No corn, no wheat, no kidding?

I have acid reflux, you've heard me mention it once or twice. It can be pretty bothersome, until about 8 months ago I thought it was something I simply had to live with, period. Then sometime in October I went to see a ND (naturalist doctor?), she told me that acid reflux was most commonly caused by eating something you are allergic too. I did have some questions about food allergies, it was part of the reason for my visit. I had begun to notice some unpleasant stomach issues after eating a few servings of beef a week and was suspected *maybe* I had an allergy to it. I was not happy to admit it, I lived in denial for several months, I mean I love steak- love it, and depriving myself of it indefinitely did not sound appealing. Finally after some stomach pain (second in intensity to childbirth) that nearly sent me to the hospital, I conceded.

She agreed that I likely had a beef allergy and needed to cut it from my diet, following it with words I had been afraid to hear- "You should cut out gluten for now too, you may not be allergic but I suspect that you are". In my head I screamed, "WHAT ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!? DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I LOVE BREAD?!?". Of course my mouth simply said "are you sure, if you think I should I will really try" (this is one of those times I am thankful for mental filters:). So I went home and began the long slow process of reprogramming my brain that bread is not wonderfully delicious but full of an evil product that wants to gum up my digestive system and bloat me like a cow that's been dead on the prairie for five days (yes, I am dramatic:). It was tough but I did it, in fact I started eating really great in general and was feeling good. The weird skin spots (I forgot to ask her about, my brain somedays...) began to clear up and my stomach did not resemble that of a 5 month pregnant woman's daily. I even began to experiment with different flours, finding decent cookie and muffin recipes. The thought of life without gluten being a dark abyss faded and I realized, "huh, I really can live without bread, who knew?".

Then came the holidays...oh boy. I can honestly say I did pretty good on the "no beef/no gluten", but as far as eating healthy in general, not so much. Seriously, who eats healthy over the holidays anyway? As I began to "indulge" a bit I noticed some of my symptoms returning... bloated stomach, pain, skin spots, etc... I was not happy and at first chalked it up to slight fudging on the wheat, although as I said, it wasn't much. Could I really be that sensitive? Then came a week of happily eating tortilla chips & salsa (my other favorite food, probably my most favorite) any time I had the hankering. I am a strange duck, at this point if I was going to indulge in anything it would be chips & salsa, not cookies and candy. At the end of this week, however, I had another "episode". Not quite as violent as the one that nearly sent me to the emergency room but one that was undeniably caused by eating something my stomach didn't like. My brain began to go over the weeks foods....chips, chips, chips...oh no. Could I be allergic to corn as well? Is this some kind of terrible joke? Corn AND wheat? Sure enough....

Today I spent another hour in my ND's office. I hadn't had a chance to get back to her since my revelation about corn. I confess to not being very careful with it lately either, hence the reason for my visit, acid reflux. If you read my blog you know it nearly took me out at the triathlon and I am ready to be done waking up feeling "gut rot", as I call it. We talked, she agreed that corn needed to be taken off the list as well. My instructions for the next six weeks are NO CORN, NO WHEAT of any kind...NONE. Not even the random cocoa puff or Dorito or popcorn (which was what I turned to instead of chips and salsa because it doesn't bother me as much). "We need to reset your whole system" she said, "maybe after you can try popcorn again but for now, no corn or corn products of any kind". By the way, do you know that they put corn syrup in just about everything?

It's going to be tough, Mexican restaurants are a thing of the past. This is the conclusion I've come to, is it really a "treat" to eat foods, however occasionally, that make you feel like garbage later? I mean literally like garbage, not just guilty. Do I really value myself, my health, less then I value bread, or chips, or chocolate syrup? The answer is no. Will I have to learn to bake differently, yes. Will I have to be more creative in eating out, eating in, just eating in general, yes. Is feeling good worth it, YES! I guess, as with all things in life, it's just a matter of perspective and I have decided to change mine. On an extra plus note, I may not be allergic to beef after all, just the corn they (stupidly) feed cows. So although there may not be tortilla chips and french bread in my future, I just might have an occasional (grass fed) side of beef and that will just have to be alright. :)