Strawberries and Bananas

Oh no. I've become one of those people that talks about their health and bowel movements all the time. Yuck. But, it seems to be the most common theme in my life these days - and I've also made (trying) to be healthy my top priority, so what I can and can't eat is often on my mind.

I got very sick last week from beef - rice at a dingy restaurant; sick enough to finally go to the hospital and get some tests done. The reason I never go to the hospital here, incidentally, is that I have to get a number and sit and wait for several hours before I see anybody....which is how it went down this time as well. After first convincing the front desk that I wanted to see a gastro-internalist rather than a 'family doctor' because I already know what my problem is, I sat down and waited. Like all white people in Taiwan, however, I expect special treatment and can't stand to sit around and be ignored. I thought maybe I'd been given the wrong number, because according to my calculations, it would be at least another 2 hours before I could see anybody, and that was way too long. So I complained, and they sent me to the pediatrician, who was very nice and could schedule all the right tests. Ultrasound was clean, to my surprise, because I thought something could be wrong with my liver. Nope, must be something inside the stomach. Most likely, I've had a peptic ulcer for years which is why I throw up all the time.

I decided to fast this week. For the last 5 days I've had only fruit and vegetable juices. It was going pretty well until I ate a banana, which is a common migraine trigger, and I was sick again. Then today I had shaved ice with strawberries (usually I'm ok with sweets) and now I'm sick AGAIN....(if you get migraines, you can only eat very fresh cream, so you have to avoid any kind of milk or whey powder which is made from old milk.) I was feeling amazing, excellent, and euphoric after not eating for 5 days. Better than I've felt for a long time. But it didn't solve any of my problems.

The trick is to never eat a trigger food, which seems like it would be simple, but isn't. Although it seems like bananas and fresh fruit and all that healthy stuff would be good for my stomach, I'm actually better on packaged cookies and cake. I can eat tons of cake and not get sick. Cake all the time.

On an up note, today I went on a shopping spree and bought 5 pairs of jeans, and a luxury pair of linen pants. (Oh so comfortable!) I cleaned out my closet a little and packed away all my sweaters. It's getting pretty warm in Taiwan. I have a month left of school, and this summer I'm planning on working for a month in Korea, and then heading to Malaysia to watch my best friend Nick basejump off of cliffs.