Food has never been a problem in our family until sophomore year of high school. Sophomore year I found out that I was diagnosed with fructose n tolerance. Just to fill you in on what fructose n tolerance, “fructose intolerance is a disorder in which a person lacks the protein needed to break down fructose.“ (Healthtools.AARP.org) So this pretty much means that I cannot have any fruit, juice, candy, and other fruity sugars. This memory of being diagnosed with fructose has affected my eating habits for life. Even though doctors say I grew into, there is a possibility I can grow out of it, but as of right now I have to deal with these obstacles opening up my food horizon. This condition not only has trained me to restrict my diet, but build self control. Becoming fructose n tolerant has also opened my horizon to eating new things that I would probably never have tried before, but because my diet already is pretty limited I am open for anything. I am also a lot more interested in how food is made and pay attention to labels more. This experience in itself reveals my interests in non-fructose items, but has also given me little perks throughout my life. For example coming to Ohio State, they offer personal chefs for those with disabilities. Meeting with Chef Mike Newman, he offered a personal chef for me on south campus at Kennedy Commons. As thrilling as that sounds, I decided to experience the campus food on my own and deal with my problems without a chef. I understand that I could have had my own food, but I wanted to put this problem in my hands. I am the type of person who hates making people go out of there way for me. Having this disability has educated me more on the basic concepts of food and different types of sugars. Being fructose n tolerance stinks, but there are perks that come along with it and I have learned to not dwell on the no fruit and emphasize more on the perks.
Interesting. I have a cousin who is frutose intolerant and she faces similar struggles. She also attends OSU and discovered it in highschool as well.
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ReplyDeleteIt must be a really hard thing to change eating habit that you had kept for more than 10 years. But I am very glad that you could train yourself to build self-control through this unexpected discovery.
ReplyDeleteThat's awesome. I'm glad to hear you refused a special chef and decided to deal with it on your own. It's a definite sign of maturity when you can stand up and deal with your problems instead of sitting back and submitting to them.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't even imagine being fructose intolerant... I practically live for fruit. We eat foods everyday; most of the time without thinking TWICE about why we eat or how lucky we are to have it. You on the other hand, are an exception, and that alone says a lot about you. I really like how you're taking this into your own hands.
ReplyDeleteYour condition intrigues me... I'm lactose intolerant and so, I don't drink milk, and can't eat ice cream and other dairy products. But to be fructose intolerant!! that's quite a obstacle for you to go through! and also how well you have been dealing with it is just amazing! keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your story. I found it fascinating that OSU offers personal chefs to students with food allergies. They normally are very good on disability issues, but that was a dimension of it about which I hadn't even thought.
ReplyDeleteThis is really interesting and I really enjoyed reading your story. Thank you for sharing it. I never heard of fructose intolerant but I find it very interesting. I think I will research more info about it. I think its great that you don't let this stop you from living your life the way you want to or limiting what you eat.
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