why I do what I do

April 4, 2012 Categories baking, cooking, food allergy, gluten-free, health, Uncategorized 1 Comment Tags Dr Cory, food allergies, food allergy, gluten free, gluten free baking, gluten free beer, San Francisco, vegan

This past weekend was awesome. Selling whoo(pie)s to people who love to treat their bodies well, eat good food, and dance! Several people stopped to chat. Almost all of them commenting ‘you made these?!’ Feels great.

One lady asked how I got into gluten-free & vegan baking. Good question. Maybe you haven’t read my history lesson or you’ve forgotten how this all started…

In 2009 I decided to go to a food allergy talk by Dr Cory Reddish. I hadn’t been feeling soo hot. Lot’s of allergies, sinus infections, eczema. No fun. My food allergy results were depressing but life changing in the best way. High reactions to soy, dairy, egg & gluten, respectively. Ouch. What is a girl supposed to eat? Especially when she’s already vegetarian.

So the quest began. At first, I just cut out dairy, egg & soy.  I’ve always loved to cook and I really needed to change the way I ate. Gluten and soy-free replacements started it off- sunshine burgers, rice pasta. But quickly I decided- no more quick foods. Lots of fresh veggies and attempts at recreating some favorites. Cashew cheese for lasagna? Delicious! Coconut milk for a creamy soup. No problem!

But what about sweet treats? Baked goods? That became an amazingly acceptable challenge. Lots of ingredients were wasted but discovering my favorite new foods, flours, and pantry staples was awesome. (especially trying the gluten free beers!) Once I tackled some really yummy recipes, got some fun feedback from friends, I decided the goods needed to be shared. So here I am.

Some things that have specifically changed after avoiding my food allergens:

• drastic reduction in sinus infections/problems
• less allergies to pets
• almost no seasonal allergies
• no more belly bloat!
• better skin
• weight loss
• better energy

Maybe you haven’t been feeling so hot either. I’m not saying all of these amazing things are going to happen to you, or that you are going to turn into a baketress extraordinaire but a food allergy test might still be a good start.