We had a barbecue at our Shul (synagogue) last night, and I really enjoyed myself. I coudln’t eat EVERYTHING there, but I still found plenty to eat. It was easy enough to avoid the potato and corn chips, pretzels, pasta and potato salads, and the buns.
I’m well aware that the tossed green salad and cole slaw contained vinegar, black pepper, and sugar- all avoids for me, yet they’re what the shul’s cook adds to just about everything. A “simple salad” in her mind has salt, pepper, sugar, and vinegar. It’s what she adds to “plain vegetables or beans” and continues to think of as “plain.” And, of course, the cole slaw contained cabbage, another avoid on my personalized SWAMI. And the salad did include some tomatoes and cucumbers. There also may have been traces of wheat in the meats that were cooked on the barbecue- from a bun being toasted before the meat was grilled, or from the spatula touching other people’s hamburger or hot dog buns before being used to flip and serve other foods.
I’m normally very careful to avoid anything with even trace of corn in it- no corn syrup, no citric acid, nothing that MIGHT be made from corn. But I wasn’t super careful last night. The marinade on the chicken wings had citric acid, sugar, and vinegar- but no corn syrup. I didn’t check the ingredients in the hot dogs; there might have been corn syrup in those. I also ate a single toasted marshmallow- again, without checking the ingredients.
All in all, I had a good time. The foods I ate made me feel good, and I really enjoyed the company. It was great to catch up with people I hadn’t seen in months or years. So many people wished me a Mazel Tov (congratulations) on my daughter’s upcoming wedding!
But I woke up in a lot of pain today. I’m sure the damp weather is contributing, but it was just as damp yesterday and I didn’t hurt this much. Not only do I have sharp pains in my lower back, but my left knee was REALLY hurting when I walked up the stairs! It was a sharp pain in a very specific spot,and it felt like my leg may not support my weight! I had to step up only with my right leg, which then made my whole right leg sore from overuse.
I’m not sure which specific food yesterday was the problem, or if it was a combination of all of them together. It’s just very frustrating because I felt very good while I was there, and I enjoyed being able to socialize, but now I’m not sure if it was worth it. And I’m not sure if I should be doing this again.
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