Dietary Concerns, and Lupus (a question from L!)
One of the things I love about the Lupus diagnosis is that I basically have NO dietary restrictions!!
🙂 (I think some people who have kidney involvement do have dietary restrictions.)
Some of you will remember that I had a period where I avoided lactose, and others will remember a gluten-free me! Those were periods pre-diagnosis, when doctors were attempting to diagnose and solve my GI issues. However, once I was diagnosed, and was on hydroxychloroquine (the anti-malarial) for about 6 months, I stopped having any GI abnormalities whatsoever. It was all due to Lupus inflammation.
However, I am advised to avoid alfalfa sprouts and artificial sugars. These things seems to stimulate Lupus– though no one knows why. I always use this when explaining to people why I’m hesitant about anyone using artificial sugar… no one really knows what it does to your body!! I also must avoid herbs that stimulate the immune system like Elderberry juice and St. John’s Wort– that’s why they are such effective natural remedies for people with normal immune systems.
Good question, L! Please, everyone, feel free to ask me anything.
🙂 Shavua tov, my friends.
While I can eat basically everything I want, I do need to be thoughtful about what I eat and the balance I am trying to achieve. I need more red meat, and fatty fish, to give me high quality energy. But I also need to avoid too much protein (no protein shakes, keto diet, or paleo for me!) because too much protein at once will raise inflammation. I eat complex carbohydrates for energy instead. I avoid refined carbs and sugar (not as much as I should these days) because I have thyroid involvement with my Lupus. I eat a lot of fruit and vegetables, but not just because it’s good for me– I honestly love good, fresh fruit and veg. I do a huge amount of Asian cooking, especially Chinese cooking, inspired by extensive time I’ve spent in China and my familiarity with the ingredients and cuisine.
This is a typical dinner for me, and my happiest eating. It’s just a simple, cold plate of poached Chinese chicken, with fresh ginger, spring onion / scallion, and soy sauce. The basic recipe is in Fuchsia Dunlop‘s Every Grain of Rice, which is my cooking bible. To go with the chicken, I chopped up three really fat, chunky garlic cloves, added about a tablespoon of fresh chopped ginger, and swirled the garlic and ginger around in piping hot oil at the base of the wok before dumping in a whole 200g bag of baby spinach. (Spinach is one of my favourites, I eat it all the time!) I stirfried it very quickly on the highest heat possible until the spinach had just wilted, and then immediately removed it to the serving bowl. I ate all of this in one sitting, and made congee with the leftover rice for breakfast the next morning.
Wondering what’s going on with these posts? Check out my explanation HERE!
This Isolation Life 