How to build you-friendly meals

Here's an example of what a hearty, low-histamine breakfast can look like

The most remarkable thing about this very hearty breakfast I had yesterday was that it only has 5 ingredients, a couple of them are optional, and you probably can eat all of them. It was also delicious. These are what I call “rice arepas.” They are an invention that came to me from two places, which are Colombian/Venezuelan arepas, made with a kind of cornmeal called “harina pan,” made into patties, and what I have learned to call “rice flour chapati,” which is a different version of the Indian wheat flour chapati you may have eaten in the past. More on those at the bottom.

What’s remarkable is how tasty, filling, non-suffering filled and happy these make me. And that they have few ingredients. Please remember the story about the chili from last time. Eating simple recipes with few ingredients makes figuring out what bugs your body much easier. It’s not forever, and it’s a good way to figure out your triggers.

These “rice arepas” came to me as an alternative to corn arepas, because for me, corn is not exactly a neutral food. What I mean by that is that I encourage you to think about foods in one of three ways.

1. This food is neutral to my body. I don’t react to it in mood, or the way I feel or digestion, neither that day, nor the next
2. This food is not neutral to my body (to not say negative). It makes me feel itchy, tired, bloated, crampy, dizzy, sleepy, congested, or unwell.
3. This food is great for my body. When I eat it I feel energized and positive, tranquil and unbothered.

For me, corn is not neutral. It doesn’t quite make me sick, but something is usually not quite right when I consume too much corn. Which is to say, though I like corn arepas, I don’t make a daily habit of them. It’s not that they’re bad for me, but maybe I want to eat some tomatoes, or some chocolate, put some mustard in salad dressing or in a wrap, so I lay off the corn to let other not-quite-neutral foods in.

But corn is delicious, you may say! Yes, it is! But I save my corn eating for when I really want it, whether that’s in arepas, or sweet corn or tortilla chips or some gluten free pasta that has corn in it, or popcorn or that giant hominy-like corn we get, or cornbread or or or. Corn is not going to miss me, I’m not even breaking up with it. But some days I don’t need to eat it for breakfast.

As opposed to corn, rice (for me), is the king of neutrality (your mileage may vary). When I feel unwell, I go to rice. When I don’t know what to make, I go to rice. If you think you have SIBO (small intestine bacterial overgrowth), rice is not a neutral food for you. Probably the same for if you have blood sugar issues. You may react to it for other reasons. But I don’t. I encourage you to find what foods are neutral or good for you, that you can eat when you are in a flare or not quite sure how you feel. When anxiety runs high, when your hormones are rising (or falling), when you have recently been unwell, go back to those tried-and-true foods to get a reset.

Finding those safe foods for me, aside from the original 4 ingredient diet was crucial to my mental well-being. Rice flour also travels really well, so if you have access to a kitchen, you can make these rice flour arepas in minutes. I have served them to people who do not have any dietary issues, and they give them the a-ok. I mean, sourdough bread they are not, but they are a simple starchy food that go great with many others, and can save you in a pinch.

So what’s in this breakfast? It’s rice arepas (rice flour, boiling water, salt) and scrambled eggs with scallions cooked in olive oil on a cast iron skillet. I put butter on top because I was feeling decadent, and I regret nothing.

When I was first learning how to cook and eat for my histamine intolerance, my niece showed my Instagram feed to some of her friends. And they were like, that’s like 100 ways to make food out of five ingredients. They weren’t wrong. Among the early foods I added was egg. I tried the yolk first for a few days (hard boiled) and later, added the more-reactive white. Undercooked eggwhites are a huge no-no for me, but when fully cooked eggs stuck, it was like the angels sang. Green onion (scallions) also worked for me. I tried these a few weeks after the eggs. Be strategic, is what I’d say. Try to pick things that are dynamic, that round out your diet. I’m assuming you took my advice and figured out some super neutral foods as your elimination diet. Maybe you didn’t. I understand why not. It’s a pain.

But try replacing toast one morning with something like this. See where it takes you. Many many people have problems with gluten and/or yeast. Gluten is not neutral for me. I can eat it, but only by mortgaging the rest of the day or next 72 hours. I eat it when I want it, but humans were not meant to base their diets only on wheat. Play around with ways to swap it out. See how you feel.

And maybe try this for breakfast once you know the ingredients work for you.

Rice Arepas

1/2 cup rice flour (not glutinous rice flour, regular rice flour)
1/2 cup boiling water
pinch salt (ideally, sea salt or himalayan salt doesn’t have to be fancy, but highly recommended)

Mix ingredients with a spoon until cool enough to handle. Form two flat patties (you want the whole patty to make contact with the heat, so careful of flying saucer-shaped patties). Cook a few minutes on each side in some olive oil. Serve with the proteiny goodness of your choice. I chose two eggs and a whole bunch of scallions.

You can also make these into chapati, so more like tortillas, but they are fussier to roll out than just making patties. I have done best by rolling the dough out onto parchment paper, heating a skillet and laying the parchment paper on top, chapati-side-down, and then peeling the parchment paper back. I like the result, but it is way more work than the “arepa” version I suggest here. You can also mix scallions or other tasty things into the rice dough. I would not suggest skipping the salt.

I’m still playing around here to see if as a community we want more “how do I know if I have this” vs. “how to eat” vs. identity vs. rescues for if you’re in a flare, or whatever else may come up. Let me know what you think. We’re building something.