Quick Fix Tacos and Allergy Mythbusters

Fast beefy goodness.

There may be a good reason why people with food allergies are often the objects of ridicule in movies and other works of fiction. How we treat and mitigate our food allergies is not an exact science. So many bodily functions are interrelated to food allergies that I might not be 100% even if I stay away from the foods that bother me the most. Also, I can say that I know what will push me over my threshold, but that may be very different for someone else or it may even change over time for me. So where does that lead us?

To some good practices and some absurd rituals and myths.

For example one day: "Oh, I've been getting lots of headaches lately! This is a sign that I'm eating something wrong. What have I eaten in the past few days that's new? Or possibly old but problematic? Throw them out, throw them out! The ship is sinking! Abandon ship! Let's eat nothing but acorn squash and baked chicken for forever! That does my body good."

Two days later: "I have no energy! Need carbs! Food not digesting! Slowly melting, melting, melting...oh wait...I just had my period...that must have been the problem. Oops."

While it's good to utilize the elimination diet to get rid of bad symptoms, if used improperly it can screw up my life. In order to determine allergy fact from fiction, I always need to keep two people in mind: the Mythbusters.



Yeah, these guys are rock awesome.

Back in the earlier episodes they had this specialist, Heather Josheph-Witham, who'd help describe the background to the myths that there were about to test. She's a "folklorist." Below is an example of something she might say.

"Women's bodies, particularly their breasts, have been held in high esteem since the beginning of time. This is due to our ability have babies and provide them with life through a mother's milk. Our children then go on to idolize milk and milk products to the point that now, milk is in everything. It's a comfort food to which we are all emotionally attached. This is in a large part why we use that old adage 'No sense crying over spilt milk,' largely because we have to remind ourselves that milk really isn't that important." [And then they go on to test whether people cry when they spill milk.]

Yes, I wrote that in jest, not Heather. :)

But the history of an "adage" doesn't make a myth true, just like my known history with a certain food doesn't make my diet the law. While I might throw out one problematic food I might throw out five good foods at the same time. While I might be tempted to stick with certain foods, allergy medications, exercise, etc that have worked before, I could be limiting myself to a safe but very boring place and hurting myself in ways I can't even imagine.

It's no wonder our rituals are made fun of in movies and fiction. They look silly even to a person with allergies. There's a lot of truth to our quirky eating habits, but there's a lot of myth too!

To avoid living my life based on ridiculously stretched reasoning like those in my examples, I've got to keep an open, yet scientific mind while self medicating. I've got to be a Mythbuster and a scientist! I need to make sure that I'm only eliminating one thing from my diet at a time. I need to make sure that I don't grab onto one food like my life depends on it. When a doctor suggests only eating certain foods during certain pollen seasons, I've got to test it out for myself with no preconceived notions. I need to test and retest and retest my theories again, no matter how old my food traditions may be or how much I fear the pain! Because who knows, I might pleasantly surprise myself. Just like I've done a hundred times before.

So, here's a prayer for all of us with allergies, food and pollen. May God inspire us to constantly re-examine our rituals and never let us settle for traditions because their just "comfortable."

Quick Fix Tacos
Here's a tasty recipe for a quick and easy Microwave taco meat. You can substitute Turkey for Beef and throw in even more veggies if you'd like. Just make sure to cut up every thing small and stir often so that everything cooks uniformly. We like to make lots of toppings for our tacos while the meat is cooking. Or we use all the toppings as part of a salad instead of tacos.

Sides cut up the way Momma taught me.

Ingredients:
1 lb low fat beef
1 small onion (chopped)
1 bell pepper (chopped)
1/4 tsp salt
pepper to taste

Directions:
Microwave all in a Pyrex dish (so it doesn't melt the plastic) on high for 2 minutes. Stir and then microwave for another 2 minutes. Make sure you have a breathable lid on top to contain any splattery messes. Continue to microwave and stir until all meat has turned brown.