My Food Story

Welcome to my blog. So why food? I believe food is not only a way to nourish our bodies, but it has a powerful way to bring us together. Every culture has its own food traditions and cooking styles that is passed down from generation to generation.

Also, food is a daily part of our lives. Whether you are a foodie or not, food is a part of your day one way of another. Why not learn ways to enjoy it more? And for me personally food is a great source of love, passion, and creativity. It has also been a huge pain point in my life emotionally and physically. I was born with my small intestines tangled and wrapped around my appendix. Because of that I had emergency surgery at 3 days old, removing my appendix and part of my small intestines.

Over the years I started to have some IBS issues, and was diagnosed with a wheat allergy at 15 years old. This was before the time of gluten-free, and the universal knowledge of Celiac Disease. Thankfully over the years GF has become a common term on the food scene, making eating out easier. Sprinkle food allergies in with body dysmorphia issues and an eating disorder (I will talk about this more in another blog), I can say that my relationship with food was anything but normal.

At the age of 23, in 2014 scare tissue from my previous surgery wrapped around my small intestines, causing a bowel obstruction and my body to go septic. I had to have emergency surgery again, removing the scare tissue, putting me on bed rest for 3 months afterwards.

This trauma to my gut made my IBS issues worse. I went to many GI specialists, and holistic doctors, trying to find some relief. I did rounds of Whole30, Paleo, elimination diet after elimination diet, and acupuncture.  It eventually led me to become dairy-free along with my gluten-free lifestyle. It was a hard transition, since when you’re gluten-free cheese and ice cream are your go to comfort foods. But ultimately it drastically alleviated me of daily acid reflux and lessen my GI pain. I do have goat cheese occasionally, since it’s a different protein from cows milk and much easier to digest.

By 2018 I still wasn’t completely relieved of daily GI pain, but I was trying to not have fear around foods like rice and grains, eating a whole foods diet. After constant flare ups, a couple of scares of a bowel obstruction, and my cognitive function declining, I started to research what could be the root cause. Discussion of the gut microbiome and the connection to brain function was still not commonplace in society. In one of my many readings on the gut and the microbiome, I began to learn about Small Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth or SIBO. All of my symptoms matched.

I was able to find a holistic doctor, who had 15 years in internal medicine, and went back for her holistic degree, merging Western testing with Eastern medicine. If you are in the Greenville, SC area, I highly recommend Spruce MD. I was able to meet with my doctor, who tested me for SIBO, and confirmed I had it. Because I first had surgery at 3 days old, we don’t know if my gut became imbalanced then, or later in life. I have always been prone to stomach bugs, and for some people it takes just a case of food poisoning to give them SIBO. One thing that has been confirmed, I have Long SIBO, going to through many rounds of treatments. It was been 3 years since I was diagnosed, and I still have officially received a negative test, but my brain function has drastically gotten better. My GI pain went from every day to an occasional flare up.

Long story short, I have gone through a lot of up and downs with my health at a young age which forced me to do a lot of research and heal my relationship with food and my body. I’m grateful to create nourishing food and to use cooking as a creative outlet.

So, what will you find in my blog? You will find recipes that are gluten-free, dairy-free, and mostly plant based. I also provide some of the resources I have used to help me in my journey of gut healing. Each day is a process though and I will try to be transparent as possible. I hope you find that as a reason to stick around and keep reading.