This post provides eight trusted holiday recipes for when you have Mast Cell Activation Syndrome. With the holidays around the corner, traditionally a time of eating good food with family, you might be wondering what can you eat for holiday meals when you have MCAS.
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Table of Contents
The first holiday season after my MCAS diagnosis was pretty sad. I felt deprived because I couldn’t have the foods that were special to me. There are deep emotional connections between food, family, holidays, and relaxation. So, having a plan for making and having your comfort foods is to you is key to feeling satisfied.
What is MCAS?
Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS) is a chronic condition that affects all organ systems. MCAS is serious and disabling and people with MCAS experience often significant and debilitating symptoms daily, including anaphylaxis, which can be fatal.
MCAS is often found in combination with other chronic conditions such as Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) and Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS).
Frequently healthcare providers do not know about MCAS, and the tests for MCAS are problematic because they are not uniformly reliable. MCAS can be difficult to manage. Treatments include blocking mast cell mediators with anti-histamines and mast cell stabilizers, as well as avoiding triggers.
Check out this post on how to manage MCAS.
Do you know your typical symptom progression?
One of the keys to understanding the level of your bucket is knowing your symptom progression. It is helpful to keep track of the symptoms you are having and to evaluate whether they are escalating. Symptom escalation means that the level of your bucket is rising.
Knowing your symptom progression in a symptom flare is the key to developing your own rescue plan. In this post, I discuss how to determine your own symptom progression. Once you know what typically happens in your symptom progression you can design a rescue plan to address those symptoms.
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Holiday recipes
Here are some recipes that I have found satisfying in past years, and I plan to make them again this year. Not all recipes fit with the keto diet, but most are low in histamine.
- Gravy
- Cranberry Muffins This recipe could be adapted to fit the Ketogenic diet by switching the cassava flour to sunflower or pumpkin flour.
- Cranberry Biscotti This recipe could be adapted to fit the Ketogenic diet by switching the cassava flour to sunflower or pumpkin flour.
- Saged Squash Pasta This one could be made Keto by substituting Palmini pasta for rice pasta.
- Biscuits You could substitute for sunflower or pumpkin flour to make this fit the keto diet.
- Instant Pot Mashed Yucca Root Not Keto-diet friendly, sorry, but generally low-histamine.
- Brussels Sprouts with Bacon Omit the bacon if not tolerated. Pine nuts or pili nuts would be a nice substitution for fat and flavor.
- Roast turkey – It is possible to make a lower histamine small roast turkey if it is roasted at high heat directly from frozen. But it can be tricky to make sure the entire bird is fully cooked through, and you may end up drying it out. Roasting a frozen turkey breast is less risky because there is less mass to bring up to temperature. Alternatively, chicken breast can satisfy that need for roasted fowl, while being much easier to make low-histamine due to the shorter cooking time. An even lower histamine method is to poach chicken breasts in the Instant Pot using the “meat” program with 1 cup of water, manually releasing the pressure, and immediately consuming or freezing the cooked meat. Portions can be frozen for future meals and the meat broth that you end up with in the pot can be frozen for making future soups.
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Sign up for the SSP!
If you are dealing with chronic illness, concussions, or trauma, the Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP) is a listening therapy based on Polyvagal Theory that helps heal nervous system dysregulation. Many people with MCAS and other chronic conditions have nervous system dysregulation stemming from infections, toxic exposures, concussions, and trauma. The SSP is an easy-to-use app where you listen to specially filtered music for 30 minutes each day for a 5-hour cycle. Studies show the SSP has a profound effect on mental health and chronic conditions
You can sign up for the SSP here!
Heal your mind!
While the SSP is a bottom-up or somatic therapy for healing the nervous system, the Sacred Self-Healing Method I offer is a top-down nervous system healing modality that focuses on cognition, attention, perception, and emotion, using the mind’s higher functions. The SSP and the Sacred Self-Healing Method complement each other and together produce lasting results.
I provide one-on-one in-person and remote chronic illness and caregiver coaching and Sacred Self-Healing Sessions based on the Sacred Self-Healing Method, a proven novel co-creative healing modality detailed in my Books.
Click here for more information.
Order my books!
Rocks and Roots chronicles my journey solo backpacking the Superior Hiking Trail and overcoming nervous system dysregulation, gut dysbiosis, and Mast Cell Activation Syndrome symptoms to hike 328 miles successfully.
The Sacred Self-Healing Method ebook is available here and in most ebook retailers!
The Sacred Self-Healing Workbook is available for purchase here!
Betsy’s first book, Sacred Self-Healing: Finding Peace Through Forgiveness, is available here
Companion Recordings
The companion audio recordings of chants, guided meditations, and sound healing demonstrations that accompany Sacred Self-Healing: Finding Peace Through Forgiveness are available to download for free here
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Disclaimer
The preceding material does not constitute medical advice. This information is for information purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, cure or treatment. Always seek advice from your medical doctor.dvice from your medical doctor.
