So tell me: Who travels to the south of France — a gastronomic tour de force and also quite possibly the most beautiful place on the planet — and actually loses weight? The answer, my friends, is “moi.”
The culprit, it seems, wasn't jet lag (that just made me feel a little loopy) or lack of delicious cuisine (there is never a dearth of delicious food when French folks are involved, trust me). Nope, instead of showing up in a new land and contracting some nasty foodborne illness (which isn't uncommon; just ask anyone who's come down with a raging case of Montezuma's revenge), I just so happened to bring it with me.
The “it” to which I'm referring? Food poisoning. Although the very wonderful French doc who made a house call on a Sunday morning to see me (yes, they make house calls in France — another reason I totally love that place) didn't make an official diagnosis, I have a sneaking suspicion is was a cyclospora infection. Sure, it may sound innocuous, but believe you me — it's not. Cyclospora is actually a nasty little parasite currently making its gut-wrenching rounds throughout the U.S., and its stomping grounds include our fair Cowtown. I will spare you the gory details, save for this: IT IS FOOD POISONING AT ITS WORST, AND YOU DO NOT WANT IT!
You know that I like to harp on healthy eating, which, of course, includes lots of fresh fruits and veggies. And I'm still very much on that bandwagon — and always will be. But let me leave you with this gentle reminder: Always, ALWAYS wash your produce thoroughly … and, with this outbreak reaching epidemic levels and healthcare professionals still baffled as to why so many cases are surfacing, this caveat is more important than ever. (By the way, yes, my produce was washed, which makes this whole food poisoning thing especially scary. Sadly, I've heard tell that cyclospora can invade a piece of fruit systemically. Translation: No amount of scrubbing can stomp it out. Nice, huh?)
Fortunately, although the bon voyage started out a bit shaky, my live-saving French physician gave me an RX for some miracle drugs that had me up and running quite quickly. And, thank goodness, I got to enjoy that fabulous country like it's meant to be enjoyed: with lots of joie de vivre (and my medications close at hand).
I promise to blog more about it soon!
