Behind the Dysfunction


February 2009 was the month that I received a diagnosis of having "Leaky Gut Syndrome" complicated by (and probably caused by) multiple food intolerances (not to mention all the nasty things that had taken up residence in my broken down guts). My gut had essentially ceased to function properly, allowing bad stuff to pass through into my blood stream and sending most of the good stuff out with the trash. Since approximately 70% of our immune system is located in the gut, it caused me to be too ill to work (even when I was at work I spent more time in the bathroom than at my desk) or do much of anything else besides sleep and live in the bathroom. My quality of life was at an almost all-time low and I was absolutely desperate for answers.

Finding out the cause included most of my favorite food groups was a huge blow for me; I could have easily lived on lasagna 24/7...pasta and cheese were my comfort foods. Making the "cure" work was extremely difficult, but starting with month 14 of trying to live, eat and think gluten-egg-soy and dairy free, I'm finally having more successes than failures and that funny little switch in my head that controls my food programming has finally reset. Not sure what that means? Well, regular sandwich bread SMELLS BAD, Kraft Mac 'n Cheese SMELLS BAD, eggs smell extremely bad! My brain and my body are now able to recognize those foods that are essentially toxic. This is a HUGE improvement and it's making life much easier.

My hope is to document my continued success while also providing support and information, along with recipes and all that fun food stuff for other people who are facing similar lifestyle changes. I do not recommend that ANYONE take such drastic diet changes as I have without first consulting a physician! Life's too short to not eat lasagna if you can. Also, while I may occasionally share some vegan options, I am absolutely NOT a vegan, nor do I want to be a vegan. I love meat, especially poultry, way too much. You can take my cheese, you can take my eggs, but if you try to take my chicken someone is going to get hurt.

Happy Eating!