Big Rant!

[Guest AutumnE]

UGH!!! I am so frustrated. I have not been feeling good even getting rid of dairy, corn, soy and gluten. Also had a lovely diagnosis of glaucoma last week due to vitamin deficiencies probably.

I thought I had adrenal fatigue since I still had insomnia, tiredness, joints achy but I wa sonly eating plain veggies, plain fruit and plain meat (or so I thought). Today as Im pulling out my plain unseasoned frozen chicken it states in the smallest of letters *salt added to preserve meat*. I pull out the pork chops same statement, I pull out the pork loin same statement, finally the ground hamburger does not have it in it.

I don't have the money for organic chicken, I have corn intolerance, gluten, dairy and soy intolerance. Its not just about villi and diarrhea its also about my vision. If I continue to eat it it will cause more vitamin deficiencies which will cause blindness in my eye regardless of the meds they have me on for it. I dont know where else to buy frozen meat thats not organic that doesnt contain salt besides hamburger and frankly I dont like hamburger really so I should lose weight from lack of food intake.

Does anyone have any frozen chicken you buy from like walmart, sams, meijers that doesnt add salt and isnt organic?

Thanks

Autumn

[flagbabyds]

I'm sorry I have no answers for you but I do hope that you find something good that you can eat, I am also allergic to corn as well and I know the problems that you have with it, but my parents buy all organic which helps with the corn problem.

Sorry

[Guest AutumnE]

thanks Molly

I am being a bit whiny but after hamburger all day Im ready for some chicken I hate being on such a tight budget it drives me nuts.

[almostnrn]

Autumn, I'm thinking as fast as I can here....and coming up with nothing. There must be at least one other alternative to organic as I know how expensive it can be. Also, I can only imagine how you feel, its one thing to be restricted to just gluten-free but to loose the other groups as well....man thats horrible. Can you tell me does your corn intollerance allow you to eat chicken thats been fed corn?

[Guest AutumnE]

Hi amy thanks for the help

So far that I know of, Im not affected by chicken eating corn. Its more the intolerances (not sure if its an intolerance or an allergy) salt I react to badly so far. I was also told to help treat my glaucoma to not eat any caffiene or salt products so sea salt is out. I looked at a few kosher products and they contain sea salt as well.

[Guest nini]

why does the chicken have to come frozen? Can't you buy fresh chicken at your local supermarket (preferably when it's on sale) and then put it in freezer bags and freeze it? I do have to buy all organic because of my allergies to antibiotics and hormones but I try to get the fresh organic meat when it's on sale and then freeze it immediately.

[Guest AutumnE]

Hi Nisla, it doesnt have to be frozen just without citric acid, corn or salt and its hard to find because most companies use it as a preservative and not always list it. But I did find an answer for myself, After searching avoiding corn forum I found out that foster farms chicken from sams club doesn't have citric acid, salt or corn on it like most do.

Im so excited, Im going shopping tomorrow

I will have to look into buying some in the future and stocking up, currently we dont have any extra room in our freezer, its tiny, but we hope to have a chest freezer in the future.

[tarnalberry]

  AutumnE said:

Does anyone have any frozen chicken you buy from like walmart, sams, meijers that doesnt add salt and isnt organic?

I think Trader Joe's has some frozen chicken that doesn't have salt. Frozen fish or shelfish may also be an option.

[Guest AutumnE]

Thanks tiffany

I'll have to check trader joe's. I cant do fish due to the mercury, its very toxic for glaucoma patients but thanks for the suggestions.

Good night all

Autumn

[Simply-V]

  AutumnE said:

Hi Nisla, it doesnt have to be frozen just without citric acid, corn or salt and its hard to find because most companies use it as a preservative and not always list it. But I did find an answer for myself, After searching avoiding corn forum I found out that foster farms chicken from sams club doesn't have citric acid, salt or corn on it like most do.

Im so excited, Im going shopping tomorrow

I will have to look into buying some in the future and stocking up, currently we dont have any extra room in our freezer, its tiny, but we hope to have a chest freezer in the future.

Foster Farms is corn-free and corn-free chicken is hard to find. I haven't heard of regular salt being an intolerance. With corn, its only salt with iodine added thats the problem. Regular kosher salt and sea salt should be corn-free as long as iodine isn't added.

However, I should tell you that Foster Farms does have kosher salt in it. Kosher meat is salted, sat for an hour, then rinsed. So all kosher chicken should be low-salt, but it would still have "salt" in it and on the label. Plain, Empire chicken/turkey is supposed to be corn-free as well.

I guess I'm confused on the avoiding salt thing.

[Guest nini]

I only use Springer Mountain Farms chicken anymore...

I did invest in a chest freezer, one of the best investments we ever made, that thing is a life saver...

[kabowman]

I have your same intolerances but have very few problems with split chicken breasts and whole chickens fresh from the grocery store. I watch for the sales and buy up like 4 whole chickens at a time.

I completely avoid all frozen chicken because a lot of them add broth of some kind and there is something in all comercial boths that make me sick. I make my own for everything (boil the whole chicken with stuff, take the chicken out, reduce the broth that is left and freeze for later).

Of course, I can still have some small amounts of corn like for my meds and avoid it at all other places when I can - never eat corn, corn syrup, etc. I use special salt that does not have the corn added to it (to keep it from clumping) but it costs more, but you use less. However, I usually react to corn derived citric acid, not all citric acid is corn derived.

[kbtoyssni]

Is there a local farmers market (or even just a farmer) that you could get your chicken from? They might have organic options and it's usually cheaper than the supermarket.

[Guest AutumnE]

Thanks Everyone

When I went to sams I did find out about the sea salt I bought one package since it didnt have corn in it and did cook it today. But Im avoiding all forms of salt due to my new glaucoma diagnosis per recommendation from my opthalmologist. Thanks for the info on the different kinds of organic chicken and I will have to look into organic chicken from a local farm.

Well dh gets paid tomorrow with a bonus, I guess I know where that money is going to go I would shop so cheaply when it was just gluten products to avoid and stick mostly with the naturally gluten free products. That is definitely changing.

[almostnrn]

I just came from the grocery tonight and I was looking at all of the chicken thinking of you, lol. I found that Pilgrims Pride (we buy it in the commissary at the AF base but I"m sure its available elsewhere) is listed at 100% natural and I didn't see any other added things to it such as salt. I think fresh is going to be your best option, there seems to be less junk added. Good luck to you and your chicken hunt!

[Guest AutumnE]

Amy thanks so much for thinking of me That means alot to me. I am off on a hunt to see if its carried by a store near me.

Take Care

Autumn

Edited to add- They carry it at superwalmart!

[tarnalberry]

There are a number of varieties of fish that have virtually no mercury. Is that still considered a risk for you? (It's only fatty fish that are considered a mercury problem, and I don't know that I've ever heard of shellfish with respect to the mercury issue.)

[Simply-V]

  almostnrn said:

I just came from the grocery tonight and I was looking at all of the chicken thinking of you, lol. I found that Pilgrims Pride (we buy it in the commissary at the AF base but I"m sure its available elsewhere) is listed at 100% natural and I didn't see any other added things to it such as salt. I think fresh is going to be your best option, there seems to be less junk added. Good luck to you and your chicken hunt!

Citric acid is never labeled. Its considered a processing aid and used to clean the meat. Since its not an "additive" it doesn't have to be labeled.

From a corn standpoint, I've had terrible luck with any fresh store-bought chicken other than Foster Farms.

[almostnrn]

I know that the laws are changing some in January but not nearly enough. It makes me insane that companies aren't made to label so many things that they are putting on or around our food. I wish someone would get the fact that hiding this stuff is MAKING US SICK. Thanks for the input on the chicken...I thought I had a good one there.

[Guest AutumnE]

Tiffany- Thanks I didnt realize that. Once in awhile for a treat would be good. Its probably a little too pricey for everyday but at least it would be a little variety.

V- thanks, I just emailed the company last night and they said no corn but with it not being an additive that stinks since how would I know? Well once in awhile a little salt cant hurt as long as its not an everyday thing. I could mostly stick to beef products and just contact a local farmer. And stock up on a little organic chicken as a stand by.

Amy- I appreciate all the effort you put in for me, It means alot Everyone should be required to list every item on the food. Why are they being so secretive?? I bet since its become more commonplace to list how bad hfcs is for people it will be even harder to get them to list it unless required to do so.

I had no idea it would be this difficult. What happened to just plain meat?

[Simply-V]

  almostnrn said:

I know that the laws are changing some in January but not nearly enough. It makes me insane that companies aren't made to label so many things that they are putting on or around our food. I wish someone would get the fact that hiding this stuff is MAKING US SICK. Thanks for the input on the chicken...I thought I had a good one there.

Its possible that Pilgrims Pride is good, but you'd have to contact teh manufacturer to know and even then they may "deny it".. many of us just don't trust companies to give us the correct information, and have gone to using human testing as the basis for guaranteeing something free of corn. We first check with the company, and if the company says "Corn-free" we still do "human testing" with ourselves as guinea pigs.

  AutumnE said:

I had no idea it would be this difficult. What happened to just plain meat?

Plain meat rots and discolors and people don't buy it cuz it looks funny. We've gotten away from using local butchers and meat suppliers. Now our meats are being shipped across the country and thus they need to have longer shelf-lives or they'd be unedible.

For some reason, we think Mass-produced is better. Probably because its cheaper price tag. We just "pay" for it in other ways now.

[Guest AutumnE]

Thanks V I have seen fresh chicken and turkeys and they dont freeze great looking but at least they were fresh. My uncle used to have a little local chicken and turkey farm about 24 years ago. Way before anyone talked of organic his was that way naturally.

I bought foster farms chicken tonight. I cant complain since it was available just I'm going to limit myself a bit with it. I ate no salted sunflower seeds for protein today. It actually tasted pretty good, I admit I was surprised coming from a former salt addict. I read that they were an excellent source of iodine so I figured it would be good for me since Im limiting salt. Not too pricey either since it was from meijers instead of a health food store. I dont plan on going vegan though but it was good for a change.

I thought for sure I had adrenal fatigue. When going gluten free, dairy free, soy free and I thought corn free I still didnt feel better. But since the last few days I feel really good and I actually slept quite a bit last night and went to sleep as soon as I hit the pillow instead of insomnia for five or six hours before and being tired getting up with my daughter. I had forgot how good I should feel. Thanks everyone for all your help and insight. I hope this post will help someone else too struggling with food problems.

[Simply-V]

  AutumnE said:

I thought for sure I had adrenal fatigue. When going gluten free, dairy free, soy free and I thought corn free I still didnt feel better. But since the last few days I feel really good and I actually slept quite a bit last night and went to sleep as soon as I hit the pillow instead of insomnia for five or six hours before and being tired getting up with my daughter. I had forgot how good I should feel. Thanks everyone for all your help and insight. I hope this post will help someone else too struggling with food problems.

Its possible you did have adrenal fatigue. Everytime you eat someting you're allergic to, your body pumps full of adrenals. If you're constantly eating your allergens your body is going to suffer adrenal fatigue from having to be on alert 24/7.

I'm glad you're feeling better. It's amazing isn't it?

[Guest AutumnE]

It is I slept almost 10 hours last night and feel refreshed and ready to start the day.