Why is it there is always a trigger food? And why is it I don’t know what it will be. Surprise! Today you are going to get intense abdominal cramping and nausea from eating just a smidge of ranch dressing on a tater tot. Why do I have to keep asking why? At this point, I should have all the things figured out. But I don’t. Food triggers today, and food triggers tomorrow, will I ever learn?
I haven’t pinpointed ranch dressing as a problem in the past. It is not something that we use a lot of at our house. I am not a coat my salad in a creamy dressing kind of girl. I like a light oil and vinegar-based dressing. Italian dressing is at the top of my list, followed by all Italian dressings brothers, sisters, and cousins. Please hold the creamy dressing when it comes to my salad. But for dipping? Yes, bring out the ranch dressing.
Vegetable platters would be boring without ranch dressing. Corn nuggets, tater tots, really anything fried. Wow. Putting that in writing makes me hear Ryan’s voice. You are eating fried food, no wonder your stomach hurts. Eye roll. It is not like he doesn’t eat fried food. It is just that he doesn’t have a gut problem such as I do.
Food triggers are not fair
Can I say it is not fair without sounding like a brat? I really only had a minimal amount of ranch. I know you are thinking, it could be the tater tots. That thought crossed my mind also. We often eat hash browns for breakfast. I feel like the hash brown is just a bigger smashed tater tot. I don’t have any aversions to the hash brown.
Hot dogs are often a weekend staple. When we get busy working on projects or chores it is quick and easy to boil a bunch of hotdogs and there is lunch. Minimal mess, minimal work. So, I know the hot dog wasn’t my problem.
It hit quickly after we had lunch. I couldn’t finish the project I was working on. Stomach bloat, cramps, and nausea. I laid down for thirty minutes. No help. Got up and tried to continue working but I was in so much pain. I worked for another hour just so I could be productive for the day and lighten the load for Sunday.
The remainder of the evening was a blur. I ate a handful of antacids. There was no relief. I wish I had something to relieve even a small bit of the discomfort. But, I haven’t found anything and I have tried so many different things.
We watched some Netflix, still in pain. Finally, I gave up and decided to go to bed. There I was able to pass some gas, which ran Ryan out of the bed to sleep on the couch. Usually, my gas doesn’t bother him. So that was a new one.
Not all lessons are learned in a classroom
Upon waking, I had a few bouts of the water shits. Then I was absolutely fine. Tried my luck and had the same lunch today—hotdogs and tater tots, minus the ranch dipping sauce. I was fine. Perfect. No symptoms. I guess you could say, I did not learn a lesson yesterday, so I went back and did the same thing again today (minus the ranch, I get a little credit here).
New day, new plan
Now I stay away from ranch dressing for a bit. As I said, it is not like it is a huge part of my life, so I can handle this. Corn nuggets will be a little lackluster, but corn nuggets don’t happen in my life too often. Add another item to my food trigger list.
Any new food triggers for you guys?
Anything that has been fine in the past that is now a problem?
