If it comes in a cardboard box, let it have only one ingredient.

Does this seem too harsh?  It is a little harsh.  However, there are a lot of common ailments caused by routine food items we come in contact with,such as wheat, dairy, nuts, sugar, soy, MSG, polysorbate 80, red 40, BHT, Xylitol, carrageenan, and I could go on and on.

Can you guess what this is? Can you find the dairy in it?

Common ailments like:  migraines, tension headaches, sinus headaches, sinuses “acting up”, stuffy nose, runny nose, fatigue, afternoon exhaustion, joint aches, stomach aches, diarrhea, constipation, gas, inability to focus, PMS, irritability, eczema, acne, chronic cough, and maybe even some forms of depression.

I feel a bit like an unsupported kook stating that our food causes a lot of chronic illness, but I really think that it does.  There are lots of anecdotal stories, but the science hasn’t been done to support it.  Wheat Belly, GAPS, SCD, Whole30, and Paleo websites have thousands of testimonials that I find fascinating now that we’ve pinpointed “food devils” in our own diet.

We just did the science experiment in our own family.  Take out dairy.  Put it back.  Take it out.  Put it back.  Take out wheat and gluten.  Put it back.  Take out wheat and gluten.  Put it back.   Take out oatmeal.  Put it back.  Take it out.  Put it back.

However it’s really tough! Dairy shows up in the form of whey, milk protein, milk, cream, lactose, butter, artificial butter, casein, lactoglobulin, sodium caseinate, lactalbumin, and other forms.  Wheat and gluten show up as wheat protein, wheat starch, malt, dextrin, maltodextrin, modified starch, modified food protein, and other forms.  My lists are not meant to be inclusive, just examples of how difficult it will be to pinpoint food related symptoms if you don’t eliminate pre-manufactured combinations.

And keep in mind, it’s NOT just gluten and dairy, althought they are common culprits.

It will be hard enough pinpointing food-related symptoms with just one-ingredient items.  But at least you’ll stand a chance.  If you have a symptom or symptoms that are affecting you, please don’t toss this unsupported post out the window.  Start closely watching, even writing down, what you eat and any symptoms that occur over the span of three days.  Some reactions are immediate.  Some take 72 hours, and some may take a week to be realized.  But I’ll bet you’ll find some reactions are there.

This from a friend, made my day (comment can be found on my Facebook Page under “Milk and Cookie Disease” post):

“With lots of fresh fruit…it has been pretty easy to transition away from the milk and cookies…oh..and I have had a breakthrough. ..I have a nut intolerance! !! Yay..now I know one of my huge migraine triggers:))…thanks friend♥♥”

Terri