Hi, I’m Victoria and I’m so happy you’re here!
I’ve been battling chronic illness for over 20 years, and it all started with a tick bite. You can read more about my health story below. I’ve had to modify my diet due to gut issues and to aid in my healing, but as someone who loves food and cooking/baking, I didn’t want to give up all the deliciousness while having to cut things out. So, in 2012, I decided to start a blog to document all the healthier, more nutrient dense recipes I was making, along with my healing journey. And now, that blog has become a full blown website!
I share healthier, allergy friendly, and gut-friendly recipes that are still delicious and fun! My goal is to help you heal and eat delicious food no matter what your food allergies or intolerances are. I’ve done almost every elimination diet out there from autoimmune paleo to raw vegan to low FODMAP and more. So, I have recipes that fit almost every one of these diets on my website. Everything I make is always gluten free, dairy free, corn free, soy free, and peanut free and I work to create lower sugar recipes to support overall health too.
My Health Story
I grew up on the east coast, but it wasn’t until I was in college in Colorado that I got sick enough to finally get the right diagnoses.
Starting at around age 13, I began to have severe digestive issues that no GI doctor could figure out. Throughout high school, I dealt with fatigue, chronic injuries, and worsening GI symptoms. Then at age 21, while in college, I got food poisoning and never recovered. My health rapidly declined to the point that I was sleeping up to 20 hours a day, losing my vision, and barely scraping by. No doctors in the area could figure out what was wrong, so I flew back to my hometown of Washington DC and my doctor immediately recognized my symptoms as Chronic Lyme Disease.
I remembered many tick bites growing up, but we never thought twice about Lyme. When I finally got diagnosed correctly, it all came together. I had also been diagnosed with an autoimmune thyroid disorder, Hashimoto’s, and later would be diagnosed with POTS, Mast Cell Activation Syndrome, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and a Chronic Inflammatory Autoimmune Disease. I’ve dealt with mold illness, co-infections, and much more, all thanks to a dysregulated immune system.
Food is one of the ways I manage my health and symptoms. I grew up cooking and baking with my mom and it’s been a passion ever since. I didn’t want to have to give up on that once I found out I had food allergies and intolerances. There was no way I was just going to eat plain chicken and steamed broccoli. I’m someone who craves variety and flavor, so Lemons ‘N Lyme was born. I wanted to create healthier, more nutrient dense versions of classic recipes (like using Japanese sweet potatoes to make the dough for cinnamon rolls).
Diet, along with other modalities, has helped me in healing my gut and supporting my overall health. And now I’m here to share those amazing recipes with you!
My site is filled mostly with delicious recipes, but I’ve also shared a lot of my health journey and the process it took to push my Lyme into remission. I’m still on a health journey, I’m not sure that will ever end, but you can follow me on all my other social media channels for more detailed medical updates.
I am also a Medical Exercise Specialist with a degree in Sports Medicine, so health has always been an interest and priority of mine. My speciality was in working with others with complex chronic illness to learn how to utilize movement to help manage their condition and improve health outcomes. Now, I focus on creating healing recipes and spend a majority of time getting creative in the kitchen!