Why Avoiding Corn is a Nightmare

I would never in a million years wish a corn sensitivity or allergy on anyone.

Out of all of the foods that make me sick, corn is the hardest to safeguard against.  It's easy to avoid whole corn, tortilla products, cornmeal, and the likes because you can see with your own two eyes that something has corn in it.  Cornstarch, dextrose (once you know it's a corn product), and high fructose corn syrup are easy to spot as long as you have access to an ingredient list.  

But its corn derivatives that are called by a different name or foods you'd never think would have a corn byproduct in them that are the hardest to track down.  This list from the Gluten Free Society is the most comprehensive I've seen about corn products - please read so you can understand just how easily it can hide in our food.  

And why being vigilent for corn contamination is driving me nuts. 

Before my diet change, we were always good about buying whole food products.  My rule was if I couldn't pronounce it or I wouldn't add it to a dish while cooking it at home, it shouldn't be in my food at all.  I certainly don't have decyl polyglucose or BHT sitting in my spice rack, do you? 

But what was a simple rule before is now a matter of my health and quality of life.  Even "micro" amounts of corn products can cause stomach distress, a runny nose, and a slew of sneezing spells.  And feeling a touch under the weather affects my outlook, mood, and productivity.  My right and desire for a healthy life outweigh anything my taste buds have to say.
       
The problem is that corn byproducts are everywhere - they lurk in innocent-looking food, keep good company with organic products, and commit foul deeds under another name.  It's a Where's Waldo every time I eat.  

I basically need to assume that corn is in a food until I confirm otherwise. 

  
This journey has really been eye opening.  Recent surprises that had me doing a double take:

• White vinegar - Most people are startled to learn vinegar is fermented from corn.  It's not like there's a vinegar tree you tap.  Just think of how many condiments use vinegar: barbeque sauces, ketchup, mustard, hot sauce, sweet and sour sauce, and salad dressings.  I never cared for pickles or sauerkraut, but those are swimming in corn too.  
• Spice mixes - Lawry's, Cavenders, McCormick blends, and those packets of taco or ranch seasoning generally have cornstarch or dextrose in them.  Example: I love lemon pepper seasoning and had been using Cavenders on a weekly basis.  I only last week turned over the container and found to my horror three corn products in the ingredients list: cornstarch, dextrose, and hydrolyzed corn soy protein - ack!   
• Virtually any medication, including vitamins - It's probably a good thing that I'm not a fan of pills in the first place, but even a simple capsule of Vitamin D or an aspirin will have cornstarch or corn oil.  Dextrose is also a key ingredient in saline IV drips.  Those vitamins added to your dairy products?  They can be sourced or bonded with corn and there's no way of knowing (other than to hound the company).
• Shredded cheese - Most brands use cornstarch for anti-caking.  I was short on time the other day, grabbed a bag of shredded cheese, and got halfway across the store before I thought to check "just in case" and there it was, listed right after cheese.  Another example of how you have to question everything.
• Pop - Even if a pop is made of real cane sugar, like those expensive ones in the natural foods section, it can still contain corn from citric acid and caramel coloring.  Goodbye Sierra Mist and Pepsi/Coke in glass bottles. 
• Processed meats - Since I can't eat sandwiches anymore, this one doesn't affect me too much, but many deli meats have corn syrup or caramel coloring.  Yeah, that "honey" ham?  That's corn syrup.  Some inferior brands of bacon will have caramel coloring added to them as well.        
• Whipped cream - The chemical concoction known as Cool Whip aside, even a brand that uses real cream (like Reddi-wip) has corn syrup in it.  If I want whipped cream, I'd better make it myself.  
• Candy - If it's not solid chocolate, it's a no.  I can manage a plain Hershey's bar, but hard candies, boxed chocolates, and all other candy bars are off limits, largely due to corn syrup or invert sugar.  I miss M&Ms.       
• Broth (chicken, beef, vegetable) - Doesn't matter whether it's Swanson's, Rachel Ray, Emeril, Aldi's, or one from the organic section, virtually all of them have dextrose, cornstarch, or monosodium glutamate. 
• Vanilla - Vanilla bean alone is corn-free, but vanilla extract is typically 35% alcohol.  Grain alcohol.  Get the picture? 

These are just a few of the many ingredients that are utterly common in an American diet yet I now have to watch out for.  Before a fork or spoon goes to my mouth, I've researched, googled, examined menus and ingredients lists, double checked ingredients lists (product formulas can change), and emailed companies or restaurants to make sure that what I'm eating is free of corn.   

There is not a day that goes by that I don't have to think about the safety of my food.  

The hardest thing is that I'm still testing just how far my corn sensitivity goes.  I know for sure cornstarch, caramel coloring, and dextrose definitely produce a reaction.  But I haven't cleared white vinegar yet.  I don't know if taking an aspirin does anything.  Or if potatoes fried in corn oil are a problem.  I'm hoping I can keep vanilla too, but I don't know for sure.  Do I need to worry about packaging and plastics made out of corn?  The wax on my fruit?  Corn in my toothpaste?  

The questions are endless.  It's one big science experiment as I subject myself, intentionally or by accident, to small amounts of corn products waiting for a reaction that may or may not develop.      

To be honest, all of this has changed my attitude about food.  At present, a lot of the joy has been lost because I have to expend so much energy and time making sure I don't get sick from food.     

There is not a single meal that I don't prepare from scratch and by hand.  It sounds so lovely, right?  Until you begin to count up the hours I spend grocery shopping, menu planning, cooking, and cleaning each and every day.  Let's not forget that I have a full-time job.  While I enjoy my kitchen, some nights I long for the easy out - the frozen pizza, the bowl of fried rice, the rotisserie chicken - but they're not an option. 

Going out to eat used to be one of my favorite activities; now it verges on stressful and depressing if I can't confirm what's in a dish.  The number of restaurants I can eat at is dismal - take out every fast food, chain, pizza, Mexican, and sandwich shop in sight.  The simple act of wanting ice cream sets off a research session to see what might be available.   Traveling requires me to vet restaurants well in advance.  There is no spontaneity with swinging into a new place.  At this rate, I almost need a smartphone for all the research I need to do.  

Potlucks and birthday treats at work?  Forget about it.  Going into someone else's home and having to inflict them with my diet?  Terrifying.  Even weddings are a problem.  We've got one coming up soon and I've had to email the bride to be put in touch with catering to see what I can eat.  I'm a problem guest now.

And let's not even broach the subject of GMOs, organic food, and sustainably produced meat.  It's important, it's on my to-do list, but I Can't. Handle. One. More. Thing.  I am overloaded with this diet change already and the thought of having to make more switches is not something I can deal with at this point.  

        
Right now, I fully recognize that I'm in a transitional period.  I'm only a matter of months into this diet change and I'm still adjusting, figuring out my strategy, and finding a new normal.  But when I think about how I must eat, words like rigid, anxious, endless, restrictive, limiting, and extreme come to mind. 

I myself have many questions - is this a corn allergy or intolerance?  Is there a genetic thing at play here?  Is this the result of being born in the 80s and growing up in a chemical bath?  The consequences of pesticide/fertilizer use and genetic modification?  I had a dreadful bout of illness from a virus in 2005 - is that the culprit?  Or have I always had this and the symptoms just manifested differently or worsened over time?    

I think one of the biggest issues with a grain-free lifestyle is how isolating it can be.  Particularly since I don't have an "official" test from the medical community to document my intolerance, some people can be dismissive.  Few people understand it, and some are even threatened by it.  Particularly with living in the Midwest and smack dab in the middle of the Corn Belt, what I'm doing is also very counterculture.  Trust me, I'm not out to take away your corn on the cob or your bowl of pasta. 

That being said, I know what I'm doing for my health is the best decision.  Every time I can push myself harder when I exercise, every pound I lose, every day that I don't have a stomach ache or sinus weirdness, every compliment I receive, every encouraging Facebook comment fuels me to tough this out.  It's your understanding and kindness that are helping me to sail through this adjustment period buoyed by support.  

New waters ahead.  There is no going back. 

Gaining a Sense of Health Back

There's a lot of activity on my health front lately.  I've turned into a major health and exercise nut and am working on the biggest lifestyle change of my life.  I feel stronger, happy, and extremely motivated.  Here's how I've been doing it. 

Vitamin D
The last time I reported, I'd seen marked improvement from ditching birth control and taking Vitamin D supplements.  At that time, I'd only moved my Vitamin D deficiency from a dismal 15 nmol/L to a hopeful 25 nmol/L.  I am happy to report that taking 5,000 IU supplement daily has finally moved me into the normal range at 48 nmol/L.  I can now take 2,000 UI a day and we'll recheck my levels in 6 months to make sure they haven't dipped.

Because I implemented the birth control/Vitamin D changes at the same time, I'll never be able to distinguish which was the more effective move or which symptoms were alleviated by either pill.  It doesn't matter - I will never ever go back on birth control and I'll always be keeping my vitamin levels under a watchful eye. 

Exercise
Addressing the nutrient deficiency has been a complete game changer.  I can ACTUALLY exercise!  It's amazing to not be supremely sore from a simple walk.  Now that my body can handle movement, I've been aggressive about exercising.  

The past two weeks, I've been working out for 4 hours a week - a combination of biking, walks, hiking, Pilates, and resistance bands.  I'd like to exercise for 6 hours / 1hr a day but that will come soon enough.  This spring, I only managed 1.5 hours a week, so I need to be careful about increasing my stamina steadily so I don't crash and burn. 

Pilates definitely kicks my butt - I have zero core strength.  I like it nonetheless

I'm positively addicted to working out as I'm already experiencing those contact highs!  I loved being active as a kid - I was a classic, sports-loving tomboy.  It's so incredible to tap into those feelings of joy and adrenaline again during a sweat session.  Biking is hands down my favorite form of exercise.

Calorie Management
I am consistently keeping track of calories with an online tool called myfitnesspal.com.  I don't use the exercise function, but logging my daily food intake has been really helpful.  I'm not super anal about this - I track about 4-5 days of the week.  

Now that I've been doing it a while, I have mental notes about what one of my regular meals "costs" in calories.  For example, I know one of my staple dinners - bbq chicken, corn, and baked beans - will clock in around 500 calories, is relatively low on fat, and high in fiber. 

I also use the tool to plan meals in advance since I stick to meal planning pretty tightly.  I can chart out breakfast, lunch, and dinner in one sitting, which helps me to be mindful about how many calories are leftover for snacks. 

Despite my efforts to really bulk up on protein and fiber, I cannot bring myself down the 1,600 daily calories that's usually suggested for weight loss.  Even with eating on a 5 small meals routine, I still get overly hungry at that level.  With careful planning and a bit of willpower, I can easily hit and stop at 1,900 calories a day though.

I'm also making a concerted effort to increase my veggie intake.  My sweet tooth allows me to eat fruits with ease, but if it's green, it takes some willpower to like it.  So far I've found that raw broccoli and cauliflower, spinach salads, and peas are manageable.  My mother will also fall out of her chair when she reads this - I discovered that after years of hating green beans, that the Green Giant frozen green beans with almonds are quite tolerable, maybe even enjoyable.  Baby steps, baby steps.   

Not a brand endorsement, but wow, me eating green beans might mean the zombie apocalypse is upon us

Next Steps
While all of these changes have been super awesome, my weight has not budged one bit.  Granted, it's not gone up either.  Frankly, being so close to 200 pounds has me frightened out of my mind.  I don't come from a healthy stock of genes and I know that carrying all my weight around my belly is killing off a future version of myself in the form of heart disease or diabetes.

I know that it takes time to lose weight, build up muscle, and recharge metabolism.  But it does concern me that I'm making all of these healthy, consistent changes and in six months it hasn't made a difference on the scale.  It makes me wonder if I may have other health issues that are still causing less obvious roadblocks.  Which is why my next step is to see an allergist.

I come from a long line of allergy sufferers and while the seasonal colds I get don't really bother me, I still get ear and sinus infections every couple of months.  Truthfully, it's the long-term impacts that have me concerned.  People tend to poo-poo allergies as a serious medical condition, but it sounds much scarier if you think of allergies as daily inflammation, something that's actively doing harm to your body.  

I know for sure that I have food intolerances - oats and peanuts do lovely things to my digestive system for days on end.  Soy milk produces a mood swing within 30 minutes - it mimics estrogen and given my intolerance to birth control, that's not surprising.  I'll never be a vegan though. 

My mom has really bad allergies to corn and I noticed that sometimes, though not always, I can get a headache after eating popcorn.  Or if I have corn tortillas one night and then whole corn the next day, I might have some stomach pain and a headache.  That could be coincidental or related some other food, but not enough to the point where I'm going to ignore it.

I simply want a concrete lists of items, if any, that I shouldn't be consuming.  It would be incredibly dumb to willingly consuming things I'm allergic to.          

There's also new research coming out that shows that instead of obesity, heart disease, and diabetes causing inflammation, it's distinctly possible it's the other way around - inflammation precedes and paves the way for those conditions.  Does make one think.

Halfway into 2012, I finally feel as if I'm gaining control over my health.  Much of getting back into shape is now in my hands and an allergist is really the only other test I can think of that will identify remaining roadblocks.

How's your health been lately?