For years, I was upset that I couldn’t eat what everyone else ate. The thought of a grilled cheese sandwich, teriyaki chicken or pastries was preoccupying, to say the least, and the cause of more than a few pity parties. The list goes on. I couldn’t drink iced drinks because my teeth were too sensitive. I couldn’t eat an excess of potato chips or walnuts due to canker sores. Red meat gave me migraines and refined sugar caused my joints to ache. Of course, at the time I didn’t know why, just that I felt terrible too much of the time.
Food intolerances are your body’s way of telling you what doesn’t work for you. Toxins are a no brainer: it’s not real food, don’t eat it for feeling and performing at your best. Real foods like walnuts, soy, dairy, popcorn and wheat took me time and effort to decipher. I now wonder whether my body was tired of me ignoring the signs and took the reigns to do what I didn’t have the power to do on my own. It made it impossible for me to function with those foods in my body.
With an education in nutrition, I discovered that iced drinks can throw your digestion into chaos; refined sugar was the cause of joint aches and my pre-diabetic diagnosis; soy and dairy was the reason for my 50+ cases of strep throat; and the oil in walnuts and chips caused my canker sores.
It is getting easier and easier to listen to my body. I may be stubborn, but I’m not crazy. Being out of pain is WAY more tasty than that grilled cheese sandwich. And when I doubt my faith in that, I try it again. And the lesson is learned one more time.
Listen to your body. Have an allergist check you for food allergies, but don’t stop there. Try journaling how you feel after you eat. Try eliminating suspect foods and then reintroducing them one at a time after you’ve been away from them for a few weeks. There’s plenty of hope for finding a menu that works for you. If you need help in how to do this, I’m here to help.
~Coach Lorrie, My1FitLife Director of Nutrition
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