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Week 1 of the Elimination Diet

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OK I have decided to share with you my journey in the search to healing my body. 6 months ago I was really sick. I was in so much all over pain that I needed pain medicine to function for my family. I hated it and tried not to take it because I did not want to turn into a narcotics statistic but then my family suffered. My joints hurt so badly that I was having a hard time getting around. Then my body just started hurting all over. I went to the Dr to have blood work done and everything came back normal. He sent me to a rheumatolorgist and even though I had inflammation he couldn’t place it so he just gave me the umbrella diagnosis of Fibromyalgia and sent me home with a medication that I should just take. I read the side effects and was not OK with it.

I had the Mirena IUD placed 4 months post partum because of abnormal bleeding, which ended up only making the bleeding worse, and the Dr still kept talking me out of having it removed again and my symptoms had been getting worse since then so I decided that I was ready to heal my body. Not cover up symptoms. Clearly my abnormal bleeding was a clue that things were not in balance and I needed to have the Mirena removed to know really what was going on. I scheduled an appointment to have it removed and the PA that was removing it for me tried to talk me out of it again and told me that there was no way that it could be the Mirena that was causing me any of my symptoms. A week later My joint pain was almost gone and I had started running again.

I made an appointment with a holistic Dr to help me get rid of some symptoms I had had for years now which included brain fog, dry brittle nails and hair, dry skin, hard time focusing, sugar and processed food cravings,  poor quality of sleep, seasonal allergies, my cycle was short why my periods where long and heavy and excess weight. This lead to blood tests that tested both my genetics for how I process vitamins, blood count, state of my nutrition and so on. I learned that I have genetics that make it hard for me to process B vitamins and folates so I need to be sure to supplement those and that I was low on CoQ10 and Omega 3s. Just starting to take these suppliments changed so much for me. I was functioning again. I quit hurting. My skin got a little better. But I wanted to tackle the rest of my skin issues, the rest of my brain fog, my short attention span, my sugar cravings that were still going strong and my weight.

I was seen by another holistic Dr and she told me that it was probably my gut that was wreaking havoc on my system. So she prescribed an elimination diet with supplements and antifungals. Warning me that I was likely to feel much worse on the diet before I got better so to wait until after the holidays to do it. She believes I have something called Leaky Gut Syndrome. So pieces of my food are actually penetrating my bowl and leaking into my bloodstream causing inflammation and all my issues. The 4 week plan will hopefully help my gut heal and then I can slowly introduce some of these foods again.

An Elimination diet means that I would not be eating eggs, wheat, corn, Soy, sugar, shellfish, beef, pork, alcohol or coffee (when she said this I told her she went too far LOL). She did hand me a long list of things I could eat. Including rice and oats so that was something.

I decided that Jan 1st was a good a day as any to start and it gave me time to wean myself off of coffee and switch to green tea which I could have. The Dr had sent me a meal plan and a grocery list and like the ADD person that I am I waited until the first day of the diet to fill my prescriptions and go grocery shopping. That trip to the grocery store was a $300 trip. A lot of the items I will be able to use a gain nest week because it is a 4 week plan so this weeks trip will be less expensive. I ended up going to 3 pharmacies to fill my prescriptions because the anti fungal that I needed at those places had simple syrup added to them which I couldn’t have. I’m on day 7 now and still haven’t gotten that yet because of pharmacy transfers and other issues but hopefully Monday will be a better day.

I have cooked sooooo much this week and it was all new to me recipes. Most of them were very good and we had fish 2 times this week which was nice. I haven’t been good enough at cooking fish and that is the reason for my Omega 3 efficiency.

Day one I felt good and was doing fine. My older kids were still at their grandparents so I was still getting to sleep in with the 1 year old. Day 2 wasn’t that bad either, the kids came home that day and I went for a run that night. Day 3 I hurt all over and the brain fog hit me to the max. I was always full because the meal plan leaves no availability to go hungry but I was dragging. Day 4 I was dragging even more. Day 5 I was still in a funk but still sticking to it but missing coffee and Day 6 was hard. It was Family night which means pizza and a movie on the couch with the kids. Husband, being the good husband he is, brought home the pizza and handed it to me while he changed out of his work clothes so that I could pass the pizza out to the troops. That was the first time I really wanted to break the diet. Handling and smelling the pepperoni pizza. I didn’t want to cook so I ate leftover beans and rice and made my self a bad smoothie. Day 7 and I am a little bit peppier. Good husband let me sleep in since I was up and down all night with the one year old and have been all week getting around 4 hours of sleep on average a night. This does not help me heal but it is the way things are at the moment.

I’ve been doing my research and apparently the trifecta of getting rid of sugar, gluten and dairy + antifungals (the one I have) and probiotics is causing a storm in my gut flora and the nutrients I am getting from my food.  So my Dr was spot on about things feeling much worse before they get better. I’m just hoping that by the middle of next week I will start to get the ability to think back. I seriously could just stare at a wall and I wouldn’t get bored because I just can’t think at the moment. Writing this post was hard. But I know I am doing this for a reason and hope that since the antifungals have done their job and I no longer crave sweets all the time that I will be able to keep it up after I quit this diet. I will be incorporating some of these meals into our normal meal plan because the fish we had was really good and so was some of the chicken. The smoothies have not been good at all.

I am also happy to announce that 12 lbs have been shed since we purchased this house. 2 during this week. If I lose 2 lbs a week for the next 3 weeks I will be very happy and this will have been worth it. I’m more than tired of my gut and my double chin. If I could just stop being so tired all the time that would help too.

If you read this all the way through then thank you for reading. Have you done the whole 30 or an elimination diet? Is it something that you need to do but have been putting off? Tell me about how it went. Did you have withdraws? Anybody have any recipes they want to share with me?

http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, living in the moment, Parenting, photos, Right now

:: right now::

Doing a right now post that I learned from Soule Mama in an effort to be more mindful and present in my life. Please join me and post your link to your right now moment in the comments thread.

Right now I am………….

:: enjoying the peace in my home this morning as baby sleeps, and my oldest is trying to recover from being sick on the couch watching educational material on TV with his brother right beside him.

:: thinking back to how nice it was to get to leave the house last night, just me, to go see some friends from CutterWelderMaestro for dinner and drinks talking about our experience bringing life into the world and how unforgettable and magical it is.

:: finishing my first cup of coffee for the day and hoping that it will help me finish tackling my horrible desk that I have been working on decluttering all weekend.

:: wishing I had more time to knit these days and actually finish one of these big projects that I have on the needles
.
:: so glad I decided to go and get my hair cut and colored before Christmas.So much happier looking in the mirror now than before I had it done.

:: wearing layers upon layers this morning since it is cold out there and chilly in here

:: trying not to make a to do list because lately I have been getting overwhelmed by them and I get more done when I tell myself that I don´t have to do anything that day.

:: embracing my middle child, Magni, and the huge character  that is in that little body (what did I expect naming him Magni which means magnitude and strength). Something I have to remind myself every once in a while when he is having one of his moods and I have to handle him a little differently than my oldest.

:: hoping that Odinn starts feeling better soon. He has had a fever for 2 days now and slept most of yesterday.

:: feeling my knee ache from hitting it on the doorway of our kitchen when climbing over the baby gate. The skin actually split open a few millimeters and now I have a swollen blue bump under it.

::  looking around my home and forcing myself to see the love and that it is lived in instead of the mess and what I need to do today.

:: wishing you and your families love, beautiful moments, and health on this day and looking forward to reading your moments.

52 week challenge, decluttering, living in the moment, Parenting, Right now

::right now::

Learning to live in the moment I am following Soule Mama’s example and doing a right this minute post.

So right now I am……

Who needs clothes? PJs work fine on lazy days.

Made this for the hubby this Christmas

My big boy!

Snowbird coming along.

Been a bad test knitter

Going to be getting rid of lots of STUFF this year

Overwhelmed with all this stuff.

The first thing I will tackle in my 52 week challenge

:: sitting at the dining room table watching my boys play with stamps after having a very lazy morning on the couch watching old 50s cartoons on Netflix.

:: enjoying the rest of my coffee that is cold by now but I don’t mind.

:: watching Alex play with is rings, switching hands and amazed that I have a 3 month old that is 24.5lbs (11kg) and 27.25inch (69cm) long.

:: realizing that I have been a bad test knitter over the holidays but have started back on the Azulejos shawl by liZKnits. I was busy knitting dishcloths and hats. Forgot to take a photo of the dishcloths that I made.

:: overwhelmed with toys and stuff in my home.

:: wishing I could magically get rid of half of my kids toys with out them noticing.

:: deciding that I will start my 52 week organizing challenge over and start with my desk that has become the catch all of all papers and needs to be organized for taxes and anything else that nobody knows what to do with.

:: feeling the tension in my shoulders from carrying Alexander around this weekend after he got his shots on Friday and started running a fever on Saturday. Thankful that he is his happy, healthy, chatty self this morning.

:: missing my family in Iceland and wishing there was a way to zap us back and fourth at will between countries with out long, expensive plane rides.

:: happy that a job is waiting for me to finish my supervision hours as a therapist when my oldest goes to school and we can afford to put the other two in the best daycare in town.

:: thinking that today will be a lazy day of only doing basic chores and leaving the rest for tomorrow.

:: wishing you all a happy, beautiful day filled with love, wonder and that you too have the ability to be in the moment with the people you love.

http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, living in the moment, Parenting, Right now

::right now::

Living in the moment using one of Soule Mamas right now rituals.

Right now I am…..

:: cuddling under the quilt I made with a cup of coffee and a heat pad at my back waiting for Alexander to wake up (it´s 11am so it must be soon).
:: tired from all the late nights I pulled before the holidays to make it Christmasy around here.
:: wondering what to do with some of this stuff that we got for Christmas.
:: proud of myself for finishing 2 dish/washcloths yesterday and almost finishing my husband´s hat.
:: seeing my WIP bin get less and less full knowing that if I finish 2 more projects that I will let myself cast on these amazing socks.
:: listening to my children play and looking forward to seeing them grow together.
:: wishing my husband didn’t have to work this week and could be home with us.
:: planing to buy more candles for the fireplace since ours is a non functional fireplace but I love the glow from it when I light the candles in it.
:: hoping it will snow soon. Don’t see the point in all of this cold and no snow (shakes head while it is 27°F here)
:: trying not to beat myself up for this Christmas not living up to my standards since my boys had a blast and things did work out but deciding that next year will be different and I will have a better plan.
:: longing to be able to go back home to Iceland for the new year to celebrate it with my family.
:: looking forward to a trip to the south of France in a couple of years to celebrate one of my best friend’s birthday (I started saving for it) giving us time to be just the two of us for the first time in a long time.
:: breathing in love and happiness to share with my family and my readers this season.
:: hoping that all of you had a beautiful holiday season and that the new year will bring you love, comfort, well being and beautiful moments with those you love.