How many more weeks?!?!

My doctor called yesterday!!!! She told me that she went to a conference this past weekend where they recommended people with numerous symptoms (like me) stay on the elimination part of the diet for eight weeks. (Sigh) Eight weeks!?!? I know the idea is for me to get better, but this diet has been a bear. Even when you start to add things back into your diet, you only do it one food at a time for three days. Depending on how my body reacts to the "new" food I can make it a part of my regular diet or take it out completely. Since I have already completed five weeks of the elimination part, I only have three more weeks to go.  When I think of it that way, three weeks doesn't seem that bad.

Because my doctor thinks I have a gluten intolerance, I won't try to add that back into my diet for at least six months. Hopefully, after six months of being gluten free, my weakness, numbness, and fatigue will be gone. If it comes back when I eat gluten, we'll know that gluten was the culprit of my symptoms. If not, I can try to eat wheat and gluten again.

To make things a bit more interesting, I found out yesterday as I was making lunch that our glass stove top is chipped and cracked.  

Due the chips and cracking, we shouldn't use the stove top because we could get shocked or it could cause a short. :-/ So now we can only cook with the oven and microwave. We do have a plug in grill I can try, but for liquids (like soup) that's not going to work so well. So now I'm on the hunt for a replacement glass stove top. If you know where we might be able to purchase one without breaking the bank, I'd appreciate your tips.

Also, if you have any tips for "clean" food using a grill, oven, and/or microwave; I'll take those ideas too.

I don't usually share a Scripture on my blog posts (a habit I should probably begin), but today; I woke up very fatigued and weak. This Scripture showed up on my Facebook feed, and I felt I should claim this promise today. It's a good promise for all of us.

Isaiah 40:31 "But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint."

 

Why aren't you better?

I'm ending week five, and I've decided that food is my sworn enemy.  Even on this diet, food is my enemy. My body hates me and food is my enemy. Eating food that is supposed to be "safe", my stomach hurts, my body is weak, and I don't have a lot of energy. I am so frustrated that I don't have a doctor to talk about with all this. My kids and and DH get the brunt of my frustration, which obviously isn't good.  

This diet is extremely stressful on my family.  They are ready for it to be over and there have been times where they just wanted me to quit and have told me so. I had to be on this diet over Valentine Day and our wedding anniversary which meant we couldn't really go out to eat (except for Chipotle, which wasn't edible on that date because it was too spicy) and DH feels guilty eating in front of me.  It's hurting my relationship with him and the rest of my family.

I can't say that I'm getting better.  I feel like I may have more energy than I usually do, but almost all of that energy has to go into making my food, so it's difficult to know if I truly do have more energy. DH isn't seeing any improvement. This was supposed to be the answer when none of the other medical professionals could figure it out. This was supposed to "fix" me. No luck. I'm just as sick & broken as I was before. 

I thought I'd be able to play with my kids again. Take them to the park and the library.  Walk barefoot with DH, and be able to go places without a wheelchair or walker.  Be able to exercise on a regular basis, and go out to eat on occasion without having to pick the entire meal apart just to eat something not worthy of the price paid for it. I'm so angry I could just scream!

So where do I go form here? 

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?

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. 

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. 

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. 

When choices become actions

Monday is the big day.  Monday I begin the comprehensive elimination diet. There has been quite a bit of preparation that has gone into this process and more preparation to come.

The first thing I decided to do was search for recipes on the internet and Pinterest . When I began, I could hardly find anything that would work without a lot of substitutions, but as I kept looking, I found more than I thought I would. I've compiled them onto a Pinterest board elimination-diet-recipes.

The second thing was to make a grocery list. Usually we make a menu before a shopping list, but as I tried to figure out what to buy and where to buy it (looking at local ads) the anxiety of what I was about to do started to overwhelm me. That's when my DH reminded me that it wouldn't be that complicated since I've been gluten and dairy free for more than 2.5 years. There would be some changes to my diet, but we could keep making some of the same recipes we already have ingredients for with just a few changes. So, going on the idea that what we really need are "staples" (free range chicken breasts, salmon, ground turkey, frozen fruit and veggies), my DH went shopping. I wanted to go with him (and he wanted me to go too), but with four kids who would not be amused to go shopping for hours, he went by himself. 

The shopping left me happy and a bit shocked. DH was able to get many items at our local Costco. He bought cold pressed olive oil, cases of coconut milk and rice milk, and even found canned tuna without soy! I was most surprised at what he couldn't find, free range chicken! Organic grain fed chicken was available, but since the idea is to be 100% gluten free, grain fed chicken isn't going to work; even if it is organic.) After spending hours at Costco (checking labels, lots of labels) we decided for him to come back home and possibly go to the grocery store tomorrow.

Since I have gluten and dairy free for so long, we figured that many of the "staples
 we've used for years would still work; unfortunately we were wrong. When looking through our own pantry, we found that some of our "staple" items (quinoa with brown rice, Food Should Taste Good Chips, gluten free pasta and flour mixes) won't work for this diet due to the oil that is added or nut and bean flours. On this diet, it is imperative to check labels. So many foods have soy and unhealthy oils in them. I had no idea! 

Tomorrow, I'm planning on cutting up a lot of the fresh produce we've purchased and putting it into quart size freezer bags so that when it comes time to making lunch and dinner, it won't be quite so time consuming and labor intensive. I'm also planning to make smoothies, pour about a cup into quart size freezer bags that can easily thaw overnight for a nice easy breakfast in the morning. 

I still need to work out the menu for the week so I know what I'm making when, but at least now I have many recipes to choose from and know what ingredients we have that I can put together. :-)

I'm pretty excited to start this new chapter. I've heard great things about this diet, and I'm really hoping that I can get my old self back.