My Quest with Food

I'm Italian. I've never met an Italian person that didn't truly enjoy food and the act of eating.

I've had an incredible quest with food lately. It all started about February, when I'd pretty much reached the end of my rope being sick and battling my third sinus infection in about a three month period. I'd been to the local clinic, was prescribed different heavy doses of antibiotics and sent on my way. I was told at every occasion that it looked as though my symptoms were allergy related, and was heavily dosed with allergy medications on top of the antibiotics.

I've had seasonal allergies growing up in Florida, when certain species of tress or grass are in pollinating, but aside from these experiences never really had any drastic allergy issues.

After the three rounds of antibiotics I was fed up and truly sought through prayer direction other than back to the clinic for more antibiotics. I figured something inside of me wasn't working properly and I needed the utmost care of someone who focused specifically on the total body and not just fixing the symptoms.

I found great care in an acupuncturist and holistic doctor who immediately relieved many of my sinus issues, provided several herbal treatments for at home use, and some dietary changes, specifically my first week, eating no dairy.

I felt markedly better after not eating the dairy for a week, taking the herbal biotic supplied, and my main symptoms from the sinus and ear infection that I had were minor. I still wasn't 100% cured, but who can do this in one week, but God?

After two and still some sinus related problems, we decided an elimination diet would be a great path to try and as foods were added back into my diet, I could start to see which foods were upsetting my system or if I had specific allergies to the foods I was eating. I wasn't too thrilled with this prospect, since it seemed like a huge undertaking, but having been prescribed this by a doctor, I jumped headlong into it.

I have to admit that I truly felt amazing after one week on this diet. I felt lighter, younger, had more energy and was sleeping incredibly. The diet consisted of mostly fruits and veggies, with minor amounts of rice and 6oz. of fish per day. I didn't feel deprived (although I did have to learn how to eat healthy oils for substance).

After several weeks on the elimination diet, I started adding foods back into my diet and have read and experienced numerous articles, trials, and tidbits of information about food that has caused me irritability and ensured drastic changes in my diet permanently.

In the end, I've had reactions, whether true allergies or my body telling me to just not eat: peanuts, soy products, dairy products, and wheat. While I've found I can have small amounts of dairy and wheat, I'm not particularly fond of the fatigue or sinus pressure that follows for these foods and realize it's best for me to stay away from them.

I've learned that so many foods have been genetically modified to the extent that this is the reason why many people that have never suffered from food allergies are starting to get sick. While I've been subjected to these foods all of my life, there are obvious changes that have resulted in me not being able to eat them. I will address more of my realizations about foods in another article.