Fruit and Milk Synchronicity
I found out the strangest thing about myself, food wise. It all relates to when I first went vegetarian. I actually started out trying to be vegan. I was good at it for a while. But after a few months I developed this weird ear problem. It would swell up. I didn't know why. But eventually I went back to milk and the problem was fixed. So I figured maybe I was defective and needed milk.
I've recently and quite accidentally learned more about the issue. I've been drinking almond milk exclusively for a good solid 3 months now. With the weather starting to get warmer there was cantaloupe on sale and I got one. When I ate that old ear problem from back in the day returned. I was stunned. Hadn't had that problem in so long. I figured I was cured.
Not so. The cantaloupe made my ear go crazy. First ringing as it was slowly closing up and then a marked impairment in my hearing. It's really quite annoying. That's when it occur ed to me that along with not having had milk in quite some time I also hadn't had fruit in ages. And finally I made the connection. I don't understand why I need to be consuming milk to be able to consume fruit, but I think I've finally solved the mystery of my food related ear problem.
All I've been able to determine is that it seems to be a digestive problem. Because cooked fruit doesn't cause the problem. And since cooking breaks down food and aids in the digestive process I'm guessing that my body is unable to properly digest the raw fruit flesh and that's what's causing the issue. Something about drinking milk creates some reaction in my gut that makes it possible for me to process raw fruit and without the milk I need it to be cooked in order to process it. The meat of the fruit raw really is major. The juice and zest are a minor irritant. It's just a very strange reaction. You would think diarrhea or vomiting or even just stomach ache. But no. Swollen ear. It's like the undigested fruit enzymes all took the express bus in my veins up to my ear canal and camped out there for several days.
I googled, but was unable to find anyone else on the Internet complaining of the same problem. Of course it could be happening to lots of people and they may not ever make the connection between the milk and the raw fruit.
The easy answer is just don't eat raw fruit. Which I plan not to anymore. Just wish I knew someone who could explain this phenomenon to me or some place where I could read more about it. But since vegans are so few and far between and it probably isn't a problem for most of them, it's unlikely I will ever really know how or why.
I've recently and quite accidentally learned more about the issue. I've been drinking almond milk exclusively for a good solid 3 months now. With the weather starting to get warmer there was cantaloupe on sale and I got one. When I ate that old ear problem from back in the day returned. I was stunned. Hadn't had that problem in so long. I figured I was cured.
Not so. The cantaloupe made my ear go crazy. First ringing as it was slowly closing up and then a marked impairment in my hearing. It's really quite annoying. That's when it occur ed to me that along with not having had milk in quite some time I also hadn't had fruit in ages. And finally I made the connection. I don't understand why I need to be consuming milk to be able to consume fruit, but I think I've finally solved the mystery of my food related ear problem.
All I've been able to determine is that it seems to be a digestive problem. Because cooked fruit doesn't cause the problem. And since cooking breaks down food and aids in the digestive process I'm guessing that my body is unable to properly digest the raw fruit flesh and that's what's causing the issue. Something about drinking milk creates some reaction in my gut that makes it possible for me to process raw fruit and without the milk I need it to be cooked in order to process it. The meat of the fruit raw really is major. The juice and zest are a minor irritant. It's just a very strange reaction. You would think diarrhea or vomiting or even just stomach ache. But no. Swollen ear. It's like the undigested fruit enzymes all took the express bus in my veins up to my ear canal and camped out there for several days.
I googled, but was unable to find anyone else on the Internet complaining of the same problem. Of course it could be happening to lots of people and they may not ever make the connection between the milk and the raw fruit.
The easy answer is just don't eat raw fruit. Which I plan not to anymore. Just wish I knew someone who could explain this phenomenon to me or some place where I could read more about it. But since vegans are so few and far between and it probably isn't a problem for most of them, it's unlikely I will ever really know how or why.
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