A Reminder To Read The Label

[Harmony33]

I thought I would share a recent experience reminding us to read labels.

First an update. I am almost one year into my healing journey. Norman visits most days, though I have morning D every couple of weeks—usually I can guess what I did, either testing a new food or eating out (I only order a steak or hamburger with salt & pepper-no sides, but I guess it is from cross-contamination) I now eat about 20 foods in rotation successfully — a big improvement over only three foods! I did not have dairy or caffeine for the first 7 months on the advice of my PCP, then finally tried morning coffee with lactose-free milk with no issues. (My Enterolab results say I can tolerate casein, but I read in this forum to avoid lactose when first healing.)

About two weeks ago, I had three bad mornings of WD. I kind of panicked, thinking I was back in a flare and imagined all kinds of scary relapse scenarios. On the fourth morning, as I poured my milk, my husband said, “Why is the cap on your milk yellow?”

I hadn’t even noticed, but it turns out I had inadvertently bought the calcium-enriched version of the 2% lactose-free milk. Sure enough, I read the label and this one had carrageenan and guar gum! I eat such plain foods now, and the dramatic reaction was within an hour, so I guess I need to test those ingredients separately somehow?

I tossed the milk and was back to “MC normal” the next day. We just can’t be too careful, can we?

[brandy]

Great post!

[carolm]

Harmony- this is a great post and an excellent example of the healing path. Irritants sneak into our lives, we have smaller ups and downs, and most often a little detective work like reading labels, gets us back on track. Good for you! Sounds like you are doing great.

Carol

[Marcia K]

Thanks for sharing! I found the same thing with SO coconut milk ice cream. I buy it as a rare treat. I noticed the packaging was different and while I thought they just updated the look, I decided to read the ingredients. They now add pea protein to the ice cream so I will no longer be purchasing it.