Stomach Woes

Last night I was soooo sick to my stomach.

It hit me like a truck. I was lying in bed, just putting down my book and getting ready to go to sleep, and I felt a bit of heartburn. Just as I was standing up to go to the cabinet and get some Rolaids, I started to feel a bit nauseous. By the time I was at the medicine cabinet, I had that awful almost-going-to-barf feeling where your mouth waters on overdrive and you get that sweaty uppper lip.

Luckily I didn’t vomit after all, but it was a close call. I did take about five Rolaids, and needed a good 30 minutes of sitting upright to feel well enough to go back to bed again. I feel fine this morning, but just can’t put a finger on what it was that set me off. I didn’t eat that badly over the weekend, honestly! I did have Chinese food on Saturday, but only one plate, and not even that big a plate. Actually, I seem to have the portion control thing under control, for the most part. It’s just that I sometimes waver from good quality food to easier but bad quality food. And anyway, Chinese on Saturday doesn’t make for nausea on Monday. And then I thought maybe the ham (we had some for dinner) was off, but why weren’t the kids hurling? (Notice I don’t mention the Hubster…he has an iron gut and could eat meat that was green and actually moving of its own accord and not get a stomachache.)

But let’s step back a bit…there I am at the medicine cabinet rooting around looking for Rolaids and not finding any. There was a time when my medicine cabinet would have held not only several jars of Rolaids (regular and extra-strength) but also a bottle of Pepto-Bismol and some packets of Eno. Anything that would coat, neutralize or soothe an upset stomach could be found in my cupboard. Why? Because I used to eat so badly, and on a regular basis, that I would need these drugs just to calm my stomach. Every day.  It’s been such a long time since I needed anything like Rolaids that I almost couldn’t find any. In the end, they were there – thankfully – behind a package of band-aids.

Yesterday’s experience got me thinking, in general, about the old adage, "you are what you eat". It really seems true, especially the older I get. I notice now that even just having a low veg day can cause me to feel off-kilter. And if I go heavy on the complex carbs (like english muffin for breakfast, pita for lunch and a load of white rice at dinner) I am guaranteed to get acid indigestion. Same goes for eating a lot of fruit and/or drinking too much fruit juice…that just fires up the furnace of my stomach. Ouch! Almost as bad as being pregnant!

It really is amazing how easy it is to keep it all in balance, and how easy it is to throw it all off-kilter, too. I know this from experience: whenever I eat well-balanced meals (and reasonable portions) I feel great, digestively speaking. I won’t go into the rather uncouth details, but everything functions the way it’s supposed to. If I veer away from the golden mean, though, things start to fall apart, and it’s my digestive system that tells me, even before the impact registers on the scale, that all is not as it should be. If I find myself reaching for the Metamucil, it’s time to boost the veggie intake. Gobbling Rolaids? Time to cut back on complex carbs. Pepto-Bismol? Likely overdosed on fatty foods. It’s like a simple equation, only my tummy ain’t as forgiving as she used to be.

Which brings me back to last night. What could have caused the near-miss with the altar of the porcelain god? Let’s see. Breakfast: shreddies. Lunch: vegetarian chili with avocado, cheese & low-fat sour cream. Dinner: thin-crust pizza with ham & bechamel; colelsaw on the side. Dessert: fresh raspberries. I could blame the heartburn on the raspberries, or maybe the mayo in the leftover coleslaw was off? It’s all homemade, so I know where it all came from & where it’s been. I don’t tend to leave my foods out of the fridge for that long, so even leftover coleslaw had likely not had a chance to breed anything nasty. I’m sorta stumped on this one.

I guess I’ll just have to put it down to a bug going around. Either way, anything that gets my attention focused back on feeding the body some good foods is a good thing in my book.