Week 1 on the Elimination Diet… positive results to report!
Hey there! It’s Saturday morning, and I am enjoying the SECOND day of great weather here! The sliding doors are open, and we ate gluten-free pancakes with a blueberry-stevia sauce as our syrup, with eggs and spinach. Hardly sounds like we are on a diet, right?
This week was challenging, long, but successful! Chris and I are learning a lot about our own bodies and food. Chris had a particularly tough time with headaches, mood changes, irritability and sleepiness. One night around 8:45 I found him asleep in bed, no good night or a hey I’m tired- just grumpy and went to bed! I found it kind of funny, but his body obviously is going through quite a shock and detox. He thought he would try fasting yesterday, since he was feeling good, and thought his body might need the extra detox, but…. that didn’t last all day- at 4pm he was starving, and was looking forward to eating a meal all of us together for the first time in a LONG TIME.
As for me, the first few days were hard, I was tired first 2 days, really wanting coffee, having caffeine withdrawl headaches, I was gassy (found out that is normal when on the ED for first few days) and working in a restaurant FULL of amazing great food and people offering you to test everything because you are new- was REALLY hard! Going into work at sometime between 3-5, means your eating dinner at like 3 or 4, and working until 10-12pm, I was SO hungry- I usually eat every 3 hours, so that part is super hard. I don’t want to come home and eat late, but I have to! I chose to eat salad with protein if it is easy to fix, if not- I eat some nuts and just go to bed.
If you didn’t know, I had my blood work done a few months ago and have a “leaky gut”. Which basically means, my GI tract is severely inflamed, and many food items come up as an allergy:
All fish, except Shellfish (weird), Almonds, Garlic, Kidney Beans, ALL DAIRY, Wheat & Gluten.
So some of these are on already on the no-no list in the ED, but I am doing my BEST to abstain from the others. The tough one is garlic, and a bit of salmon and sometimes almonds sneak in somewhere :-/ Not as much though since I have been on the ED.
Good things to report:
Digestion is 90% better! Everything I eat is pretty much working well. I have to watch my eating fruit after a meal, because most fruit digests so fast, it sits on top of your meal and will putrefy (gross), causing bloating, gas, etc. Eating fruit first, and following with protein is ideal- slows the blood sugar rise, and allows correct digestive juices to secrete and digest each food properly.
We’ve both lost weight! I eat ALOT, and still have lost weight. I thought for sure I would step on scale, and see a gain- but I was way off. Haven’t seen that # on the scale in years. I’ve made it to the gym 5 of the 6 days so far (well, going in a few minutes as day 5), and have done about equal sessions of weights and cardio- but HEAVY weights, and not too intense cardio. Some one at the gym said- “You’ve leaned up like a mother!” – hahaha, guys are so crude, but it was good to hear, when I didn’t realize I might have. I’ll tell you- I’ve been on NO low carb diet- I swear I have eaten huge portions of quinoa for every meal!
If you want my workout schedule, let me know and I will post for you.
Chris looks leaner, not sure how much he’s lost, but he said his pants are loose, and he is feeling great. He keeps saying how much he is appreciating learning about our commercially processed foods, and how much crap like chemicals, stimulants, drugs, and sugar we put in our body. Eating whole food forms of all the things he loves (like natural bison burgers wrapped in collard greens, with sauteed mushrooms, avocado, red onion, grapeseed Veginaise, and homemade Anaheim chili hummus), he is really appreciating a healthy diet, and adjusting well! He is at the dentist getting a wisdom tooth pulled (oh ugh), so this will be interesting…
Other good things to report:
-I’ve lost 1/2 inch on each body part. Namely thighs, hips, waist, and arms:-)
-No more headaches! Praise God. I only took Motrin one time- on second day I think.
-Clearer and brighter whites of the eyes
-Clear, good color, glowing skin
– Better memory -General good mood
– Sustained energy through day and workout -More strength during my work outs
-NO guilt about what you ate that day, not worrying about what NOT to eat and what TO eat, because you know already what you have and can eat (since we cleaned out the fridge and went shopping on days 1 and 2)! All fridge is items we can eat! Plenty of fruit to sustain our sweet tooth, but in moderation of course.
What I plan to change:
I think I want to stop eating Peanut Butter, or make it like every other day. I feel not so good after, and maybe because I am combining it with carrots or an apple, not sure- but I do know in general, that fat is slow digesting, so eating bigger portions can cause you to feel slow.
Next week I will try to post more often, I promise!
Goals are to keep being ahead of our schedules with meals, cooking, cleaning, etc. Pre planning meals, buying food items to mix with other meals, and keeping it interesting is important. Time is so precious, we try to utilize it well, make extra food each time we cook, but it’s not easy with our crazy schedules, and hungry tummies!
Last night was my first night off since starting this diet- I’ve barely seen my family- I am looking forward to having the rest of the day with them. I’m so thankful to the Lord for guiding me and making it clear to me how important our health and lifestyle is. I’m so glad Chris is doing this with me, it makes it all worth it if I can change some one else’s life by being a good example.
~Carpe Diem
Thought for the Day: “We chose our sorrows and joys long before we experience them” Kahlil Gibran
Attitude and happiness is CHOOSING to react and deal with life in a thankful and peaceful manner- despite the situation, it is all how you chose to deal with it. No one can take your joy unless you let them. Make it a GREAT DAY!
