Wheat

One of the first foods which was dropped in January 2012 when the gastroentrologist recommended the FODMAPS diet for a change after almost 4 years of digestive problem was wheat. That was the last time I ate wheat outside a few time as food experiments which turned out disasterous.

What we did was to shrink my diet to the minimum foods I knew I could eat and see what happened. It's a minimalluy balanced diet with a little of each food group and with health supplements I have a healthy diet. Everything else, FODMAPS and many more foods were off-limits for the next 4-plus years.

When it comes to new foods I use the three-strikes, rule. I give a food two tries to be ok with the digestive system, forgetting the taste buds which often loves those foods, and the third time it's off the list. I will occasionally go back to foods on the no-eat list but they only get one chance and they're effectively permanently censored.

That has been my food regimen for the last 4-plus years, so when I got through the 10-day regimen of antibiotics this last fall and waited a few weeks, I tried wheat again, a croissant, which didn't go well, so I thought I had lost wheat for good. I tried it again twice more, different things, such as cornbread and crackers, but the same thing happened.

Then for some reason about a month ago I tried a baguette bread and nothing happened. There are 4 Seattle or Tacoma bakeries which makes great fresh bread, three solely bakeries and one in Metropolitan Market (Seattle-Tacoma chain of about 6 stores).

When that went well I tried the other three brands with no problem. Then croissants, agains no problems. Then cornbread, minor problems but nothing significant. And then a favorite junk food, Ritz Crackers, no problems.

So I thought wheat was back. Or so I thought, but biscuits, doughnut and muffins didn't go well. Why those I don't know, but probably something else in it or the type of wheat. Who knows, but I got some wheat back and now baguette bread is a mainstay of my diet with occasional cornbread or croissant.

And Ritz Crackers are the occasional snack food with something on it. I'll take it for now. I haven't tried other wheat products yet because I don't eat enough wheat everyday to buy the quantity bread, rolls, etc. come in where baguette fits the size and the 5-7 days I take to eat a loaf.

I haven't tried other grains or similar foods, mostly because I don't see a need so far and all of them produced adverse reactions in the digestive system. I'll take what I have for now, a little wheat in a few products, locally made and fresh, except Ritz Crackers.