Stupid, stupid, stupid

Of course I should have known better! I wrote the book(s) on it. But cheating with inappropriate food is just so tempting - and easily justified when you’re your own auditor. Stupid stupid stupid.

Do you follow the rules - but still have bad days? It could be contaminants: that fine print on the label that says, ‘May also contain . . . ‘

Recently I bought two packets of the crunchiest rice-puff crackers ever - imported from Asia. The ingredients were listed as rice, and palm oil. That’s all. Plus the usual warnings . . . ‘may contain trace amounts of milk, sesame and gluten’ … blah blah.

Now with Australian products I know I can ignore this - even as hypersensitive as I am … because our government food regulations are stringent, with high levels of compliance amongst producers.

So Day 1, I indulged … three crackers liberally smothered in my fave margarine. The crunch was fabulous - the texture addictive! … Day 2: two crackers with my lunch - and two more with dinner. What a treat! …

Day 3: Same again … But that night - I woke up at 2.30am with excruciating stomach ache. Writhing around in bed I disturbed my husband who hadn’t seen me like that for years. That dreadful bloating and distress continued for three more days, fading only very slowly.

Of course I knew what it was from the telltale symptoms: milk. But I had forgotten how long it takes for the effects to appear.

And I had overlooked the possibility that other countries don’t have the same strict food production practices as we do. But clearly for me … lessons are best learnt when I do them over and over.

The fact is - there is just no fooling my digestive system. It notices everything. And if I try to sneak something past - it punishes me with a reminder of my previous life BUFT (before understanding food toxins).

Many years prior - after going through a stringent elimination diet I had discovered my acute milk sensitivity.

I mentioned it to my Mum and she chimed in with, ‘oh yes I remember you as a baby. I could never understand how you gained any weight.’

Why, Mum?

‘Because you would vomit the whole bottle feed up … it would shoot across the room and all I could do was feed you again. I guess some of it must have stayed down - because here you are’.

I couldn’t believe this was the first I was hearing of it … forty six years later.

‘Facts are stubborn things’ … so said John Adams, second president of the United States. His point holds true for all facts. Like the biochemical outcomes when certain molecules are put together in the human intestine. The effects of the toxins in the crackers took time to accumulate … two days. But then I started paying the price.

Of course - there’s more. The arrival of toxins in the bloodstream compromises our ability to fight off infections. So - on Day 5 two mouth ulcers appeared - with an average life of six days each. Then on Day 7 a sore throat started … and a stuffy nose … how I hate rhinitis.

Today is Day 9 and my voice is still croaky. Stupid stupid stupid.