Challenge 10: Wheat Revisited

Since the first round of wheat testing resulted in inconclusive results, I tested it again during the last week of May. While I didn’t get hit with a bout of hay fever this time around, I definitely found a correlation between my mild asthma symptoms and wheat. Within an hour of ingesting any wheat, I start to clear my throat repeatedly and my nose gets stuffy. I’ve managed to reproduce these symptoms on several occasions, so I've concluded that wheat makes me congested.

I could easily go back on Singulair and continue to eat wheat freely, but before I do that I’m going to try to keep my consumption to a minimum and see how persistent my symptoms are. Here’s my philosophy on the matter: I’d rather have my body spend its energy on my overall health rather than on trying to fight off some sort of food it doesn’t want. So I’ll be eating a lot more rye and will be experimenting with alternative flours for baking. If anyone has any suggestions, please send them my way.

Challenge 9: Baker's Yeast

My Northern European roots might explain why I love rye bread so much. I'm lucky that it's one of my favorites, as rye is a hearty, high-fiber grain that is more satiating than corn or wheat. It is also known for blood sugar stability, which can help with weight loss as well as staving off mood swings and type 2 diabetes.

Once I knew that I could eat rye without issues, I decided to try some very simple rye bread to see if I had a reaction to yeast. I bought a loaf of Beckmann’s rye bread, which consisted only of rye flour, water, salt and yeast. I ate more than half the loaf over the course of the day. I had a slight bit of tension in my eyes around noon but it went away after an hour. I’m not sure if that was related, but it wasn’t enough of a reaction to warrant cutting yeast out of my diet.

There’s an excellent rye bread in San Francisco made by Anna’s Daughters (http://www.annasrye.com/). Prior to my allergy testing, that bread was a staple part of my diet. It’s made with 20-year old sourdough starter rather than baker’s yeast and the ingredients can be counted on one hand. I haven’t tried eating any since I started all my food challenges, but I look forward to adding it back into my diet sometime this month. Do yourself a favor and pick up a loaf next time you are at the farmer’s market or at one of the retail stores listed on their website. You won't be disappointed.

Challenge 8: Rye

Thursday was rye day. I was looking forward to this one because my doctor, Daphne Miller, has turned me on to some great recipes using rye flour in her book, The Jungle Effect (a good read). My favorite is the Icelandic rye pancakes with blueberries, and I’m looking forward to eating those next weekend.

In the meantime, I needed to eat something that was strictly rye, so I went the porridge route again since it’s made with water and salt. The Rainbow Grocery co-op here in San Francisco stocks cracked rye pumpernickel flour, which is stone-ground rather coarsely and makes a nice, hearty porridge. I cooked up a bunch in the morning and enjoyed my three portions throughout the day.

Given my northern European roots, I wasn’t too surprised to learn that my body agrees with rye. The only thing I noticed in the three days after ingesting it was a slightly itchy scalp, and since that’s not a symptom I normally have, I'm hoping it was unrelated. Passing the rye test is great news for a few reasons: 1) It’s a great healthy grain that has a lot of nutrients and doesn’t send your blood sugar levels through the roof, 2) It’s in Dr. Daphne’s tasty recipes, and 3) It appears that I’m not allergic to gluten, which is a very good thing.

Challenge 7: Corn

I’ve eaten some amazing food in San Francisco and around the globe, but I have to say that one of the best foods in the world is Minnesota corn. It is so good that it’s worth smuggling into the state of California (not that I’d ever do that, of course). I’ve likely eaten hundreds of ears of buttered corn in my life, and in recent years I’ve learned to spice it up with lime juice and chaat masala.

And then there are the tortillas. Living in San Francisco, that’s a staple part of my diet. There’s nothing like a freshly pressed corn tortilla. Corn bread and cornmeal pancakes are tasty too.

So I really don’t want to be allergic to corn.

On corn day, I made polenta for breakfast and brought an extra serving into the office to eat with my lunch. I was fine for about an hour, but as I was driving into work I noticed that my eyes felt heavy and that I suddenly felt very tired. My breathing became shallower and I started to clear my throat a lot. I think I even felt a bit depressed, though that could have been from the realization that corn was likely going to go on the back burner.

My symptoms lightened up after a couple of hours, just in time for my second dose of polenta. After lunch, my breathing was fine, but the fatigue was back and I found it difficult to concentrate. I can best describe it as feeling weighted down.

I ended the evening with an ear of boiled corn. It wasn’t from Minnesota but it was still delicious -- even without butter, lime or spices. I ate dinner rather late, so I’m not really sure how it affected me. The good news is I didn’t notice any symptoms before going to sleep and I felt fine the next day.

Again, I really don’t want to be allergic to corn. But apparently I am. I can say one thing for sure: Even if it makes me tired and spacey, I’m still going to indulge in corn periodically. It’s just too damn good to give up.

Challenge 6: Soy

Not a lot to say here other than it seems I am not allergic to soy. On Friday, I steamed an entire bag of frozen edamame in the shell and seasoned it with some coarse salt. I split the portions evenly between breakfast, lunch and dinner (supplementing my meals with other items, of course).

Simply put, I waited for three days and had no signs of an allergy. Looks like my mom was right on the mark with giving me soy formula instead of milk.

Hopefully I’ll be able to eat fermented soy as well, as I’m looking forward to enjoying miso soup and tofu again sometime soon.

Challenge 5: Eggs

Yesterday marked the first day of month three of this little eating adventure I’ve been on. Fortunately I finished month two off on a positive note.

I spent Sunday eating eggs. I bought half a dozen of the organic free-range variety, scrambled a couple and then hard-boiled the others. Two eggs for breakfast, two with lunch, and then one with my dinner (to be honest, I couldn’t eat that sixth egg at that point). I noted no changes that day. To be safe, I waited a couple more days and was pleased to remain symptom-free. I was also thrilled that I didn’t have to give up both dairy and eggs. There’s hope yet.

What's really interesting is that on Monday, I was in a ridiculously good mood for no apparent reason. I highly doubt it was the eggs, but I have to say that I can't remember the last time I felt so exuberant without any external factors at play.

The next challenge is soy. I intended to do that one Wednesday but a late night of working coupled with a tension headache was not conducive to a challenge day. Today was a bust as well due to too little sleep (it’s been an extremely busy week at work). So with that, I’m going to turn out the light and get a good night’s sleep so I can eat all that edamame tomorrow. Sleep well folks...

Challenge 4: Dairy

Unlike wheat, I never really liked milk -- at least not on its own. Yet my diet has always revolved around dairy products. My mother will tell you that all I would eat as a toddler was Franco-American MacaroniOs, which were essentially mac and cheese from a can. These days I love cheese and butter and creamy decaf lattes. Yogurt is a staple for me as well, especially in my morning smoothies. I was hoping that dairy wouldn’t be one of the offenders, but I knew it was a strong possibility due to its prominence in my diet.

The best way to test dairy is in its truest form, which is milk. I bought a quart of Strauss organic whole milk, which is sold in a glass bottle. I usually prefer lowfat, but whole milk is recommended for a challenge test. Starting with breakfast, I downed a glass of it while also adding it to my amaranth porridge. I had no symptoms other than some more throat clearing, which may have been left over from the hay fever. Visions of future lattes danced in my head.

I then had another 10 ounces with my lunch. I was pleased to find that the Strauss organic milk was much tastier than milk I'd had in the past. Within the first hour, I felt a trace of a headache but it wasn’t really notable.

At 3PM, I sat in a meeting where I was being educated about one of our technical initiatives. I realized that I was having a hard time grasping the concepts, so I attempted to concentrate more. As I focused on my coworker’s face, I realized that I could hear what he was saying but that I couldn’t logically follow his sentences no matter how hard I tried. At one point, I felt like I was actually elevated a bit and looking down at him (in other words, spaced out). The brain fog was back, and it was in full force.

I made it through the meeting, and at 5 PM it was time for my third glass of milk. I gulped down the final 10 ounces and headed out to meet my aunt for dinner. Over a beet salad and a very tasty salmon dish (all modified by the nice chef at Sauce), I found it difficult to follow the anecdotes she was telling me. I also struggled to find certain words and lost my train of thought more than once during dinner. Through the fog, my answer was perfectly clear:

Dairy makes me dumb.

This all happened on Thursday, and the last two days I have been thinking about what I might have to give up: saag paneer, mac and cheese, my beloved lattes, aged gouda cheese, Paxti’s pizza, pumpkin pie. Of course, many of these things can be modified, but they won’t be the same. The good news is that my clarity was back the very next day.

After discussing this with my mother, I learned that I was allergic to milk as a baby and had to be given soy formula instead. I seemed to have outgrown the allergy by toddler age (as demonstrated by my penchant for MacaroniOs), but perhaps it just lay dormant for several years or manifested itself differently.

People have asked, “What if you have just a little bit of dairy? Can you have cheese? How about goat’s or sheep’s milk?” Right now, I don’t know. Those answers will require further testing. As I’m rounding off week 7, I’m realizing this is going to take me a lot longer than I initially thought. But I’m certain it will be worth it.

Challenge 3: Wheat

I have always loved whole wheat. When it was time to do this test, I hit the bulk section of Whole Foods and bought some whole wheat farina with the intention of making porridge from it. As soon as it was on the stove, I realized I had essentially found my long-lost favorite breakfast cereal: Ralston Purina 100% Wheat Hot Cereal (http://www.purina.com/company/wholegrain.aspx). I thought they had discontinued it years ago, but it looks like it’s still out there if you look hard enough. In any case, I don’t need to buy the brand-name stuff because Whole Foods has the wheat in bulk. This stuff is like Cream of Wheat or Malt-o-Meal, but better. Sometimes, when I lived on Potrero Hill in San Francisco, the waft of the Anchor Steam Brewery would reach my street and it made me long for that cereal. Now I’ve found it, but the question is, can I eat it?

I made a whopping pan of porridge and divided it into 3 portions, one for each meal. Of course, I supplemented the wheat with sides of vegetables and the usual almond butter.

After my second serving of wheat, I was a bit more forgetful and felt some pressure in my head, but to be honest I’m not sure it was related to the wheat. I’d been out on an ocean beach where the wind was so cold that my ears hurt, so the pressure was likely related to that. However, the next day my legs were itching, and that was probably due to the wheat.

On the third day, I woke up with a nasty case of hay fever. I was fatigued all day even though I’d had 8 hours of sleep. My throat felt raw, I was sneezing a lot, and my eyes were heavy and dry. I was also clearing my throat a lot, which was a symptom of my prior asthma. Then to top it off, my legs continued to itch.

It turns out that everyone was having terrible bouts of hay fever that day, likely due to the high winds over the weekend. Therefore I’ve decided that the jury is still out on wheat. It seemed to make my legs itch, but I’m not sure it did anything else.

That said, my “hay fever” went away on the 4th day, as did the itching. So I’ll be having another go with my favorite porridge once I get through some other food challenges.

Challenge 2: Balsamic Vinegar

Knowing that I was allergic to brewer’s yeast made me very curious as to whether I could tolerate other yeasts. The fact that I can drink European wines and don’t get headaches from bread is promising. While a different strain, baker’s yeast is also saccharomyces cerevisiae, so it’s possible that the allergy is still there but is causing other symptoms. However, since I wasn’t about to eat a package of baker’s yeast, I realized I’d have to wait until I’d tested all the other ingredients in bread before I could take the baker’s yeast challenge. So I decided to test another yeast-based fermented food. I chose balsamic vinegar because I love it and therefore consume a lot of it.

Interestingly, my eyes weren’t as pleased about the vinegar as my taste buds were. 30 minutes after eating my salad, both eyes felt a little heavy. After an hour, the heaviness morphed into a tightness and dryness that reminded me of going to the eye doctor. It also felt like someone was pressing on the backs of my eyeballs. The discomfort didn’t last more than a couple of hours, but my eyes continued to feel heavy for the rest of the afternoon.

As you’ve probably figured out, Google has been at my side throughout this entire process. “Food allergy eye pressure” led me to learn that food allergies can cause intraocular pressure and that pressure can hamper vision (potentially leading to glaucoma). It didn’t take me long to realize that reversing these effects would literally result in an improved outlook, as demonstrated by my newfound life in 3D.

I honestly feel that my vision has improved since I changed my diet, and things seem more vivid and clear. I’ve made an appointment with my ophthalmologist to check on my theory, and I’ll let you know what I find out.

In the meantime, I’ve learned that I shouldn’t be eating balsamic vinegar, which is a real shame. That’s 2 for 2.

Challenge 1: Brewer's Yeast

Now that it was time for my allergy challenge tests, I needed to come up with the right approach. There were several options out there. The easiest was to add one food back in each day and record my reactions. However, my doctor (along with books and websites) had recommended I devote at least 3 or 4 days to each food item as some reactions can be delayed. Moreover, I wanted to be certain that my body had cleared the last item tested before bringing in another potential allergen. I decided to heed my doctor’s advice.

Then I needed to decide whether I would leave the newly introduced foods in my diet once they passed the challenge. That was my original plan, as I was looking forward to more variety in my diet. But then I read that one only has about 3 weeks before the body starts building up a tolerance and it can skew results. There is also the possibility that two foods together could create a reaction that each single food might not elicit. Since I had already come so far with the cleansing, I decided to maximize my results by only adding a new food in for a single day. I would have an ample quantity of the item for breakfast, lunch and dinner and then record any symptoms that occurred within 3 days of ingesting the first serving. In cases where I had a bad reaction, I would discontinue the servings and wait until I was symptom free for at least a day or two before trying another food item.

So the first thing I challenged, odd as it may seem, was yeast. To be honest I wasn’t really expecting much out of this one and thought it would be an easy first step. When doing a food challenge, one must take care to only ingest the item in question. That is a challenge in itself when it comes to yeast, since one doesn’t want to take a bunch of live active yeast into the body and create an imbalance of intestinal flora. What I did was go out and get some powdered brewer’s yeast, which can be found in the vitamin or bulk department. This yeast is inactive and can be taken as a tablet or as a powder. I mixed a heaping tablespoon of powder into a glass of water, drank it, and waited. I didn’t have to wait long. Within 5 minutes, I had a headache, some mild nausea and felt weighted down. I felt incredibly toxic, and the feeling lasted for several hours. Needless to say, I didn’t ingest any more brewer’s yeast.

I was amazed that I pegged an allergy with my very first attempt. However, what was really enlightening for me was the kind of headache I was experiencing. This was no tension headache; it was the pin-in-the-eyeball headache I would get from red wine, Belgian beers and cognac.

As you may recall from my initial post, I’ve known for many years that I’ve had some sort of allergy to certain beers and wines that would result in a migraine. This would explain the issues with beer, but what about wine?

A quick Google search told me that the strain in brewer’s yeast, saccharomyces cerevisiae, is added to both beers and wine. That explained that. But I still wanted to solve the mystery about European wines, which I have continued to safely drink after my insightful trip to Italy. I hit up Google again with this simple search: “European wine fermentation process”. The first website listed gave me my answer. Europeans use the yeast that naturally grows on the skin of the grapes whereas the rest of the world adds yeast during their winemaking process (usually saccharomyces cerevisiae). Bingo. Here’s the website for those who are interested: http://www.rackwine.com/WineMaking/

For years I did Internet research and talked to local vintners about what could be different about European wines, as they didn’t give me the migraines that New World wines did. I never got an answer that really made sense. Most suggested sulfites, but I don’t have the same reaction to sulfites in other foods. Others suggested I stick to organic, but most truly organic wines weren’t so tasty, and I figured if the pesticides were the culprit, I’d be getting migraines left and right simply by eating vegetables. (That said, I hate pesticides and buy organic whenever possible.) To be honest, I never even thought of yeast being an issue.

With that knowledge in my pocket, I then tried to determine why Belgians and microbrews give me headaches when Guinness and Budweiser don’t. Simple research quickly answered that one as well: industrial breweries filter the yeast out of their beers. As disheartening as it was to learn of my brewer’s yeast allergy, I was thrilled to have finally solved the beer and wine mystery. Plus it's looking pretty promising that I won't have to give up Guinness.

On the Road

A few days within taking the additional items out of my diet, the itching stopped. My other symptoms also continued to be at bay. I found I wasn’t experiencing any wheezing or coughing even though I had gone off my asthma meds. (Note: my asthma – if it is even that – is mild enough that I don’t need to be on the meds, so don’t try that at home without consulting your doctor.) Also, as I was no longer experiencing fatigue or brain fog, I realized what it was like to simply be tired after getting too little sleep; it was a very different sensation.

Since my results were so positive and the diet was more feasible than I’d thought, I decided to commit to two months so that I’d have plenty of time to do the food allergy challenge thoroughly. This meant I’d be attending the Coachella music festival down near Palm Springs as a teetotaler. Since it’s hot down there in the desert, I was actually fine with simply drinking a lot of water, so it wasn’t a huge sacrifice. I packed quinoa, amaranth and almonds in my suitcase and vowed to stick to the diet as best as I could under the circumstances. Fortunately the organic Palm Greens Café was not only right around the corner from our rental house, but they had a food stand at the event itself. I ate healthy falafel sandwiches for three days in a row, along with baked sweet potatoes and corn on the cob. It definitely wasn’t a caveman diet, but I was impressed at my ability to stay on the veggie wagon.

I only gave in once on the last night and had a slice (and a half) of cheese pizza. Fortunately I had no noticeable symptoms as a result.

After a weekend of amazing music and fun, I headed back to San Francisco and took up the super-limited caveman diet yet again. I diligently stuck to it for 5 days in order to prep my body for the next big step: food allergy challenge testing.

Recipe: Roasted Beet Yumness

I made up this "recipe" last night on the fly while at the grocery store. It turned out to be so tasty that I ended up scraping the pot clean, so I thought I'd share. It's easy and guaranteed to make you love beets.

Ingredients:

• 1 super-big beet (or 3 normal-sized ones), peeled and cut into 1” cubes
• 1 onion, peeled and cut into 1” pieces
• 1 shallot, peeled and cut into ¾” cubes
• leaves from 1 sprig of fresh rosemary
• 2-3 glugs of olive oil
• salt
• pepper

I preheated the oven to 375°, though you really can go with 350° or 400° depending on how much time you have. Put all the veggies and rosemary leaves in a roasting pan (I use an Emile Henry® Round Flame-Top Stew Pot*) and then drizzle the olive oil over them. Add a bit of salt and pepper and then stir until the olive oil coats the veggies.

Cover (use foil if you don't have a lid) and bake for 45-75 minutes. The lower the heat, the longer you may want to bake. I prefer a lower heat and longer baking time as the veggies carmelize. I wasn't keeping track last night but I think I actually cooked them for nearly 75 minutes.

The trick is to stir the veggies every 15-20 minutes and keep an eye on them so that they don't burn.

Makes 2-3 servings.

*If you are interested in a pot like mine, you can get it at Sur La Table (thanks Mom):

http://www.surlatable.com/product/emile+henry+round+flame-top+stew+pot%2C+1.9+qt..do?keyword=emile+henry+casserole&sortby=ourPicks

A Change of Taste

A day or two later I had the aforementioned 3D moment of clarity. I started to feel like I was really on my game at work, and I was noticeably happier. Not only did things seem brighter, I felt like a weight had been lifted off my head and shoulders.

I continued on the diet and found that it was actually fairly easy to maintain. I steamed or roasted veggies whenever possible and ate a regular breakfast of quinoa, greens, broccoli and carrots. Almond butter became my new favorite treat, and a bite or two accompanied every meal. (Have you ever tried fresh ground almond butter? I highly recommend.)

During the second week, I ceased to have any more cravings. I no longer yearned for cheese, bread or a decaf latte. I just ate to eat, and while I wasn’t savoring food as I have in the past, I was surprisingly enjoying it. Raw vegetables actually started to taste quite good, even though I wasn’t putting any dressing on them. My taste buds were definitely changing.

When I decided to start this diet, I didn’t think about the fact that my birthday was coming up. I thought about skipping out on celebrating and just staying home, but since I was feeling so great I decided to go out to a whiskey bar with some friends. Unaffected, I watched them down tasty drinks while I drank sparkling water with lime all night. I had so much energy that I didn’t need the alcohol, and I ended up staying out until 2am.

That night I’d had a modified tofu dish from Osha Thai. I had them hold the sauce, so it was simply tofu, basil, red peppers, onions and spices. It was delicious, but I paid for it with itchy legs later that night. So the next day I decided to take things up one more notch. They say that when testing for allergies, one should remove all items consumed more than once a week. So I removed all other potential allergens (other than tree nuts) from my diet:

• Legumes (including peanuts)
• Soy products (which are also legumes)
• Eggs
• Spices
• Tomatoes
• Avocadoes
• Lemons and limes
• Peppers

Once again, I was surprised that I didn’t really miss these foods. Plus there was comfort in knowing that I’d meet up with each of them again in the coming weeks.

Back to Bedrock

I had been planning my approach for several days before that Tuesday morning. This wasn’t my first attempt at detoxing, as I had done a cleansing diet in September. Last time, the brain fog was also somewhat lifted, but I didn’t take the time to properly determine my food allergies. So I took the time to research using books and the Internet, finding a significant amount of disparity between different approaches. In the end I customized my own plan that combined a low glycemic index (GI) diet with a food allergy elimination/challenge diet, and I decided to commit to it for at least a month.

To kick-start things into action, I began with a slightly modified “caveman diet”. Here’s what I cut out:

• All processed food
• All foods made from flour
• All grains other than quinoa and amaranth
• All fruit (and juices) except avocadoes, lemons and limes
• All dairy, including cheese and yogurt
• All fermented food
• All condiments
• White potatoes
• Yeast
• Peanuts
• Chocolate
• Alcohol
• Coffee and tea
• Sugar

So what could I eat, you ask? As much as I wanted of the following organic items:

• Most vegetables, with a focus on low GI and dark greens
• Nuts and seeds (other than peanuts)
• Almond butter (and lots of it)
• Olive oil
• Fish
• Chicken
• Eggs (which I later retracted)
• Tofu and legumes (also later retracted)
• Quinoa and amaranth
• Filtered or spring water

Having a Whole Foods two blocks from my home has been a godsend; I can visit their salad bar before or after work and get my fill of veggies, alternative grains, and nuts.

The first three days were tough but I got through them just fine. Having detoxed in September, I experienced fewer “withdrawal” symptoms compared to the first time around. I had a headache most of that time, my brain fog was thicker than ever, and I was often hungry at weird hours even though I was eating plenty. I knew from my previous experience that drinking a lot of water combined with time in the steam room or sauna did a great job of clearing the toxins out of my system. Then, just like last time, I woke up on the fourth day feeling great.

I had successfully broken through to the other side.

A Whole New Dementia

5 weeks ago I was walking down the street and saw the world in a whole new light, as if I'd been wearing sunglasses for years and finally remembered to take them off. I felt like I had suddenly been thrust into my own 3D movie...and it felt amazing.

I’ve been feeling that way ever since, and it’s such a positive change for me that I’ve decided to share my story about how food allergies have impacted my life.

For years I didn't know I was making myself sick. I was living in a distorted reality that I thought was normal. I considered myself healthier than most. I love whole grains, rarely consume caffeine or simple sugars, buy organic and eat a mostly vegetarian diet (with fish or an occasional serving of kielbasa thrown in). I go to the gym, take my vitamins, get at least 8 hours of sleep and drink several glasses of water a day. I rarely get a cold or the flu anymore.

The only thing I’ve ever really suffered from is allergies. Hay fever and dust mites would get me here and there, but the real culprits were in the food I ate. Somewhere in my 20s I realized that bananas, which were my favorite fruit, made my throat itch and the tip of my nose peel. So I reluctantly removed bananas from my diet. A few years later, I learned that my paternal grandmother was allergic to grapefruit; it made her skin itch. I’d been living with itchy skin for years – especially on my lower legs – and cutting grapefruit juice out of my daily smoothies did the trick. After seeing an allergist, I learned I was allergic to orange and citric acid as well, so I lopped oranges out of the diet immediately. That helped, but the itching and nose-peeling would still come and go, even without the citrus or bananas. So I suspected there was yet another allergen.

Then there was the wine. I’d always had a problem with red wine, as many people do, and I’d get a migraine headache that would last about 24 hours after I drank. What was different for me was I only needed a glass or two to bring on the migraine. Belgian beers had the same effect. It wasn’t until I was in Italy with a friend and decided “when in Rome” (Florence) that I was successfully able to down several glasses of wine without the headache. I was excited and decided to experiment more. After drinking my way through Italy and France, I went home to Northern California and tried some local reds. Bam – the headaches were back.

I’d spoken to various doctors and allergists about getting tested for food allergies, and the consensus was that the only way to truly diagnose them was via an elimination diet. After reading about what that involved, I decided I was willing to stick to European wines and scratch my legs every once in a while.

Yet in recent months, my cognitive abilities took a downward turn. I noticed that I couldn’t retrieve simple nouns when speaking, and both my short- and long-term memory had become embarrassingly poor. Having grown up an honor student used to multitasking and having lightening-quick thoughts, I now felt feebleminded and slow in comparison. I took on a new job and found that it was taking me much longer than usual to grasp new concepts. People said it was just a part of getting older, but I knew it had to be more than that.

To add to that, I also started to get nighttime wheezing, a chronic daytime cough, and I started to require at least 9 hours of sleep.

After ruling out hypothyroidism and other potential health issues, I recalled how cutting sugar and caffeine out of my diet in 2004 had dramatically stabilized my mood swings. If food had such a profound effect on my moods, perhaps it was affecting my cognition as well. So one Tuesday morning on the way out the door to work, I finally decided to take the plunge.