So What Is Potato Intolerance?
Published by Tawny on Wednesday, April 9, 2008 at 4:26 PM.
A potato intolerance, like any food intolerance, is "A delayed negative reaction to a food, beverage or food additive; a true food allergy occurs within minutes of ingesting the triggering item. Food sensitivity is less directly related to the immune system than are food allergies. It is often caused by the absence of specific chemicals or enzymes needed to digest a food substance, such as lactase deficiency." (Wikipedia) So a a true food alergy means that a certain food or food group cannot be eaten or it will cause fast and furious symptoms that are often severe, whereas a food intolerance means an individual can eat that food without any obvious initial response to it, but because it cannot be broken down and digested properly it can start to have long term effects on your health. Food intolerance can cause a huge array of symptoms, both physical and mental, that are often mistaken or misdiagnosed as other conditions. Migraines and headaches, catching colds or becoming sick easily, depression, anxiety, moodiness, weight gain and loss, thyroid issues, stiff muscles and joints, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, diarrhea and constipation, stomach upset - the list goes on and on! When a person eliminates a food that they are intolerant to from their diet, many of these symptoms will ease or vanish entirely. Yes, it's really as simple as that! I've read numerous cases where unresolved conditions as severe as rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn's were cured completely by following a diet free of an offending food.
For the purposes of this blog, the offending food is that humble little tuber, the potato. This seems rather straight forward in the main, right? Potatoes of all shapes and sizes must be avoided. The problem is that potato is cheap, widely available, and good in a variety of forms; in short, the potato is a staple on today's supermarket shelves. It's lurking in places that most consumers would never think until they're forced, like me, to delve into those ingredient lists. Don't believe me? Take a look at what the potato intolerant person must avoid:
And so, the pototo free individual will find themselves spending more time in specialty grocery stores combing through natural food aisles for packages without any of the above on the label and learning how to cook from scratch. The real scratch, with no helpful canned or bagged items to help out. In order to enjoy pastas, breads and baked goods you'll have to order un-enriched baking items and make them yourself. You'll learn to can and freeze food yourself to help with future food prep. Mainly, you'll discover a new way of eating that you make yourself and isn't waiting for you on a store shelf.
Now this sounds brutal, and in a way, it is. For someone who is used to convenience and being able to pick up take-out at a moment's notice - well, it's a change. So much more thought must go in to what you put in your body. You can't leave home without first thinking about where the day will take you and what you might need to eat. Meals have to be well thought out, as most elements will have to be pre-prepared. But there's a beauty to it as well. There's something infinitely fulfilling about changing and adding and refining a recipe until the finished product is a meal you'll begin to really want. There's also something satisfying about knowing exactly, right down to the last teaspoon, what went in to the food that you're eating. It's like the extra effort involved makes the end product just a little bit more delicious.
A bonus, of course, to eating this way is that besides doing away with symptoms of food intolerance, it's also a healthier way to eat overall. You control the amounts of everything you consume and it's rather amazing how you learn your body in the process - what upsets your stomach, what really pleases your palatte and best of all, what it feels like to be nutritionaly healthy.
For the purposes of this blog, the offending food is that humble little tuber, the potato. This seems rather straight forward in the main, right? Potatoes of all shapes and sizes must be avoided. The problem is that potato is cheap, widely available, and good in a variety of forms; in short, the potato is a staple on today's supermarket shelves. It's lurking in places that most consumers would never think until they're forced, like me, to delve into those ingredient lists. Don't believe me? Take a look at what the potato intolerant person must avoid:
- Potato includes all kinds of potatoes including yams and sweet and all potato relatives including Kabuki squash, Jicima, and Jerusalem artichokes.
- Any food containing potato starch or flour. Most soups, stews and prepared foods contain one of these.
- B Vitamins (Niacin, Riboflavin, and Thiamin) are cultured on a potato base. These are used to enrich most baking flours, pasta products, breakfast cereals, and rice.
- Dextrose is a potato sugar derivitive. Dextrose is found in canned foods, bacon, lunchmeats, ham, and iodized salt (the iodine gives it a bad flavor so dextrose is added to make it palatable again).
- Most baking powder contains potato starch, as well as tapioca.
- Most yeast is grown on a culture that is made from potato.
- And product that has modified food starch, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, vegetable broth, MSG (also called "natural flavorings"), and propylene glycol (found in soda and ice creams).
- Plastic wraps and food storage bags are made of potato starch to make them biodegradable.
- All penicillin-type antibiotics are grown on a potato culture.
And so, the pototo free individual will find themselves spending more time in specialty grocery stores combing through natural food aisles for packages without any of the above on the label and learning how to cook from scratch. The real scratch, with no helpful canned or bagged items to help out. In order to enjoy pastas, breads and baked goods you'll have to order un-enriched baking items and make them yourself. You'll learn to can and freeze food yourself to help with future food prep. Mainly, you'll discover a new way of eating that you make yourself and isn't waiting for you on a store shelf.
Now this sounds brutal, and in a way, it is. For someone who is used to convenience and being able to pick up take-out at a moment's notice - well, it's a change. So much more thought must go in to what you put in your body. You can't leave home without first thinking about where the day will take you and what you might need to eat. Meals have to be well thought out, as most elements will have to be pre-prepared. But there's a beauty to it as well. There's something infinitely fulfilling about changing and adding and refining a recipe until the finished product is a meal you'll begin to really want. There's also something satisfying about knowing exactly, right down to the last teaspoon, what went in to the food that you're eating. It's like the extra effort involved makes the end product just a little bit more delicious.
A bonus, of course, to eating this way is that besides doing away with symptoms of food intolerance, it's also a healthier way to eat overall. You control the amounts of everything you consume and it's rather amazing how you learn your body in the process - what upsets your stomach, what really pleases your palatte and best of all, what it feels like to be nutritionaly healthy.
Labels: Potato
