I can only have stevia and now Marty needs to have the "fake" sweeteners.

 

So much fun!

 

 

Ellen LaFleche-Christian

Lilac Hill Homestead / Vermont

 

 

[Guest guest]

Good luck to you and marty, ellen!! I feel for your grocery woes- my husband and I can't have much dairy, but our daughter can't have gluten, dairy,eggs,citrus, or chocolate- and that's on top of being vegetarians.(whew) When she was fisrt diagnosed, I remember walking around the grocery store in a daze, and finally just starting to cry 'cos there was nothing to feed the poor kid....so simple veggies and nuts and whole alternative grains and tofu are finally second nature, but MAN that was a hard learning curve. I admit i let her have sugar just out of " she has to have SOMETHING the other kids can have " mentality. She's 10 now and we are doing a lot of mindfulness together lately about how sugar makes her feel and how ts really not good for you...but i have a nasty sugar habit I'm trying to kick, too. Baby steps...

-- Kairi Clark " In the time of your life, live-so that in that wondrous time you shall not add to the misery and sorrow of the world,but shall smile in the infinite delight and mystery of it. " -William Saroyan

[Guest guest]

Ellen wrote.....

 

Early Friday AM Marty came home from work with his blood pressure sky high,

dizzy & short of breath. I took him to the ER after I called his doctor.

After EKGs, ultrasounds, blood tests and xrays, it was determined that he

was fine and he was released at 3pm on Friday afternoon. He has to go back

for a stress test. It appears that Sudafed (which he was taking for a bad

cold) elevated his already high blood pressure (which he controls with meds)

and coupled with a bad cold & stress from work, just was too much.

So I am now faced with more grocery issues............

******************

Egads! So glad to hear it was just the OTC meds and nothing permanent.

 

Good luck with the grocery frustration. I'd prolly just stand glassy eyed

in the aisles if I had to remember all that.

I find I have similar woes whenever my SIL comes to visit as she has

multiple food allergies and limitations....I can never keep straight what

she can and can't have.

sluggy

[Guest guest]

Kairi, I can see that life is not easy for you when you go grocery shopping with all the allergies in your family. I noticed that you are using tofu and just wanted to warn you about soy products. As long as you are using it in moderation, it is OK but please, do not rely on it heavily as soy is an evil food. It is bad for everyone but especially for a growing child. Here is a site to tell you the dangers of soy.

 

http://www.soyonlineservice.co.nz/03summary.htm

 

This above link is part of a huge site that you can see here if you have time to read all of it.

 

http://www.soyonlineservice.co.nz/

 

Barbara

 

 

 

Good luck to you and marty, ellen!! I feel for your grocery woes- my husband and I can't have much dairy, but our daughter can't have gluten, dairy,eggs,citrus, or chocolate- and that's on top of being vegetarians.(whew) When she was fisrt diagnosed, I remember walking around the grocery store in a daze, and finally just starting to cry 'cos there was nothing to feed the poor kid....so simple veggies and nuts and whole alternative grains and tofu are finally second nature, but MAN that was a hard learning curve. I admit i let her have sugar just out of "she has to have SOMETHING the other kids can have" mentality. She's 10 now and we are doing a lot of mindfulness together lately about how sugar makes her feel and how ts really not good for you...but i have a nasty sugar habit I'm trying to kick, too. Baby steps... -- Kairi Clark

[Guest guest]

Hope everything turns out OK for your husband, Ellen. -Brigitte

[Guest guest]

Kairi, what was your daughter diagnosed with?Cyndi

 

In a message dated 1/7/2007 3:02:11 A.M. Pacific Standard Time, kairiclark writes:

 

 

 

 

Good luck to you and marty, ellen!! I feel for your grocery woes- my husband and I can't have much dairy, but our daughter can't have gluten, dairy,eggs,citrus, or chocolate- and that's on top of being vegetarians.(whew) When she was fisrt diagnosed, I remember walking around the grocery store in a daze, and finally just starting to cry 'cos there was nothing to feed the poor kid....so simple veggies and nuts and whole alternative grains and tofu are finally second nature, but MAN that was a hard learning curve. I admit i let her have sugar just out of "she has to have SOMETHING the other kids can have" mentality. She's 10 now and we are doing a lot of mindfulness together lately about how sugar makes her feel and how ts really not good for you...but i have a nasty sugar habit I'm trying to kick, too. Baby steps... -- Kairi Clark

 

 

[Guest guest]

Sun Jan 7, 2007 6:06 pm (PST)

Kairi, what was your daughter diagnosed with?Cyndi

 

 

Thanks for the site, Barbara- some thing to definitely chew on!!

 

My daghter was starting to have real athsmatic symptoms at age 4 and i took her to Kaiser, and they said she may have allergies and to put her on all kinds of inhalers, etc. i was way not ok with this, but they wouldnt test her for allergies until she was older. We went to a chiropractor who specialized in nutrition and digestion ( iknow, it sounds like an odd combination) and he did sevaral tests over a few months, and we also did a very long test where we scaled her foods down to very basic things we knew she wasnt allergic to, then added one food at a time back in, just like when they are little babies. She is 10 now and really healthy, she barelyu even gets the sniffles in the winter. Kaiser has tested her, and says she is not allergic to many of the foods we discovered. However, if she accidentally gets anything with dairy, or especially grains, the reactions are swift and undeniable. She gets terrible, crampy upset stomach, piercing headaches, very phlegmy, often will have nosebleeds, and turns from a sunny, brilliant, wonderful-to-be-around kid that makes everyone around her feel happy about the world into a cranky, sulking,grumblebutt that i just want to make feel better. The transformation is astounding.I can't believe everything the docs tell us- there is a really great book called " is this your child? " that deals a lot wiith allergies undiagnosed by the medical community. It is really fabulous. We have found out, by trial and error, that if we rotate some of her lesser allergic foods to no more than every 7 days or so, she can tolerate small amounts of citrus or eggs in that time frame. It's been a huge learning experiment, and she has been a real trouper through the whole thing. She is used to it now, and for things like birthday parties, i keep already baked cupcakes in th freezer, or gluten-free pizza shells so we can slap together something to take to a party. Since its all been since she was 4, she doesn't even remember most of the other stuff. )

 

 

Sluggy- I worked in a fabric shop, and I think I brought the whole thing home with me-I ended up having to use a bunch of our storage unit, and then had to move it when we got a house-ugh! i ended up getting rid of so much of it! not i have just one cabinet full, and it all has projects floating in my head for each one... so much fabric, so little time!!!

-- Kairi Clark " In the time of your life, live-so that in that wondrous time you shall not add to the misery and sorrow of the world,but shall smile in the infinite delight and mystery of it. " -William Saroyan

[Guest guest]

Wow, sounds like you've really had a rough time with your daughters allergies! But you sound like a pro now. :-)Cyndi

 

In a message dated 1/10/2007 9:24:38 A.M. Pacific Standard Time, kairiclark writes:

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the site, Barbara- some thing to definitely chew on!!

 

My daghter was starting to have real athsmatic symptoms at age 4 and i took her to Kaiser, and they said she may have allergies and to put her on all kinds of inhalers, etc. i was way not ok with this, but they wouldnt test her for allergies until she was older. We went to a chiropractor who specialized in nutrition and digestion ( iknow, it sounds like an odd combination) and he did sevaral tests over a few months, and we also did a very long test where we scaled her foods down to very basic things we knew she wasnt allergic to, then added one food at a time back in, just like when they are little babies. She is 10 now and really healthy, she barelyu even gets the sniffles in the winter. Kaiser has tested her, and says she is not allergic to many of the foods we discovered. However, if she accidentally gets anything with dairy, or especially grains, the reactions are swift and undeniable. She gets terrible, crampy upset stomach, piercing headaches, very phlegmy, often will have nosebleeds, and turns from a sunny, brilliant, wonderful-to-be-around kid that makes everyone around her feel happy about the world into a cranky, sulking,grumblebutt that i just want to make feel better. The transformation is astounding.I can't believe everything the docs tell us- there is a really great book called "is this your child?" that deals a lot wiith allergies undiagnosed by the medical community. It is really fabulous. We have found out, by trial and error, that if we rotate some of her lesser allergic foods to no more than every 7 days or so, she can tolerate small amounts of citrus or eggs in that time frame. It's been a huge learning experiment, and she has been a real trouper through the whole thing. She is used to it now, and for things like birthday parties, i keep already baked cupcakes in th freezer, or gluten-free pizza shells so we can slap together something to take to a party. Since its all been since she was 4, she doesn't even remember most of the other stuff. )

 

Sluggy- I worked in a fabric shop, and I think I brought the whole thing home with me-I ended up having to use a bunch of our storage unit, and then had to move it when we got a house-ugh! i ended up getting rid of so much of it! not i have just one cabinet full, and it all has projects floating in my head for each one... so much fabric, so little time!!! -- Kairi Clark"In the time of your life, live-so that in that wondrous time you shall not add to the misery and sorrow of the world,but shall smile in the infinite delight and mystery of it." -William Saroyan