Corn Is Everywhere.
One of the items I have not been “allowed” to eat while doing my LEAP plan is corn. Already, I’m not allowed to eat wheat, and corn is often a substitute for wheat in gluten-free items, so I figured I was in trouble.
Then I found out how much trouble.
I already can’t eat gluten – so no bread, pitas, bagels, rolls, hamburger or hot dog buns. No pasta. No cereal. No muffins, cakes, cookies, cupcakes, and any kind of candy with a crunch. Wheat is in most crackers, anything breaded, fried or both. It’s in those little french fried onions on the green beans at Thanksgiving and it’s in those chunks of cookie dough in the ice cream. It’s in croutons, soy sauce, fried rice and – I found out inadvertently last week – wasabi. It’s even in most soups, sauces and gravies. And I can’t eat gluten.
Corn is often used as a substitute for all of those things. But also there’s just regular corn: corn on the cob, creamed corn, frozen corn. I love corn. But also, there is popcorn. I love popcorn. For months, I haven’t been able to eat corn.
But corn is also in everything. Corn is in corn bread, of course. It’s also in taco shells, tortillas, and many kinds of chips. This is enough to make me crazy, but …
Corn starch is in everything. Corn starch is in baking powder, which is in everything baked. Corn starch is in soups and nearly every processed food you can imagine. Corn starch is used on cheese to keep it from clumping. And that’s bad, but …
Corn syrup is the real kick in the head. There is corn syrup in every single thing on the grocery store shelves. Soda, candy, bread (even gluten-free bread), yogurt, salad dressing, hot fudge, applesauce, ketchup, barbecue sauce, crackers, microwavable oatmeal, mayonnaise, steak sauce, lunch meats, canned fruit, peanut butter, protein bars, fruit juice, flavored drinks, canned tomatoes, pasta sauces, cranberry sauce, cottage cheese and pickles.
I can’t even discuss vegetable oil, which is often made of – you guessed it! – corn.
Corn is everywhere. And I have not been able to eat it for months while my body, hopefully, healed a bit.
Then, since I am nearing the end of the LEAP plan, I ate corn again. It was a test, so I ate a lot of corn. I had three tacos and a bag of corn chips from Chipotle. I checked the web to make sure there was no gluten in anything. The shells had a hint of sunflower oil in them, which I may or may not be able to tolerate. But I ate everything anyway.
After 34 hours, I had a tiny reaction. I mean, so tiny that I wasn’t sure it was a reaction. I ate a ton of corn – and my body was able to take it! I think the trick – to all of this – is to eat just a moderate amount of whatever food, instead of subsisting entirely on one item.
Crazy, but that’s how we’re made, I think.
I am going to be careful with corn in the future. I know where it is and I’m not going to live on crap anymore. But the relief that I am able to tolerate some corn is indescribable.
I can breathe a little bit now.