reading time: 4 min.

We are living in a world today where lemonade is made from artificial flavors

and furniture polish is made from real lemons. - Alfred E. Newman

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Once upon a time, in the early 1980‘s, there was a little girl named Ginger, who liked to eat cake and ice cream and drink soda at her friend’s birthday parties like all the other children.  One day, Ginger noticed that she felt sick when she ate those foods all together, so she made a decision to stop eating them that way. Little did she know there was more to this story than eating too many sweets!

Ginger’s food saga had only just begun...

You see, food allergies & sensitivities do not always send people to the hospital.  And they are not the same for one body as they are for another.  Symptoms can show up hours or even days after ingesting an allergen, and by that time, good luck figuring out what caused the reaction.

When I got tested for seasonal allergies in the mid to late 90’s, the doctor surprised me with the fact that I also had some food allergies... Had it not been for that test, I may still be a miserable, rotten, sickly, self-medicating wreck.  Coffee, cigarettes, alcohol, etc were all there to counteract the effects of the toxins secretly produced inside my gut by the foods I was allergic to.  My symptoms included mood swings, irritability, acne, lethargy, rage, itchy skin, and more.  It took years to isolate these symptoms from other common ailment profiles and to say for sure that when they happened to me, it was a direct result of eating corn, soy, and wheat.

It has taken me 15 years to actually eliminate these foods and their many derivatives from my own kitchen; and I still mess up every now and then when eating out, or when accepting food from a friend with good intentions.

Why am I telling you all of this?

Because what you are eating could be making you sick.  Even if you’re not actually “allergic”, you could be ingesting any number of things that are just not ideal for your system.  And because your symptoms are so different from my symptoms, or so much like the symptoms of some other ailment, you may never know.  Now, there’s no need to panic... There is plenty of good in this world, and the human body can withstand all sorts of torture before it finally throws in the towel...  I’m not talking about creating food phobias here, just getting clear on what is happening internally. Why not decrease the stress on the body?

You may want to get conscious about what you’re eating and how it’s making you feel.  This can take some time.  Start to pay attention to one meal per day, and track (yes, write) your mood, body sensations, and mental activity every 30min for 3 hours after you eat.  Caffeine, alcohol, and cigarettes will mask some of the effects of food, so see if you can abstain to get more accurate data.  What are you still doing smoking, anyway?  After I quit, I really started to get a handle on what was going on inside my body, but not before.

Some food is poison, some food is medicine, and some food can be both.  Your body has a unique combination of characteristics which make it love one food and hate another.  It’s your responsibility to take care of your body, so I suggest figuring out what’s on the menu!

All the best to you,

Ginger