Happy Anniversary!
Medium well done steak from Fresh Market with pan seared yellow squash and green peppers. Dessert was a vegan donut from Whole Foods and I had Hop Tea to drink.
It was a year ago yesterday that I received the diagnosis that would forever change my life. I was sitting at home, reviewing my Nutcracker score when I got the phone call from my GI doctor. “The breath test confirmed it, you have CSIDs, aka a sucrose and maltose intolerance.” I remember feeling like I could breathe, a weight lifted off of my shoulders. I also remember feeling overwhelmed. How do I now navigate this new life and lifestyle? Well, a lot has happened in a year and I thought I would celebrate this anniversary with a list of ten things the year has taught me.
1. Don’t focus on what you can’t have, focus on what you can have. I know this one is so much easier said than done. With the diagnosis of CSIDs comes the reality of how limited your options for food become. After all, are supposed to get five servings of fruits and vegetables a day for a well-balanced diet. Well, I can only eat berries (except strawberries) and my vegetables have to be low in starch. That aside, I’ve learned to appreciate the foods that I can eat and have tried new recipes and dishes I never would have considered otherwise because of it.
2. Variety is key. This goes along with focusing on what you can have. Because starches build up over a three-day period, I switch up my meals. This helps to keep it interesting for my taste buds but also helps keeps my curiosity flowing. So what exactly does this mean? One night I may have baked chicken with baked cauliflower and broccoli. The next night, I might make another baked chicken but wrapped in bacon and stuffed with cashew milk cheese over a bed of zucchini noodles. Later in the week, I will then go back to eating cauliflower and broccoli. This is the time to be curious in the kitchen!
3. It’s okay to have some naughty every once in a while. I know this one will not apply to everyone as it depends on your tolerance levels. My tolerance for sugar is much higher than my tolerance for starch and that does not stop me from enjoying a Vegan Donut once or twice a month. I do this with the help of enzymes. As long as I keep my starches on the low side for a few days beforehand, I generally do not experience discomfort the day.
4. Oils are your best friend. I used to turn my nose up at any mention of oils. It was also zero calory cooking spray for me or just enough olive oil to lightly coat a pan. That has changed tremendously this year. It’s hard to get calories in with a CSIDs diet and adding oils to most of my meals has helped with that. As an example, I have a protein pancake recipe that I love and recently, I started adding a tablespoon of olive oil to bump up the calories. Not only are the pancakes fluffier, but they have also become more filling.
5. When having a flare, the best thing to do is not eat. This sounds counterintuitive because we need food to fuel and nourish our bodies. However, a CSID flare is a result of inflammation of the gut and stomach lining. The best thing to do is let your gut calm down and rest. For me, that is trying to go as long as possible between meals. I often find that I’m not hungry during a flare so I don’t force it.
6. Tune into your body. This goes along with number 5. For the longest time, I used to think stomach rumbles and bloat after a large meal were normal. However, when that bloat lasted up to a week, I started paying more attention to when it happened and why. Having CSIDs has forced me to become more aware of how my body reacts to foods. For example, strawberries cause me to develop hives because of the histamines. Before, I would look at the small bumps as a reaction to laundry detergent or using a scented lotion. It wasn’t until I removed strawberries from my diet for two months and then added them in that I noticed a reaction.
7. Not all beef is created equal. There are some beef products that I can eat with no issues, others will have me bloated and in pain as soon as the meal is done. I believe this has to do with the high fat and protein content of some cuts of beef. I have learned to go for leaner cuts of beef like steak to avoid issues.
8. Nuts and nut butters in moderation. I love me some peanut butter. Always have and always will and I was elated to find that I could still tolerate peanut butter. However, true to fashion I overdid it one day and paid the next. Nuts and nut butters are still high in both sucrose and starch and for me moderation is key. I never have more than two tablespoons of peanut butter and I never have nuts or nut butters consecutive days in a row.
9. Doctors and Dieticians are clueless. I had to do a lot of self-education regarding this disorder. I have a really great GI but he was clueless as to what having CSID actually meant and was under the impression like many that taking Sucraid (sucrose enzyme replacement) would allow me to go back to eating like I used to. FALSE. I’ll most likely never be able to eat like I used to. Thank goodness for the various Facebook groups and people in it that have helped me navigate through this.
10. Have fun. Six months in, I realized this diet and these limitations were going to be for the rest of my life and that was pretty depressing. However true to form, I decided to look at this a different way. What if we thought of it this way: I get to spend the rest of my life trying new foods, discovering new recipes, baking new treats, and educating people on life with CSIDs. Does that mean I’m not going to have my ups and downs? Of course not. However, one year later I am happy, I’m healthy, and for the first time in a long time, I can say that my stomach doesn’t hurt today.
