Disclaimer: some of this post may be TMI,
so forgive me if I gross you out.
I know it’s all the rage these days. The
latest thing. What everyone’s doing because they believe it’s going to make
them skinny. And I have to admit, that’s why I started. But it’s not why I’m
continuing with this new way of eating.
It turns out that carbs and sugar have a
really bad effect on my body, something I didn’t realise until I cut out this
convenient and addictive food. I’ve suffered a number of ailments over the
years, starting when I still in the single digits of age. They all seemed
unrelated to each other and were all treated in isolation.
Here’s a breakdown of all my medical woes. If
it doesn’t interest you, scroll about half way down for the carb-free stuff.
When I was a kid, I got a sore knee. An
ache that no doctor could explain. I have no recollection when or how it
started. I went for x-rays and all sorts of other tests, but there was nothing
to see. Someone told my mom it must be growing pains and it would go away. When
I got to my twenties and the pain was still there, albeit not permanently – it
came and went with no discernible pattern – I figured there must be something else
wrong. But it’s never been an excruciating pain that I felt needed further
investigation. It’s just something I’ve learned to live with.
When I was in my late teens, I went to the
doctor with a post nasal drip. The kind of snot build up that blocks your
sinuses when you’re trying to sleep. He prescribed me an antihistamine and said
the likely cause was an allergy. However, since it’s usually really hard to
pinpoint an allergy, he suggested that if I could live with taking a pill every
day it was the way to go. I wasn’t really in the position to pay for and
undergo expensive tests, so I took the pills and just learned to live with it.
I experienced my first bout of heartburn
when I was about 23. I know it’s fairly common, and to start with, Rennies
worked fine to control it. But since starting on cortisone for the eye problem
(which I’ll explain now), it’s gotten worse, and I’ve noticed that when I eat a
lot of carbs, I need to medicate it with something stronger.
At the end 2008, I contracted an intestinal
bug. It took about a week for me to realise that it wasn’t just something I ate
and get myself to a doctor. I had to submit a stool sample (one of the grossest
things I’ve had to do) and got a prescription for antibiotics for my trouble.
After the bacteria had been successfully eliminated, I experience unexplained
diarrhoea. It took me another two years to come across the idea that perhaps a
probiotic would help. It did, and I made sure to carry a stash of pills at all
times, because I never knew when it would strike.
In 2010, I got an eye infection. The GP
thought it was pink eye and prescribed drops. When that didn’t clear the
problem up, he sent me to an ophthalmologist, who diagnosed scleritis.
Scleritis is an autoimmune disease usually caused by arthritis or diabetes. I
was tested for these and other possible causes, but they found nothing.
The scleritis morphed into plain old
orbital inflammation, again without a known underlying cause. The treatment for
this is lots and lots of cortisone. However, after three years of reoccurrences
and increasingly heavier doses of cortisone that didn’t seem to be working, I
was referred to a rheumatologist for cortisone sparing immunosuppressant drug
therapy, which I need to be on for at least two years.
In 2011, I was forced to see a
physiotherapist for repetitive strain injury in my forearms. It was thought the
pain was caused by overuse of the computer mouse. While the massage and needle
sessions did help somewhat, the pain never really went away. The second physio
I went to, about a year ago, gave me exercises to do at home, which did seem to
help.
In February, I gave up carbs. My parents
had started on this new diet about four months previously and my dad had
amazing results. He lost weight, and lowered his cholesterol and blood
pressure. I gave up gluten (and dairy) at about the same time they gave up
carbs, and I did see some positive results. Mainly, my eye inflammation was
manageable.
But as Christmas approached, I went off the
rails. I ate all the things I knew I shouldn’t – bread, pizza, muffins, mince
pies and all the yummy food associated with Christmas and holidays. And my eye
just kept getting worse. I had two cortisone injections into the eye socket before
the doctor closed for the holidays, and was taking more and more oral
cortisone, but nothing seems to make a difference. It wasn’t until February
that it dawned on me that my eating might be the problem.
So I gave up carbs. That is, I cut down on
my intake drastically. I did have a few days that were completely carb free,
but it’s not realistic to give up all carbs all the time. Especially
considering all the places carbs like to hide – in sauces mostly.
I cut out wheat – pasta, bread, all things
made with flour – pretty much completely. I cut down on rice and potatoes, and
all the things that contain sugar. No more biscuits, crackers, doughnuts, cakes
or pies. No more sugary soft drinks. No more frozen meals or processed food.
Also, no more low fat or fat free options, like yoghurt.
I embraced the LCHF (low carb high fat)
diet, buying butter instead of marg, and adding cream to everything. I bought
nuts and seeds by the kilo. I stocked my kitchen with coconut oil and flour. I
added almond meal to my baking ingredients. I planned my meals, milled my own
flour from flaxseed, baked my own bread and muesli. It was hard work, but my
eye was so much better.
Then, around Easter, I fell off the wagon.
It was a week of eating junk food – pizza, doughnuts, chocolate, chips, coke,
oat crunchies. I ate through all the warning signs my body was throwing at me
and settled for medicating the symptoms: antacids for the heart burn;
probiotics for the upset tummy; Deep Heat for the sore arms; cortisone for the
sore eye.
After a week of a painful, swollen,
throbbing eye, I was back at the rheumatologist, getting an extremely expensive
cortisone drip to get things under control again.
But it made me realise that all my problems
were connected – by carbs. When I eat right, with minimal carb intake, I don’t
suffer from heart burn, joint or muscle pain, diarrhoea, flatulence or an
inflamed optical orbit.
A carbohydrate intolerance basically causes
a low-grade inflammation, which targets areas of weakness, of which I seem to
have many. It causes weight gain, especially around the mid section and makes
weight loss really difficult. Okay, I personally can’t blame all my weight problems
on a carb intolerance, but it goes a long way to explaining my situation.
When the eye problem started, and I saw a
small army of specialists to try and get some answers, I asked them if it was
possible that something I was doing to cause the problem. Everyone said no. But now I know
differently.
I’m sharing this story in case it resonates
with others out there, searching for answers and coming up with nothing. There
are apparently blood tests that can prove a person’s carb intolerance, although
I’ve never actually been for one – I’m listening to what my body is telling
about the food I eat.
I can handle a small amount of carbs on a
daily basis, but I have to be very careful not to overdo it. But even then, I try
to choose rice or potatoes over wheat and sugar. Aside from the things it does
to my weak spots, the sugar cravings that increased carb intake causes is hell
to get under control again.
My aim is get off the cortisone, which I’ve
been on for eight months nonstop, something I can only do when I’m off the
carbs. I’d also like to lose weight, for I believe that once I’ve lost the 75
or so extra kilos I’m carrying around, the inflammation problem will be minimal
and more easily controlled.
But for now, it’s mostly a case of fighting the
urge to inhale carbs at every opportunity, to say no when I know I’ve reached
my limit, to make healthier choices.
