That’s how I felt when I found out I couldn’t eat eggs. How could it be? I LOVE eggs. They are my “go to” food. A staple. Nature’s perfectly packaged food. How could I be allergic to them?

But I was. There were the IgG food sensitivity test results sitting on my desk, staring ominously back at me. On a scale of 1-5. “1” being a little sensitivity problem.. I was a “5”. A full blown, no egg yolks, no egg whites, no chicken, quail, or duck eggs – Egg allergy! My immune system was screaming “NO EGGS!” Only I hadn’t been able to hear it because I ate them so often.

If you don’t know me, I am constantly managing an auto-immune disease (Hashimoto’s Thyroditis). I am always looking for ways I can give my immune system a break and not overtax it with unnecessary work. So having pulled gluten, refined sugar, and most of dairy and soy; this was the next step to dig deeper to help my body figure out what was going on, get out of overdrive, and slow down the attack on itself.

So, in one swift moment, away went my delicious hot morning breakfast veggies and egg scramble, my sunny side up, my over easy, my veggie omelettes, my frittatas, my quiches, my eggs in a hole. My raw egg yolk Ceaser salad style dressing, my grain free, dairy free muffins that I had just perfected, my macaroons, my cookies, most of my baked goods. I think I could handle most of that. Then I realized no deviled eggs, which I adored and no more mayonnaise without which no respectable sandwich can be called as such!  I just wanted to cry.220px-Making_eggs_in_basket

What was I going to do? I was already on a gluten free diet, no dairy, almost no soy (except for cultured nonGMO soy), low to no corn, no refined sugars, no artificial crap. Eating super clean in our broken food system is really hard to do, especially if one wants to go out to eat.

For the most part, I have even given up on dining out. There are a few places still acceptable which will happily accommodate a special food needs person like me. Like New World Bistro. But here I was freaking out about how I would survive at home?

This was a real problem for me. And I know this is a real problem for so many of my clients when at first I introduce the concept of needing to cut out a certain food, not even permanently, but to simply test it out for 2 weeks.

It can be so hard to give up certain foods. We grow attached to certain feelings, patterns, habits, behaviors that are associated with a particular food, that it can literally feel like one is cutting off their own thumb when giving something up, especially at first.

crazyHaving gotten through to the other side of this attachment, I can say that it DOES get easier and better.  In most cases, the faster one can transition away from the challenge food completely, the better. That doesn’t necessarily always work for everyone. So we all have to go at our own pace.

At first, I couldn’t even cook eggs for my family in the morning. I delegated that responsibility to my husband. He made eggs. Then we ran out of eggs. I am the shopper in the family, so I went to my local favorite co-op, Honest Weight, for a re-stocking up on food.  My cart was full of yummy food, when I went on auto-pilot and navigated myself to the front of the cooler where the eggs resided. I opened the door to get a carton of eggs and instantly realized that I couldn’t do this. I couldn’t lose my precious eggs. That was the moment that the reality of NO MORE EGGS set in. It was like I had suddenly lost my best friend. I know this sounds dramatic. I can be known for my dramatic flair, but I am not exaggerating when I say that I was mourning the loss of something very dear to me.

I walked around my normally familiar co-op completely dazed, enveloped in tears, sorrow and grief over my loss. It took me about 15 minutes of complete surrender to my sobbing and weeping, to begin to find my way back to a somewhat composed self. It was then I realized I had an addiction problem.crying

Stay tuned for an explanation about the connection between addiction, immune system, and leaky gut.

I resolved to have faith, knowing that this feeling will go away… eventually. That is the nature of feelings; they come and go. Although it felt this one would stick around for a while, eventually, it DID go away. I learned to deal with life without eggs. I found alternatives for breakfast. I found Veganaise (soy, dairy, and egg free mayonnaise). I discovered an egg substitution in baking: 1 Tbs of ground flax seeds in 3 Tbs of water. Mix and wait a few minutes. The product is a gel that bound miracles in my kitchen, made me smile, and I felt human again!

I must admit that it took me months to muster up the courage to even run that food sensitivity test because I didn’t want to know. Ever have that feeling? What you don’t know won’t hurt you? Right?

ignorance-is-blissWrong!!! Really wrong, but I simply was not ready to give up anything else at the time. I knew it would be this painful for me and I resisted. For me, the pain that seemed to want to go on forever, went away after a mere two weeks. Now, I can hardly remember the taste of a perfectly runny salted sunny side up egg soaked up by a piece of toast on a lazy Sunday morning.
Maybe…  ;))

Seriously, I can honestly say that I have lost that addictive piece and therefore do not hurt over eggs like I did initially. Even if the site of them brings faint intellectual memories, there isn’t any of the emotional tugging.

Have I made mistakes and accidentally consumed something thinking it was egg free? Yes.
Did I die? No, not yet.
Do I want to make these mistakes? Not at all.
Am I human? Yes.
Are you human? If you are reading this, Yes!
Can you do it? Yes, you can!
Do you need support with giving something up or testing it out? Maybe.

IMG_4925If you do – hang in there. In a few weeks I will be running a 7 Day, Clean Start, Fall Detox with my dear friend and a brilliant colleague, Abigail Thurston, founder of Dance with Fibro. We will help guide you in the most gentle and delicious way to help clean up your system – so you can feel as energized and as amazing as you can!
Keep your eyes open, we will be opening enrollment in another couple of weeks!

In the meanwhile, do you have an experience of giving up a food you love? Or know that you need to give something up, but just can’t bring yourself to do it? Share your experience so that we can help support you! And others may learn from you.

Thanks for listening and I hope you found this helpful either for yourself or share it with a friend who is struggling. May we all be as healthy as we can be!

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