Why oh why?

[gwendally]

There is something I do that is senselessly self-destructive. It is pleasurable while I am doing it, but works against literally every goal I have for my life. The cost to me in real terms is absolutely not worth the benefit

Comments

[gwendally]

This allergy has been really gradual, and most of the time "makes me feel rubbish" has been the cost, so I traded that for short-term gratification once in a while. But now it "makes me feel rubbish" and "keeps me from being sharp at work" and "keeps me from being on my game when a family member needs me to be there for them."

So the severity is growing, and there are enough times when I'll accidentally be exposed to corn syrup or corn starch that I need to save my exposure load for those times. (I had some wakame seaweed salad on Friday night in a restaurant that was apparently loaded with something I'm allergic to that I didn't anticipate. Corn starch for a bright glaze or something? I have no idea. I can eat every recipe I've ever seen of it.)

I find that allergy attacks have a lot to do with the allergan load I'm carrying. If I'm in a dusty place I can't eat pizza because of the corn meal on the bottom of the crust. There were a few pieces of corn in my supper at a restaurant on Saturday night and that probably was okay, but adding the candy just pushed me over the edge.

I think a gluten allergy and a corn allergy are pretty equivalent, in the sense that you pretty much can't eat in restaurants without confronting it hidden in something. Personally, I'm happier giving up candy and corn chips than bread, though.

[andrewducker]

Oh Goodness yes - I'd happily trade gluten for corn with you!

I'm the same with the effects - when I was 16 I'd occasionally get a little hypoglycemic, and it's slowly crept up to the point where I can't really eat anything with more than 3 or 4 grams of sugar in any given meal without it starting to have an effect. Which is a lot of takeout food. I also have to avoid anything with a high glycemic index - so if I eat a gluten-free pizza then that amount of starch is going to have a (more minor) affect on my grumpiness levels.

The gluten is much more recent - last two to three years, and like you it started out with slight effects - mostly a slightly dodgy stomach. And now it means that I wouldn't want to be in the same room as anyone else, horribly bloating, and basically making me about 50% stupider as my brain is either turned off or distracted by the effects.

And yeah, I can get away with tiny amounts, if there's nothing else going on - but that tends to lull me into a false sense of security whereby I do that for a few days, and it seems to build up in my system, and then it's awful until I cut it out entirely.

You have my sympathy, it's no fun at all!

[gwendally]

You say you'd make the trade not knowing how much of modern "food" is made up of corn products, especially in the United States. I can avoid grits easily enough, but corn starch and corn syrup are used in nearly every manufactured product.

I avoid corn the same way I imagine you avoid gluten: by only eating food made of food; single-ingredient things that had eyes or grew in a garden.

Sauces, baked goods, snack foods, and beverages are all out. I may drink water, alcohol, tea and coffee. Even then I have problems, because I take cream in my coffee and the other day I was confronted only with "non-dairy creamers" made entirely from corn. It was maddening.

Happily, I dislike sweetened foods, so losing sweet tea and soft drinks of all sorts are fine with me.