It used to be that I didn’t need to consider what I could or couldn’t eat, aside of course, from those times when I chose to go on a diet. I was hungry, I purchased and/or prepared food, and I ate food. And for the most part, without any adverse effects. Pretty simple. Now though, what I consume is of constant concern, always wondering if what I eat will aggravate my insides.
Hoping to heal my digestive tract by changing my diet, I began to investigate what might work. There is so much information out there, it’s fantastic and at times overwhelming. My food quest had begun!
The first step was removing gluten, followed by learning about the Paleo diet, I eliminated all grains too. I could also no longer eat eggs unless of course, I wanted to sprint to the toilet. Not the most pleasant way to get your cardio in. Coffee suddenly had the same and almost immediate effect. I discovered too through my naturopath dairy was no longer a friend to me.
These are foods that I have enjoyed throughout my life and now they are causing me pain and discomfort. Gluten, dairy, and eggs are on the shortlist of what my body has become sensitive to. There are so many other foods also – it is daunting.
So much to give up! It was difficult to switch my thinking from what I can’t have to what I can have. I’m still working on that by the way! There are moments when I crave an old favourite. Yes, there are so many recipes now that are Paleo, vegan, gluten-free and they’re delicious – of this I am thankful – but…
…let’s just say, I’m still adjusting.
Over the last handful of years, this food quest has also led me to try the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, Total Elimination Diet, FODMAP, and Food Combining Diet. These dietary changes bring about relief and remission for some people diagnosed with Crohn’s, ulcerative colitis and celiac disease. Unfortunately not the case for me.
I am in a perpetual flare up regardless of what I eat. Removing dairy, eggs, and gluten has reduced the urgency and number of sprints to the toilet in a given day but it has not healed my digestive tract enough to be able to get through the day without the aid of medications. I found too being completely grain-free made things worse so I have reintroduced rice into my life.
I feel somehow that I have failed, which of course, adds to the anxiety wrapped around food. Sometimes, I’m just afraid to eat. Or perhaps it’s not so much failing but coming to the realization that despite all the information available and my best efforts, I have little if any control over this disease.
I am aware that food is but one of many aspects to any gastrointestinal disorder, so I do let myself off the hook for not being able to fix this most of the time. So little is known still about the causes of inflammatory bowel disease let alone how to cure it.
But they’re working on it! According to Guilia Enders, author of Gut-The Inside Story of Our Body’s Most Underrated Organ in recent decades so much knowledge has been accumulated about our microbiome, the trillions of bacteria that live in our intestines and how they impact the connections between the brain and the gut. These microorganisms can affect how we feel and how we feel can affect our microbiome.
She goes on to explain each of us has an individualized microbiome – a unique fingerprint so to speak, depending on if you were breastfed, were born by cesarean or vaginal birth, have taken antibiotics, ate dirt as a toddler, had pets growing up… hence one diet does not fit all, nor can it cure-all I would think.
So I will let myself off the hook a little more for not being able to put this collagenous sprue into remission through lifestyle and dietary adjustments. That doesn’t mean though that I will give up trying! I have learned much through trying these diets, about what works for me personally and I do feel better in general through the dietary changes I have made.
At this point, I feel I need to chill about food, try to not become quite so anxious about ‘doing it right’ with regards to healing my body through what I consume. It’s a part of the puzzle, but not the entire picture. After all, stress does exacerbate things too.
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