So there I am. Standing in Terminal 2 of JFK in Delta’s crappy terminal of the airport. And I am hunting for dinner! Ah, I'm ahead of myself, let me take a step back...Elephant in Columbus Circle, he has an apple!
I think I’ve said (and will likely say many times over) that my acupuncturist has changed my life. After I began acupuncture, I kept describing my GI distress in each session that I saw her. I had been encountering stomach problems for the previous 5-6 years and never quite knew what my problem was. I just thought it was how it was supposed to be. BWAHHAHAH! And then entered Chinese Medicine into my life. One day, J looks at me and says “I think you might be gluten intolerant.” Ugh, ugh, ugh! Really?! Wheat? But I LOVE bread and cookies and farro and cupcakes and wheat berries and pain au chocolat and cous cous! How could this be?
So I grudgingly took her advice and stopped eating wheat.
And I’m sure you can guess the outcome from that. What an amazing change in my life this has made. I don’t often have tummy problems, I sleep less, feel less tired, have more energy and spend fewer nights laid out on the couch in GI pain. Luckily, I do not have ciliac sprue - the allergy to gluten, the protein that is in wheat. I simply have an intolerance. I usually indulge once every week or two... and am reminded why I should stay away from wheat! Luckily, I have a plant enzyme pill that I can take before eating wheat that mitigates most of the unpleasant side effects that gluten has on my GI system. I just sleep a bit more.
Back to the airport. There I am choosing between a Clif Bar, potato chips and a Naked drink (oops, have to check the label, sometimes they have wheat too). On my flight to NYC, I was able to bring left overs and enjoyed a yummy meal of baked sweet potato, rice, spinach and some goat cheese. Yum. Not so lucky on my flight home. Sighing, I spend the next 30 minutes hunting through the airport for me-friendly foods and end up with some chickpeas, a Clif Bar and that Naked juice. Dinner of champions!
It’s quite amazing to me how much the prevalence of food intolerance's have grown in the span of just my lifetime. When I was a kid, everyone ate peanut butter. Now my coworkers are telling me peanut butter is banned in schools. It seems the prevalence of gluten intolerance is sky rocketing - I have two other close friends besides myself who have discovered that they too must be wheat avoiders. It makes me wonder why? I cannot remember where I read this, but there are some hypotheses that food allergies and intolerances are on the rise given our food supply, i.e. the Western diet.
How about you? Do you feel tired after eating a meal? Get “brain fog” in the afternoon? Sleep a lot? Feel low on energy? I’m not saying that you feel this way because of a food intolerance/allergy, however, I ask these questions as we are so busy in our every day lives that we don’t take time to pause and think about how our bodies feel. Maybe you have a cold, but maybe there is something else going on. If you’re really worried, simply do an elimination diet. Not fun, but will certainly tell you a lot (a word of caution here: you should probably see an acupuncturist or doctor if you’re to the point of an elimination diet). For 1-2 weeks, remove the following foods: wheat, dairy, soy, corn, caffeine/alcohol and any refined sugar. Basically, you’ll end up eating a lot of rice, vegetables and fruit! Or you can remove one at a time over the course of a few months. Personally, I’m going to remove dairy from my diet for the next few weeks - I’ve been feeling a bit phlegmmy/crappy after eating cheese (god, I LOVE cheese). Then I’ll introduce it back into my diet.
Anyway, here's a few more pictures from my awesome weekend in NYC. It was a fantastic weekend of seeing friends - seriously, I just socialized all weekend long. It sounds funny, but I think I discovered more about myself through my friends. They're always listeners and quick to offer support and wonderful friendship even though we live on opposite coasts. I feel so lucky...
A perfect day in NYC with my good friend C!
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