Freaky Fructose

The best part about this picture..
Do you see it? Well, it’s where I’m sitting---and it’s not on the toilet.
TMI? Well, I'm just about as happy as can be. In finally have answers to a troubling, more than year-long stronger in my life.
I’ve spent months, getting poked and prodded all while hoping something would stick--you know, that something would let me know why I've had disabling diarrhea.
I would eat something--seemingly anything--and ten minutes later I was.. ahem..in the bathroom.
And all I was doing was eating—what I thought were fabulous foods--salads, fruits, fish--good clean foods that surely Father Earth would approve. But as it turns out--not me, not my frail gut.
It was so bad--the diarrhea often left me feeling flu-like--no energy, sick to my stomach--you know, just awful.
I went through everything--a colonoscopy, testing for viruses and bugs in my gut, allergy tests--which did show up one to nickel, which I thought was the cause of the diarrhea--nope, there was more to uncover.
Finally, the last test I take discovers my body does not & will not process fructose—no matter how nicely I ask! It sees it as a poisonous invader and “spits” it out so to speak.
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 went to at least five doctors--some put me on steroids--which only masked the issue, others gave me natural remedies which also only masked the issue. What I needed was to find out what was making me sick in the gut and answer it that way.
​Mayo Clinic
​The Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale to the rescue. I'm so grateful I have Mayo right in my own backyard.  It was Dr. Russell Heigh, a gastroenterologist, who recommended the test that gave us the answer we needed. I did a series of "breath" tests---Yeah, breath tests--that found my issue. I would drink a substance--fructose, sucrose and others, then blow into a tube--8 times over a two hour period. Then you send in your "air" and it's analyzed. All came back negative, except one: Fructose. 
Yep, my body cannot, does not want to and will not process fructose of any kind.
So, now the real work begins. I  need to totally change the foods I eat. Asparagus? No-can-do. Beans? Nope. Apple? No siree. All have too much fructose for my sensitive body..
Of all the luck.
But you know what—I’m coming out of the fog/depression/frustration and putting my big girl shoes on. I have to concentrate on keeping those nutrients IN my body while OUT of the crapper.
So, join me here and come along for my new way of life. It promises to be interesting. 
So, do you have issues with foods that are supposed to be good for you?  Any tips—coaching—you’d recommend?  Please, please--pretty please---Share below—I need all the help I can get!

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