Juice Detox

Today is day 4 of the Juice Detox “Reboot” that my partner and I have rashly embarked on. It’s going pretty well, considering we jumped into this without realizing how much cooking and cleaning it would require! We’ve been tired, still working our jobs and having to cook and clean more than we used to. Not a great combination.

This has been a challenge, to say the least.

No wonder restaurants and pre-packaged edibles are so popular. I feel like every moment when we’re home we’re cooking or prepping something to cook. It’s really delicious, but I’ve got to figure out some time-saving tricks soon or I might revolt and order a pizza! (I wouldn’t actually, though. Doing this with my partner has really solidified my resolve!)

Here are a few recipes that we’ve made so far that we will likely keep in our “Fave Recipes” section of our recipe box!

Ginger Honey Soy Dressing

2 Tbsp Minced Fresh Ginger

2 Tbsp Minced Fresh Garlic (I used the pre-minced kind)

2 Tbsp Raw Honey

4 Tbsp Soy Sauce (I used my fave gluten-free kind)

4 Tbsp Olive Oil

Puree the first four ingredients in a blender. Add oil slowly until dressing is emulsified. Keeps up to one week in the refrigerator. Though this recipe did not last 3 days in our kitchen! We used it every day! SO good!

Here’s a shot of a beautiful salad (Romaine, Spinach, Tomatoes, Avocado, Orange Pepper) with the ginger dressing:

Here’s a pic of us enjoying our first juice!

Here’s a pic of us enjoying our first smoothie!

Neither of these were our favorites, but they were certainly good!

Here is the recipe for my favorite dinner dish!

Roasted Acorn Squash

1 Acorn Squash

3/4 tsp Sea Salt

1/2 tsp Black Pepper

Olive Oil

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Cut the Acorn Squash in half lengthwise. Scoop out the pulp and seeds and discard. Brush each half with olive oil, then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Arrange cut sides down on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. (If you don’t have parchment paper, I’m sure it would work without it.) Roast the squash until the flesh is tender and the edges are golden brown, approximately 25-35 minutes. Remove from the oven, flip the squash halves over and set aside.

Mushroom Sauté

1/4 tsp Sea Salt

2 Garlic Cloves, minced (I just used a spoonful of pre-minced garlic)

1 lg Portobello Mushroom (chopped)

1 small Onion (chopped)

2 tsp Fresh Sage (finely chopped)

dash Ground Red Pepper

While the squash roasts, heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium high heat. Add the onions and garlic and sauté 2 minutes, or until onions begin to turn translucent. Add the onions and garlic and saute 2 minutes, or until the onions begin to turn translucent. Add the mushrooms, sage, salt, and red pepper and sauté until the mushrooms begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Fill the roasted squash halves with the mushroom mixture and bake again for another 10 minutes.

I actually took the mushroom saute out of the squash after I took the picture because it made it difficult to get the acorn squash onto my fork and NOT spray mushroom bits all over. 🙂 It was SO delicious! The acorn squash are imported from Mexico right now, though, so I will wait to have this again until I can grow my own!I am SO excited about my gardening adventures that are just beginning to sprout. I reserved a plot at my church’s community garden this summer. So many possibilities! I’m sure I’ll be sharing about that adventure, too.

Maybe after this detox I’ll pick back up with writing what I’m eating, what my symptoms are and whatnot, but right now I am just too tired! All of my minutes are spent sleeping, eating or preparing to eat. Or working or doing homework, of course!

A Mini-Adventure In Juice!

So, first thing’s first. Honesty. It’s one of the strongest values I hold to.

That being said, yesterday and today I indulged in some old fast food favorites. I’ve been feeling pretty icky all day and bloated. Interesting discovery though, I think I have ALWAYS been bloated, or at least since I hit puberty and folks started asking if I was having the PMS symptom of being bloated. This is how I normally feel. I thought I didn’t get bloated because there was no change in the state of things in my gut area, but now I can tell a difference! Quite frankly, I’m glad I indulged because now I know that “normal” for me can be greatly improved upon! 🙂

Last night, my wonderful partner and I watched the documentary film, “Hungry for Change,” and at the end of it, he turned to me and said, “Let’s juice some veggies,” and I said, “Sure!” (You can view the film for free until March 31st, 2013! Check it out here!)

So, I looked up Joe Cross’s “Reboot Your Life” program and we picked one out. Joe is featured in the “Hungry for Change” film and I knew he had some healthy programs on his website that we could use.

First, I was AMAZED that this meat eater would be willing to do just veggies and fruit for one whole day, let alone a whole ten days! I think this says a lot for his real desire, which is to be healthy! And it says a lot for the quality of the documentary, I think! 😀 (I highly recommend the film! Feel free to take some things with a grain of salt, but it also has a lot of information that I, as an average American, had no idea about!)

Second, I think this is going to be fun! I know there will be “bathroom” issues, but it won’t last forever. And besides, I love fruits and veggies! Especially juice! And I drink water like it’s going out of style, so staying hydrated should not be an issue. Also, it’s just ten days. It’s not forever. 🙂

Shaking It Up!

Yesterday was an adventure in smoothies and making my own Indian food! Here’s a pictorial de-briefing of my day:

A superwoman smoothie! At least that’s what I call it. I adapted the recipe from Leanne Vogel’s fantastic website!

Later on, I indulged in this lovely salad:

Soon after, I began to cook up my very first attempt at a vegan, Indian flavored dish!

I think it came out really well! My apartment still smells like an Indian restaurant! Mmm!

I ended my day on this fantastic note!

 

On a side note, one thing that helped jump-start my journey towards health and wellness was the film, “Hungry for Change,” which can be viewed for free until March 31st, 2013! Check it out here!

It gives a good critique of diets, why they don’t work, and what we can do to transform our health. I think they focus too much on loosing weight, but still a good watch!

 

Wednesday, March 20th – Friday, March 22nd

DAILY SYMPTOM LOG 

(My symptoms and diet were virtually the same over these three days, so I combined them.)

SKIN: redness showed improvement, fading; itchy sensation subsided with the exception of one or two areas (stomach and forehead and scalp); raised patches of dry skin remain, but improve greatly with lotion; overall shows improvement; skin actually feels like it’s producing its own oils!

GUT: nearly imperceptible rumblings; generally normal feeling; REALLY normal bathroom experience! Hooray!

OTHER: slightly runny nose/nose congestion & slightly more mucus coating throat than is comfortable

FOOD: allergen-free cereal, organic strawberries, blueberries, chia seeds, coconut yogurt; allergen-free meatballs (ground sage pork, grass-fed lean ground beef, almond flour, olive oil, coconut flour, various herbs & spices) with Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ Sauce;  Raw Greens Massage Salad (olive oil, balsamic vinegar, sea salt, curly green kale, endive, romaine, strawberries, cashews, walnuts, sesame seeds); Balsamic Chicken; Organic Banana

 

Saturday, March 23rd

DAILY SYMPTOM LOG 

SKIN: redness showed improvement, fading; itchy sensation subsided with the exception of one or two areas (stomach and forehead and scalp); raised patches of dry skin remain, but improve greatly with lotion; overall shows improvement; skin actually feels like it’s producing its own oils!

GUT: generally normal feeling; nauseous and gurgling burst onto the scene around 5 or 6pm, before the Indian dish that I made. It was so bad I thought I might loose my cookies, but I did not.

OTHER: slightly runny nose/nose congestion & slightly more mucus coating throat than is comfortable

FOOD: 2 scrambled eggs & sea salt with ketchup; Superwoman Smoothie; Raw Greens Massage Salad (olive oil, balsamic vinegar, sea salt, curly green kale, endive, romaine, spinach, strawberries, sesame seeds, dried cranberries); Indian-inspired rice and veggie dish (long grain brown rice, onions, garlic, tomatoes, yellow pepper, ginger root, peas, golden raisins); 1 organic banana

This is NOT a Diet

In the sense that “diet” means: Restrict oneself to small amounts or special kinds of food in order to lose weight: “it is difficult to diet in a house full of cupcakes,” then NO, I am most certainly NOT on a diet! I know that diet also means: “The kinds of food that a person, animal, or community habitually eats,” but that’s not generally how people use that word and that’s not how people have recently used that word in reference to my new food adventures.

Someone recently said, “Oh, aren’t you doing some new diet thing?” My heart sank.

There are so many deeply rooted issues with diets! One of which is the perceived need for people to diet in order to loose weight. I don’t want to feed that need! I am fat and I will very likely stay that way.

People think that overweight people are just weak and lazy and over-indulgent. Try to let go of that belief because it’s just not true.

(More info about that in an earlier blog post.)

Even at my skinniest I was considered overweight by the height and weight charts (and therefore also my doctors).

So, “fat” is what I have always been, it is part of who I am and it is where I will stay. In fact, I am quite happy to do so! I think I’m rather cute! 🙂

Changing what I am putting into my body is my way of trying to heal my life-long skin issues and my near 5-year intestinal issues through food, rather than doctor prescribed medicine. I am doing it this way for a couple of reasons.

1. Doctors are expensive. Leafy greens are not. And hey, I gotta eat anyway, right?
2. One of my issues is an intestinal issue, therefore, it stands to reason that the food I put into my intestines can have a directly positive, or negative, affect.
3. I have already witnessed that certain foods are “problem” foods for me and the simplest way to take care of this is to just cut it out. This is actually what my doctor told me to do. “Dairy seems to be a problem?” he asked me. I nodded. “Can you cut it out of your diet?” “Sure,” I replied. So, there you go. Doctor’s orders.

So, yes, I am changing what I am eating. However, I am not “on a diet.”

Last year, I tried to change what I was eating as well, to try and heal my gut. However, I thought of myself as going on a diet. I thought things like, “Oh man, I want that, but I can’t have it!” And I think this was the destruction of my efforts to heal my gut through food.

Things are different now. I’m thinking more along the lines of, “I can have that, but I don’t want it because…” and then I fill in the blanks. So, when I see ice cream and think, “Oh man, I want that!” I think to myself, “You can have that, no problem. But do you really want to deal with nausea and running to the bathroom? Is it worth it?” The answer now is no, it’s not worth it and I remind myself that my coconut ice cream is at home in the freezer.

I’m no longer depriving myself through diet and this has helped me keep on going. This blog has also helped me keep eating things that won’t cause nasty health-related side effects. And I am delighted!

I mean, now that I know that dairy and citrus are problematic for me, why eat them? Why suffer for eating dairy products when there are other alternatives? Quite delicious ones, I might add! Why eat citrus if I know it’s going to make me itch and give me a rash on 60% of my skin?

This is step one. Experimenting, observing and eliminating accordingly. Amazingly, when I eliminate foods, I don’t feel deprived, I feel energized! I want to get creative and find something new to create in the kitchen that will satisfy my taste buds and the rest of my body as well! It’s an adventure in creativity and I accept the challenge! 🙂

So, please remember, this is NOT a diet. This is a journey to healing. It is an experiment in following my inner wisdom, my higher power, as it relates to my bodily health and my food.

Tuesday, March 19th, 2013

DAILY SYMPTOM LOG 

SKIN: redness showed no improvement in the morning, but then faded as the day went on; itchy sensation subsided as the day went on; raised patches of dry skin remain; overall shows slight improvement

GUT: nearly imperceptible rumblings; generally normal feeling; REALLY normal bathroom experience! Hooray! 

OTHER: got a slight runny nose & more mucus coating throat after eating the General Tso’s Chicken; general muscle sore/stiff feeling mostly gone; no headache

FOOD: allergen-free cereal, organic strawberries, chia seeds, coconut yogurt; General Tso’s Chicken (pretty sure there’s refined sugar, dairy, eggs and gluten in this stuff, though in small amounts); veggie-mix salad (cucumber, celery, red onion, radishes, black olives, diced garlic, olive oil, apple cider vinegar, mustard, Italian seasoning, powdered onion, sea salt); Raw Greens Massage Salad (olive oil, balsamic vinegar, sea salt, curly green kale, endive, romaine, strawberries, cashews, walnuts, sesame seeds); 1 vanilla cupcake; 2 Mexican Chocolate Cupcakes

A Delicious Dinner!

Tonight, I tried two new recipes for dinner and they were great successes! And then, we made dessert! There was lots of chopping and measuring to do and I give a big shout-out THANK YOU to my dear friends who did ALL that work! I really appreciated it! 🙂

Here’s a pic of the veggie-mix salad:

This recipe called for shrimp, but I was feeding a vegetarian and figured it would be just as good without it! I was almost right. Tomorrow I’m going to cook up some Quinoa-based elbow noodles and add them in. Then, I think it will be perfect! 😀 And more filling. This recipe was found in the always delicious cookbook, The Healthy Gluten-Free Life.

 

Here’s a pic of the raw greens massage salad:

This was SO DELICIOUS!!! I cannot express to  you how amazing this was! In the recipe it called for lemon juice, but since I’m quite allergic to citrus, my dear friend suggested we use balsamic vinegar. So she added it and the salad came out PERFECT! Oh my gosh! I am going to make this every day!!! Or every day until the lettuces I bought are gone, anyway. 🙂 Oh, and I added strawberries so the Vitamin C in them (they have more Vitamin C than oranges!) will help the iron in the lettuces be absorbed by my body! I HIGHLY suggest this dish! Here’s the recipe:

Raw Greens Massage Salad

• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/8 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp sea salt

Mix the above 3 ingredients together.

• 4 cups leafy greens (I used curly green kale, endive & romaine, but you could use whichever you enjoy! Spinach and arugula would be good! Probably collard greens, too!)

Wash & cut or tear the leafy greens into bit-sized bits. Add olive oil, vinegar and sea salt mixture and massage (kind of like tossing) with your hands, or tongs if you’re not adventurous or have cuts on your hands, until well combined and leafy greens have “wilted” a bit.

• 1/2 – 1 cup strawberries
• 1/3 cup cashews
• 1/3 cup walnuts
• 2 Tbsp sesame seeds

The above four ingredients are all optional and were used because I love how they taste! If you prefer other fruit, add that! I’m sure mandarin oranges would be DELIGHTFUL in this salad! Just try to use fruit that has vitamin C so that your body is able to absorb the nutrients in the leafy greens better. As for the nuts, sliced almonds would be delicious as well! Use what you’ve got! Be creative! 🙂 This recipe was found in this cook book.

 

And here’s a pic of the Mexican chocolate cupcakes!

This cupcake recipe is courtesy of The Flying Apron’s Gluten-Free & Vegan Baking Book. (Find it on Amazon here!) I have a hunch these are going to give me issues tomorrow, but they were so fun to bake with my friends! I decided to damn the consequences and indulge! Other than these, today was a pretty good eating day as far as avoiding known trouble foods goes!

 

DAILY SYMPTOM LOG

SKIN: redness showed no improvement in the morning, but then faded as the day went on; itchy sensation subsided as the day went on; raised patches of dry skin remain; overall shows slight improvement

GUT: nearly imperceptible rumblings; generally normal feeling; REALLY normal bathroom experience! Hooray! 🙂

OTHER: got a slight runny nose & more mucus coating throat after eating the General Tso’s Chicken; general muscle sore/stiff feeling mostly gone; no headache

FOOD: allergen-free cereal, organic strawberries, chia seeds, coconut yogurt; General Tso’s Chicken (pretty sure there’s refined sugar, dairy, eggs and gluten in this stuff, though in small amounts); veggie-mix salad (cucumber, celery, red onion, radishes, black olives, diced garlic, olive oil, apple cider vinegar, mustard, Italian seasoning, powdered onion, sea salt); Raw Greens Massage Salad (olive oil, balsamic vinegar, sea salt, curly green kale, endive, romaine, strawberries, cashews, walnuts, sesame seeds); 1 vanilla cupcake; 2 Mexican Chocolate Cupcakes

Cupcakes Denied

In recent months, I’ve noticed a roughly 10-12 hour window between when I eat something that doesn’t agree with my intestines and when I will be running to the bathroom. (My skin reactions are much more immediate, though longer lasting.) And guess what! Those cupcakes sent me running to the bathroom roughly 10 hours after I ate them. Process of elimination enabled me to point my finger at the cupcakes. I’d eaten all the other foods before with no issue. It must’ve been the cupcakes.

SO, since there was no dairy, no eggs, no refined sugar, no wheat in those cupcakes, THEN WHAT is causing my intestinal issues? I would be ready to throw in the towel, if not for my dear cousin recommending to me the book, “Breaking The Vicious Cycle: Intestinal Health Through Diet”. I read HALF of the book last night. I read it voraciously, as if I were starving, in fact! Here is what I gleaned from the book so far:

Basically, my gut is damaged and has been for at least three years. I mean, I remember days when I could eat ANYTHING and have no intestinal issues whatsoever! But now, I cannot put just anything into my intestines. Rather, I need to put things into it that will help it to heal and not do any more damage. This, I had already surmised, but what I had not surmised was the complex science behind the intestines and how foods behave in the intestines when it is and is not already damaged! (For more information, I HIGHLY recommend the book! You can find it on Amazon for pretty cheap! Also, to get a taste of what the book offers, check out their website!)

The damage that has happened and the intestinal flora that are out of balance has taken control of what I eat, but now, I am going to find out how to take control back! I have a hunch that this task will be demanding, but I have been getting worse and I just can’t take it anymore. I’m pretty desperate. I’ll try anything! (almost)

(More info and specifics coming in my next blog post!)

Saturday, March 16th, 2013

DAILY SYMPTOM LOG

SKIN: redness same as yesterday, itchy sensation remains; raised patches of dry skin remain; overall shows no improvement;

GUT: slight rumblings; generally normal feeling; one bathroom issue (from the cupcakes, I think)

OTHER: general muscle sore/stiff feeling mostly gone; no headache

FOOD: 1 large Johnagold apple; Thai-Peanut coated pork loin; Indian dish with cauliflower, peas, carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, and rice (confirmed no wheat, no dairy, no eggs); Bean Chips & Mango-Peach Salsa; 1 can of Coke Zero

Sunday, March 17th, 2013

DAILY SYMPTOM LOG

SKIN: redness slightly less than yesterday, itchy sensation lessened; raised patches of dry skin remain; overall shows slight improvement;

GUT: generally normal feeling;

OTHER: general muscle sore/stiff feeling very prevalent in neck/shoulders and esp. legs and back (muscles I used heavily yesterday when playing with a 4 month old baby!); no headache

FOOD: Indian dish with cauliflower, peas, carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, and rice (confirmed no wheat, no dairy, no eggs); 1 banana (organic); mango habanero flavored kale chips; General Tso’s Chicken (pretty sure there’s refined sugar, dairy, eggs and gluten in this stuff, though in small amounts)

On the Menu: Cupcakes!

Today, I really wanted a cupcake. So, I got out one of my gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free cookbooks (this one, to be exact) and made a stop at Bassett’s to pick up the couple ingredients I did not have on hand.

The cupcakes are made with teff flour, millet flour, which both have protein, fiber and iron that is not naturally found in wheat flour. I also used sucanat for a sweetener instead of refined sugar. It doesn’t taste as sweet, but it’s less refined so I’m hoping it’s healthier. 🙂

They were pretty good! Not your normal, plain cupcakes with just one flavor, but these had multiple layers of flavor and still had a satisfying sweet taste! I was delighted with the outcome, but next time I think I’ll try the recipe from one of my other books that uses chickpea flour.

DAILY SYMPTOM LOG

SKIN: redness same as yesterday, shows no improvement; itchy sensation remains; raised patches of dry skin remain.

GUT: slight rumblings; generally normal feeling

OTHER: shoulder muscles feel sore/stiff (though even more improved from yesterday!); general muscle sore/stiff feeling mostly gone; no headache (though my head feels tender, as though the headache is lurking); eyes sensitive to light

FOOD: Salad with Gyro Meat; 20 oz veggie-juice (ginger, carrot); pinto bean & rice chips with salsa; 1 vanilla cupcake (free of wheat, dairy & eggs); 1 chocolate cupcake (free of wheat, dairy & eggs);

“Aren’t You Malnourished?”

I was explaining to a friend of mine that I am trying to eat gluten-free, sugar-free, dairy-free, egg-free and her response was, “Make sure you get enough nutrition!” or something along those lines. I don’t recall what I said in reply because all I remember is my jaw dropping and my mind going blank from shock.

How much nutrition do you think is in gluten, sugar and dairy? What does she suppose I’m eating? Perhaps the foods that she eats all contain these things (before I started this adventure, this was the case of my diet!) and so it was impossible for her to imagine what I am eating.

Many foods that have wheat, dairy and sugar are highly processed foods with little nutritional value and the nutrition that is found there can be found in other foods. By eliminating these things from my diet, I am actually boosting my nutritional intake. For example, I have traded cow milk for almond or coconut milk.

(Here’s more info on why you might want to switch to non-dairy alternatives with me, even if you’re not allergic! I’ve found that I can replace regular milk with coconut milk in boxed mixes and it turns out great! I have tried almond milk less, but it also worked well when I did try it! If you’re making mashed potatoes, rice milk is the way to go! It was particularly DELICIOUS in mashed potatoes! And no one was able to taste a difference!)

If you’re antsy about saturated fat, go with almond milk. It’s the lowest in calories, very low in total fat, has no saturated fat or cholesterol, is highest in calcium next to whole cow milk and is also lowest in carbohydrates and sugar. The drawback with almond milk is that it’s low on protein.

If you’re looking for protein and fiber, go with coconut milk! It’s the lowest in sodium, highest in fiber, almost as high in protein as whole milk, highest in Vitamin C and Iron! (For more details on coconut milk, check here.)

(For a chart with each of these and other milk substitutes compared side by side, check here!)

As for wheat and sugar, what is there that I am really missing out on? Wheat has carbs, fiber, protein and iron. I can get all of those things from other foods. I am getting my carbs and fiber from the fresh fruits and veggies as well as many of the things I’m cooking for myself. As for the protein and iron, I’m not going vegetarian or vegan (yet…), so there is plenty of protein in the meat I’m eating and plenty of iron in the foods I’ve eaten lately as well. Like chickpeas, red beans, red meat, turkey, dark leafy greens, cashews, lentils, parsley, marjoram, etc. (For lists of iron rich foods, check here, here and here. The first link is the most concise.)

Granulate sugar is just sugar. No vitamins, no nutrients beyond sugary carbs. In fact, cutting this out has really impacted how other foods taste! Now that I’ve got it mostly cut out of my diet, I’m finding that my food tastes better! Especially the raw veggies that I never used to like much and would just choke down because I knew they were good for me. So, BONUS!

In addition, it might interest you to know that I take vitamins every day. I take a gummy multi-vitamin (because I can’t stomach the iron that is in most pill form multi-vitamins), Vitamin D3, Vitamin C, and Iron Asporotate. Iron Asporotate is iron that is broken down by other things so that the body can more easily absorb the iron. I can’t handle the regular iron that’s in most multi-vitamins because it makes me nauseated for DAYS. I thought I was pregnant when I first started taking my multi-vitaim! I had to get new ones and the only ones I could find without iron were the gummies. I take extra Vitamin C (there’s also Vitamin C in my multi-vitamin) because I hope it will help boost my immunity and immune system. Plus, my multi-vitamin only has 50% of my daily value and since I’m not eating citrus, I figured it would be quite safe to up my intake.

And just to make this more interesting, did you know that Vitamin C aids in Iron absorption? Did you know that Vitamin D is essential if you are going to absorb any calcium at all? So, while you may be getting iron in a steak or calcium in your milk, you also need the Vitamin C and Vitamin D respectively if you’re interested in getting these things to where they need to go in your body. Crazy, no? With this in mind, did you notice that coconut milk has both Vitamin C and Iron naturally occurring in it? Talk about genius in nature!

In addition to taking vitamins, I am doing my best to eat a variety of raw fruits and vegetables of many different colors! This helps to get a wide variety of vitamins into my body as well as good fiber for healthy digestion and a healthy colon!

So, thank you for your concern, my friend! I appreciate that you are worried about my health! It makes me feel loved. ❤ Perhaps now your worried mind will be less troubled by the lack of nutrition that you feared I was facing. 🙂

DAILY SYMPTOM LOG

SKIN: redness same as yesterday, shows no improvement; itchy sensation remains; raised patches of dry skin remain.

GUT: slight rumblings; generally normal feeling until about 5 o’clock, then there was a medium-intensity bathroom issue & slight gut pain

OTHER: shoulder muscles feel sore/stiff (though improved from yesterday!); general muscle sore/stiff feeling mostly gone; soles of my feet feel tender and sore; no headache (though my head feels tender, as though the headache is lurking); eyes sensitive to light; nose started running after I ate the pizza (no surprise here)

FOOD: Uncle Sam cereal with almond milk (whole wheat grains with flax seed); turkey chili; salad (many types of lettuce, cucumbers, walnuts, raspberry vinaigrette); my own sauerkraut creation with apples, turkey sausage, cooking sherry, apple juice (100% juice) & sucanat (dehydrated cane juice, a.k.a. brown sugar); 3 pieces of pizza; 1 can of Coke Zero; 1 gala apple

I went a bit off the track today, but it’s just going to have to be okay. I’m at school, staying with folks who are trying to cater to my needs (I think they bought almond milk just for me!!) and I am trying to be as grateful and as gracious of a house guest as I can be! Also, I just really wanted to have some pizza and a coke with my fellow students, so I did. [Insert shrug here.] I will be home tomorrow and able to eat with more planning and forethought. A recipe for success! 😀

More Eating, More Observing

Today, I am feeling pretty darn unwell. I have been nauseated 80% of today, my eyes are overly sensitive to light and now, I have a headache that just won’t quit. I don’t want to take any pain meds in order to monitor the best that I can, how my body is doing and what it is telling me. I know that going gluten and dairy free can cause withdrawal symptoms, but those listed do not seem to be the symptoms I am experiencing.

A friend of mine who cut out wheat said that she experienced headaches and felt very, VERY thirsty. This sounds like what I am experiencing! Perhaps I don’t have as serious of a gluten or dairy issue as I thought, because if I did, then I would probably have the symptoms listed at the link above.

However, I do know that dairy and wheat both create adverse reactions within my body that I would really like to avoid! Wheat/Gluten makes my sinuses run and I get rather bloated–so much so that my wedding ring doesn’t fit! Dairy, especially milk and ice cream, creates a great amount of gurgling in my gut and then has me running to the bathroom multiple times several hours later.

A wise woman told me that I can expect to feel worse before I feel better. I guess this is what she meant. I pray it doesn’t last too long, but this is still not as bad as the alternative of staying where I was and how I was. God willing, I will persevere in this search for health and healing!

 

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

DAILY SYMPTOM LOG 

SKIN: redness same as yesterday, shows no improvement; itchy sensation remains; raised patches of dry skin remain.

GUT: slight rumblings; generally normal feeling!

OTHER: Muscles feeling sore/stiff; Pain in shoulder right shoulder runs up through to neck at times (this has been present since Saturday and it just occurred to me that I might want to include these details.)

FOOD: my own sauerkraut creation with apples, turkey sausage, cooking sherry, apple juice (100% juice) & sucanat (dehydrated cane juice, a.k.a. brown sugar); my own potato chowder concoction (potatoes, corn, leeks, onions, red pepper, marjoram, garlic); blue corn chips; raisins; sushi from Kroger (Chef’s special); salad from Chipotle (with black beans, green salsa, tomato salsa, chicken & guacamole); 1 small gluten-free brownie (had dairy & eggs)

 

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

DAILY SYMPTOM LOG

SKIN: redness same as yesterday, shows no improvement; itchy sensation remains; raised patches of dry skin remain.

GUT: slight rumblings; small bathroom issue (just 1); feel nauseated

OTHER: Feel very thirsty all the time (only drank water all day & tried to drink lots of it); Eyes very sensitive to light; have not been sleeping well; exhausted; woke nauseated…I may be getting sick…

FOOD: BBQ Chicken Chunks (leftovers my dear partner left in the fridge, hope he’s not mad!); Salad (with different types of lettuces, plus mushrooms, carrots, cucumbers, sunflower seeds, pickled beets; three-bean salad; Chicken Stir-Fry with rice & spicy-sweet sauce (probably has sugar in it, but I’m not totally sure);

I aim to please

So, here’s why this change in eating habits is so hard for me: I like to make other people happy. If someone makes food, I want to eat it. Not just because it’s probably delicious, but also because I know that’s a love language for many, MANY people all around the globe! It is customary in many countries to feed people when they come into your realm of hospitality. In America, we don’t emphasize this as much, however, in my family, when someone cooks something, you eat it! This was never a said thing, but rather more tit-for-tat kind of common sense. If someone slaves away in the kitchen cooking for you (because they love you and want to care for you) then you eat the food they give you and don’t wine about it (because that’s how you show them your gratitude and that you appreciate their care for you). So, when I go out to eat, like I did last night to The Indian Jewel, I have trouble expressing my needs. I did ask if there was anything without dairy and she directed me to the chickpea and onion DELIGHT that I went ahead and ordered, but I can pretty much tell that there was wheat in it. About 10 minutes after ingesting it, my nose began to run. This is an indication that I have eaten something that I am allergic to. And as I looked down at the amazing food in front of me, it occurred to me that to make the sauce the chickpeas were coated in, a highly likely ingredient was wheat. Today, I am paying the price. [Insert sigh here.] Homemade is best, specifically Diana-Homemade. 🙂

So, what do I do? I really hate being a bother to people, but the alternative is that I stay away or suck it up and I am tired of sucking it up! That is what has ruined every previous attempt at this and it will not ruin this one! So, do I not go out to eat with my friends? Or do I simply suck it up, and try to gracefully explain my predicament and then abstain from eating? This last option is probably the one I will go with. Despite the fact that this will be awkward and confusing for people at first, hopefully people will come to understand that it is a question of physical health or the lack thereof and then they can eventually be okay with me not eating. Perhaps I will need to start packing my own food so at least my friends don’t feel uncomfortable eating while I am not. Especially right after church when I’m usually starving. HA! That’s a setup for failure right there!

DAILY SYMPTOM LOG

SKIN: redness same as yesterday, shows no improvement; itchy sensation remains; raised patches of dry skin remain.

GUT: slight rumblings; overall unwell feeling.

FOOD: Indian dish (chickpeas in an onion based sauce that may have also had wheat in it for thickening, I forgot to ask before I ordered) with rice; my own sauerkraut creation with apples, turkey sausage, cooking sherry, apple juice (100% juice) & sucanat (dehydrated cane juice, a.k.a. brown sugar); strawberries; blueberries; 1 large gala apple; 1 can coke zero (current as of 6:48pm, 3/11/13)

I ate the leftover Indian food, even though I’m pretty sure it has wheat in it, because I could not bring myself to throw it away for three reasons: #1 — I despise wasting food! #2 — I despise wasting money! #3 — It really was delicious… 😉