This week, circumstances made me go out of my food comfort zone (read: home) and eat - gasp - Fast Food.
I went to Arby's on Wednesday with much trepidation. I was tempted to totally go off the GF/NF eating regime and get whatever my little heart desired. Instead, I analyzed the menu as I waited to order my food. I don't have a handy dandy electronic device to look up the menus and ask friends online what to get at Arby's and didn't want to hold up the line asking tons of questions. So I went with my gut (hehe).
Turns out I did great at Arby's with the Gluten-free choice. They have an Adobe pdf of Menu Items Without Gluten on their site. I got the Chopped Farmhouse Salad with roasted turkey and Buttermilk Ranch Dressing, and a bottled water. I picked the tomatoes off of the salad. It was good, but not very filling for me. I had to eat something more when I got home.
I did have some gut pain/burning later on that day, but it only lasted a day (where before it would have lasted about 3 days). I attributed the pain/burning to trace gluten contamination or maybe I got a stray tomato in my salad, or the juice from the tomatoes was enough to bother me.
On Friday, I ended up having two slices of Little Caesar's Hot and Ready Pepperoni Pizza and a couple pieces of cheesy bread. Around an hour or so after eating, I started having a slight "tomato" response (itchy nose, some itchy throat, and itchy bum...and some slight gut burning action). I did wake a few times with an itchy throat. But it's gone this morning. And I did mow the lawn yesterday (was sneezing/runny nose by the end of that hour and a half or so of mowing) and didn't take a shower afterwards so that might have been a trigger as well.
The jury is still out on whether the gluten is effecting me....I am a little...er...backed up, which was my general MO when I was on grains. So maybe that should tell me something, huh?
Looking back, I would be willing to bet that my reaction to the Arby's meal was probably to preservatives/additives in the dressing. The first ingredient is (probably GMO) Soybean oil, and it also has MSG, Xanthan gum, Natural Flavor, Potassium Sorbate and Sodium Benzoate(Preservatives), Polysorbate 60, Phosphoric Acid, and Calcium Disodium EDTA(to protect flavor). Take your pick, all or one of those things might have been my trigger. None of the other dressing options would have been any better. There was also soy in the turkey meat.
I do have some left-hand pain (that meaty part below the thump and between the thumb and index finger). I think I remember this from past chiro visits as being a sign of gall bladder issues, and a quick Google led me to this site run by doctors where left hand pain can be a result of stimulation of the vagal nerve. I don't have any history of heart problems, so I don't think that is it at all. On the other hand, I have had issues in the past with esophagus/stomach/intestinal stuff, possible gall bladder stuff, etc, but most of this not officially tested for/diagnosed by a physician. Maybe the "eat gluten/nightshades" test has had more effect than I at first realized... Hmmm...I know back when I was LOTS OF FOOD FAMILIES-FREE and tried to reintroduce wheat back, that I would get left shoulder/back pain and serious heartburn/throat irritation issues....I sense a connection...
BUT...I did mow with the push mower a lot yesterday, so that could have stressed/injured my hand as well....just trying to keep everything in perspective...it's not all necessarily doom and gloom.
I am back on the GF/NF(at the very least, tomatoes) diet as of this morning. My response to the tomatoes has lessened substantially, but it's definitely still there. I think it is doing my body good to avoid these things.
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