I ordered some vinegar and salt flavored pork rinds the other day. I neglected to read the ingredients and enjoyed the pork rinds as a snack. I ate them rather quickly and noticed my mouth felt raw. I had purchased a couple bags and repeated the experience the next day. Again, my mouth felt a bit sore after I finished the bag. I drank some water thinking it was just because the pork rinds were rough.
Hours later, I noticed that my tongue still felt raw and sore. I was super disappointed. I read the ingredients and realized that they hadn’t used salt and vinegar in the pork rinds. They used sodium diacetate (?) and citric acid. Oh no! Here I am trying to heal my gut and I just ingested some questionable ingredients.
I googled sodium diacetate. The websites made it sound like a pretty safe ingredient, but my tongue was telling me otherwise. I went to the mirror and stuck my tongue out. I noticed that there were areas of my tongue that looked like they were peeling!!!
I looked up citric acid. I was sure that I had eaten citric acid before in candies, but I thought I would read up on it to find out how damaging it could be. I did read a website that talked about how citric acid can be used in sour candies. There was a mention that if you ate it too quickly, it could cause your tongue skin to peel. Ouch. I guess that is what happened.
Now that I see the physical impact of consuming too much of a chemical too quickly, I wonder about the impact that it has on the gut. Is this happening to my gut lining? Do I need to start my whole GAPS and gut healing journey over? Oh man. So disappointing.
I wish I was one of those people who saw progress within 30 days of a diet so I would be more convinced to stick with it. I was so strict with my diet for two months and still had PMS gas and bloating. I didn’t really have serious health concerns before starting the diet. I just really wanted to get rid of the PMS symtoms and regrow my hair.
Lesson learned. Avoid citric acid at all costs!