I thought I couldn’t eat chocolate!
For about 3, almost 4 years, I have been sensitive to soy lecithin, which is found in bread, candy, gum, chocolate…etc. When I first started to develop my food sensitivities, I was eating a handful of M&M’s and instantly had a reaction; a stomach ache and stomach pain, which is when I discovered that I can’t eat most chocolates because of the soy lecithin inside, which is made from the rapeseed plant aka canola oil, my other sensitivity. Because of that and my reaction to M&M’s, I’ve avoided chocolate all these years and anything else that may have soy lecithin in it. I did have other reactions to soy lecithin like sprinkles and bread that didn’t have canola oil in them, so I was certain that soy lecithin was bothersome to my body.
I’ve always been curious as to what would happen if I just ate 1 M&M. So, my sister brought home peanut butter M&M’s and I tried one. Peanut butter M&M’s are bigger than regular M&M’s, if that makes a difference to how it would affect my system because of their bigger size and perhaps more soy lecithin included. When I ate that 1 M&M, I had no reaction; no stomach ache.
With no reaction to one M&M, I was then curious as to what would happen if each day I increased the amount of chocolate I consume adding one more M&M each day to reintroduce chocolate and soy lecithin into my system. Sort of like OIT (oral immunothearpy) where one with a food allergy consumes a small amount of their allergen and each day, increases the amount they consume. So I did that and added one more M&M each day until I reached the serving size of about 16 peanut butter M&M’s. I actually had 18 M&M’s as the serving size the final day because I had two left over, so why not just eat them, and to my surprise, I had absolutely zero reaction the whole time not even the full serving size.
Now, being able to eat a full serving size of peanut butter M&M’s, I was curious as to what would happen if I ate a full serving size of regular M&M’s. So the next day, I ate a full serving size of M&M’s and well, no reaction again. Excited that I can eat regular chocolate and M&M’s again, which were my favorite candy before sensititvies, I’m now curious as to why I’m able to eat them after all these years. Did the OIT method of reintroducing them back into my system work at all? I mean, I had no reactions the entire time, which leads me to think that did my sensitivities disappear and no longer exists? Am I still sensitive to canola oil? Should I test that one out?
I know it’s possible that allergies and sensitivities can come and go as you get older and your body changes. I’ve been through it. I had no allergies, then was allergic to the cold. Then the cold allergy went away about 3 years later. Then many years later, I developed food sensitivities when I had none like my whole life. So, it’s difinetly possible that they are going away, but if that’s the case, when did my sensitvites start to disappear? I would have no idea since I’ve been avoiding the foods I’m sensitive to and the only way to find out is to eat those foods with my sensitivities in them. Why would you do that if they bothered you for years? If my sensitivities are going away, I wouldn’t know that if I didn’t try to experiment with M&M’s and eat regular chocolate again. But, everything happens for a reason, right? Maybe there was I reason why I wanted to test this M&M theory and try it now almost 4 years into having food sensitivities.
Knowing now that I can eat a full serving of regular and peanut butter M&M’s, I’m curious as to what else I can handle that has soy lecithin in it. My goal while starting this OIT method, which I didn’t think I would have zero reactions, is to be able to eat a full size Hershey bar, so that’s what I’m going to try next and see what happens. When I ate a whole full size Hershey bar, which was so good, I, to my surprise, once again had no reaction what so over. What the heck?! I can handle a full size Hershey bar?! What happened?
Now that I reached my goal of eating a whole full size Hershey bar, which is so exciting and I can’t wait to eat more candies and items I’ve missed out on all these years, I started thinking about all the foods I can eat and enjoy once again. It’s very weird to go from eating anything, then being careful with what I eat for years, to then go back to pretty much eating anything again. I want to get caried away and enjoy/reenjoy all these foods, but at the same time, I don’t want to gain like 50lbs eating candy everyday, so I need to be careful with how much I consume and I think I’ll take a break now that I reached my goal and just eat regular candy every once in a while.
I think that if you have food sensitivities like I do (or did), and the food doesn’t bother you that bad, you just really get a stomach ache, that you should try foods that you’re sensitive to every once in while. See how it impacts you and see if you’re still sensitive or less sensitive than before. You never know, it could just go away. Or you could try reintroducing your sensitivities back into your system and having little pieces here and there. See if that helps with reducing or getting rid of your sensitivities.
This is all new and exciting to me. The best way to describe it would be for those ladies who love to drink alcohol, but find out you’re pregnant, which means you have to stop drinking alcohol for about 9 months. And once the baby comes out and you’re able to drink alcohol again, it’s feels great, it’s amazing, and you missed it so much. It’s kind of like that except 4 years later instead of 9 months, so maybe you can feel my excitement.
I think of all the foods I can enjoy or reenjoy once again. All of the places or stores like a candy store, that I can walk into and pretty much grab anything or anything chocolate related or covered in chocolate. Being able to walk into the movie theatre and get any candy my heart desires like M&M’s and enjoy it while at the theatre. Being able to get any ice cream at an ice cream shop other than plain ice cream like ones that have chocolate pieces in them. Going to Hershey Park and getting any candy I want, instead of walking home sad and empty handed. Walking into to someone’s house and instead of being like, “no I can’t eat that or that”, being like, “heck, yeah I want that chocolate chip cookie!” The list just goes on and on. It’s so crazy to me that things can just change and to be able to enjoy some of my past favorite treats that I haven’t been able to enjoy in so long. It’s like a whole new world and I’m so excited to indulge in all the new deliciousness that my body will be able to handle.
Nicole's Story 