In case you missed Part 1 and Part 2 a few weeks ago, make sure to start there. This week, I’ll pick up my story for Part 3 right where we left off.
My Story – Part 3
In Part 1 and Part 2, I mentioned that my story, as it relates to food and beauty products, began in high school and continued through college.
Post-College
After college, I moved into an apartment by myself. I finally felt like I could make choices to eat exactly what I wanted. At first, I was all about quick and easy foods. Packaged goods and quick meals were my jam. But about a year into living on my own, I moved to a “crunchy” neighborhood in Grand Rapids, Michigan. And, this is where my love of healthy eating began.
I started to become more aware of the foods I was putting into my body and how those foods made me feel. When I ate out, I chose restaurants that offered lots of healthy options and I found myself gravitating towards those foods. I was still making a lot of prepackaged meals at home but I loved the chance to eat out and eat wholesome food.
My stomach aches were still pretty constant and I couldn’t figure out what was causing them. I didn’t really work hard to figure it out and by this point, I just assumed this would be my norm.
Gluten-Free and FODMAP-Free Friends
In Grand Rapids, I had a few friends who also had very sensitive stomachs for various reasons. I loved learning alongside them what caused their pain and discomfort after eating. I found myself really interested in their stories and I liked learning about the different approaches they were trying.
Some friends went gluten-free and some found that a low FODMAP diet worked for them. But the most interesting thing is that there wasn’t one fix. Each person had to put in the work to figure out why they couldn’t eat certain foods. For the first time, I was able to see that if I was going to finally figure out what was causing my stomach aches, I was going to have to work for it. There wasn’t going to be a one-size-fits-all answer to my stomach woes.