hhhmmmm....CHOCOLATE!!!
When I discovered I had a milk intolerence, I dealt pretty well with the change. Cheese was probably the hardest to avoid since it is quite prevalent in American food, but ice cream wasn't my favorite desert anyway. I prefer fruit ice pops or italian ices. (Although, I do love mint chocolate chip ice cream.) Milk in my cereal or in a glass was suddenly out of the question, but I discovered that rice milk tastes way better to me than normal milk, so the change was welcome. Thankfully, after my high school years, I grew out of my milk intolerance to the extent that I can eat cheese in SMALL quantities and for some reason, I can eat tons of yogurt! (I love yogurt!) But I still drink rice milk and have to avoid ice-cream.
Eggs are an allergy that I have not grown out of in the least. I should probably say I have an egg intolerance because I can eat eggs that are baked into cakes and it doesn't bother me at all. However, if I eat a plain egg, a quiche, a custard (think meringue pies), potatoe salad with pieces of egg in it, or even a salad dressing with eggs as the first ingredient...bad things happen.
Those were my only food allergies...until two years ago around Christmas time. In general, I don't have much of a sweet tooth and I rarely craved chocolate, unlike many women I know (including my older sister and my pastor's wife) who practically survive off of chocolate, but I do LOVE dark chocolate. I could even happily eat the unsweeted baking chocolate squares. :)
Maybe every few months, I would have chocolate once or around the "chocolate holidays" aka: Easter, Halloween and Christmas. I loved the chocolate oranges that came out around Christmas.
This particular Christmas in 2008, though, something changed. I wanted chocolate like a fiend! I discovered the Chocolate Christmas Stars (DARK CHOCOLATE!!! YUM!!! Did I mention I ADORE dark chocolate?). I ate those chocolate stars with a vengeance. I was eating chocolate wherever I could get my hands on it. It was as if I was making up for lost time. As if women are hard-wired to crave chocolate and since I generally didn't before this in my life, my body suddenly rose up and said, "Gosh, darn it, Laelia! You are a WOMAN! FEED ME CHOCOLATE!!!" So I did.
Wow! It was delicious! But after a week of this sudden chocolate fest, I started developing upper respiratory symptoms. Since I am prone to upper respiratory infections, I thought, "Great, I'm getting sick," but I didn't feel sick. My voice sounded funny because my throat was swollen and I was having trouble breathing, but everywhere else felt fine. I told my mom this and she said, "You've been eating more chocolate than normal. Maybe you are allergic to it. Try holding off for a while to see if the symptoms go away."
How silly! I am not allergic to chocolate! But I took her advice and tried it anwyway since she often pinpoints things like that accurately. After a week of avoiding chocolate, I was back to normal. Two months later, around Valentine's Day (oh, another chocolate holiday!), I decided that maybe Christmas was a fluke and I should try eating chocolate again to make sure. I had four Hershey's Kisses after dinner and that night, I had to sit up in bed because my throat was swollen and I was having trouble breathing lying down... so sad.
A few times over the past two years, I have had people say that it is impossible to be allergic to chocolate- that it is usually something that is put in with it and not the actual substance. No one has really been able to explain why this is impossible exactly. It puzzles me because if I can be allergic to eggs, milk, Tylonal, Benadryl and latex, and other people can be allergic to gluten, shellfish and even COLD, why would chocolate be exempt?
Without describing every instance in which I forgot/didn't care in the moment that I was supposed to avoid chocolate, suffice it to say, the symptoms were always the same. In the meantime, I am hoping I become "un-allergic" to chocolate as quickly as it came. One thing I so, SO, SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO LOOOOOVVVVVEEEEEE is chocolate and coconut. Cocunut macaroons drizzled with chocolate and the candy bar called Mounds (DARK chocolate with coconut YUM!) are the most delectible things I can imagine. Out of everything I can't eat, I miss that combination the most. In fact, I miss it so much, today I couldn't help but buy Mounds to "test" and see if I am still allergic. Hopefully, I will not see any symptoms, but if I do, I will just take an allergy pill. It was SO worth it!!
Here's hoping!! :D
Eggs are an allergy that I have not grown out of in the least. I should probably say I have an egg intolerance because I can eat eggs that are baked into cakes and it doesn't bother me at all. However, if I eat a plain egg, a quiche, a custard (think meringue pies), potatoe salad with pieces of egg in it, or even a salad dressing with eggs as the first ingredient...bad things happen.
Those were my only food allergies...until two years ago around Christmas time. In general, I don't have much of a sweet tooth and I rarely craved chocolate, unlike many women I know (including my older sister and my pastor's wife) who practically survive off of chocolate, but I do LOVE dark chocolate. I could even happily eat the unsweeted baking chocolate squares. :)
Maybe every few months, I would have chocolate once or around the "chocolate holidays" aka: Easter, Halloween and Christmas. I loved the chocolate oranges that came out around Christmas.
This particular Christmas in 2008, though, something changed. I wanted chocolate like a fiend! I discovered the Chocolate Christmas Stars (DARK CHOCOLATE!!! YUM!!! Did I mention I ADORE dark chocolate?). I ate those chocolate stars with a vengeance. I was eating chocolate wherever I could get my hands on it. It was as if I was making up for lost time. As if women are hard-wired to crave chocolate and since I generally didn't before this in my life, my body suddenly rose up and said, "Gosh, darn it, Laelia! You are a WOMAN! FEED ME CHOCOLATE!!!" So I did.
Wow! It was delicious! But after a week of this sudden chocolate fest, I started developing upper respiratory symptoms. Since I am prone to upper respiratory infections, I thought, "Great, I'm getting sick," but I didn't feel sick. My voice sounded funny because my throat was swollen and I was having trouble breathing, but everywhere else felt fine. I told my mom this and she said, "You've been eating more chocolate than normal. Maybe you are allergic to it. Try holding off for a while to see if the symptoms go away."
How silly! I am not allergic to chocolate! But I took her advice and tried it anwyway since she often pinpoints things like that accurately. After a week of avoiding chocolate, I was back to normal. Two months later, around Valentine's Day (oh, another chocolate holiday!), I decided that maybe Christmas was a fluke and I should try eating chocolate again to make sure. I had four Hershey's Kisses after dinner and that night, I had to sit up in bed because my throat was swollen and I was having trouble breathing lying down... so sad.
A few times over the past two years, I have had people say that it is impossible to be allergic to chocolate- that it is usually something that is put in with it and not the actual substance. No one has really been able to explain why this is impossible exactly. It puzzles me because if I can be allergic to eggs, milk, Tylonal, Benadryl and latex, and other people can be allergic to gluten, shellfish and even COLD, why would chocolate be exempt?
Without describing every instance in which I forgot/didn't care in the moment that I was supposed to avoid chocolate, suffice it to say, the symptoms were always the same. In the meantime, I am hoping I become "un-allergic" to chocolate as quickly as it came. One thing I so, SO, SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO LOOOOOVVVVVEEEEEE is chocolate and coconut. Cocunut macaroons drizzled with chocolate and the candy bar called Mounds (DARK chocolate with coconut YUM!) are the most delectible things I can imagine. Out of everything I can't eat, I miss that combination the most. In fact, I miss it so much, today I couldn't help but buy Mounds to "test" and see if I am still allergic. Hopefully, I will not see any symptoms, but if I do, I will just take an allergy pill. It was SO worth it!!
Here's hoping!! :D
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