The Seriousness of Mad Joe New ME Volume 2 No. 5

After a shocking email from a reputable Toronto gluten free based bakery popped into my inbox with a red flag, I was left gobsmacked. I never planned on writing a blog until I was awakened by my subconscious last night before two in the morning in full head dialogue on the seriousness of the matter. My amygdala was in quite a frenzied state a symptom of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis as is light sleep. In fact, when I took in the email that alerted me to the fact that the oat milk I was using now was made from oats with gluten I was rather calm. I was already in a tailspin lasting several days perhaps weeks and needed to pull myself out through rest and calm. That was my main objective.

I always know I have a blog with something pertinent to dialogue, some spit and vinegar one might say when I have to slow my thoughts down to focus on a starting point. I should tell you I have a very long list of food restrictions, making food for me challenging and I have several chronic conditions related to gut issues that are very serious. In fact, I just spent several months working through Irritable Bowel Syndrome issues with great success. Prior to that I successfully navigated Histamine Intolerance and about a decade ago I triumphantly conquered a Gluten Free lifestyle spanning beyond food.

A few weeks ago I began to feel irritable bowel symptoms again and was simply caught off guard, unable to identify the culprit. I had narrowed it down to my morning coffee with oat milk but I was satisfied that my oat milk was gluten free. I hadn’t shared this with Brandon yet, I was planning to go off coffee with oat milk and tell him at this point. He has been beside me for thirty years while I have personally navigated the world of suffering through the gut. I try not to alarm him until absolutely necessary as it always means he will need to adjust a food source requiring more work for him. Being my daily caregiver is challenging on a good day. For example yesterday he had to bring all meals to me on the chaise, run me a bath and wash my hair all in between painting.

The past several days I have been on rest with serious headaches with muscle and joint pain which is what yesterday’s epsom salt bath treatment was for. This is a serious food allergy symptom in my body, an annoying amber alert which must be dealt with to prevent worsening conditions. When an email came through yesterday informing me that one of their suppliers had switched from an gluten free product to a gluten product I was alerted as this was a product I used as well.

The product is new to me the past year as we used to make our own nut milk in our blender using cashews. With the raising cost of cashews and eliminating them from my diet due to histamine we were using almond milk for awhile. However, eating alternative foods is always costly, I have lived with lactose intolerance for years now and when I had a career we accepted that the money put into health was worth it. Now, I am unable to work and gluten free oat milk was turning out to be the most economical to use in coffee, cooking and baking.

What happened to me you might wonder? When you live with multiple chronic illnesses one can trigger another. It has become clear to me know that my food allergies are quick to trigger Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). When living with multiple chronic illnesses one tends to trigger another all moving towards a worsening of conditions, something I manage full time like a career to prevent.

Before I became ill I would reread labels on each shop, if Brandon picked up an item I would read the label. Now with my conditions I ask Brandon to read it over for me, leaving all the work to him as my caregiver. All our groceries are delivered for the past two years during the pandemic and I have been in strict quarantine since February 2020, each item sanitized upon entry into the kitchen, done only by Brandon. I don’t touch anything until it has been sanitized including all mail and deliveries. It isn’t worth me coming in contact with germs of any kind. I now realize that I must somehow read my food labels post sanitization. Better yet I will try to grow most of our food this season in our garden, I am in planning stages now while on rest with anticipation.

The publishing of this blog has been long in the making, a constant frustration for me with a lifestyle that I am not alone in living. The need for greed is much more important to companies and advertisers over the health concerns of its users. When I began eating gluten free it wasn’t a thing, by a thing I mean a trend. Gluten Free eating became trendy because it was advertised to consumers that they can loose their bloat by eating this way. Never did it mention the millions of people like myself with gluten intolerances or allergies that are made physically sick by eating gluten. Thus a company changing a product minutely from gluten to gluten free don’t concern themselves with the people they make sick but the bottom dollar!

Furthermore, it shocks me how a company who produces a product that is allergen free from gluten will then turn around and use dairy, soy or corn which are common allergens. If the company really cared about the food restrictions of its consumer it would be free from all common allergens. Proving that companies lack of care for its customers with alternative lifestyles and their need for greed.

Thus the message is this world has lost humanity. One can trust no-one beyond themselves to make the best decisions. Consumerism is based in greed, filled by users who go from trend to trend like trained heard of sheep making the latest and greatest trend as they graze on grasses. People like me need to educate themselves, which can be hard if they are beginning their journey with ME and disability. My journey started decades ago with food allergies, it has been lifelong. Thus I feel it important to share my journey.

To end we are going back to making our own milk and I am ordering extra gluten free oats incase this is our next inflated price trend on alternative products. One step ahead is what you must be living an alternative lifestyle, it is a full time job living with chronic illnesses and disability which happens to be more expensive as well. Check your labels people, make food from scratch, eat for optimum health & energy and if you can grow your own food.

Illustrated by Brandon Steen