Dietary Changes Part: 2

 

When I was in high school, during my second year, I found myself eating more fried foods and drinking more milk than usual. I thought it was okay, not the healthiest, but what school provides healthy food? They love promoting it, but they don’t necessarily enforce it. Everyone was fine eating it, so what could go wrong?

I was eating spicy fried chicken sandwiches and cheese-stuffed pizza, and I learned that dipping them in ranch or blue cheese tasted good. I drink chocolate milk, and on Fridays, I treat myself to ice cream.

The year before was exciting, my grades were great, and everything seemed new and exciting. Sophomore year became the opposite. I didn’t understand why, but it was like flipping a coin. Everything was exciting, but everything was boring; topics were not interesting, the teachers were even pissy and annoyingly difficult. On top of everything I was dragging. I felt so fogged up. As if I could sleep all day.

My case manager saw what was going on with my classes and reached out to my parents. Risking his job, he sends my parents to a seminar on autism. This is where we learned about a “gluten-and dairy-free lifestyle”. My mom came home and told me, 'Lena, we are going to try this eating lifestyle on you.' With no choice in the matter, I went gluten-free and dairy-free. After a month, it felt as if a fog lifted from me. I became more social. My body finally gained weight.

As great as the results sound, it still wasn’t easy. I had to stop eating certain foods cold turkey. Looking for replacements, such as milk and bread, felt nearly impossible to find. This was before the gluten-free, dairy-free hype. Plus, anything that we did find went bad quickly and/or crumbled too easily. I also must read the ingredients list, every single word. A lot of the time, gluten or flour is used as a filler even when it is unnecessary, the same thing with dairy. I must also stay away from High-Fructose Corn Syrup, food color, and so many other additives. No processed foods for me, which made looking for snacks feel impossible.

There are so many processed foods out there, it’s crazy, and it’s all in the cheap stuff, making it too easy for people to want to buy them.

It’s honestly a mean trick. The processed foods don’t even taste good, but somehow it tricks your brain into thinking that it does, making you want more.

I found a video of a nutritionist named Chris van Tulleken not only going over what harm additives and processed foods do to you, but also putting it to the test on himself.  Throughout this video, he does a 30-day test on himself with the help of another nutritionist. He scanned his brain activity and weight before and after. And the results at the end are quite interesting.

https://youtu.be/T4PFt4czJw0?si=SgvZQTAEOKGcdjL3

He mainly focuses on ultra-processed foods and throughout explains what it does to him. I posted the link to the video above. He has also written a book on this same topic, if you want to learn more about it, called: Ultra Processed People

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/200196183-ultra-processed-people

One of the things that he describes is feeling fuzzy in the brain. Waking up at odd hours in the night, needing a snack because he is not receiving the nutrition that he needs, with the preservatives tricking his brain to think that he is hungry when he is not. Also, he found himself unable to use the restroom. Adding ingredients to foods that are not needed confuses the brain, such as adding Potassium Sorbate to pudding, and Monosodium glutamate in fried chicken. As he is eating it, he explains how he can taste it, doesn’t enjoy it, but can’t stop eating it. Why would you need to put Potassium Sorbate in pudding? Making pudding is easy; all you need is milk (I use dairy-free, any kind is fine), whatever flavor you want (like chocolate), and cornstarch to thicken it. It's not difficult; the most difficult part is letting it cool before eating it, due to it being cooked on a stove.

He also talks about how not all ingredients are bad, but due to them being placed into foods that don’t require them, these ingredients cause mixed signals to the brain, such as Parmesan Cheese containing glutamate as a normal ingredient, compared to finding glutamate in a potato chip is not normal nor necessary.

I once found ramen-style rice noodles for $0.85. Read the ingredients; no wheat in the broth, nothing unusual, so I bought a handful. Once I ran out, I went back to get more. Out of habit, I read the ingredients to find something new: Casein. It’s a protein in milk. Why do we need casein in rice noodle soup? I know that some soups require milk, but this was not one of them.  Being allergic to the stuff, I had to stop buying it.

 Chris van Tulleken has many videos alongside his book on Ultra-Processed foods that are interesting. One thing that I find interesting is that he talks about Xanthan gum as an additive replacing dairy, not tasting the same as dairy. I agree with this statement. However, Xanthan gum isn’t found to be bad for you and is a great substitute for gluten in gluten-free flours.

Honestly, it feels as if we need to go back to baking everything from scratch ourselves. At least then we will know what is in the food we eat. I am considering it myself, but with working full-time, writing this blog, plus writing Nordic Secrets, I wonder if I have time?

I think that is the problem for all of us.

I highly recommend watching his videos. He is much more informative than I currently am on the subject. I am learning about all of this myself through research for this post. There is just too much of a pit to dive into on the subject, hence why I am doing a part two blog post.

 Also, another thing that he doesn't talk about is: High Fructose Corn Syrup, and food coloring.  He's located in the UK, and they banned those additives from foods throughout Europe. So why are we still using them, other than it being "cheaper" than sugar? How much more important is it to save this money than to sacrifice our health? We already know this is bad for us. These things cause brain fog, fatigue, and cancer. 

Another thing to look at is whether I am getting enough nutrition, or am I missing something. When I first went gluten-free and dairy-free, I also had to take vitamin supplements. I had to take a test where I placed my hand on a scanner, and it read what I am missing in my immune system. Oh boy, did I have a long list: B12, B6, vitamin C, grape seed, magnesium, along with two or three others that I can’t remember the name of.

For a while, as I went through college, there was a long period of time when I couldn’t afford them, and my parents expected me to be able to take care of the expenses myself. It’s not wrong for them to do so. I am an adult. Unfortunately, I couldn’t afford $300 a month worth of vitamins on a part-time job, $7.25 an hour, at 12- 20 hours a week. Spending that much when I pay for gas, food, and whatever else I need was too much for me. So, I deemed it to be too expensive and stopped taking them. I was too busy with school full-time and working on film projects on weekends, and it became too overwhelming for me. Little did I know it had some effect on me. I was feeling continuously drained. I just thought that I was burned out from everything, but no, it was not just that. After graduation, I finally started to earn more money due to more availability. I went with my parents to a doctor's appointment and got re-evaluated with new vitamins. Luckily, just two Neurotrophins PMG and Tuna Fish Oil. It is still expensive, but not as much as before. Now that I have been taking these vitamins, I have been feeling much better. I notice a huge difference when I take them compared to when I don’t take them. 

It's not easy. Eating gluten-free, cow-dairy-free food is expensive, too. You also must make adjustments, such as finding a new source of fiber. Consuming more omega-3 foods such as fish, nuts, and flaxseed is also good. They are a source of brain food that is well needed. Leafy greens are a great source of calcium.  When you have any kind of neuro condition, your brain needs that extra boost of energy, and Omega-3 foods provide a helpful boost.

I honestly came across this by accident. At the time, I had been off my vitamins for a while. My husband and I were driving down to Florida one night. On the way down, we ate sushi from Kroger. The next day, while visiting my mother-in-law, we went out for sushi again. Then on the way back home, we had sushi as well.  After eating so much fish in a row, I noticed that I had control over my thoughts. I could at least for a short while sit quietly with one thought at a time, and not a million at once. Due to this experience, I almost became a pescatarian. Unfortunately, fish is more expensive than other meats, and I also enjoy other meats.  So, I decided to eat fish more often.

                Again, it’s not easy. I remember how good certain foods taste. I still crave things such as cheesecake, German chocolates, Nutella, and many more things. Then some don’t know how to cook without butter, milk, and breading. Living in the south, everyone around here knows at least ten people like this. Or what will also happen is they will stay away from gluten and dairy, but still add butter; what else are they to use to grease the pan? (olive oil, grapeseed oil, coconut oil, avocado oil)

I’m not asking people of the South to drop their fried chicken and casserole lifestyle…

I love a good casserole. I have a couple that I make “Lena Safe” occasionally.

I’m just asking you to stop thinking through your ass. If it’s something that makes you or someone else sick, then look up another way of doing so. I have met plenty of people who will say “Oh my kid is gluten and dairy free but then feed them fried chicken and mashed potatoes from KFC, or actually stay away from gluten and dairy but then still use butter. I hate to bust your bubble, but butter is made from milk, most likely cow's milk.

Another thing that people tell me is that they can’t, otherwise their kid won’t eat anything. I grew up on you get what you get or get nothing. Luckily, I am a foody and love to eat.  I do understand that not having a wide craving palette. In Autism Revolution, Dr. Herbert goes over this very problem. She explains in great detail how sensory overload causes sensitivities to texture in food. For me, it’s lima beans, okra, tofu, and celery. Luckily for me, it’s not as extreme as it is for others. DR. Herbert discusses something that I found interesting: she claims that zinc can help expand one's appetite for more foods. I would have to do more research on and recommend the same to you. She also suggests that one should change the form of the food, such as strawberries, into a smoothie. You can even create a sauce or soup broth. These are things that I have done, and it does work.

I do occasionally cheat on my diet to taste test certain recipes, hoping to create a decent gluten-free and cow-dairy-free variation of these dishes, such as Nutella cake, cheese cake, and so forth. There are already a lot of recipes to find on Pinterest that are fun. It’s fun to create my own, and I plan to assemble them into a book one day.  

I honestly can keep going on this subject and probably will one day. For now, check out these links and please continue doing your research, as I will do the same. Currently, I am reading: Brain Maker by David Perlmutter.