(4 min read)
What is Crohn’s Disease you ask? Something you never want.
According to Google, it is “A chronic inflammatory bowel disease that affects the lining of the digestive tract.” So basically, you are stuck with it forever, it may cause fatigue, weight loss/gain, extreme abdominal pain and a whole lot of other crap (pun intended), oh and you never know when any of those symptoms may happen.
I was diagnosed a few years ago, at the end of my first semester of college. For the first couple of months of college, I was unable to eat anything. Everything that I tried to eat caused excruciating pain. I went to the regular doctor, they gave me a generic pain pill, which did nothing. It was the worst Thanksgiving I have ever had because all of the food was mocking me. Oh, and instead of gaining the freshman 15, I lost it, plus some.
Around Christmas/ New Years’ time, I found out that the cause of my problems was not only Crohn’s disease but also a mass/tumor on my colon. It is non-cancerous, but surgery is the only way to remove it. At the time of discovering I had this awful disease the doctor also scared me by suggesting that I wouldn’t be able to go back to school.
Nonetheless, that was not true. He sent me back with lots of drugs, with intentions of making my disease manageable. The drugs worked, including Humira, this painful needle that I injected myself with every two weeks. Not my cup of tea, but hey it worked.
Fast forward to me deciding to spend a year abroad. My doctor recommended I stay on my two medications, well the one was not available and the other I stopped taking after a month of living in France.
So, against my doctor’s recommendations, I was not taking any medication and none of this was to his knowledge.
Rebellious? Stupid? Ignorant? Smart? Maybe all of the above?
Not taking medication meant that I was at a higher risk for complications.
During my time abroad, I had zero flare ups, no complications and was completely healthy, all while not taking any medication. I ate whatever I wanted (cheese, bread, more cheese and lots of carbs), also I drank at least once a week. And nothing, no problems.
About 3 months after I returned to the States, I am in an ambulance being rushed to the hospital because I am having extreme abdominal pain. Doctors say to no surprise, that the pain was because of my crohn’s disease.
Now I am not a doctor or dietician or have anything to do with the medical field, but I don’t find it a coincidence that shortly after I return from Europe after having no symptoms, suddenly I have a flare up in the US.
What I do know from a little research and general observations is that the food in America has an abundance of preservatives and chemicals.
Europe on the other hand has banned many of the chemicals and additives that the Food and Drug Administration allow in American food. For instance, artificial colors like red 40 are rarely found in Europe but, it is the most common dye used in America. M&M’s that are sold in Europe have to be made with natural dyes, along with other American products that have artificial dyes.
While grocery shopping in France, I noticed that the food I purchased had a lot shorter lifespan than the food bought in the US. One of those reasons is that many items are bought fresh daily, bread being a major example (I will not admit how many baguettes I bought a week), but also other products like meat. Even packaged food did not last as long as I expected.
My assumption, again this is all based on my experience and basic knowledge of this topic is that the food with fewer preservatives and chemicals is better for your body (shocker I know). Therefore, by eating more natural foods in Europe I was able to manage my crohn’s disease without any issues.
But why does the US have so many more chemicals and additives than Europe other than that it is legal?
Preservatives are used to expand what would be the normal lifespan of the food. Certain items may last a week and others up to a year. Grocery shopping habits differ greatly between Europe and America. In Europe you shop just about every day, buying fresh food meal to meal. In the US it is common for people to only shop once a week or even only once every two weeks. At least that is true for older generations, younger generations in America are adopting the European style of grocery shopping. However, in the case of shopping less frequently, preservatives and chemicals may be necessary for the food to last longer and could be the reason why there are many more preservatives in American food.
So, is eating in Europe actually better for you? Maybe or maybe I am just creating another reason why I should move back to Europe?
What are your thoughts on eating natural/fresh foods and how it relates to your health?
>>Morgan