Yesterday morning my life changed in quite a small but significant way. Clutching my small, photocopied booklet in cold (apparently poorly circulated) fingers, I would like to think I marched but most probably trotted off to the nearest health food store to begin a new diet. And that for me can easily be considered a new way of life. Food has always been one of the highest pleasures for me. Music is considerably popular today as an opium of the masses, and people often seem to define themselves by their music. When waiting for a friend outside the subway once, I noticed that every single person that walked past me was plugged into an mp3 player. Music is considered an essential.
Food is, of course, more of a necesity to continue living than music; without it, we’d surely perish. But whilst music is considerd a food for the soul, for me, food is food for the soul. I could talk for hours about my favourite dishes. As a child I had a ridiculously sweet tooth, and apart from pizza and cheese, would happily eat only deserts. But since reaching my 23rd year, my palate has somewhat matured and I can now just as easily salivate over a mozerlla bruschetta as a chocolate souffle. Now, a meal doesn’t revolve around the desert menu, and when I eat out, I consider every course as if it is its own seperate meal.
I still maintain that my all-time favourite dinner ever is spaghetti bolognaise, with either mozerlla bruschetta or garlic bread (with real chunks of garlic in it. I’d recommend Marks & Spencers’), with a nice glass of red wine, followed by home-made lemon meringue pie; just as mum used to make it. Although if it has chocolate in it, I’ll eat it (apart from Black Forest Gateaux, it’s always unnerved me slightly). Safe to say, following this, that my favourite cuisine would be Italian. The pasta, the many types of bread, the herbs, the sauces, the lasagne! A cruel twist of fate then, perhaps, that as I rather timidly entered the health food store, I was looking for some food, any food, that I could put together for my lunch. Oh, did I mention it had to be wheat free?
Yesterday morning I voluntarily went along to my Food Intolerance test appointment with very mixed emotions. A life time of bloating and a tender tum weren’t the reason. In my eyes (or tastebuds), 6 out of 7 nights a week worth of discomfort were worth the 10 minutes divine pleasure enjoying a good meal. A life time, yes, as I’ve always suspected some sort of intolerance but been avoiding any tests, or even contemplating them; if I was tested, and given results, I would be foolish not to follow through on the consequences surely? The reason I’ve been determinedly drinking nettle tea instead of Earl Grey (or even Chinese Green) for the past 24 hours, I reassure my stomach.
It wasn’t the sore tum that prompted me, but a distinct lack of energy, motivation and enthusiasm for anything. I’ve always been a delicate wee thing when it comes to sleep, and need my 8 hours of beauty rest or I’m never fully-functioning or at my best the next day. I’ve normally always been good at getting those 8 hours and being a chirpy, talkative and all-round charming person from day-to-day.
Yet for perhaps the past 2 or 3 months, I’ve had to drag myself out of bed every morning, and subconsciously exclaimed with a yawn “I am knackered today!” and had at least 3 cups of tea by 10am before I can answer my emails at work at a decent, fully comprehensible level. My motivation in and out of work has dipped, even for things I normally love. I stopped my Brazillian Dance lessons, I’ve always found the couch comfier than picking up sketch pad or paints, and even for a moment the urge to write or read left me.In our modern, fast-paced, hectic and unashamedly stressful 21st century, tiredness and mild depression are common. So at first I accepted it, hoping it would blow over. Three months later, no such luck, and I decided to finally take action.
And so as I sat down in the calming ‘therapy room’ at my local all-natural health spa, I felt the most enthusiastic and commited to something than I have done in months. I answered all of the Therapists questions fully, and without shame, and didn’t protest when the metal rod she kept poking at my finger began to hurt a little.
After a full hour of questions and testing, the results were through. Before the exact diagnosis of food intolerances, she explained to me a few other things that were more damning than the Food Intolerances to follow. My low energy, particularly in the morning, and my need to eat small meals often, lest I turn into a hot, shakey and woozy wreck, were down to an erratic blood sugar level that has been shooting up and plummeting down for who knows how long. Sugar and caffeine are the easiest factors to blame in this, particularly my beloved chocolate. I did tell her I would, as an evening ritual of sorts, after my evening meal always have a cup of green tea and a few squares of chocolate (occasionally a whole bar). And throughout the course of the day would have one, or maybe two, cakes or chocolate bars. (I did warn her that I had a sweet tooth).
It seems all this sugar has, rather unsurprisingly, caused my blood sugars to shoot up and then afterwards fall back down so I get a sugar rush and then a hefty energy dump after. As a result I turn to tea or coffee for stimulation (particularly at work when energy needs to be high) and as such I rely on a mix of caffeine and sugar to keep my energy up. I was a bit shocked at her putting it like that. In films, books, or tv shows there is often a character who depends on chemical substances to keep them awake; the fast-paced New Yorker who can’t begin the day without a double-espresso, and needs at least 5 others before lunch time to remain at optimum performance. Surely 3 cups of tea a day isn’t a sin (I’m not a coffee person). And the chocolate is just chocolate; I never drink fizzy juices, or eat any processed meals, fast food, or sugary gummy sweets. Compared to that chocolate is surely a saving grace!
Alas, no. Despite my previous thinking that I was maybe eating more chocolate in a week than I should, but that I was healthy, it seems the chocolate has to go. And the caffeine. Oh, did you know that green tea also contains caffeine too? As she was saying this I was thinking “oh that’s fine, I can easily substitute my tea with green tea”. Again, alas no. It may sound a bit blind on my part, and I knew when I told her about my chocolate intake she wouldn’t be happy, but I didn’t think my caffeine intake was too bad.
Turns out it is. It’s only been 30 hours since my last cup of tea and I’ve had a splitting headache all day. I’ve got a bit of a cold too, but the headache has been persistent and almost disabilitating. When I told a friend of my giving up chocolate and caffeine, she smiled and said “ah yes, my drugs of choice”. An interesting turn of phrase, as really, they are drugs to a certain extent. Both release endorphins or adreniline, and eventually our body becomes dependent on them to get our ‘fix’, until eventually we no longer get a buzz or high from a good cup of coffee, and instead need it to function at a normal level. Dependence. I’m not at all suddenly speaking from my pedestal on high about the woes of addictive foods, and could murder a Galaxy Caramel right now, but since I’ve made the decision to eliminate any nastiness from my diet and be a healthier, more energetic person, I have realised that whilst I thought I was healthy, I had been relying on stimulants for my energy. Never a good thing.
After the blow that chocolate and caffeine were out (for several other reasons, such as the Zinc required to digest chocolate, leading to a lack of Zinc, leading to lack of energy) my Food Intolerances were revealed: wheat, yeast, plaice, soya, E# ‘Sunset Yellow’, pollen and animal fur. Soya and plaice don’t affect me much at all, but wheat coupled with yeast is more of a problem. At first, when I thought I only had a wheat intolerance, I was somewhat comfoted by the thought of Soda or Corn bread. But oh no, not if Yeast is out too. I guess there’s always Rye?
So, since 11am yesterday morning I have been wheat, yeast, soya, chocolate and caffeine free. Last night I dreamt I ate a huge bag of M&Ms, all day today I’ve had a splitting headache, but I feel good. Turns out what I eat isn’t the only food for my soul; it’s making sure that I’m eating well, and looking out for number one. Life may be too short to give up the good things, but it’s also long enough to try something new and see how it treats you.
a life without wheat 