Allergy Queen

By Kelsey Wright

The emotional connection we have to food

is something to which we all relate.

Food restrictions can easily ruin your mood

and are often difficult to embrace.

Food is often how we relate to others

since we eat when we see family and friends.

Food is how love is shown by our mothers.

If you don’t eat her meals, it could be an offense.

There are many reasons why we change our diet

like for diabetes, Celiac, and weight loss.

Sometimes we just like to cause a riot

when we walk in looking fit and like a boss.

For diets, the beginning is always the worst

because you start off without a formulated plan.

You stare at diet cookbooks with lips pursed

and realize you’re no longer a free man.

Many times, you don’t have to be extreme.

You can eat some foods from time-to-time.

You can still have a little bacon or ice cream

or some of your favorite key lime.

But if you’re even more restricted

and can’t eat those foods no matter what,

it can make you quite conflicted

and can easily put you in a rut.

Today, this is my strategy:

to talk especially to those of you

who have gained food allergies,

mostly if they’re giving you the “allergy blues”.

I’m here to tell you it will improve.

It will seem hard initially,

but you’ll settle into a groove

and become an allergen expert officially.

Here’s a story to which I personally relate

to help give you some hope

that you can and will acclimate

and begin on an upward slope.

Adult-onset food allergies

can truly cause a grown woman to cry.

Especially when she misses cheese

and ice cream… and also pie.

I know a girl who has gone through this

who’s allergic to 12 different foods.

She can’t have pizza, strawberries, or swiss.

Most things at the store, her diet excludes.

She started out by reading every food label,

walking down every grocery aisle,

and finding things to eat if she was able

to help change her lifestyle.

Next, she learned to be creative

and make recipes that were completely new.

Her family became more accommodative

and cooked things that she can eat too.

At her wedding, she had a special cake

and now eats cashew milk ice cream all the time.

She’s learned she really loves to bake

and her favorite sauce is now avocado lime.

‘

Her love of cooking grew with her confidence

and the situation turned out to be ideal.

It’s when she developed patience

that the little sadness inside of her healed.

This is when she gained a mastery over her foe

and slayed the bothersome allergen “serpentine”.

She then sat down in her contentment throne

and dubbed herself the allergy queen.

Nutrition Through Illness/Surgery: A First-Hand Account

By: Rachel Temple

Have you ever been scared out of your mind? I don't mean scary movie marathon scared, I mean life or death situation kind of scared. The kind of fear that stops you dead in your tracks and kind of takes over your life. That’s the kind of fear that I’m talking about because that is what I experienced during my year as a Dietetic Intern. Now, not every intern will have the experience I had as not every intern will be told by their doctor that they have squamous-cell growths on their reproductive system. Not every intern will have to have surgery during Spring Break to remove the un-invited “tumor babies” so that they can be biopsied to find out if they are malignant or not. Not every intern would even survive the stress of that situation, but this intern did (*humble brag*). 

Now, there’s obviously no ideal time to have to try to have a life and to have to deal with a potential cancer diagnosis looming over your head, but it can be managed. People will tell you to stay positive and they will tell you that its ok to cry and others will just ignore what you’re going through and pretend like nothing is wrong and like you have no extra stress on your life. You’ll get stressed and have terrible nights of sleep, but you can still function effectively as you start to realize that you want to have a meaningful impact on people’s lives right now. You’ll be angry and be in a constant state of pain because almost-cancer is kind of painful, and no one warns you about that. But somehow you pull on those professional clothes every day and walk into that hospital with your head up because those patients still need you to try to help them.

Then you have your oncology rotation. Doesn't that just sound lovely to talk to people with cancer as you are waiting to learn if you have cancer? Let me just tell you, you bond with these patients and you take their lessons and bring them home with you, just in case. And seeing them, hearing their stories, and relating to them brings you some of your life back. Almost all of the patients and people that I talked to that were undergoing active treatment had the same thing in common, they cared about their bodies and they took care of themselves in every way possible. And then you get inspired.

Not everyone will react the same way, but I’m telling you, the people who have cancer know their stuff when it comes to health. They know what medications their taking, the dosage, how much exercise they need to do, how much water to drink, how to be mentally healthy, and, most importantly, how to eat a well-balanced, healthful diet. Now, the last one might be easy for a dietetic intern to comprehend and to live out. It is, after all, our whole career path. However, when you are tired and sick and in pain, cooking and eating healthy foods are not on the top of your priority list. In fact, eating is not even really on your mind and you certainly don't want to put a lot of effort into cooking when you’re just going to eat a few bites and then move on. But that’s not what we preach to our clients, and for the ones thriving with cancer, they don't recommend living like that either. So, I got my butt into gear and started to shop for more wholesome foods. I focused on getting some good protein sources into my diet so that I could maintain my muscle and have a little bit stored up before surgery so healing would go smoother (and it really worked! I was completely healed up in about 1-2 weeks). I also increased my fiber and probiotic intake so that my gut would have some of those good bacteria to help my body heal and to keep all important processed working well (like regular bowel movements because no one is happy if they’re not regular). I added more antioxidant rich foods to just get all the good nutrients starting to work through my system. Finally, I ate for pleasure. It’s a simple concept, but it’s so important for everyone, whether they’re sick or not, to eat with some pleasure every single day. An ice cream cake isn’t the most healthful thing and it really didn't provide me with any nutrient that I was focusing on, but man did it make me feel good. And it made me start to enjoy my food a little more again, so I ate a little more, and just relaxed. Not much you can do when your body decides to grow tumor babies besides get a little mad at it, but still treat it right anyways. You know, just treat it like real children, but with none of the financial burden of a real kid.

 In the end, I got the surgery, they did the biopsies, and they did not find any malignancies. Just squamous cells hanging out, causing some mischief, but ultimately doing no harm. And as relieving as that was, I felt a little sad that I couldn't get more personal experiences with others that do have cancer. They helped open my eyes up to how I treat my body and how important it is to just pay attention to you and what your body is telling you. No matter what, your body is smarter than you and it will do whatever it wants. So treat it well, show it some love, feed it, and use it to live. And, above all else, stay sexy and don’t grow tumor babies (they’re not as cute as human babies).