Apple juice is of the devil

OK, many people know that a few years ago I was diagnosed with some of the most common food allergies of children. (Note: people don't usually become allergic to these things later in life.)

I had something called Leaky Gut (yes, very technical) and to anything I ate regularly, or two much, I became allergic.

This is different than intolerance. Intolerance is when you just have stomach upset. When you have allergies, you actually break out in hives and itch like crazy with the joy of stomach upset, too. My friend Ginger went through this for years before she knew what was causing her hives. I can't imagine. Just several months was enough to drive me up the wall.

So, I became allergic to dairy of any kind, mint (thanks Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream), beef, black pepper, almonds, selenium (the green stuff on the skin of potatoes), and apples (I was downing jugs of apple juice a week). Even most starchy foods would send me over the edge.

At the time, I weighed 140lbs. (I am only 5', so don't knock it if you weight 140lbs or above. A healthy weight for me was 98-110lbs.) Most people say that they can't remember me ever being that big, but trust me, I was. I have the pictures to prove it.

I was miserable. Every time I ate, I would either get sick to my stomach and blow up like a balloon or break out in hives. My doctor said to lose some weight so I began exercising regularly. No change. Then I met an allergy specialists and a nutritionist and they told me about Leaky Gut. The Dr. took 6 vials of blood and told me what I was allergic to. So, I began eliminating potential trigger foods from my diet.

After a year and a half, I had dropped almost 40lbs and felt healthier than I ever had. I still couldn't eat dairy, but at least I could eat without getting sick.

In steps my love for apple juice. Apparently, I'm not so highly sensitive to it or I would have broken out in hives the last week. I drank two and a half jugs of the stuff in two weeks. Big jugs. Oh how I loved it.

Then the symptoms began. I felt nauseated. My stomach blew up...and other things. Do you remember the Colon Blow cereal commerical from Saturday Night Live? Yeah, I'd sworn I ate a whole box of it. Enough detail.

There's half a jug still left in the fridge and I don't know what to do with it. Ham doesn't like juice (which is fine with me) and I know that I can't drink it.

Anyway, I've realized that for me, apple juice is of the devil.