For my elimination diet I took out:
- wheat/gluten
- dairy
- soy
- sugar
- caffeine
- chocolate
You’ll notice one thing missing:
- corn
I didn’t take out corn because I’ve just never thought I ever had a problem with it, even though it’s a relatively common thing to eliminate in a diet like this.
Well, yesterday I had some corn chips and salsa. I felt awful afterward, even though the chips were organic and contained ONLY corn (no hidden wheat, or, you know, CHOCOLATE…..mmmmm….fried crispy chocolate…..). I went back to the fridge and got out the salsa, and discovered it had, among a host of safe ingredients, BEANS. I hadn’t realized that. So I blamed my awful feeling on either the fact that I’d had simple carbs, or the beans.
Today, I ate the corn chips again, without the salsa, and again, I felt awful. Really, really awful. Foggy headed, anxious, tired, lethargic, and irritable. My first thought was, “Okay, maybe it’s just simple carbs”, but the rice crackers I had earlier in the day, which were about as simple as simple can get, didn’t cause any reaction at all, except, “Wow, these are the blandest things I’ve ever tasted, what I wouldn’t do for a nice cheese ball and a sharp knife.”
I don’t know if this means corn is A Problem, but I certainly think I should eliminate it for the purpose of the diet. It looks like it could at least be a contender.
Corn KILLS me, especially when not processed much. Popcorn, corn on the cob, corn chips, all rip my gut up.
I wonder, is your sugar problem really a sugar one or a HFCS one?
Honestly, I’m not all OMG SKY IS FALLING HFCS IS DEVILS SPOOGE sort, but if you have corn sensitivities AND you think you have a sugar one too, maybe it is the kind of sugar?
Once you figure the sugar stuff out, maybe you can try cane versus beet versus whatever?
Hey, don’t feel like you’re being over dramatic; the whole point here is to pinpoint stuff, and I am completely agreeing with you. I was thinking about this last night, and going through some previous notes about anxiety, where I was asking myself, “Why do I have a panic attack after popcorn all the time?” Hmmmmm!
I *definitely* will consider HFCS as a possible trigger. Heck, it’s also in a lot of processed breads, which might explain why wheat seems to cause problems. These are all good theories to put out there, and we’ll test them in a few weeks! SCIENCE! :)
I wish you luck in your endeavors. I’ve been doing something similar these past few months, starting with eliminating meat. Last week I eliminated dairy and faltered the day a friend brought over pastries from a nearby bakery/cafe because…well, my willpower is limited and I am only human. (butter, whipped cream, love)
love your blog. :)
I have some technical questions:
1. Why eliminate everything at once? Why not eliminate one thing, see how it works, then do the next thing serially? I know elimination diets regularly do it in the manner you are, i just am not sure why. It seems like it is such an incredible limit on what you can eat that it would be really hard to maintain and feel good (because it would be hard to get enough of the nutrients that you need).??
2. Beans? I never saw you mention beans as a potential problem before?
3. So what ARE you eating?
Thanks Jen! Oh, if someone waved a pastry in my face right now I’m not really sure what I’d do. I completely sympathize. :)
Your blog is great! I’ll add it to my list!
Megan – I answered your question with a post:
http://www.grassdirtcorn.com/2009/06/why-am-i-eliminating-everything/