The reluctant vegitarian

 

So the holidays came with a vengeance along with church work, farm work and puppies. 

Meet Eos and Stella

16 lbs of 9 week old livestock guardians. Great Pyrenees/Anatolian mix. These two will replace our aging German Shepherd to watch the poultry and the farm. They had no vet care from a farm I bought them from. They were very wormy. That has been taken care of and they are growing everyday.

They will be spayed when they come of age. For right now they are balls of fury.

Full time outside pups. Yes, they are a full time job. And as pups they are ferocious and brave.

And as of late we are reluctant vegetarians as my husband has Alpha Gal the tick disease. It has been 4 years of dealing with this since diagnosis. And it is not going away. This means he can't tolerate meat from a mammal in any form. Not even butter nor milk. He misses streaks and and pork. But no, not anymore. Just fish and chicken, emu. I do not have it but I follow his diet, it keeps life simpler in the kitchen. I do not miss meat but he does. If he eats meat or byproduct he is down for a week, with bowels issues, lethargy, huge belly and illness. He gets very ill and has a rash that is ongoing. This tick disease is tough to live with here in the beef basket of the USA. But things are changing. Schools are feeding Alpha Gal students meatless lunches finally. But hospitals are not. I even attended a local Mercy hospital Alpha Gal seminar by their nutritionist who does not feed people a vegan option when in hospital ! She was young and a bit stupid but that is what you get here in the Ozarks in the medical field. The Ozark people are learning how to deal with this disease. Many go undiagnosed but there is a simple test, if you see your GP and insist on getting tested for it. Some labs refuse to test for it but you have to stand up for yourself. I am constantly reading and learning all about this disease and nutrition for those intolerant of mammal meat. I am always keeping a log of my husbands symptoms and events health related on my phones calendar, so the symptoms are always with me to share with the hospital or the doctor. That said, grocery shopping is a library trip of ingredients. You will have to read everything that you want to eat. Canned foods and frozen foods. Tallow is pork it is in canned beans! You have to become your own advocate related to everything you eat. I use Vegan ghee to cook with, can find on Amazon. 

This has no milk and no butter. It is safe to cook with. It is the only ghee I could find with no animal fats. I will be posting more cooking things and I learn more. Also, going out to eat is a gamble as most places use animal fats in all meals. We have had luck with Asian places to eat, but they are rare here in the Ozarks. We tend to just bring our own meals when on the road. We are a lot better off than some who can't even touch meat or breath the cooking smells. Going to be big change for peoples diets as this Alpha Gal spreads around the states. But sticking to veggies and poultry is a big win.

Alpha Gal and info

 So when I deep dive into the study of any topic I go to real studies and papers that are supported by research. One great read is this one.

Needle in the Haystack is a good read about all the studies done about this problem for humans and animals. This is not "bullshido" but references data collected.

Health Mystery solved

And the winner is Alpha Gal! After three + years of dealing with my husbands nauseas, lethargy, toilet issues, rash breakouts all over his body, many doctors and procedures we have the answer. I suspected it was this at the time but no doctor would listen and no lab would do this test. I was told that lab does not perform this test. We were left with no answers and he is under 50 and in good health otherwise. I dove down the rabbit hole and was starting to read about other men with the same symptoms.

Fast forward to this year and our family doctor returned from service and he listened. And his office allowed the test to be run and his lab actually did the test. Positive for Alpha Gal. Nothing was given to us just that answer, positive. So now we move forward to avoiding meat and animal products. He loves steak and pork so this will be a change. We will see how it goes as he ages. The thing is that is was chigger bites and not a tick bite that set this all off. My husband is highly sensitive to chiggers. So now we take steps for him to avoid getting bit.