How to Reimagine Diet Restrictions In A Foreign Country

Can I just start this post off by saying–my diet restrictions have changed since moving to a third-world country! I now eat wheat.

Yeah…you read that right. I eat wheat.

Not to scare any of my friends back in the states who spent time worrying about Elisha dying from a little gluten exposure. Hey guys…I’m now eating croissants and pie and other special things when I want to.

Diet restrictions

When I left the USA I was about nine years deep into a diet my Doctor forced on me for health purposes. At the beginning of it all I changed my diet about every month and a half, while attempting to treat pain problems. I had new food rules always flying at me. It felt like “Diet restrictions” was part of the definition of Elisha.

• No wheat
• No dairy
• No corn
• No potatoes
• No rice
• No fruit
• Double your protein intake, Elisha.
• Only eat freshly prepared food, no leftovers or prepacked food

That’s not even the whole list, it just goes on and on. And if I’m being honest, the constant diet changes did give me a touch of an eating disorder I’ll probably always be fighting. But we won’t go into that now.

Enter: Perú

When I first came to Perú I stuck to my food requirements. I was strict, I was careful. I mean, who wouldn’t be? What if I eat something and get sick here? What if it hurts? It had been nine years, and I couldn’t just quit all of my diet restrictions now. Though I had always hoped something would change in that area.

After a month in the country during my second trip to Perú, I noticed something different. My stomach no longer grumbled all night in pain.

Even in the states when I stuck to my strictly “Healthy,” doctor-approved food only…I went to bed with an upset stomach. Every single time. Whether I ate purely veggies for dinner, or gluten-free pizza, or ice cream, my stomach would be upset and wouldn’t ever shut up!

Food differences

That was the first change I noticed about Perú. That somehow the food was different here, and all I’d been eating was fruits, veggies, chicken and oatmeal for the most part.

It took me a while to warm up to the idea of it, but slowly I started to experiment more. We tried a few wheat-based treats only found in Perú that I’ve never heard of, and chicken dishes made with soy sauce–which contains gluten, which I couldn’t have before. We tried Chinese food! I hadn’t been to an authentic Chinese restaurant since I was 12.

We tried a whole variety of things. Slowly at first. But we’re working our way towards sampling it all.

Reimagining food rules

Something really special about living in Perú is all of these things that were off limits before…no longer were. I could eat gluten and not hurt or ache or bloat.

Perú brought me freedoms I hadn’t experienced before in my adult life.

Before, Doctors told me all the dos and don’t dos. There were so many food rules given to me. And the worst part is, not only were they given to me and never taken away, but those added diet restriction never helped with any pain, they only found more problems to treat that I didn’t even know existed before.

This may sound cheesy, but the fun part about being an adult is making your own rules. You know, decorating your house your way, choosing your own sleeping and waking hours, buying a pet whenever you want, chasing your dreams, eating whatever you want. The list goes on. Adulting brings total freedom to choose and design your life any way you want.

If you’re like me and you have a chronic pain condition, perhaps you know that a lot of freedoms in life disappear in the pain and the treatment. Freedom evaporates in your decisions. Because someone, perhaps even yourself, tells you that to get this one ounce of relief, you must remove this or that. This activity, this food, this clothing style that’s cute but not comfy.

Freedom evaporates in the decisions made to treat what no one but you can see.

Chronic pain limits

A lot of us with chronic pain conditions watch as food is taken away, and all the little life moments that bring happiness are taken away…not always because of food. But a lot of special moments and memories come with food and friends and family. And if you can’t eat out or it hurts to hang with people, it just plain hurts.

Chronic pain limits a lot of normal everyday activites and joys. If you’re interested in learning more about chronic pain limitations, check out the Beginners Guide To Fibromyalgia. Featuring six things you should know about how chronic pain affects a person.

One limitation not mentioned in that post, is how chronic pain tends to affect the normal, everyday function of eating. When I went searching for pain treatment, the first thing they did was take a bunch of food away from me.

Now don’t get me wrong, I believe that even in spite of all the voices in the world when it all comes down to it, you need to choose whose voice to listen to, and usually it should be your own. Trust your own judgement. You know what’s best for you.

That being said, when you go searching for help from a health professional, usually the Doctor’s voice wins out.

The wheat in different countries

If you spend your whole life in one place, in one country, and you never go anywhere and experiement and try new things, you will never know what differences are out there.

I always think it’s funny when you go places and people comment about the things that aren’t the same as where they come from, as if that’s somehow a turnouff to this location. I have to laugh because, if these places were identical, why would you want to travel to all of these locations?

If I knew Paris would be exactly the same as North America, why would I waste the money to travel there? It’d be the same thing as driving home, only if the car was a plane and it took ten hours to get there.

Similarly, my sister has some food allergies as well. This is relevent because she’s done more traveling than me. She once visited France and has also been to Spain. Upon her return she commented that the wheat there was different and that we could eat it because it wasn’t processed the same way as it was in the US.

She therefore suggested I should look into whether or not the same was true in Perú.

The thing my sister mentioned took us down a rabbit hole of research. Honestly, we could talk all day about the quality of food in the USA and the good and bad things to eat. And I’m not talking about “healthy” veggies versus “Bad for you” chocolate/candy.

When my sister suggested I look into whether I could eat the bread in Perú…she meant to try it.

Reimagining diet restrictions

If you go your whole life believing “This is a hard no, don’t touch” which may be true in some places, you’ll never know if it is true in other places. And if trying this thing doesn’t kill you…I mean, I have a gluten allergy. It is real and it hurts. But I wouldn’t die from it if I ate it. I would hurt for a few days. If that was my only consequence…I felt it was worth an experiment.

About three months into living in Perú we got curious. We discussed it for a few weeks. Weighed the pros and cons breaking these diet restrictions. What would the consequences be? Is it worth it? What should we try first?

So many dishes in Perú have some sort of gluten in it. Our options were literally endless.

The first time we tried gluten, I stressed about it so much I gave myself a stomach ache. Well what was the point then of trying wheat again if I couldn’t even enjoy the moment?

We put it off for a few weeks and once again avoided any dish with gluten in it.

Then one night on a whim we decided to give it a go. I was so excited about it I kept doing my happy food dance in my seat.

We didn’t jump full force into it, didn’t want to go too hard on this and hurt my stomach. So we introduced wheat and other things into my diet slowly. And we’ve had great success in the food area since!

Moving to a foreign country allowed me to chase dreams. Because life is worth living and experimenting in and it’s worth all of the advenutures, even if the adventure is learning how to eat to be happy and healthy for you and your body.

Ultimately moving to Perú taught me how to reimagine diet restrictions and it reminded me that all the rules and restrictions which I had grown accustomed to when it came to taking care of my body, wasn’t always the best thing for me. Especially if eating everything right, at the end of the day, still left my stomach hurting.

Food for thought, the wheat in Perú is not identical to the wheat in the USA. The wheat in Perú is imported from locations all over the world like Canada, Europe and Perú. It has not been processed in ways identical to that of the US. The USA uses a lot of preservatives in their foods, and it is the preservatives that I struggle with.

All this to say, I don’t know for certain that I cannot have or do or touch this or that…unless I try it for myself. The world isn’t identical food-wise, culture-wise, scenery or anything else-wise. So it’s best not to assume what’s true in one place is true in others. Because one great joy in life…is going into the unknown and trying things you’ve never tried before.

I enxourage you to reimagine the way you view food, culture, and diet restrictions . And especially, if you plan to travel abroad in the future and diet fears keep popping into your head, I encourage you to try something new.

Interested in checking out some things my Doctor would be ashamed to know I happily partake in? Check out this post about 10 Peruvian Dishes You Need To Try Immediately, and this post about 11 Peruvian Desserts You Need To Try Immediately. My Doctor would probably be appalled if he ever found out, but me, I’m out here living my best life.