My Gut and I: A Love Story and a Self Help Guide to Chronic Gut Issues
My mom wanted me to publish her experience with a food sensitivity since I have a pretty large platform and she thought I could do some good. For many years, they thought my mom was chronically ill but she actually had a serious food sensitivity and I have it, too.
Neither of us are doctors and obviously you should consult with one during this process, even if they aren't supportive, but since we did the elimination diet to identify what was making us ill, our quality of life has vastly improved. For a while, they thought my mom was chronically ill, and I used to randomly throw up or get stomach cramps so debilitating that I didn't want to get out of bed.
So here is my mom's essay for you to read. I hope it helps someone.
TWs for diet terms, descriptions of bodily functions, and some mild medical stuff
* * *
My Gut and I- a Love Story and a Self Help Guide to Chronic Gut Issues
If you have ever been out at a restaurant and had a bubbling feeling in your gut followed by a TOTAL urge to run to a bathroom and vomit and shit yourself, this is for you. Ditto for those of you who only have diarrhea randomly. I will go over what some common problems are and how you can avoid them. Yes, there will be some lifestyle choices, but it is so worth it. I promise you it IS worth it. Life is so great when you aren't fighting with your gut.
Some of you may truly have IBS and Crohn's. But given that my doctor tried to medicate me for IBS when all I really had was a problem with 2 foods, I worry that people are being misdiagnosed constantly. And let me just add that the doctor that tried to medicate me REFUSED to believe I had a problem with corn even though I made myself well by not eating it.
Chapter One
In the Beginning
For about 15 years I lived in fear of my food or my gut. Did I have food allergies? Did I have Cancer? Crohn's? IBS? No one knew. Doctors gave me medicine for IBS, but I didn't take it, because I was pretty sure that wasn't what I had.
Randomly, it seemed, I would eat and then experience “gurgling” bubble like sensations in my stomach. This would be accompanied by a flush on my cheeks- similar to a sun burn. Next, vomiting and finally raging diarrhea. After everything was out, I felt as fine as you can after vomiting and shitting quite a lot. I was often tired, but I would be fine the next day. I threw up in airports, in restaurant bathrooms, in supermarket bathrooms, pretty much everywhere- and of course lots of the time at home. I got really good at vomiting quietly. If there is ever a vomiting Olympics I think I should be on the team.
So when my husband's company wanted to send him to Scotland, after years of this, I thought I just might be dying. My blood lipids were all off. My cholesterol ratio was over 5. My liver enzymes were elevated. No one knew what was wrong with me. I had tried correlating my illness to foods, but it didn't seem to correlate to anything.
So we moved to Scotland. Suddenly, my problem went away! Crazy. And the one day, as I ate some American food I had shipped over from our kitchen, because I am cheap and didn't want to waste food, I got sick as a dog again. My husband said, “It has to be the food.” And so we began a deep dive into ingredients.
It turns out it was corn causing the vomiting and diarrhea. But when I say “corn”, I mean a whole constellation of corn products. If you have a problem with corn, you will have a problem with powdered sugar (there's corn starch in there), baking powder (ditto), shredded cheese (ditto), all the frozen foods and yogurts and sauces with modified food starch or starch or corn starch- it's a great thickener and food additive, so it's in most processed foods. It's in your soda sometimes! It's in juices! Corn is in American Cheese (as starch or corn starch). And because no one tells you this stuff, I would just get sick and then have to figure out, after the fact, what new corn products I had run into that was not labeled as corn. Corn syrup and corn oil were fine for me- we figure it's because they do not have the corn protein in them. But we're really not sure, because there just isn't enough research on this. The corn lobby and Big Corn aren't very interested in doing research about why corn makes some people sick. Which is too bad, because this is an illness that can literally shorten your life, not to mention making the time you do have incredibly unpleasant.
When you start trying to figure out what foods make you sick a certain number of people will tell you that you are wrong. Even though you have the first hand experience of your own body these assholes will inform you that you don't know what you are talking about. Some of these people may be “doctors”. Doctors who don't even know that modified food starch and food starch are corn. There is woeful ignorance out there in doctor land when it comes to diet and health. Do not expect much from your medical people. Sometimes they will be interested, which is great, but mostly they won't be.
So elimination diets are the way to go for this and YOU, yes you, will need to be responsible for your own care. The allergy testing doesn't seem to work for this- I'd had my skin tested and I didn't flag as allergic to corn, but it sure as HELL screwed my gut up. So do the elimination diet. It seems to be the only sure way to do this.
Chapter Two- Finding Out What Your Poison Is
Just because one of my poisons is corn (and specifically GMO corn- organic corn doesn't make me sick! Why? Who the fuck knows) does not mean YOUR poison will be corn. Here is a detailed way to find out what is making you ill. Don't get discouraged. It will take a while- especially if it's something like corn that is in everything.
1. Get a notebook or start a spreadsheet
2. Every time you get sick, log ALL the ingredients of what you ate (KEEP THE LABELS FROM YOUR PROCESSED FOOD!!!!!)
3. After several episodes, try to circle the ingredients that you see that were the same when you became ill. You will begin to compile a list of suspects. Make sure you read ALL the ingredients (for example, baking powder isn't just baking powder, it has corn starch in it to keep it from clumping).
4. Eventually you will close in on your culprit. It is possible, if it is a highly modified food like corn, soy or wheat, that only the GMO version will make you sick. As I said, organic corn is fine for me. You can try the organic and see if it sets you off. The you will know you have a problem with the GMO and not the organic, non-modified food. Full disclosure- different pesticides are used on GMO foods and organics, so I don't know if my problem (or yours) is caused by what is IN the food or what is sprayed on it and gets in it that way. But the good news, for our purposes, it doesn't matter. We just want to be well. And if you keep your journal and find a food that bothers you, you WILL be well.
5. You may find more than one food. See the next chapter- When Foods Collide
Chapter Three- When Foods Collide or “Help! More than one thing seems to bother me!”
So far I've only talked about corn. Corn which causes me to vomit and poop. But, I have another sensitivity too! (How lucky am I?)
After figuring out the corn thing, I realized something else was going on. Something lower. Raging diarrhea with no vomiting. It was better than the corn thing, but still, difficult. It's hard to be out of your house and realize you are in real danger of shitting yourself. Unless you regularly wear diapers (and I did do that occasionally out of fear) it's a really bad feeling. Even if you do wear diapers, you'd rather not NEED them. So what was this new thing?
Back to the elimination diet I went. It took a while, but I was better at it the second time. This time the culprit was carrageenan. You'll find that in milk products of all kinds- half and half, yogurt, ice cream and also in sauces. It's another thickener. It's also implicated in colon cancer, so even if you can eat it, you probably shouldn't. But if it gives you diarrhea, then you really shouldn't. So check that bad boy out and see if it bothers you. It was a life changer to get that and corn out of my diet.
You're going to need to be very attentive to your body to tease these foods out from each other if more than one bothers you. DO keep a note of your symptoms. Is it upper and lower GI (vomiting and diarrhea)? Or are you just bothered at one end or the other? I have found my foods ALWAYS present the same way. Corn always gives me reactions at both ends (vomiting and diarrhea) and carrageenan is always “just” diarrhea, as if that wasn't bad enough.
So keep your record carefully. It will change your life. No one should have to live with this completely curable problem but only you will be able to cure yourself. And you know you want to.
Chapter 4- So Now I Know What Makes me Sick- What Now?
Ok, first off, you change your diet. It's not going to be easy but it's going to make you feel like a new person. I felt 20 years younger after I quit being sick all the time. Not only that, but my blood lipids TOTALLY changed. My good cholesterol went up and my bad went down. Suddenly I looked like I had athlete blood, and I am not an athlete. So that was nice. And of course your gut will be so much more healthy. All the barfing isn't good for your esophagus or your teeth. We're really not built to run the food backwards, so the quicker you can stop the barfing, the better.
Next, what WILL you eat? You're going to have to learn to love label reading. You'll be amazed at everything you learn- and not just about what foods have your dreaded food, but you'll learn all sorts of other things. You will NOT have as much choice. It is what it is. Your health is worth it. And, I have found you can have just about anything if you are willing to make it yourself. So cook more. I make a lot of my own bread now. And if I want sweets, given that corn is in just about everything sweet, I have to cook those. And I enjoy it. And it's better for me and my family. Not only am I not puking and shitting, but by making my own foods I've avoided a lot of additives that are probably harmful. Unlike the EU (where you need to prove something is safe before you feed it to people) in the US we have a much laxer system. Here you need to prove it causes harm. Guess who isn't interested in proving something causes harm? Almost everyone. So no one does much research. The innocent until proven guilty of the US food “safety” system doesn't really keep us safe. But it is what it is.
Can you go out to eat? Yes you can. BUT, make up an allergy card or sheet of paper. My husband made me a business card with my allergy on it- it has a caduceus on it (that stick with a snake on it that symbolizes medicine) and it says “DINER FOOD ALLERGY”- then it lists CORN- solid corn: no grits, corn meal, baking powder, powdered sugar, corn flour, American cheese, pepperjack cheese, corn kernels (corn oil and corn syrup are fine) Also, NO CARRAGEENAN.
I've gotten nothing but compliments from Chefs and servers in the US on my card. It makes it easy for the kitchen to help you. I also try to make it easy- steak and a potato with grilled asparagus no sauce- that's almost always going to be safe (I just never have the sour cream because of carrageenan- so I have butter instead!). In Japan, I was told to leave restaurants. The card freaked them out. They wouldn't even let me have a beer in one place after I showed my card. So be aware that some places are culturally not friendly to people with food issues. Japan is one of those places. I won't be going back there, thank you very much.
It is possible you will be in a place where they do NOT KNOW what is in the food. Do NOT eat there. Ick. How do you not know? Well, everything comes in bags or boxes and they got rid of the bag or box so they no longer know what is in their food. Just leave. You may also go to places in which EVERYTHING has your prohibited food in it. I just don't go to fast food restaurants. Everything has food starch or corn. And who cares? It's terrible for you anyway. Thank you food sensitivity for making me a healthier eater. I do miss Filet o'Fish though. And Doritos. But I do not miss barfing and diarrhea, so there's that.
Chapter 5- Could it be Genetic? YES
Two of my three kids have the same problem I have with corn. So if you identify an issue, start talking to your relatives. Maybe they have the same problem but embarrassment kept them from talking about it. Tell EVERYONE. You never know who you will help. I've helped a lot of people just chatting out there in the world. Now I am hoping to help a lot more. Because no one needs to live with this. It is so easily cured and so wonderful once you fix it. Food is no longer your enemy. Meal times are no longer to be feared. You won't waste hours on the toilet anymore. It's lovely. It's another life- a better life. Make it yours.
Sample Food Journal Entries
7/8/21
Breakfast- Oatmeal, plain- added raisins and brown sugar
grapefruit (not organic)
Tea (Tazo Earl Grey)
Lunch- Tuna sandwich
Tuna (Kirkland) Mayo (bestfoods-Vegetable Oil (77%), Water, Liquid Whole Egg (6%), White Vinegar, Liquid Egg Yolks (1.5%), Salt, Sugar, Concentrated Lemon Juice, Spices, Preservative (385). ) capers, celery (organic), green onions (not organic)
Bread- wheat flour, salt, water, yeast
NOTE- I specify whether things are organic or not because of the different pesticides that are used. It is possible to be triggered by a pesticide used on your food and you may be triggered by organic but not by conventional or vice versa. So KEEP GOOD NOTES. Trust me, it's worth it. You don't need to copy the bottle if you're laze you can often look the ingredients up online and copy and paste :-)
Neither of us are doctors and obviously you should consult with one during this process, even if they aren't supportive, but since we did the elimination diet to identify what was making us ill, our quality of life has vastly improved. For a while, they thought my mom was chronically ill, and I used to randomly throw up or get stomach cramps so debilitating that I didn't want to get out of bed.
So here is my mom's essay for you to read. I hope it helps someone.
TWs for diet terms, descriptions of bodily functions, and some mild medical stuff
* * *
My Gut and I- a Love Story and a Self Help Guide to Chronic Gut Issues
If you have ever been out at a restaurant and had a bubbling feeling in your gut followed by a TOTAL urge to run to a bathroom and vomit and shit yourself, this is for you. Ditto for those of you who only have diarrhea randomly. I will go over what some common problems are and how you can avoid them. Yes, there will be some lifestyle choices, but it is so worth it. I promise you it IS worth it. Life is so great when you aren't fighting with your gut.
Some of you may truly have IBS and Crohn's. But given that my doctor tried to medicate me for IBS when all I really had was a problem with 2 foods, I worry that people are being misdiagnosed constantly. And let me just add that the doctor that tried to medicate me REFUSED to believe I had a problem with corn even though I made myself well by not eating it.
Chapter One
In the Beginning
For about 15 years I lived in fear of my food or my gut. Did I have food allergies? Did I have Cancer? Crohn's? IBS? No one knew. Doctors gave me medicine for IBS, but I didn't take it, because I was pretty sure that wasn't what I had.
Randomly, it seemed, I would eat and then experience “gurgling” bubble like sensations in my stomach. This would be accompanied by a flush on my cheeks- similar to a sun burn. Next, vomiting and finally raging diarrhea. After everything was out, I felt as fine as you can after vomiting and shitting quite a lot. I was often tired, but I would be fine the next day. I threw up in airports, in restaurant bathrooms, in supermarket bathrooms, pretty much everywhere- and of course lots of the time at home. I got really good at vomiting quietly. If there is ever a vomiting Olympics I think I should be on the team.
So when my husband's company wanted to send him to Scotland, after years of this, I thought I just might be dying. My blood lipids were all off. My cholesterol ratio was over 5. My liver enzymes were elevated. No one knew what was wrong with me. I had tried correlating my illness to foods, but it didn't seem to correlate to anything.
So we moved to Scotland. Suddenly, my problem went away! Crazy. And the one day, as I ate some American food I had shipped over from our kitchen, because I am cheap and didn't want to waste food, I got sick as a dog again. My husband said, “It has to be the food.” And so we began a deep dive into ingredients.
It turns out it was corn causing the vomiting and diarrhea. But when I say “corn”, I mean a whole constellation of corn products. If you have a problem with corn, you will have a problem with powdered sugar (there's corn starch in there), baking powder (ditto), shredded cheese (ditto), all the frozen foods and yogurts and sauces with modified food starch or starch or corn starch- it's a great thickener and food additive, so it's in most processed foods. It's in your soda sometimes! It's in juices! Corn is in American Cheese (as starch or corn starch). And because no one tells you this stuff, I would just get sick and then have to figure out, after the fact, what new corn products I had run into that was not labeled as corn. Corn syrup and corn oil were fine for me- we figure it's because they do not have the corn protein in them. But we're really not sure, because there just isn't enough research on this. The corn lobby and Big Corn aren't very interested in doing research about why corn makes some people sick. Which is too bad, because this is an illness that can literally shorten your life, not to mention making the time you do have incredibly unpleasant.
When you start trying to figure out what foods make you sick a certain number of people will tell you that you are wrong. Even though you have the first hand experience of your own body these assholes will inform you that you don't know what you are talking about. Some of these people may be “doctors”. Doctors who don't even know that modified food starch and food starch are corn. There is woeful ignorance out there in doctor land when it comes to diet and health. Do not expect much from your medical people. Sometimes they will be interested, which is great, but mostly they won't be.
So elimination diets are the way to go for this and YOU, yes you, will need to be responsible for your own care. The allergy testing doesn't seem to work for this- I'd had my skin tested and I didn't flag as allergic to corn, but it sure as HELL screwed my gut up. So do the elimination diet. It seems to be the only sure way to do this.
Chapter Two- Finding Out What Your Poison Is
Just because one of my poisons is corn (and specifically GMO corn- organic corn doesn't make me sick! Why? Who the fuck knows) does not mean YOUR poison will be corn. Here is a detailed way to find out what is making you ill. Don't get discouraged. It will take a while- especially if it's something like corn that is in everything.
1. Get a notebook or start a spreadsheet
2. Every time you get sick, log ALL the ingredients of what you ate (KEEP THE LABELS FROM YOUR PROCESSED FOOD!!!!!)
3. After several episodes, try to circle the ingredients that you see that were the same when you became ill. You will begin to compile a list of suspects. Make sure you read ALL the ingredients (for example, baking powder isn't just baking powder, it has corn starch in it to keep it from clumping).
4. Eventually you will close in on your culprit. It is possible, if it is a highly modified food like corn, soy or wheat, that only the GMO version will make you sick. As I said, organic corn is fine for me. You can try the organic and see if it sets you off. The you will know you have a problem with the GMO and not the organic, non-modified food. Full disclosure- different pesticides are used on GMO foods and organics, so I don't know if my problem (or yours) is caused by what is IN the food or what is sprayed on it and gets in it that way. But the good news, for our purposes, it doesn't matter. We just want to be well. And if you keep your journal and find a food that bothers you, you WILL be well.
5. You may find more than one food. See the next chapter- When Foods Collide
Chapter Three- When Foods Collide or “Help! More than one thing seems to bother me!”
So far I've only talked about corn. Corn which causes me to vomit and poop. But, I have another sensitivity too! (How lucky am I?)
After figuring out the corn thing, I realized something else was going on. Something lower. Raging diarrhea with no vomiting. It was better than the corn thing, but still, difficult. It's hard to be out of your house and realize you are in real danger of shitting yourself. Unless you regularly wear diapers (and I did do that occasionally out of fear) it's a really bad feeling. Even if you do wear diapers, you'd rather not NEED them. So what was this new thing?
Back to the elimination diet I went. It took a while, but I was better at it the second time. This time the culprit was carrageenan. You'll find that in milk products of all kinds- half and half, yogurt, ice cream and also in sauces. It's another thickener. It's also implicated in colon cancer, so even if you can eat it, you probably shouldn't. But if it gives you diarrhea, then you really shouldn't. So check that bad boy out and see if it bothers you. It was a life changer to get that and corn out of my diet.
You're going to need to be very attentive to your body to tease these foods out from each other if more than one bothers you. DO keep a note of your symptoms. Is it upper and lower GI (vomiting and diarrhea)? Or are you just bothered at one end or the other? I have found my foods ALWAYS present the same way. Corn always gives me reactions at both ends (vomiting and diarrhea) and carrageenan is always “just” diarrhea, as if that wasn't bad enough.
So keep your record carefully. It will change your life. No one should have to live with this completely curable problem but only you will be able to cure yourself. And you know you want to.
Chapter 4- So Now I Know What Makes me Sick- What Now?
Ok, first off, you change your diet. It's not going to be easy but it's going to make you feel like a new person. I felt 20 years younger after I quit being sick all the time. Not only that, but my blood lipids TOTALLY changed. My good cholesterol went up and my bad went down. Suddenly I looked like I had athlete blood, and I am not an athlete. So that was nice. And of course your gut will be so much more healthy. All the barfing isn't good for your esophagus or your teeth. We're really not built to run the food backwards, so the quicker you can stop the barfing, the better.
Next, what WILL you eat? You're going to have to learn to love label reading. You'll be amazed at everything you learn- and not just about what foods have your dreaded food, but you'll learn all sorts of other things. You will NOT have as much choice. It is what it is. Your health is worth it. And, I have found you can have just about anything if you are willing to make it yourself. So cook more. I make a lot of my own bread now. And if I want sweets, given that corn is in just about everything sweet, I have to cook those. And I enjoy it. And it's better for me and my family. Not only am I not puking and shitting, but by making my own foods I've avoided a lot of additives that are probably harmful. Unlike the EU (where you need to prove something is safe before you feed it to people) in the US we have a much laxer system. Here you need to prove it causes harm. Guess who isn't interested in proving something causes harm? Almost everyone. So no one does much research. The innocent until proven guilty of the US food “safety” system doesn't really keep us safe. But it is what it is.
Can you go out to eat? Yes you can. BUT, make up an allergy card or sheet of paper. My husband made me a business card with my allergy on it- it has a caduceus on it (that stick with a snake on it that symbolizes medicine) and it says “DINER FOOD ALLERGY”- then it lists CORN- solid corn: no grits, corn meal, baking powder, powdered sugar, corn flour, American cheese, pepperjack cheese, corn kernels (corn oil and corn syrup are fine) Also, NO CARRAGEENAN.
I've gotten nothing but compliments from Chefs and servers in the US on my card. It makes it easy for the kitchen to help you. I also try to make it easy- steak and a potato with grilled asparagus no sauce- that's almost always going to be safe (I just never have the sour cream because of carrageenan- so I have butter instead!). In Japan, I was told to leave restaurants. The card freaked them out. They wouldn't even let me have a beer in one place after I showed my card. So be aware that some places are culturally not friendly to people with food issues. Japan is one of those places. I won't be going back there, thank you very much.
It is possible you will be in a place where they do NOT KNOW what is in the food. Do NOT eat there. Ick. How do you not know? Well, everything comes in bags or boxes and they got rid of the bag or box so they no longer know what is in their food. Just leave. You may also go to places in which EVERYTHING has your prohibited food in it. I just don't go to fast food restaurants. Everything has food starch or corn. And who cares? It's terrible for you anyway. Thank you food sensitivity for making me a healthier eater. I do miss Filet o'Fish though. And Doritos. But I do not miss barfing and diarrhea, so there's that.
Chapter 5- Could it be Genetic? YES
Two of my three kids have the same problem I have with corn. So if you identify an issue, start talking to your relatives. Maybe they have the same problem but embarrassment kept them from talking about it. Tell EVERYONE. You never know who you will help. I've helped a lot of people just chatting out there in the world. Now I am hoping to help a lot more. Because no one needs to live with this. It is so easily cured and so wonderful once you fix it. Food is no longer your enemy. Meal times are no longer to be feared. You won't waste hours on the toilet anymore. It's lovely. It's another life- a better life. Make it yours.
Sample Food Journal Entries
7/8/21
Breakfast- Oatmeal, plain- added raisins and brown sugar
grapefruit (not organic)
Tea (Tazo Earl Grey)
Lunch- Tuna sandwich
Tuna (Kirkland) Mayo (bestfoods-Vegetable Oil (77%), Water, Liquid Whole Egg (6%), White Vinegar, Liquid Egg Yolks (1.5%), Salt, Sugar, Concentrated Lemon Juice, Spices, Preservative (385). ) capers, celery (organic), green onions (not organic)
Bread- wheat flour, salt, water, yeast
NOTE- I specify whether things are organic or not because of the different pesticides that are used. It is possible to be triggered by a pesticide used on your food and you may be triggered by organic but not by conventional or vice versa. So KEEP GOOD NOTES. Trust me, it's worth it. You don't need to copy the bottle if you're laze you can often look the ingredients up online and copy and paste :-)
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