About Blog

My name is Madison, and welcome to my tiny jam-packed corner of the food blogging world.

This is the second blog that I have had, my first being powered by Blogger called Peanut-Butter-Lover.

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Here is a quick recap of the last six months leading up to my journey to wordpress:

I first started blogging after I discovered many of the popular blogs that you may read today. Neverhomemaker, Chocolate-Covered Katie, Oh She Glows, Kats Health Corner, Kath Eats, Carrots N Cake, Fitnessista and so many more!

Their stories were so moving, and their inspiration continues to impact the lives of their readers every day. I wanted to be a part of that.

And so Peanut-Butter-Lover was born, based off of my peanut butter obsession and a love of baking. My goal was to share healthy recipes with the world (pretty big aspirations, right?).

I’ll admit that I wasn’t the most consistent of bloggers, but I wasn’t too terrible. At the start of Christmas break I started posting more.

Then in December I started having severe stomach pains and bloating. Pushing it aside as “too much fiber” or “bad fish” I went on my way.

But it didn’t go away, not by a long shot. Over the next few months I saw at least four doctors. No one had a definitive answer for what was wrong. Just guesses. So I decided to diagnose myself. I basically narrowed it down to IBS, lactose intolerance, and/or gluten intolerance.

I eliminated both gluten and dairy from my already limited diet, but it didn’t feel much relief. Meanwhile I constantly felt bloated and gained about 15 pounds… in just 3 months!

The last straw was when I ate a celery stick, and unassuming stupid celery stick that sent my stomach into havoc for the following three days. That’s when my parents decided that we would try one more doctor.

That doctor was my allergist. I was already going to him for environmental allergies, but this time I went in to discuss food allergies. I was pretty certain he would say it was “all in my head”because that’s what I had been thinking for the past few months.

Instead he ordered a set of 10 basic allergens and I went to the hospital to have my blood drawn (I think I have been stuck with a needle once a month for the past six months).

One week later my mom called in to check if my tests were in yet and a receptionist read off my results…
Wheat- III, Egg-III, Milk-II, Peanut- III, Pork-II, Corn-I.

I was shocked as well as ecstatic. Already I was sure about removing wheat and milk, but here were three other real things that I could work on!

Don’t worry- my optimism did not last long! I spent hours everyday gazing longingly at Foodgawker and all of the aforementioned blogs above thinking, “I will never be able to eat these beautiful things again!”

Then, I realized that there must be other blogs out there with people undergoing the same thing as me. And there were, but all of their recipes were so elaborate! Too elaborate for my sensitive stomach.

Instead I decided to experiment much like before. Up first, my goal is to come up with simple recipes that replace my old basics: bread, scrambled eggs, peanut butter, yogurt, etc.

So welcome to my blog, which I hope will grow into a somewhat established part of the food allergy blogging community. My wish is to make recipes that replace my old staples, as well as to create new recipes to satisfy my new cravings (like almond butter and bananas- A match made in heaven!).

All the while, I plan to learn more and more about food allergies as I strive in Eating 4 Balance.

*Edited to add: Not long after my first testing I also found out that I was allergic to celery, tomatoes and rye as well.

To learn more about my life outside of blogging, check out my work-in-progress About Me page! Also check out my About Me page for contact information.