I’ve been noticing over the last year or so that my body acts negatively after I eat pork. Normally I can start to tell within an a hour or two after eating and the feeling usually lasts well into the next day. A variety of things will happen, but mainly I feel sluggish and get an upset stomach with bloating and/or severe abdominal pains or cramps. It doesn’t matter what kind of pork product it is, I can plan on not feeling well after eating it.
Prime example: Tim and I went to dinner with my coworker and his girlfriend a couple months ago and we went to a restaurant that has a “whole-hog” cooking style. I ate a stupid amount of pork knowing that I was going to feel awful, and sure enough I did. For the next two days! However, there was so much that I had never tried before, that I felt like I was going to miss out.
I was doing some research to understand the symptoms I was experiencing and it’s very possibly that I have developed an intolerance to pork. It’s not an allergy, just a digestive intolerance. Which, if that’s the case, just means that my body lacks the appropriate enzymes to absorb and digest the proteins found in pork. I also found that having a pork intolerance is more common than people realize, and that it can develop at any time in a person’s life. I haven’t gone to a doctor for any official tests, but I’ve been monitoring what happens every time I do consume pork. I have also read that the type of pork, where it comes from and what it was fed can also be factors to how it can effect people with an intolerance. Thankfully I haven’t experienced anything worse than severe pains. I’d rather not have to plan my day around the bathroom if you get what I mean.
All that being said, I am officially breaking up with pork. Except for maybe when we have BLT’s because I LOVE BLT’s. I’ve never been the biggest fan of pork to begin with, though I do like a pork chop occasionally. I find this all very funny because my Grandpa was a hog farmer and I was in 4-H and showed pigs at the county fair growing up. Maybe my childhood is coming back to get me.
So pork, sorry but I’m breaking up with you. You can keep your stuff and I’ll keep mine. No hard feelings, okay?
—m.