A No Good Berry Bad Day

So I haven't been writing on this blog lately. Not because my health and fitness journey has taken a turn for the worse (actually it's been really good.) Life has just been busy and I haven't really made it a priority.

Three weeks ago I read a book talking about the negative effect of all the starches in my gluten free food. So I decided to get rid of all my gluten free breads, bagels, crackers etc. and only eat food that is naturally gluten free.

I began making a delicious breakfast of wholemade hashbrowns, strawberries, blueberries and bananas. It was delicious. Breakfast was the main meal that I needed to change since I was a gluten free toast eater most mornings.

Doesn't it look delicious? I know it does

Also, about three weeks ago I stopped being able to take deep breaths. At first it was a little annoying.I chalked it up to exercise induced asthma (something that I was told I had a couple of years ago.)

During this time, I also realized how amazing blueberries are as a snack. Frozen blueberries taste better than candy! No joke.

As I increased my berry intake each day (thinking I was the awesomest cancer fighting antioxidant eating person ever)...my ability to allow oxygen to come into my body seemed to get worse and worse. I spent the last week completely miserable, barely being able to take deep breaths and finally made an appointment with the doctor for next week.

My friend then suggested I take a couple of Benadryl just to see if this would help. It did, immensely. I then realized this thing that was shutting down my airway must be an allergy.

Thankfully, I track everything I eat so was able to look at my food logs and see what changes I had made in my diet over the last three weeks.

It turned out to be the evil berry. I could see this berry pointing and laughing at me. "Haha, you thought you were being healthy....thwarted."

I decided that it must just be strawberries that I was allergic to. Strawberries would be fine. I can deal with giving up strawberries. I immediately stopped eating all berries and immediately was able to breath again. I mean, it was as if breathing just came natural to me:)

Shortly after, I decided to eat some frozen blueberries for a snack. My airway immediately shut down and I struggled to take deep breaths again. This couldn't be true could it? My beloved blueberries actually hate me? But I thought we were friends.

Immediately, I felt discouraged.

I told my mom about it (who also has a berry allergy..so thanks for those gene's, mom). And she gave me some excellent advice:

Get over it.

Yep, you see, my mom actually spent almost three months in the hospital not eating anything. Now that she is able to eat again, she is still allergic to most things. Her words of advice were: "you just have to appreciate what food you can have."

That's the truth isn't it? No matter what circumstances you are given, you have to deal with it...and ultimately the way you choose to deal with the circumstances could mean success or failure. For my mom, it meant the difference between living and dying. I'm thankful for the example that she set as I move forward on my health journey.