When Food Becomes Your Enemy

Food is something we take for granted. We eat three meals every day, snacks in between and sweet treats whenever we have a craving. Food is an experience. It is a social event. It is a seemingly simple reality of life. But what happens when food becomes your enemy? When eating is no longer simple and enjoyable? When meals become an isolating event?

My battle with food began in summer 2024. For months, my body had been telling me that something was amiss, but I ignored it, powering through life like denial somehow made me stronger. Towards the beginning of August, I got to the point where even just functioning was a challenge and I finally saw a doctor.

My lab results indicated hypothyroidism, a condition where the thyroid gland is not producing enough thyroid hormones. Determined to do anything I could to feel better, I immediately gave up gluten and dairy, two of the most common triggers of chronic symptoms.

In the months since then, I did a food allergy test that measured my body's reaction to 90 foods. Over half of them were listed in red, showing an adverse reaction. My gluten and dairy-free diet quickly shifted into a primarily beef, pork, berries and potatoes diet.

The foods you put into your body significantly impact your health and have the power to transform chronic symptoms. I went on a cleanse to heal my gut, eliminating all the red-listed foods from my diet for a month and slowly, one by one, three days apart, introducing the foods back into my diet. If I experienced negative symptoms after eating a particular food, I said goodbye permanently.

I often feel alone in my health struggles and food restrictions, but the numbers say otherwise. According to the Food Allergy Research and Education (FARE) organization, nearly 27 million adults 18 and older in the United States have at least one food allergy.

A recent study from The Journal of Clinical Investigation estimates that 15 million adults in the United States were diagnosed with at least one autoimmune disease from January 1, 2011, to June 1, 2022, and 34% of those were diagnosed with more than one autoimmune disease.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 76.4% of US adults reported one or more chronic conditions in 2023, including 59.5% of young adults, 78.4% of middle-aged adults and 93.0% of older adults.

Michelle Hoover, 33, the genius behind Unbound Wellness, author of The Autoimmune Protocol Comfort Food Cookbook, functional nutritional therapy practitioner and founder of Daylight, a tomato-free veggie pasta sauce brand, was diagnosed with Hashimoto's disease at 17.

Hashimoto’s disease is an autoimmune condition that affects the thyroid gland and causes hypothyroidism and in rare cases hyperthyroidism.

Due to limited information on holistic living and Hashimoto's at the time, Hoover at first did not see how her diet related to her chronic symptoms. "I thought I was just going to go about my regular diet and live with a chronic illness without any relation," Hoover said.

Shortly after she was diagnosed, she fell in love with cooking and wellness, which led her to explore a more holistic approach to managing her Hashimoto's. "I started dabbling with a gluten-free diet in college and eventually found my way to full autoimmune protocol (AIP) a few years after. Little by little, my diet became a central part of my wellness journey, to the point that it's now the foundation."

Lauren Less, 33, the face behind Less with Laur, had a similar experience in her young adult life when she was diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS), postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) and mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS) – otherwise known as the trifecta.

EDS is a group of genetic connective tissue disorders affecting the skin, joints and blood vessels. POTS is an autonomic nervous system disorder, causing various symptoms that are triggered by changes in posture. MCAS is a disorder causing mast cells to overreact, releasing excessive amounts of histamine and other inflammatory mediators with no known cause. Each disease is challenging enough alone, but together they can have a debilitating impact on everyday life.

"My story started with chronic symptoms in my teens, but it took until I was around 25 to get a diagnosis of multiple chronic illnesses, and at that point, I had also developed multiple food allergies: wheat, dairy, egg, sesame, soy and peanut," Less said. "It was a huge adjustment and I had no clue what to eat."

Less, who grew up cooking with her mother, began adapting her favorite recipes for a gluten and dairy free diet. She created an Instagram profile to save allergen-friendly recipes from other accounts, but it wasn't long before she began creating her own content.

"My goal for Less with Laur is simple: I want to reach as many people as possible. I want to make sure no one feels alone in their journey. I want to share my recipes and show that living with food allergies and chronic health issues doesn't mean you have to give up on delicious food. I hope my page can be a resource and a place where people find support and inspiration,” Less said.

Appetite is an Emotion

Food is intricately woven into community. You truly cannot escape it, especially as a college student and especially in the South. At Sunday school, campus events and work meetings, you are offered coffee and donuts that you can’t have but feel rude declining, but to explain your dietary restrictions again is almost worse than coming across rude.

"Food isn't just about personal health; it's also about community,” Less said. “When you have food allergies or restrictions, social gatherings can be tough. So much of our lives revolve around shared meals, and suddenly, that can feel off-limits.”

Dietary restrictions become all the more isolating when family, friends, coworkers and acquaintances misunderstand them as a dieting choice.

"I feel like sometimes people think it's a choice or that you can have a little bite and you'll be fine or if you eat your allergy, your stomach will just hurt, but it's so much more than that. Food allergies can be life-threatening and even a sensitivity can take you out,” Less said.

When you struggle with chronic symptoms, autoimmune disease or food allergies, you have to learn to get over the fear of being inconvenient and adapt with elegance.

"I miss the carefree days of driving through a fast-food restaurant with friends or eating chips and salsa at a party. The silver lining is that it's inspired me to host more than I ever would have before," Hoover said. "Cooking for people is my happy place, and I love showing everyone that allergen friendly food can still be delicious."

Chronic symptoms and food intolerances are intricately woven together in the fabric of our bodies. Following dietary restrictions when dealing with symptoms is not as simple or flimsy as a health or weight-loss choice; it is a determined, strategic tool to minimize negative symptoms and manage a functional lifestyle.

Most of the time that means cooking at home. In a busy society, carving out the time to prepare meals you can take to school or work can be a challenge. It takes conscientious shifts in daily habits to make time to cook your own meals.

Just last week, I was hurriedly packing lunch so I could make it to my 9 a.m. class on time and realized that the leftovers in the fridge were not mine. I broke down in tears because I didn’t have thirty minutes to prepare an entire meal. Something as simple as lunch is one of the biggest obstacles of my day.

But time isn’t the only hurdle, even grocery shopping presents a challenge.

Among many other things, I am sensitive to lemon and Aspergillus Niger, a type of mold used as a preservative. I know that doesn’t sound very scary but trust me on this one. Just about any food item you pick up in the grocery store will contain two little words: citric acid. Citric acid is a compound commonly derived from – you guessed it – lemon juice or Aspergillus Niger.

The solution: sticking to fresh produce and meats without preservatives or additives that could trigger a storm of angry symptoms. In addition to citric acid, the vegetables, fruits and meats I can eat are limited. I am sensitive to poultry, carrots, cucumbers, cantaloupe and bananas just to name a few. I am allergic to gluten, but I am also sensitive to rice and oats which are two primary ingredients in gluten free flour, leaving me with few alternatives.

This level of restriction then leads to the problem of boredom. If you asked what I ate last week for breakfast, I could tell you with 100% certainty because I have eaten sausage and hash browns cooked in ghee for breakfast since I discovered my egg allergy two months ago.

“The biggest struggle that I've experienced myself and that I see my readers also battle is variety. When your diet is more limited, you're bound to get bored faster,” Hoover said. “However, for me personally, the reward of being able to feel my best will always outweigh the short-term benefit of convenience. Eating the way I eat allows me to feel energized and clear.”

In my experience a restricted diet and the boredom that accompanies it is very emotional. It is hard to give up foods you love, and it gets harder when you are bored with the few foods you can have.

When I gave up gluten, diary, eggs and the other red-listed foods, I did it all at once. When I knew there were so many foods that were harming my body, my craving for them subsided. Why would I want to eat something that I knew was contributing to my symptoms?

For other people, it was a back-and-forth battle between the tongue and the mind.

“I had read online about how gluten could be an aggravating factor for Hashimoto's disease. I spent years going on and off a gluten free diet because I found it to be mentally so hard to commit,” Hoover said. “As time went on, I wound up getting sicker and having more and more issues pile up. I decided it was finally time to push through the mental hurdles and lock in.”

Despite the challenges, eating for your illness is worth it.

"I truly believe food is medicine. It's information for our bodies. What we eat can significantly impact our health, especially when dealing with chronic conditions. I've seen firsthand how changing my diet has helped manage my symptoms," Less said.

Two Sides of the Story

For me and for many others like me, eating right is based on necessity. There is an underlying judgement towards anyone who diets, and I often feel anxious to defend myself and explain that my diet is not a choice but a rule.

“There is a deep, deep, deep social emotional response to food,” Jackie Sitton, family nurse practitioner since 2016 said. “Psychology tells us that when someone is judgmental it's usually their own insecurity or their own problem. They project that onto you and make you feel bad for it because they probably feel bad for the way they're eating. They will point fingers at you and mock you and when you're on this health journey it can be very hurtful.”

It gets me thinking, should society shun a healthy lifestyle? Should we really eat whatever we want until a doctor tells us otherwise?

Dr. Brian Gualano, fourth-generation chiropractic physician and applied kinesiologist since 1992, thinks not.

“Food is your health insurance,” Gualano said. “You can help your overall health by what you take in on a daily basis.”

The pre-disposition to chronic illness and autoimmune disease is genetically determined and can be triggered by a myriad of things, however reducing toxic stressors on your body can keep the gene from ever presenting itself.

“It's hard that you should have to justify your choice of doing this because you have health issues and are trying to feel better or because you just want to be healthy,” Sitton said. “Why should you have to put yourself in either category?”

Sitton described the body’s capacity to handle toxins as a bucket. The more toxins you pour into the bucket the closer it will get to overflowing. Eventually, all it takes is one more drop to overflow the bucket and trigger a series of issues that could have been prevented by reducing inflammatory exposures.

“There is hope, there's always hope,” Sitton said. “I hate when people just say, ‘that's just my genetics.’ You're always going to have that gene sequence, but you have the ability to turn it on or off.”

There are many stressors that contribute to overall health and have the power to reduce chronic symptoms.

“There's physical stress and that's gravity. Then our physical makeup, how we adapt to gravity. Then there's chemical stress -- the toxins and drugs and all this other stuff. Even the air you breathe is going to have some sort of chemical stress. Then the mental and emotional stress -- the relationships you have, the news you watch or the programs you watch on TV. All of that is information that's going to your head,” Gualano said. “Recognize those things and try to mitigate them.”

I am a high achiever and perfectionist in everything I do. In addition to hypothyroidism, I have a chronic disease that prevents me from saying the word “no.” It’s called people pleasing, some of you may have heard of it.

All jokes asides, doctors have emphasized to me numerous times that being strict with food will not reverse my thyroid disease and other hormonal issues by itself. I must also learn to limit the mental and emotional strain on my body and find ways to relieve my stress.

That can look like saying no to that one extra thing, limiting television, getting good sleep or prioritizing your spiritual life, Gualano said.

While food is supposed to nourish our bodies, the additives in it can be harmful. Even foods that are considered healthy can negatively impact a person. Each person has different enzymes in their gut that allow them to break down different foods. Some people will have allergies and sensitives because they lack enzymes that another person may have, Gualano said.

The level of enzymes in the gut is affected by genetics, which are a person’s inherited characteristics, and epigenetics, which are a person’s unique environmental exposures.

“When we go back to the root cause of a lot of disease and inflammation, most of the time, we can point it back to food and how food has either helped our body or potentially hurt our body,” Sitton said. “The food itself doesn't hurt our bodies, but it's all the things our bodies are exposed to. The agents like processed foods, artificial dies, pesticides and all the things that are added to our foods that can harm us should be removed.”

As a young adult, Sitton experienced the onset of autoimmune disease and chronic symptoms. At the time her rheumatologist told her to come back when she was sicker. Standard medicine had not equipped the rheumatologist to help a patient who was trying to reverse chronic symptoms and not just Band-Aid them, Sitton said.

“When the doctor just told me to come back when I was sicker, I realized that there were only a few things that I could control and change and modify in my life,” Sitton said. “One of them was just self-care, but the other one is food.”

Eighty percent of your immune system is in your gut, making the foods you eat exceptionally important in reversing and managing autoimmune tendencies and symptoms.

“Food is information,” Gualano said. “When it's all broken down and distributed, it’s just information. So, if we looked at it that way, maybe you'd think twice about having a Krispy Kreme doughnut because it's loaded with all kinds of misinformation. Processed foods tell your body a bunch of different things. The information is garbled. If you put in garbled information, then you're going to get poor results.”

When you send misinformation to your gut, you diminish its ability to function properly and exacerbate the potential for chronic symptoms.

“Food is the source that fuels and feeds and provides the nutrients to every cell in our body,” Sitton said. “I think that so many people neglect that. Food in our society is looked at as a pleasurable experience, as a social experience, as a comforting mechanism during stress. But I like to remind people that God gave us food to nourish our body. Going back to the very beginning, he gave us everything in the garden of Eden. He knew what our bodies needed. He created us.”

Alex Clark, 32, host of the Culture Apothecary podcast was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s in January 2024. In February 2024, she began cutting eggs and gluten out of her diet.

“I don’t think of my food guidelines as strict at all,” Clark said. “My guideline is: is it real and does it come from God? If the answer is yes -- I eat it. The only things I don’t eat are fake chemical ultra-processed dead food. I try to avoid gluten and I have an egg allergy. Otherwise-ice cream can be a health food if it’s made from organic real ingredients.”

Clark’s diet changes have made an impact on her health and ability to cope with her disease.

“You will notice a difference immediately,” Clark said. “You will have less brain fog, sustainable energy that lasts longer throughout the day and feel more satiated and full for longer, allowing you to eat less.”

Good foods lower inflammation in the gut and ease chronic symptoms. Certain foods can also have a healing effect on the body.

“It's the old saying, ‘like cures like.’ You’ve got a liver problem, eat liver. You’ve got a heart problem, eat heart. You’ve got kidney problem, eat kidneys,” Gualano said. “Nobody eats organ meats anymore, but that's what you do, because that provides you with those raw materials to heal that organ.”

Does that mean I should be eating thyroid? I am joking, of course, but in case you were wondering, the Quarterly Journal of Medicine says eating bovine thyroid can lead to thyrotoxicosis, the presence of excessive thyroid hormone in the body. So, I would not recommend it.

However, according to the American Thyroid Association, porcine thyroid in the form of desiccated thyroid extract is successfully used as a natural supplement to treat thyroid disease. I personally use porcine thyroid to treat my hypothyroidism and have found it to help balance my hormones without having to use a synthetic medication.

A diverse diet is also important. The body needs vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and the like to function properly.

“I love the visual image of eating the colors of the rainbow because if you can do that and make sure that you're eating a wide variety of fruits and vegetables of different colors, then you are most likely going to get in all the nutrients your body needs, which will then help with healing,” Sitton said.

Regardless of whether or not you suffer from chronic symptoms, autoimmune or food allergies, eating the right foods and avoiding the wrong ones promotes health and can potentially reverse or prevent the onset of disease.

“Eating right really restores health, but more importantly, it prevents problems,” Gualano said. “More commonly nowadays in America avoiding things seems to be more important than taking them in.”

This however does not mean you must become a non-toxic nazi. For those with conditions that force them to stick to strict diets, they may need to bend in other areas. For those who are trying to prevent disease, indulging in a Krispy Kreme donut every now and then will not make or break you.

“You don't have to be a purist with food,” Gualano said. “Even if you have a condition, your body can handle a lot. You were made to handle a lot of toxins and you do it every day. You're breathing it, you're thinking it, you're eating it, you're hearing it.”

Where I am In My Journey

For me, eating my sensitivity or allergy will cause flare-ups of stomach pain, bloating, migraines and tremors. It is not worth it. I know that it is something my body will not handle well. So, food is where I focus my energy.

For someone who is trying to prevent disease, their focus may be on several smaller things. Maybe avoiding sugar, buying organic or prioritizing physical exercise.

I am still in the process of healing my body and reversing my disease. When I get discouraged, which is a daily occurrence, I remind myself of all that my body does for me. Isn’t it worth the extra time and energy? Isn’t it worth the sacrifice?

So, here I am telling you, when food becomes your enemy, give it some extra love. When eating is no longer simple and enjoyable, experiment with it and make it fun. When meals become an isolating event, invite others into your world. For those without allergies, prioritize health but don’t let it stop you from eating all the bread and butter you can, because one day it may all be stripped away.