That's Amore

When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie
That's amore

I been reading articles on MAOI foods and diet and keep seeing that pizza from large commercial chains is OK. The problem is they never say which large commercial chains had been tested. Then I found this:

The forbidden foods on the MAOI diet used to read like a who’s who of all the things that our patients love to eat and drink: pizza, chocolate, brie, beer, fava beans with someone’s liver and a nice chianti (made famous by Anthony Hopkins in The Silence of the Lambs) and many others. But that list has been changing in recent years, largely due to the efforts of a group of researchers at the University of Toronto who have been measuring the tyramine content of foods commonly contraindicated. To the delight of many patients, they found, for example, that major food-chain pizzas had safe quantities of tyramine, including a Domino’s double-cheese, double-pepperoni pizza (J Clin Psychiatry 1999;60(3):191-193). The serving sizes analyzed were by no means stingy: a half of a medium pizza. Because most pizzas are made with fresh mozzarella, which contains little tyramine, it appears that patients taking MAOIs can indeed enjoy pizza dinners, at least when they are made fresh to order and when the only cheese they contain is mozzarella. Note that some gourmet pizzas may contain other, more flavorful (and thus more aged and higher in tyramine) cheeses and should be avoided (J Clin Psychiatry [letter] 2000;61(2):145).

Last night Eunice and I ordered a Domino's pizza. I didn't do the pepperoni thing but had a thin crust with onions, green peppers, and mushrooms. It was good, kind of a treat, and I didn't have any reaction to it at all. I didn't eat half the medium pizza but had five pieces (squares). I'm also 10 days past when I last took procarbazine so I felt safe doing this. Anyway, it worked for me and is something I can do occasionally especially when traveling.

Silence of the Lambs is one of my favorite movies but liver and chianti (no matter whose it is) are definitely off the list.

Eat Good Food, Be Kind, Tell the Truth

Click below for the collection of recipes or for an easy to print copy of a single recipe.

Collection of Recipes

Polenta Pizza: I make pizza skins at home but with yeast restrictions can't do that. And while ordering pizza out may be a treat once in a while, making it at home is more fun. This is a simple twist on pizza; any polenta grade cornmeal will work. I found this recipe in our newspaper.