The Science of Fattitude

This one might just be far too much information for anyone but myself.

Sometimes, I perform experiments. Some of these experiments involve cooking, but since I am usually hungry like the wolf, I try not to veer too far off the tried-and-true.

Sometimes, I just experiment on myself, as I have this week.

I have digestive issues. I know everyone gets them, but it seems to me that when I was growing up, I didn't know a single person with peanut allergies, lactose intolerance, or celiac disease; however, maybe people just died in the olden days when I was a kid, and maybe medical science is just identifying things that everyone seems to have in order to prolong our lives so that we can die of something else, smelling of Old Person Smell. Anyhow, I first noticed that I had a problem with iceberg lettuce about 15 years ago. At that time, I was trying to eat salads pretty often, thinking they were healthy, but I'd get the severe shits (sorry) within an hour of consumption. Within a short time after I noticed this, I'd also get severe abdominal pain, and since I'm not a fan, I eliminated the iceberg variety from my diet forthwith. Within the last couple of years, I've noticed a similar problem with raw broccoli, which I used to add to my romaine. I've read that this is not uncommon in people in middle age, so I now only eat broccoli that's been cooked in some fashion, and while it still makes me fart, the pain no longer accompanies the acoustic and aromatic signs of my consumption.

For the most part, I've figured that some of the flatulence and poo issues involve my consumption of beer. I like beer.




But I've been skipping beer during the week, and haven't been seeing/feeling a difference. So this week, I skipped my usual cereal with milk for breakfast and smidgen of milk in my coffee. Tada! I thought, this must mean I am lactose intolerant, but after googling the symptoms, I'm not so sure that's the case. So I looked up celiac disease, and it sounds somewhat related to the dairy thing.


Webmd has some info here: Celiac Disease Symptoms. Very interesting stuff, especially the part that says celiac disease is associated with autoimmune thyroid disease. Hmmm... maybe too much information isn't such a good thing.