The Yellow Door Life

The journey I have been on with my health has taught me many lessons, with one of the most important being this simple, yet somewhat painful truth, there are certain things that I have to break up with forever.

Now, I haven’t smoked and vaped for years, and I never really ever planned to pick those habits back up, so they were the first big thing I ever had to break up with permanently. I can also say, all these years later, that I don’t miss them.

I did not, however, process that there would be foods that I would ever have to break up with permanently. Meaning, I am not going to ever mess around with them EVER again.

To start, let’s talk about almonds. 

When I first started looking at the foods I was eating and determining if they were problematic, almonds were one of the first things I tested. Back in 2023, I realized that my body didn’t like almonds, and honestly, I didn’t even like the taste of them. Yet, for more than a decade, I had been using all things almond, because it is a healthy alternative to many things I was trying to avoid, such as gluten and dairy. Now almonds are great and super healthy in general, but they are NOT for me.

People with respiratory issues tend to have an issue with almonds especially, which is odd, but ironically, true. 

Not being able to eat almonds (or choosing not to because they make me feel off) can be a pain. So many great alternative products are made with almonds, so it limits my choices. The thing about eliminating foods though, is it helps me design a diet that works for me and doesn’t make me feel like crap all the time. 

So #goodbyealmonds 

Now, this gets trickier when we are talking about foods that I’ve convinced myself I’m going to miss. Foods that have been a metaphorical shoulder to cry on when I’m sad. Foods that were put in my stocking, Easter basket, and stashed in the cabinet my whole life as “crash out” food. Foods that I could always just pick up on the way home from a bad day and binge eat while I binged on a show. 

I used to literally call Fridays “Junky Fridays” where I would eat fast food and candy, while watching the newest episode of Grey’s Anatomy. 

As I have continued my research on the ingredients found in these “comfort” foods though, I have come to the firm resolution that as much as I think one time can’t hurt. It, in fact, can and will. 

For example, I used to love Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. They have always been one of my absolute favorite candies. I can’t count how many I have regrettably eaten in my life. 

The nutrition information and ingredients for a package of two cups is:

Most of us know what these ingredients are and the main issue I would address with Hershey’s peanuts is they are not using organic grown ones, which of course means you are largely consuming a product that was grown with heavy pesticide use. But, for the purpose of this blog, I want to focus on one of the ingredients listed last and that is TBHQ.

What in the Actual Heck is TBHQ?

First of all, I want to start by reiterating one simple fact that I have mentioned before about the things we are putting into our bodies, which is, if you don’t know what an ingredient is in your food or you cannot pronounce it, you SHOULD NOT be eating it.

It’s simple. If it contains strange acronyms or numbers, more than likely it is a chemical that was created in a lab. 

Your body is organic and your fuel source should be organic too. (When I say organic here I mean naturally occurring and comes directly from nature). 

Why do we keep thinking it’s ok to consume synthetic garbage and expect not to end up with heart disease, cancer, gut issues, and oodles of other problems?

It should be common sense, but unfortunately, it is not. 

So back to TBHQ. 

TBHQ, or tertiary butylhydroquinone, is a food additive used to keep processed foods fresher, for longer. 

This ingredient may keep food fresh, but it is linked to neurological issues, behavioral changes including higher incidence of ADHD, digestive problems, and you guessed it, immune system issues. 

For years, I have eaten Reese’s and other foods containing this crap, never blinking an eye at what it might be doing inside my body. Now that I know it’s linked to what I’m going through, there is absolutely no reason it should be part of my vocabulary, let alone sitting in my pantry. 

It’s wild to think I will never eat Reese’s again, but it is wilder to reintroduce something toxic into my body, knowingly and willingly. 

It doesn’t end with almonds and Reese’s though. As part of this process, I have to go through and reintroduce individual foods one at a time to determine if they cause a negative reaction in my body. From chia seeds to grass-fed butter, I will have to weed out all the healthy foods that are not for me, while also coming to terms with the fact that the non-healthy foods can largely never be reintroduced. 

Sometimes this reality is painful, but so is living with an autoimmune and pulmonary disease. 

The choice isn’t always easy, but for me, it’s a clear one. 

❤