My Worst Nightmare: Bread Detox

This week I am on doctor's orders to go on an elimination diet, which means no sugar, dairy, wheat, corn, caffeine, eggs, citrus, or solanaceae (tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, eggplant.) Oh and no nuts or dried fruits because they contain sulphites. You cut all of these items out of your diet completely for one week, then reintroduce them one at a time, giving each item 48 hours to see if your body has a reaction.


Holy mackerel. I'm on day two and the panic has not yet subsided. I've done this sort of thing before except I was allowed to eat wheat and potatoes. They are definitely my safety blanket. I mean, a world without bread and french fries? Not a world I want to live in! This being the case I shelled out close to $6 for a loaf of gluten-free bread yesterday, only to discover that, at best, it's a third cousin twice removed from bread I have known and loved, even when toasted and smothered with almond butter (organic).*


For dinner last night I made a butternut squash soup, but I put a sweet potato in it (usually the recipe calls for a regular potato too). I must have been kidding myself, because after I ate said soup I googled "sweet potato solanaceae" on my Blackberry only to discover that sweet potatoes are on my Do Not Eat list too. Sigh. At least Mr. SevPrez will have something to eat this week. He was quite alarmed to find out that I came back from Whole Foods with nothing for him. What can I say, walking around the market, forsaking all my favorite foods (it's high season for citrus fruits right now) the world seemed to be closing in on me. I couldn't be trusted to have any warm baguettes in my cart.


I know it's early, but I think this may be the hardest thing I have ever done (okay maybe it's tied with the boot-strappers we did on Saturday, it's been a tough week). The good news? I can still eat any and all animal proteins, which includes bacon. ; )


*After calling my naturopath to clarify the nut rule, nut butters are also on the DNE list unless they specifically say "no sulphites." A trip to Whole Foods yielded no such product.