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.