Are You Aware of the Risks of Food Preservatives?

Lunch and dinner are important meals of the day. For these meals, I usually serve rice, lentils, and vegetables to the family.

Today, I was tired for making dinner. My spouse was busy with work, and all the childcare duties had been on me. But dinner still had to be made. So I asked him to warm some store-bought rotis from the refrigerator, and we had curry.

He gave me four rotis. That’s too much — I only eat two. Anyway, I ate the rotis because I didn’t want to waste food.

I mention it often, ‘dose makes the poison’.

An hour later, I started feeling crawling sensations on my face, itching in my neck and back, throat tightening, and overall anxiety.

What was going on? It was the sulfites, nitrites, dye, other additives, and preservatives in those store-bought rotis.

How can I be so sure? Well, I’m one of those people who are chemically-sensitive. I have hypothyroidism too. My chemical tolerance is low.

Years ago, my tolerance had dropped further, due to a cockroach allergy. After eating contaminated food, my windpipe was constricting, and I was scared for my life.

Since then, I eat cautiously. I cook all meals from scratch. If I don’t follow this discipline, I get lip swelling, puffiness around my eyes, nostril tingling, hives — it’s not fun at all.

I felt so angry at myself for this blunder. I should have cooked a simple rice meal. I would have been tired, but that would have been safer.

I’m also angry because I set a bad example for my little son too. The poor boy had woke up today with a severe case of eczema. He had scratched his legs until they bled.

When I reviewed his food intake yesterday, he had store-bought chips and yogurt full of preservatives.

I have nothing good to say about store-bought yogurt, either. I had anaphylaxis from yogurt before. My spouse doesn’t seem to understand the severity of sensitivity.

Before my own allergy situation, I had advised the son to avoid such things to not get eczema flare up. And here I was, eating store-bought roti and facing allergies.

Sometimes I look three decades back. My mother served everything homemade. Food allergies were unheard of.

Now, our fridges are full of food, much of it is processed and preserved. It’s unfortunate. My spouse needs to understand this. But he works in IT and doesn’t really get it. If he made rotis from scratch like I do, that would have been great. But he’d rather play videos, or use store-bought condiments.

I feel helpless. My health is my responsibility, So, I should have been vigilant.

Now, what am I going to do?

I will certainly not take any medicine. I will mention it in my health diary, as an unpleasant encounter. I will treat it as a reminder to make better judgments next time.

I will drink plenty of water, and get good sleep — and hopefully, by tomorrow morning, I’ll feel healthier again.

Allergy is not a laughing matter. It’s the immune system saying: “I don’t like what you put in the body.” The immune system is our security guard, and we dare not provoke it. We must respect its signals, for our own well-being. All the diseases these days are due to assaults on the immune system.

I would like to end this story with a reminder to consume foods with minimal chemical intervention. If you are sensitive like me, it's even more important to avoid those modern-day poisons, the preservatives.

Beware of them, avoid and let the immune system stay calm, a necessity for healthy living.