This is Legwork and Life, where I track the legwork and opportunities in my career as an autistic advocate, and also describe parts of my adult autistic life, including my perspectives on everyday problems and situations.
So hey, remember last week's mention of a genetic test I did? Turns out the results are bad news for my eating habits. Though not new bad news, I guess. In essence, I need to be avoiding processed foods like the plague, especially anything "fortified." This includes basically everything with white flour, because that is almost invariably fortified. Stop and think about that for a moment. How much of the grocery store just got put off-limits?
I'm really, seriously thinking about verbally narrating a trip through each aisle of the grocery store, wherein I mention each category of food and explain why I can't have it. It'd be a thoroughly depressing experience, but maybe educational? Not sure. Maybe it'd be better done as a series of pictures, because I've been underwhelmed by every experience I have of myself on TV or recorded audio.
Anyway, it won't kill me if I eat these fortified foods, but it will start screwing with me the more I eat. The offending chemical is "folic acid," which you'll note is normally a healthy thing. In fact, it's vitamin B-9. Hence it's in fortified foods. My particular system simply doesn't digest it properly, so it builds up in my system and does bad things. The specific bad things vary by the person, but everything from digestive issues to fatigue to depression can result.
This isn't really a new diet change, as I mentioned. In general, it's wise to choose whole grains, fruit, and vegetables over TV dinners, mac'n'cheese/quick pastas, and other heat-and-eat options. But of course, I'm a stressed autistic person with depression and an anxiety disorder. As such, I'm going to want easy options for meals. I make do somewhat with leftovers and frozen meals, but sometimes I just want something tasty, hot, and fresh. Most restaurants are closed to me as well.
Basically, my eating habits are kind of a mess and it's extra bad for my health compared to other people. Yay...
In happier news, spring continues to advance. The pond is entirely unfrozen now, which lets me see the wind rippling the water's surface. Also, it rained and shredded up the algae-blooms that froze near the surface last year. You could kind of see those in the heron picture last week. So hopefully being outside will be a bit safer for a while yet. Lawn care hasn't started, thankfully.
I went on a walk Friday of last week, in lieu of my usual exercise. It was nice, and I enjoyed the sunshine, but it also reminded me of why I prefer biking. Having the uncertainty of social interaction with every person I pass is extremely uncomfortable. I tried to be friendly to the two older dark-skinned ladies in ethnic garb out of general goodwill, but the awkwardness made me so anxious that I couldn't meet the eyes of the next three people I passed. On a bike, I'd simply summon a polite/friendly smile for each and be gone almost before they'd even had time to register it. My bike's in the shop, but hopefully tomorrow it'll be available for pickup.
I did locate some cattails, though. I have a friend who's interested in foraging, and apparently cattails are edible when they're young. Also, you can harvest the pollen as flour. So that's weird, but also kind of cool. This is a smaller stand of them, but there's a much larger stand I didn't get a good picture of further down the way. I'm not sure how much pollen you can really get off a cattail brush, but it'll be interesting to see.
So hey, remember last week's mention of a genetic test I did? Turns out the results are bad news for my eating habits. Though not new bad news, I guess. In essence, I need to be avoiding processed foods like the plague, especially anything "fortified." This includes basically everything with white flour, because that is almost invariably fortified. Stop and think about that for a moment. How much of the grocery store just got put off-limits?
I'm really, seriously thinking about verbally narrating a trip through each aisle of the grocery store, wherein I mention each category of food and explain why I can't have it. It'd be a thoroughly depressing experience, but maybe educational? Not sure. Maybe it'd be better done as a series of pictures, because I've been underwhelmed by every experience I have of myself on TV or recorded audio.
Anyway, it won't kill me if I eat these fortified foods, but it will start screwing with me the more I eat. The offending chemical is "folic acid," which you'll note is normally a healthy thing. In fact, it's vitamin B-9. Hence it's in fortified foods. My particular system simply doesn't digest it properly, so it builds up in my system and does bad things. The specific bad things vary by the person, but everything from digestive issues to fatigue to depression can result.
This isn't really a new diet change, as I mentioned. In general, it's wise to choose whole grains, fruit, and vegetables over TV dinners, mac'n'cheese/quick pastas, and other heat-and-eat options. But of course, I'm a stressed autistic person with depression and an anxiety disorder. As such, I'm going to want easy options for meals. I make do somewhat with leftovers and frozen meals, but sometimes I just want something tasty, hot, and fresh. Most restaurants are closed to me as well.
Basically, my eating habits are kind of a mess and it's extra bad for my health compared to other people. Yay...
In happier news, spring continues to advance. The pond is entirely unfrozen now, which lets me see the wind rippling the water's surface. Also, it rained and shredded up the algae-blooms that froze near the surface last year. You could kind of see those in the heron picture last week. So hopefully being outside will be a bit safer for a while yet. Lawn care hasn't started, thankfully.
I went on a walk Friday of last week, in lieu of my usual exercise. It was nice, and I enjoyed the sunshine, but it also reminded me of why I prefer biking. Having the uncertainty of social interaction with every person I pass is extremely uncomfortable. I tried to be friendly to the two older dark-skinned ladies in ethnic garb out of general goodwill, but the awkwardness made me so anxious that I couldn't meet the eyes of the next three people I passed. On a bike, I'd simply summon a polite/friendly smile for each and be gone almost before they'd even had time to register it. My bike's in the shop, but hopefully tomorrow it'll be available for pickup.
I did locate some cattails, though. I have a friend who's interested in foraging, and apparently cattails are edible when they're young. Also, you can harvest the pollen as flour. So that's weird, but also kind of cool. This is a smaller stand of them, but there's a much larger stand I didn't get a good picture of further down the way. I'm not sure how much pollen you can really get off a cattail brush, but it'll be interesting to see.
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