I am not sure how to translate CTFD into German. I think that is what I have been doing for the last few months- working on translating my life into German. Everything nutrition-related is getting lost in translation. Or maybe it is just lost.

When I was in my early 20’s, I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis. It has been lurking in my health history for years. It comes and goes. For years now, it has been gone. I believe a combination of nutritional intervention and medicine keeps it manageable. I am grateful not to be one of the many patients I often saw in the hospital- significantly malnourished, treated with steroids, on parenteral nutrition, and/or  awaiting surgery to remove part of the colon. But I am scared by the possibility. Although I don’t want it to be true, my colitis and other symptoms of “a gut out of balance” respond well to a gluten-free, dairy-free, low sugar diet. And so, I was that uptight white female shopping at Whole Foods for my organic gluten-free snack after a yoga class. Namaste, get out of my way!

Now I am a genuinely lost American in Bavaria, Germany. In case you need a visual, imagine me next to a table of an endless variety of meat, bread, and cheese. In order maintain my sanity, I have allowed a lapse in my nutrition ideals. When in Germany, eat like a German?…CTFD and enjoy the culture?

Let’s just say, it hasn’t been going well. My gut is not good.

Every Monday and Wednesday, I need to make a snack for my daughter for preschool. It’s called Brotzeit…literally translated it’s “breadtime”. As an act of defiance, I send “ants on a log”, kale chips, bananas with coconut and peanut butter, carrots and hummus. My daughter wants me to try her favorite- a Leberkäse sandwich ( translated to “liver cheese”, yet it is not either liver or cheese…I’m so confused).

What next?