Friday, February 27, 2015

A few days left of the diet.

I haven't posted in a while because I was having password trouble, so I'm finally back. :-) 

Cooking has gotten a bit easier, but I do eat many of the same dishes repeatedly. I still struggle with fatigue, weakness and tingly in my legs and arms, but many of my GI issues have gotten better. I also noticed my face didn't break out as much during my cycle this month. 

The most fun part of this diet has been trying new foods and eating more fruit and vegetables.  Eliminating sugar really does bring out the sweetness in other food, like rice and herbal tea. ( I have discovered that I LOVE❤️❤️❤️ herbal teas!)

I finally ordered ghee from Amazon and it is so YUMMY! I've been cooking with it, but also added it to a baked potato, rice, and topped a rice cake with it. (I was going to put a link for it here, but it didn't work.)

Some of my new favorite foods are sautéed mushrooms, onions, and spinach.  So good! I also really enjoy roasting veggies with garlic, sea salt, ginger, and black pepper (whatever you want really) and you get a sweet and savory dish. I hear thyme is good so I'm thinking of adding to something today.  DH and I also found that adding some canned tuna (be careful which kind you buy, look for tuna that doesn't have soy) to stir fry gives it a really good taste and it changes it up from having chicken all the time. 

One item that has made things easier is this kitchen cart. Our kitchen is so small that this cart nearly doubles our kitchen counter space. It has two shelves and a drawer too. It didn't stay empty for long. 😊
(I actually spent so much time here a couple of days ago that my muscles are still sore from all the chopping!)

I mentioned there are only a few days left of the diet, but that really depends on a choice my DH and I need to make. If I only do the elimination part of the diet for four weeks, my last day should be tomorrow (our anniversary), but I haven't been able to consult with my doctor so I'm not sure if I should begin adding foods back into my diet Tuesday, or continue with the elimination part until I hear from her. (I do have to remain strictly gluten free for at least six months to see if that is what is causing some of my symptoms.) 

If I choose to begin adding things back into my diet, what do I begin with? I don't know! I wish I had more guidance. Unfortunately, even though my DH and I were both impressed with this doctor after my appointment, we have not been impressed with her lack of follow-up. She's the only functional medicine doc our insurance will cover, so we're kind of stuck. 

What would you do in my place?

Thursday, February 12, 2015

Why this diet is so hard

I'm on day 11 and this STINKS!!!! It's not the food itself, it's the work that has to go into everything just to eat a meal (or snack). There has to be clean dishes, space on the stove to cook, and room to chop produce every time I want to eat. That may not seem like a big deal, but we have six people in our family with a VERY small kitchen, barely any counter space, a dishwasher that only cleans the dishes when you've cleaned them by hand first, and many pots and pans that can only be hand washed. Which means that just for me to be able to eat one meal dishes have to be done three or four times a day. (My excema covered hands aren't enjoying that very much.)

Even if dishes weren't such a big deal there's the food prep itself. If I had tons of extra time on the weekends or evenings, I could prep everything ahead of time, but the time isn't there. Plus, there's the fatigue. I get tired really easily. Chopping lots of veggies is exhausting for me. My arms tire easily, and I simply can't do it for long enough to get a week's worth of food ready. Which means I would need to do it every evening for the following day. Easy right? Except evenings tend to be difficult for my kids. They become really clingy and want Mommy to sit and snuggle. (How can I say no to that?) Plus, with their special needs, I don't want them to become anxious and overwhelmed because Mommy doesn't have the time to sit with them and spend time with them before bed. If they do become anxious or overwhelmed, it can take an extra hour just to get them in bed and maybe to sleep. 

We're a homeschooling family. The more time I have to spend washing dishes, prepping food, cooking meals, and eating; the less time there is for me to teach. That's not going to work. Not to mention the two year old that needs constant supervision and has a severe case of the "terrible twos". 

Then there are all the cravings. I know I was eating and drinking things that I shouldn't have been. I really like soda and chocolate. I rarely would have cake or brownies, or ice cream; and when I did it had to be gluten and dairy free and yet I still crave them (especially around Valentines Day and my wedding anniversary. The past few days I've really been craving soda, chocolate, and a bowl of cereal. :-/ Things that I can't have on the elimination diet. 

Right now, this STINKS! I don't know for sure if I'll be able to keep this up. The time, energy, and money it takes to complete this diet may just be more than I have to give. I know it has great potential to help me get healthier and not have all these physical problems anymore, but if I can't find the time to actually eat that's not healthy either. 

I want to end this post with a question to other homeschooling moms who have jobs or go to school while homeschooling, how to you juggle it alll? I really need your ideas on how to make this work. 

Sunday, February 8, 2015

Diet day 7

I had planned on blogging more often about how all of this is going, and life decided to get in the way. Last week we had three different family members struggle with a stomach bug that meant Momma was needed to comfort and blogging went out the window. We also had appointments for our kids that kept me away. Anyway, I hope to do a better job this week of keeping my handwritten journal and my blog up to date.

Seven days into the diet and I haven't really seen a difference. I'm still struggling with fatigue and weak legs, I've had some pretty bad headaches off and on, and I'm still having mood swings and GI issues. I know it can take a while to see a difference, but I must admit that I was hoping for something to show improvement by now. 

I do need to weigh myself so I can see how my weight changes as I go through the diet. I doubt my weight has changed very much, but it will be interesting to see if it changes over time and by how much. 

I have gone through some rough times with eating basically the same things each day. I would like to try something different but with the limited ingredients and our small kitchen it makes it difficult. Even with cutting up the vegetables last weekend it's been a bit more difficult and tiresome than I anticipated. I do like the fact that I'm eating healthier, and I'm hopeful that I will see positive results. 

I want to end this blog with my motivation for this diet. For the past four years I went from an active mom to someone who can't take the kids to the park, library, or on field trips without a second adult. I can't physically do all the things that I want to do with my kids, so my motivation for this diet is to become healthy so I can be the mom my kids deserve. So, I'm writing this blog post to be my encouragement for the next week to keep going no matter how difficult it is and even when I really want a granola bar or cookie. My health an being a more active mom is worth more than something sweet. 

Monday, February 2, 2015

The first day of the comprehensive elimination diet

AUnfortunately, the day didn't start out so well. DH and I were rudely woken by our dear Nugget who got sick in the bed. (Poor baby) He was better very quickly, and was way too awake to back to sleep. I couldn't go back to sleep for fear of him becoming sick again, so I watched the news as the minutes ticked to hours. 

Eventually, he did fall asleep...on me. So when breakfast time rolled around, I had to skip it because convenient foods like cereal are NOT a part of this diet. I didn't get smoothies made the night before, so without being able to go to the kitchen and fix myself something, I simply had to go without. After a while I remembered that my DH bought rice cakes and SuperBoy could bring me one of those. So that was breakfast and my late morning snack too. 

Nugget did wake up and was back to his two year old self (being a stinker) until about one. Of course, that's when it dawned on me that I hadn't eaten lunch yet and that Nugget had fallen asleep on me again! Salad with mushrooms to the rescue (and another two rice cakes). 

Soon things were back to normal and I worked on washing dishes so I could make dinner (salmon filets, quinoa pilaf (something new), grilled yellow bell pepper, and my DH's own creation, avomato salad). It's was super yummy!

After supper we normally would take the girls to Handmaidens, but since Nugget had been sick, we felt it was in everyone's best interest to stay home. So the girls and I made smoothies instead! They turned out pretty tasty! They're excited to make some more for everyone in the morning. 😊

I'm feeling pretty good this evening, but had very little energy this morning. Hopefully tonight we'll get a full night's sleep and be ready for day two.