Jennifer's Way by Jennifer Esposito

Author:Jennifer Esposito [Esposito, Jennifer]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780738217116
Publisher: Da Capo Press

I STARTED TO realize navigating this world was not just about eliminating gluten and now dairy. It was also about becoming a detective investigating everything I put in my mouth. Just because something says “gluten free” does not mean it is safe. One night, I ordered a pizza from a popular gluten-free restaurant near where I lived. I was sick for two weeks straight with no reprieve, facedown on the cold bathroom floor with my dogs right next to me. I felt like I had swallowed liquid cement that had turned to stone all the way down my throat. That “stone” slowly moved through my body for two days, every fiber of my being in pain, every joint, every muscle, every inch of hair. It was like the flu times one hundred. I learned later that the pizza place did not bake their gluten-free pizzas in a separate oven. Added to my list of forbidden foods: anything prepared in a kitchen that cooks anything with gluten. Check.

I was vigilant and pure with what I made myself at home. At first, I was making myself an omelette with spinach and broccoli for breakfast, a salad with carrots and more broccoli, and a piece of salmon for lunch; and for dinner, I would have more vegetables. But then, I was in severe pain all night long. Scary pain in my chest and throat, like a heart attack, or like I was choking. At first I thought I might be having more panic attacks, but then I paid closer attention to the sensation, and it was different. This felt like gut inflammation. I used to sip ginger ale and ginger tea and prop myself up, and that helped. Finally, after researching and paying attention to how I felt, I suspected that I was getting too much roughage. My damaged digestive system couldn’t handle all those vegetables, especially the raw ones. It was too much fiber. Nobody ever told me this might be a problem. Also added to my list of forbidden foods: too many raw vegetables. Check.

The list of foods I couldn’t eat was getting longer and longer. The list of foods I could eat was getting shorter and shorter.

My sister often called me, crying, asking me questions about the pains she was getting in her chest. “It’s your digestion, I know it is!” I told her, and I shared with her what I was doing. “Don’t eat so much fiber. Prop yourself up when you sleep.” We were developing our own “bag of tricks.”

“I felt better when I was eating gluten,” my sister said in despair. “Yes, I’d get a stomach- ache, but it wasn’t this burning, swollen pain from my throat all the way to my gut. It’s like my entire body fights against everything I eat.”

“It’s a constant fight,” I agreed.

Then I began to wonder: if I couldn’t even assimilate the nutrients in food, how was I going to absorb the nutrients from a big horse pill of vitamin D

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