Extreme allergic reactions in the US disappear when in Europe. But why?
Many of you know I deal with extensive food allergies (and other health issues). Until recently, I knew they were exacerbated by drinking wine, but all that changed when I went to Spain and Portugal for #SteemFest 2.
In Europe, I treated myself to some white wine.
After all, it was a rare overseas vacation, and it was unbelievably cheap compared to what we pay in the US. To my surprise, none of the vino blanco I consumed gave me any allergic reaction. Quite the contrary; it helped me digest food better...the same food that would have sat, undigested, in my stomach for hours back in the US. Weird, right?
The greatness of this discovery is hard to put into words.
Try and visualize the last time you ate way too much at a meal. You were uncomfortably full for the next few hours. You started to regret every last bite because, well, it was even a little hard to breathe with the weight of your bloated belly expanded to its limits. You were thinking...please don't ask me to pick anything up or I might explode.You'd do anything to feel normal again, right? Well, that's basically what happens when I eat anything. I feel full after just a small portion, and it sits in my stomach for what seems like ages. Therefore, finding out that a glass of wine would aid in digestion was a freaking miracle.
During this trip, I started to feel a smidgeon better (hey, any progress is good, no matter how minuscule), and the reactions on my hands and skin all but disappeared.
When we came back to the US, something strange happened.
Jordan and I went out and bought some white wine to give me the same digestive zen I got in Europe. We picked out bottles from Spain and Portugal (obviously) and a few seemingly comparable US varieties.The slight effervescence and refreshing taste of the low-alcohol Spanish and Portuguese wines were as delightful as I remembered. Not too dry, not too sweet. When needed, I had a glass, and it didn't give me a reaction.
When I tried the bottles from the United States, however, it was a different story. My hands became inflamed with heat rash and hives. The day after drinking only a glass with dinner, I woke up with a booming headache and felt hungover. Let me emphasize: that happened after only one glass. It was as if I was drinking poison.
What gives?
What could possibly be so different between wine created in the United States & Europe?
I have two theories.Theory 1
The first comes from an incredible book I'm reading by Larry Olmsted called "Real Food/Fake Food: Why You Don't Know What You're Eating and What You Can Do about It." (Not an affiliate link, I don't get anything if you click on that or buy the book—it's just there for your convenience.) In it, he talks about the rampant food fraud and Fake Food all over the world, though he focuses mostly on the US.I'm well aware of some of the awful farming and manufacturing practices in the US, but some things truly shocked me:
- The blatant plagiarism of sacred, centuries-old products, (i.e., Parmesan Reggiano);
- Cutting corners during growth and manufacturing (i.e., mixing new olive oil with older, rancid batches for higher profits);
- Mislabeling specifically to confuse or mislead the consumer (i.e., saying something "all natural" or "100% pure" when there is no regulation on what that means, the quality standards behind it, or even the validity of it being natural/pure at all);
- Adding things like "bottled in" or "product of" to confuse the consumer into thinking the product was grown/created at that location. (i.e. Extra Virgin Olive Oil saying "Product of Italy" doesn't mean the olives were grown in Italy).
I'd love to go on, but I think you would be much better off to read the book. It's now one of my top 3 most highly recommended books.
Anyway, with this in mind, I have a feeling there's much fewer chemicals, less cutting corners, and not as many harmful processes happening in Europe as there are in good ol 'Murrica. We have the FDA, but if what Olmstead says is true, there's far less regulation than we think there is.
Also, GMOs? Don't even get me started.
Theory 2
Okay, I'm gettin' started. I'll admit, I don't have a PhD on this topic, but I've done my fair share of reading and research on it, so I'm also not simply a raving conspiracy theorist. The second theory I have for why US wine (and other food) makes me sick and European wine doesn't is due to chemtrails, Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), and harmful pesticides.
(source)
Can of worms, opened.
This theory could be a post in and of itself, so all I'll say is that the adulteration of food in the US due to genetic modification and the addition of harmful, untested chemicals is changing our food. And it's changing the health of the nation. My body seems to be reacting to these things more severely than some, though I believe many people aren't aware that the root cause of their chronic conditions, cancer, and common diseases could be due to these reasons.
What do you make of all this?
Comment below.Like this post? Follow me @sharingeverybite
The better you eat the better you'll feel. Be great,
Damn girl so sorry you go through that! But so glad you had the opportunity to get another piece of the puzzle in Europe- I totally agree that food in the states is trash- I stopped trusting it a year ago and started eating whole food and raw vegan as much as I could from farmers markets locally- shame we can’t trust what the FDA feels fit for human consumption :( — and don’t get me started on “stratospheric injections of aerosols”
So true. It's not just what the FDA deems is safe for consumption either. When it comes to certain products and methods of manufacturing, there just isn't legislation or rules in place for what is and isn't okay. Also, even when the FDA bans something or outlaws it, companies will still do it. There aren't enough resources to police it all. And often, businesses would rather pay the fine than stop doing it. All at the expense of the consumer's health. Disgusting.
As long is it's profitable for corporations to operate unethically by cutting corners and exploiting people and resources, it won't ever change, like you said the fines still make it worth it... so we have to vote with our dollars by taking our business elsewhere until they change (when possible)
There's an app I wrote about a few months ago called BUYCOTT I think you'd really love it, just gets you thinking about how our dollars are really more powerful than our votes when it comes to changing things.
https://steemit.com/nature/@dayleeo/you-ve-got-those-evil-corporations-all-wrong-or-how-to-take-down-an-evil-empire-one-melba-cracker-at-a-time-6-min-read
@dayleeo there are oh so many things I love right now:
daww thank you my dear! you've made me blush! I'm starting to get a sense from your posts that we have a very similar sense of humor- glad to made you laugh and thanks for following! <3
It is getting worse also in Europe, even italian industries are cutting the good food with sugar and fats to reduce the costs https://www.thelocal.de/20171107/lighter-more-sugar-controversy-spread-after-nutella-changes-formula
@luigi-tecnologo I agree that it's happening elsewhere. I doubt any country or region is fully exempt, but it does seem like it's much more prevalent (in my experience and research) in the US. We'll always have to deal with crooked people with evil motives, unfortunately.
oh boy.... if ITALY is going, there's no hope for the rest of us i'm afraid, i hope to be growing all my own food in the future...
I didn't mean to be too negative, in Italy we still have a great food culture an strict food rules, but also here some big companies try to sell diluted or unhealthy food
I think u have better food in US then in Russia, even shit food is very expensive here, i lived in Barcelona, food there is much more cheaper and better!
I suppose if you consider "better" food to be the cheaper option, that might be the case. Usually, the cheaper options in the US come with more chemicals, additives, and unhealthiness to them.
Incredible post @sharingeverybite! I think food additives, Roundup, and GMOs are, in large part, to blame. This is precisely why I would love to live full-time overseas. I don't have any serious allergies but noticed I felt better in Portugal.
Thank you @ericvancewalton! Have you read the book I mentioned in this post? We share such similar interests, I think you'd really love it.
There's no doubt in my mind that all this nasty stuff is having short- and long-term effects on our health. Imagine how we'd feel after a few years outside the US if we both felt better after just a few days.
You're welcome! Thank you for bringing this stuff to people's attention. I haven't read the book but it's definitely going to be on my reading list now! We hope be spending extended periods of time over there soon. Are you guys still planning on taking the adventure that you told us about at SteemFest?
I just bought it! : )
Same in europe.
Very possibly we are the most poisoned lied to civilization in quite a while, if not ever. Fermentation I know in the American setting is done virtually always at an industrial scale to remain viable. The details are in the additives, and this is one area where European centuries of studies is far superior than our (American) practices. For a food/drink enthusiast like yourself it must be quite an experience to vacation there.
Couldn't agree with you more. It's horrible. The best thing we can do is educate ourselves and "vote" with our dollars so companies who use fillers, chemicals, and other unhealthy shit will just die (the fate they're imposing on customers.)
Ah, yes! I loved trying new food in Europe. We went to a farmer's market and the produce was incredible. It had so much more flavor than I'm used to...again, for all these reasons we're talking about and more.
Ah, well said. I couldn't agree more. I live in the states as well and I have to be VERY careful of what I eat here. So much of our products have either chemicals that our body has no idea what to do with or we have modified our food to such a degree, that our body has not been able to keep pace with and evolve to digest the almost otherworldly foods. I'm sorry to hear you are dealing with these reactions to foods. I know how frustrating that can be to feel like you cant eat anything without feeling like crap. Keep it up and please keep sharing your progress with this kind of stuff.
Thanks for the thoughtful comment @arquetype. Have you noticed any changes in the way you react to foods in other places? I checked out your profile and it looks like you like to travel too.
It's sad that food in the US can't be trusted anymore because of how it's been treated. And worse, even the food we think we're getting sometimes isn't that at all. It's diluted with other ingredients, spoiled, or just fake versions of the real thing.
Nice to know there's someone else out there who feels my frustration. Though I'm sorry you deal with similar health issues and reactions. I'll be sure to share more of the journey and hopefully it benefits you. :)
time to move to europe then! :)
Very tempted! ;)
Could be a combination of everything you mentioned. Food here in the states is pretty crappy.
Yep. That's why my diet in the US is basically just a little animal protein and cooked veggies. No wheat. No dairy besides a little cheese. No soy. No sugar. It's very restricting, but I get reactions to eating to much of the sh*t food. But I think the main thing is the wheat in the food is toxic.
Totally agree, 100%. Sounds a lot like my diet! Gluten-free and vegan with no soy, highly restricted sugar (mostly natural sugar from fruits), no peanuts. I feel much better eating this way than I did before. Not sure if you had the same experience, but once I started removing all this crap, I got really sensitive to all those things and others like high fructose corn syrup, artificial dyes, etc.
Yea I have way more energy. Pretty much the same except for I eat some meat and the only juice I drink is carrot juice. But once you start eating like this, it makes you realize how unhealthy you were eating before.
I eat fairly clean comapred to most people I know, but I still have to question what has actually been done to my food?!
I look forward to the day when I'm able to produce enough food that I don't need to purchase anything. Not sure if that's actually possible, but it's worth a shot in my opinion.
We are so bombarded with toxins, flourinde in the drinking water, pesticides, preservatives along with the geonegineering you mentioned I'm amazed that we are not in even worse shape!
Wouldn't that be the day! I hope to have a garden of my own someday, too. Here in Arizona, it's super difficult to grow anything with the heat of summer, so I'll have to hold out for a hydroponics solution or something.
And don't get me started on fluoride! ;)
I live in northern AZ, in the high desert and we have a difficult time growing anything too. This year we're going to try lots of shade cloth and see if that helps. As I mentioned in my comment above, I had to go on a raw Paleo diet to save my life -- since I have horrible reactions to most fruits and vegetables -- even ones labeled "organic". There are only two fruits I can eat without a reaction -- bananas and avocados. So my first meal of the day is one of these smoothies. I talked to someone who explained to me that many of the organic herbicides/pesticides are more toxic than some of the commercial ones. Soooooo I'm going to try growing my own fruits and veggies since I successfully grew tomato plants out here 2 years in a row and I ate all the tomatoes I wanted with no reaction -- which is very encouraging to me! For this year I'm envisioning a healthy garden and a getting a green house built.
I visited the US once, a few years back. I spent 2 weeks there, in Boston. I vomited most of what I ate. The only place I managed to find food I could digest was Panera, if I recall correctly. Your vegetables taste like plastic and everything is full of dairy and fat. I guess I am spoiled by Israeli produce, which is often even better than the European stuff. :)
That's terrible! I'm sorry to hear about your experience. I imagine many Americans would have an experience like yours if they lived somewhere else with nutrient-rich food and came back to all the chemicals and GMOs. Our bodies are designed to reject this crap unless we become so "used to it" that it only manifests as cancer and chronic illness.
Hope I get to taste some Israeli produce someday. Sounds amazing! :)
Come on over anyday! One of my SOs has an avocado tree where she works and now is the season. I assure you - you've never tasted better. :)
One other thing: I've come across these in Europe and the US, but we don't have these here, and I am confused. What's with the gigantic single-wrapped plasticky-tasting cucumbers? You can't eat the peel! What is this?!
Also, lettuce and a ton of sauce is NOT a salad, you people. Not even if you decorate it with a tomato. Anything with less than 3 types of vegetables is NOT A SALAD, FFS!
Sorry, sitting here drinking my locally brewed apple cider and eating some organic goat cheese before bed, feeling terribly sorry for people who live on frozen foods, snacks and pretend your vegetables actually have some kind of nutritious value, and not only optimized shelf-life.
Thanks for sharing this. I am from California. I see chemtrails all the time from my backyard. It is the deep state trying to poison us. I don't drink wine, but it could be the pesticides here also. I read that in certain parts of Europe they ban Monsanto products. Also I just read that there is a GMO wine yeast. Why do they need to corrupt yeast? Well, it is for their power and money. Sad.
That sounds horrific! It would be amazing if you could just move to Europe. Big corporations are so dodgy
This is fascinating. I live in the U.S. and I can't drink any kind of alcohol, nor consume any processed foods, whatsoever without getting an autoimmune reaction which, until I figured out what was going on, almost killed me. The only thing which saved me from dying was going on a 100% raw food diet -- NOT vegan or vegetarian, but similar to raw ketogenic or raw paleo diets.
A friend of mine recently went to Spain and she said she was shocked that the people there were not overweight and sickly looking as they often are in the U.S. ...even though it appeared to her that they ate the same foods.
Great article. I'd upvote you but I'm new to Steemit so it wouldn't be worth anything anyway, but I"m following.