A Digestive Rant
This story begins with me being diagnosed with Acid Reflux or GERD, both of which sound disgusting. I don't even know if "diagnosed" is the right term, since this thing isn't life threatening, but I believe it was causing me to have heart palpitations, which can be serious. So yeah, I have a stupid f*ing acid reflux problem. It can be brought on by stress or bad eating habits, of which I have a bit of both from the wedding and working overnights, respectively.
Okay let me go a bit further back. My stomach started hurting on a regular basis starting about 9 months ago. Not much that I did would help it, and then after awhile it would just go away on its own. I also started waking in the middle of the night, staying awake for about 2 hours, then going back to sleep. A couple months before my diagnosis, I had started using 2 pillows to sleep on, without really knowing why, except that I was more comfortable that way.
So after much pushing from Mike and my mother, I went to a gastro doctor. He sent me for an endoscopy, a blood work up, and a sonogram (very thorough, this guy). The endoscopy showed that I have a very inflamed lower esophagus. My stomach acid is splashing back up into my esophagus, causing pain and other annoying symptoms.
So now I'm on some medicine, and I was told to change my diet. The diet change is the hard part, but it's what works the best to help me. I was told to stay away from spicy foods, fried foods, tomatoes, oranges/lemons, and to cut down on dairy as well. I was told not to eat at least 2 hours before bedtime, and to eat small, regular meals. Also as an aside he warned me about my cholesterol, which is always high (genetics).
So I've been doing all of that stuff, and I've slowly started to notice what is good and bad for my body. Spicy foods and tomatoes/oranges are indeed bad for me. As is garlic, which sucks, because I love it. Some fried foods don't bother me, and most dairy doesn't bother me. I still switched to soy milk, because I don't want to risk having dairy after working an overnight. My lovely coworker Paul saved my life by suggesting I try drinking a large amount of water if my stomach starts hurting. So now, if I do happen to have stomach pains (which are largely infrequent nowadays) I start immediately drinking lots of water. And my stomach pain goes away!
So, on a similar subject, I've been buying a lot of organic/vegetarian/vegan food lately. And luckily I live in Brooklyn, the home of the hipster. I can go pretty much anywhere and buy GOOD organic food. But it is expensive. And really, it's expensive everywhere. So these vegetarians that go around with signs in front of KFC kind of annoy me. Because I bet a lot of people would choose the vegetarian lifestyle if they could afford it. The truth is that most Americans can't afford to eat the way they should. Our society is so screwed up that it's cheaper to eat chemicals than real food. And, being a liberal, I'm not going to fault the citizens for this, I'm faulting the system. What spurned this rant is the fact that I can buy a McDonald's burger for 99 cents, or Amy's Organic Macaroni and Cheese for $4.00. Amy's Mac n Cheese is amazing, and it doesn't even have real cheese in it (it's some kind of soy product). You would never know it.
Hopefully, as we get "greener", more and more farmers will go organic, there will be more product available, it will get cheaper, and people will get healthier.
PS: I love meat, don't get me wrong. Bacon is one of the best tasting substances in this world. It's the high fructose corn syrups and juices containing 19% juice and MSGs and Aspartames of the world that I'm really fighting here.
Okay let me go a bit further back. My stomach started hurting on a regular basis starting about 9 months ago. Not much that I did would help it, and then after awhile it would just go away on its own. I also started waking in the middle of the night, staying awake for about 2 hours, then going back to sleep. A couple months before my diagnosis, I had started using 2 pillows to sleep on, without really knowing why, except that I was more comfortable that way.
So after much pushing from Mike and my mother, I went to a gastro doctor. He sent me for an endoscopy, a blood work up, and a sonogram (very thorough, this guy). The endoscopy showed that I have a very inflamed lower esophagus. My stomach acid is splashing back up into my esophagus, causing pain and other annoying symptoms.
So now I'm on some medicine, and I was told to change my diet. The diet change is the hard part, but it's what works the best to help me. I was told to stay away from spicy foods, fried foods, tomatoes, oranges/lemons, and to cut down on dairy as well. I was told not to eat at least 2 hours before bedtime, and to eat small, regular meals. Also as an aside he warned me about my cholesterol, which is always high (genetics).
So I've been doing all of that stuff, and I've slowly started to notice what is good and bad for my body. Spicy foods and tomatoes/oranges are indeed bad for me. As is garlic, which sucks, because I love it. Some fried foods don't bother me, and most dairy doesn't bother me. I still switched to soy milk, because I don't want to risk having dairy after working an overnight. My lovely coworker Paul saved my life by suggesting I try drinking a large amount of water if my stomach starts hurting. So now, if I do happen to have stomach pains (which are largely infrequent nowadays) I start immediately drinking lots of water. And my stomach pain goes away!
So, on a similar subject, I've been buying a lot of organic/vegetarian/vegan food lately. And luckily I live in Brooklyn, the home of the hipster. I can go pretty much anywhere and buy GOOD organic food. But it is expensive. And really, it's expensive everywhere. So these vegetarians that go around with signs in front of KFC kind of annoy me. Because I bet a lot of people would choose the vegetarian lifestyle if they could afford it. The truth is that most Americans can't afford to eat the way they should. Our society is so screwed up that it's cheaper to eat chemicals than real food. And, being a liberal, I'm not going to fault the citizens for this, I'm faulting the system. What spurned this rant is the fact that I can buy a McDonald's burger for 99 cents, or Amy's Organic Macaroni and Cheese for $4.00. Amy's Mac n Cheese is amazing, and it doesn't even have real cheese in it (it's some kind of soy product). You would never know it.
Hopefully, as we get "greener", more and more farmers will go organic, there will be more product available, it will get cheaper, and people will get healthier.
PS: I love meat, don't get me wrong. Bacon is one of the best tasting substances in this world. It's the high fructose corn syrups and juices containing 19% juice and MSGs and Aspartames of the world that I'm really fighting here.
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