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Why I Don’t Tell You What I Eat

The other day Diana from My Marble Rye sent me a tweet:

I responded and explained that I’m not comfortable sharing my typical day of eating because I am so limited by my GI illness that I don’t eat in a way that others should emulate. Sometimes I get incredible emails from readers telling me I inspired them to work out, to join Core Fusion, to start running. The last thing I want to do is inspire people to eat the way I do.   I can’t eat fruits or vegetables for the most part, as well as most whole grains.

I eat to try and keep my pain and symptoms at bay. I don’t eat to live the healthiest possible life. I don’t want anyone to choose to eat the way I do. For me, it is not a choice.

I couldn’t agree more. And I am happy to tell anyone and everyone who will listen to me to eat real food!  Lots of vegetables, fruit, sprouted grains/whole grains, nuts. To avoid meat and dairy when possible, but when you do eat it, try your best to make sure the animal was not part of a factory farm, was not given antibiotics and growth hormones, was not treated horribly. If an ingredient list has words on it you can’t understand, don’t eat it. Stick to actual, real food (that your body recognizes as FOOD) and you will have more energy,  feel satisfied longer, have more energy. Then, along with your workouts that include regular strength training, you can get that “toned bod” Diana mentioned.

I do the best I can given the fact that I can’t eat the foods considered healthiest.

And even when I avoid everything I think bothers me, I still don’t always feel well. Right now I am starting another 3-Day Cooler Cleanse because I have spent the last four days in pain and I have no idea why. On Sunday night I strongly considered going to the ER because I was in the worst pain of my life; the only other time I remember hurting so badly was the last time I went to the ER. I didn’t go for a number of reasons, the biggest being that I know the source of the pain — trapped air in one particular spot right in between where the two sides of my ribcage meet. Even if the ER doctors believed me (which is doubtful) there is nothing they could do about this other than give me painkillers, muscle relaxers or anti-spasmodics. I have all those things at home. And considering I couldn’t even sit up or roll over in my own bed, the thought of sitting for who knows how long in a waiting room, filling out forms, was more than I could bear.

I stuck it out and on Monday felt well enough to go to work, although I was still hurting. I don’t do juice fasts often because not eating is hard. I love food and I always wonder, during the cleanse, why I am doing this. But I keep thinking back to that one juice fast in December, 2009. After that I felt great for 10 months. And I think about how much it hurts right now to eat anything; that same spot spasms after each bite. And I think about the fact that if I can’t eat, I’m not getting nutrients. These next three days will provide me with much-needed nourishment.

I haven’t exercised since Saturday, when I tried to run through the pain (bad idea). I canceled Refine on Sunday (not that it was much of a choice, I could barely stand) and after being up nauseous during the night last night, I purposely slept through my run today. Marathon training will still be here next week. I hope. Right now I am focusing on getting better. I don’t know why my stomach decided to do this now. I haven’t been sick like this in a couple of years. I do think that after this Cooler Cleanse, as I clean up my eating as best I can, I will be much better. And if I am not, it might be time to try to find a  doctor again, one who actually understands. A very difficult undertaking.

So if any of you were also curious about what I eat to get a sense of my whole “healthy lifestyle,” I hope you can understand why I am unable to do that. Maybe one day. But not now.

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Check out my latest NBC New York GO Healthy NY posts:

Dori’s Quest: Indoor Cycling at SoulCycle 

Dori’s Quest: TRX Suspension

 

 

Comment Wars

I get upset easily. I am a crier. I do not have a thick skin. This is a flaw. I don’t like it about myself and I don’t recommend you try this at home.

It is because of this flaw that I feel the need to defend myself to idiots on the internet.

I left a totally innocuous comment on one of my favorite blogs, Melissa Nibbles. She was talking about people jumping on the gluten-free/sugar-free/whatever else-free bandwagon and explained that she eats all those foods and her stomach feels fine. I commented and said:

I’m still waiting for people to join me on the “I’m giving up salad bandwagon.” Talk about making my stomach hurt.

What I did not say:

  • No one should eat salad! It is bad for you.
  • I hate vegetables and I won’t eat them!
  • My body feels better when I eat crappy foods than vegetables, so I will eat crappy foods!

Nope, said none of those things. All I said was that salad (not vegetables; salad) makes MY stomach hurt. “Hurt,” by the way, was a euphemism for “be rushed to the emergency room while screaming in pain.”

A commenter by the name of Cat felt the need to respond to my comment, since she was able, by use of her extremely advanced brain power, to know exactly what I meant when I said salad makes my stomach hurt:

Dori I’ll join you on that no-salad bandwagon. My insides feel waaaay better when all I’m consuming is bread, beer and meat compared to when I’m eating vegetables at every meal.

I immediately went back to my own comment, because I had no recollection of saying I eat meat. As a vegetarian, it doesn’t sound like something I would say — but Cat seems to know all, so she must be right! I also don’t drink beer. While I never liked the taste, now I physically cannot drink it because it is a bloating agent as I am sure many of you know. And about those vegetables. Last I heard, vegetables — especially cooked vegetables (which I CAN eat!) — are not the same thing as salad. When I say salad, the first thing that comes to mind is a bowl with a good amount of raw lettuce or spinach — the foods that would completely debilitate me. I cannot eat raw vegetables.

I know I should have just let it go. Who cares, right? It’s the internet and people are jerks and can hide behind the cloak of anonymity.

But I couldn’t help myself. I can’t explain it, but I feel this need to defend myself on the internet. I don’t want people thinking incorrect things about me and I felt frustrated at the complete misreading of my comment. Ask any of my friends or family — they will tell you I am one of the cleanest eaters they know. People come to me for nutrition advice! I write a health blog! So the insinuation that I eat crap foods — all because “salad makes my stomach hurt” — offended me. Cat falls into the category of “What is wrong with EVERYONE?!“

Listen, I am all for dissenting comments. I don’t want anyone to be scared to say what they are thinking in my own comments section. If you call me a self-entitled c*nt (Hi John!) I might call you out on it, but you don’t need to agree with whatever I am saying. I welcome and encourage all types of comments as long as you’re not an ass about it.

But I can only appreciate dissenting comments when there is some sort of basis. Some facts or knowledge. And if you don’t know what you are talking about, either research it or simply ask! Cat could have said “Dori, why does salad make your stomach hurt? Do all vegetables do that? What do you eat?” Instead, she assumed that I meant I hate vegetables and love meat and beer, and she attacked. And since when is it OK to judge someone else’s pain?

So I replied.

Cat — That sounds like an exciting diet but as as a vegetarian and non-beer drinker (chronic stomach illnesses destroy all the fun!) I won’t be able to join.

I expressed my point concisely, although I could have been less abrasive. I generally try not to be passive aggressive and I think I failed here, but at least I said what I needed to say.

I doubt Cat clicked through to my blog, but if she did she might have seen that my most recent post at the time linked to this article about my ordeal with a chronic illness that keeps me from eating some of the healthy foods I love. But my guess is that Cat is not someone who does much reading.

And by the way, there are other people in my no-salad bandwagon. I know this because they have contacted me after reading my blog to commiserate. And guess what? They are all people with digestive illnesses. And none of them are happy with this restriction.

It kills me every day that “salad makes my stomach hurt.” I want so much to be able to eat this food that I loved before I got sick. I wasn’t denying that salad is healthy; the fact it is so healthy makes me SAD that I can’t enjoy its health benefits! Which is why I drink green juice instead. Which is sort of like beer and meat.

The next time you’re about to click that submit button on a comment, think for a second about whether you are being an uninformed jerk. Read this great Hollaback Health post on leaving dissenting comments. And then, if your comment is still ignorant and this is truly who you are, go ahead and click submit.

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Happier News:

Man toys!

New NBC NY post!


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