So more on Sarah, the cute little naturopath.  I went to her for food intolerance testing because I know I have issues but wanted something more concrete.  So this isn’t allergy, like grab-the-needle-I’m-going-into-anaphylactic-shock.  My understanding is that it’s foods that your body just doesn’t tolerate well.  You might see side affects, you might not (now), it’s just foods that are tougher for your body to assimilate.

So I thought for me it was wheat, especially bread.  I discovered that bread throws me for a loop.  I’m OK with Ezekial, but regular bread makes me feel like it’s naptime within a few minutes of eating it.  So I avoided wheat too, eating kamut pasta and the like.  I’m also not a big beer drinker for the same reason – naptime city and no fun at parties.

So when Sarah did the test she said that not many people come back with wheat intolerances.  I was like, yeah right, we’ll see.  So the test consisted of taking a couple drops of blood from my ear and sending it off for results.

The results?  My list of foods is potato and sugar.  Interestingly, of the group of people I know who have gone for food intolerance testing sugar shows up on *everyone’s* list.  But the potato part floored me. 

It turns out that potato is in everything – enriched flour used for bread and pasta?  The added niacin and riboflavi are derivatives of potato.  Yeast?  Contains an ingredient that comes from potato.  The anti-caking agent in salt?  From potato.  One of the ingredients of baking powder?  You got it, from potato. 

So I confirmed that bread does bug me just not for the reasons I thought. I bought some special yeast from Sarah, tracked down some non-enriched wheat flour and have been happily eating normal bread again (there is a god!). 

I’ve found that whole wheat products are not generally enriched.  When I’m craving white pasta I look for the real italian brands which often are not enriched.  Real sea salt just contains salt. 

Corona and Bud don’t have yeast in them.  Of course if I drink Bud someone will take away my Canadian citizenship ;-) , but I’ve discovered that Corona satiates my thirst just fine with no sleepies.

Breakfast cereals are tough because 90% of them are enriched, but often organic multi-grain cereals aren’t.  And the simple ones like puffed wheat or rice are also non-enriched.

So I’m not totally avoiding everything with potato but I’m on the right track.  Sarah suggests that as long as you’re aware of it and try to at least avoid your list 80% of the time you’re doing great.   I’m happy to have a solid medical reason to avoid potato chips and french fries.  Not that I ate them alot, but now I’m avoiding them like the plague.  And I know my body is happier for it.