Hi,

My doctor started me out on what's known as the elimination diet. Basically you eliminate common food intolerances like gluten (inc oats), dairy, soy, corn, chemicals and anything you know you're intolerant of.

If you've not been eating these, take a look at what you're eating the most of and eliminate those.

I know I react to bacon,  tomatoes and chocolate too.

This leaves most organic meats, fruits and veggies.  You may still have problems with some of these but hopefully you're toxic load will be low enough so you're not feeling as overwhelmed
Or sick.

Personally, I like Dr Wahls plan minus several cups of veggies. She has videos on the web.

I've looked at the low histamine diet and can't say I have problems with all those foods. But I definitely can't eat the common food intolerances.

Tc .. Marcia

The low histamine diet is another starting point.   It may not hit everything, and as Marcia points out, if it's gluten or dairy or salicylates or some other issues, those might need to be eliminated, too.  Of course, triggers are so individual, that it can take time to sort it out.  A food and symptom diary can be very helpful for this.

The diet at this link might be a good starting point, if that seems like something she wants to try:

[url]www.urticaria.thunderworksinc.com/pages/lowhistamine.htm/[url]

Hi Lisa,

I live about 90 minutes from whole foods so I know what you mean. I make the trip about once a month for meats mainly. Their lamb is grass fed and always fresh. Lamb broth is one of my favorites. I've bought whole red snapper there and although it tasted great I wasn't keen on having more bones than meat.  

In case you didn't know already, raw vegan foods are a great addition too. Some of my favorites are zuchini noodles with coconut  curry sauce, dehydrated kale, dehydrated zuchini chips, dehydrated flax crackers, avocado chocolate pudding, young Thai coconuts,  homemade coconut kefir, frozen bananas instead of ice cream, etc etc.  

If you're not watching oxalates, there are a lot of raw food recipes available.  

I've been fortunate to get to eat at a few real raw vegan gourmet restaurants so I could see how it was supposed to taste.  We used to have one in town but it closed.    

TC ... Marcia

Lisa,
I would look into Salicylates, they are in so much and can cause some really big issues.  They are mast cell degranulaters in some people.  It took me over a year to figure out that I am very sensitive to salicylates.  I later figured out that I react to histamines too.  This makes for a very interesting diet.
Here is a helpful link:

http://salicylatesensitivity.com/about/food-guide/