Normally, cooking for my family when they all gather makes my heart sing. Labor Day weekend hosts a baseball tournament where older guys, like my husband, can play alongside their sons. For a couple of years now, our oldest has returned to play with his dad. Its a sweet gig and they both love it. Lest you think the old guy might be stretching himself athletically, this man plays full up baseball about eight months out of the year. "Buff", could have his picture by it in the dictionary.

So the house filled up again with son, wife-with-child and large dog along with everyone else living here. Dirty dishes piled up, laundry increased, but so did the love and laughter. For occasions such as these I like to make meticulous lists of menus and groceries to buy. This time was different.

While I laid in foodstuffs which met my dietary needs, nothing sounded exciting or tasty enough for my gang. I just couldn't get past the "I can't eat such and such" enough to enjoy planning food for the weekend. Add to that, nausea has kept me even more off my hospitality game.

Fortunately the family rallied nicely despite my sullen mood. My daughter baked a pan of chocolate chipped cookies which kept everyone happy all weekend. My husband took everyone out for Mexican while I attended a wedding. Again, gastronomic victory! And the one meal I did plan for everyone besides breakfasts proved a rousing success. I grilled chicken, served a large green salad dressed with a homemade balsamic vinaigrette and made a red potato, green bean salad as a side. Either I have raised very polite kids, great actors or they genuinely enjoyed the meal.

It was hard to clean the cookie pan without snitching a bite. Morning waffles from scratch almost had me cheating as well but I survived day eight without veering of the strict diet plan.

I can't say I feel good about this because right this minute, I feel pretty miserable but maybe relief lurks around the corner. Dr. visit number three occurs tomorrow so we will see if she has an encouraging word.

My husband reminds me this is temporary. I focus on the discomfort of it all. I actually looked up some recipes for waffles which would have been allowable but they contained so many bizarre ingredients, none of which I had on hand, so I gave up and nibbled a rice cake instead.

Waiting for some relief,
Caroline

Labels: baseball, buff, Elimination Diet

I considered setting my alarm for 6:00. Realized that 6:30 was probably plenty of time. Providentially awoke at 5:00 and barely made it on time to my appointment at 8:30. Today I finished collecting "samples" for my lab work culminating with a blood draw at the Center. For people with normally functioning colons, perhaps the collection process is routine. For me, a calamitous event almost took place. I won't go into details to spare you the yuck-factor!

Now I play the waiting game. About a month from now I will receive my dietary sentence. Sounding negative again? Guilty. I do hope they find some distinct food sensitivities but I have a wish list of which forbidden foods will NOT appear on the no-consume list.

The elimination diet begins today. I fasted until the blood draw but now comes the challenge of what can I eat? I began with a Lara Bar and a cup of tea, no milk or sugar. A fruit smoothie for lunch? Dinner will consist of baked chicken breasts with roasted potatoes, sweet potatoes and carrots. Not so bad. I can do this!

My household is not yet equipped for this new way of eating. My go-to foods in the fridge and pantry, mostly all now proclaimed off limits. Cooking and grocery shopping will require more deliberation. Maybe that's not such a bad thing after all. Being deliberate about reading a label, what goes into my grocery cart and into my stomach probably should have been happening all my life.

Well as they say, today is the first day of the rest of my life.

Anticipating Healing,
Caroline

Labels: deliberation, Elimination Diet, labels

Two in one day. Playing a bit of catch up.

Lets begin with some new terms I learned at my first appointment.

Integrative Medicine: Integrative medicine is the combination of the practices and methods of alternative medicine with conventional medicine. My center specifically combines the traditional benefits of conventional Western Medicine and evidence-based alternative healing therapies like acupuncture.

FSM: Frequency Specific Microcurrent is a new way of treating nerve and muscle pain and many other conditions using specific frequencies and micro amperage current. FSM is different from most other stimulation units. It is sub-sensory (i.e., you cannot feel it) and has profound healing effects.

Elimination Diet: An elimination diet is a method of identifying foods that an individual cannot consume without adverse effects. Adverse effects may be due to food allergy, food intolerance, other physiological mechanisms (such as metabolic or toxins), or a combination of these. Elimination diets typically involve entirely removing a suspected food from the diet for a period of time from two weeks to two months, and waiting to determine whether symptoms resolve during that time period.

Leaky Gut: Leaky gut is a name used to describe intestinal or bowel hyperpermeability. Tight junctions (TJs) represent the major barrier within the pathway between intestinal epithelial cells that line the digestion tract. Disruption of TJs leads to intestinal hyperpermeability (the so-called "leaky gut"), which has been proposed by some researchers to involve a relationship with acute and chronic diseases.

Definitions not mine. Ulcerative Colitis, definitely mine!

Pursuing Healing,
Caroline

Labels: acupuncture, Elimination Diet, Integrative Medicine, Leaky Gut