Three Days of Sipping Chicken Broth...

Long time since I've updated this blog.. It's been a roller coaster and a frustrating journey lately. I started reacting to a lot of foods I was eating and was constantly  really gassy and not feeling well. So my nutritionist decided to put me on a 3 day fast of just chicken broth to settle the inflammation down. 

Last time I did a fast, it was maple syrup with lemon and lime juice. I thought chicken broth sounded much heartier. There ain't NOTHING hearty about a fast! 

So I went to Whole Foods and bought two whole chickens and  stayed home Sunday, boiling them for 7 hours...Then strained out everything but the juice and made the mistake of putting that in the fridge...did you know that chicken broth congeals and tastes like eating chicken flavored Jello? Yes. Well. 

So Monday morning I started the fast. I had a headache (Detox?) and was so irritable and tired. Today  I was pretty irritable too, but thankfully had already scheduled to see my nutritionist at lunch. She walked in and I practically growled how irritable I was and I hated this diet. She laughed and was like ok let's see if we can help you out.

And I had probably one of the best and most encouraging appts yet!

She brought me dried Comfrey Leaves that someone had given her. he has to order them from an Indian reservation..! So I guess I'll try to grow my own... But when Christi broke her foot, she was given these leaves and said they are a natural antibiotic and worked miracles.   You boil them in water, drink the tea, and wrap the leaves around the broken bone. You cover it with saran wrap and go to bed like that. In the morning when she woke up, she had less pain and she said that the leaves took off all her old skin too, which was an added bonus. Forget a pedicure! :) So when I get my cast off in 3 weeks, I'm going to try that.

Apparently the chicken broth diet is totally working in my body tho. It's giving my stomach and intestines a chance to rest from digesting food, while still receiving some nutrition from the broth. I feel great...other than being hungry and craving every food known to man and dreaming about what I'll eat Thursday morning, and hating the person who popped popcorn in the office today! :)

She tested me for my dosages and  quantities of supplements and I got off one supplement and significantly decreased the dosages of a lot of my supplements! I was amazed and REALLY excited. Cuz they ain't cheap :-/

I learned that citric acid is derived from corn...so when you see that added to a canned good item and if you're allergic to corn, stay away!

She made me curious enough with a few things she mentioned about genetically modified foods, that I'm going to research that further.

And, I've had these random tiny bumps on my fingers for awhile now, and had no idea why. Then I developed this nodule on the back of my head that was a bump and incredibly painful. I couldn't decide if I should go to the doctor, if I was dying of an aneurysm or if it was a tight muscle (?!). So I decided to ask her if on the off chance she had any idea what it was.  She felt it and  muscle tested and told me that people who are autoimmune will get swollen bumps - it's the body's way of trying to get rid of toxins in the body. So she's going to bring me some silver cream, which acts as a natural antibiotic, and it will take away the bumps. I was SO relieved it wasn't anything worse! 

Ok and lastly, a few weeks ago I was having all sorts of weird symptoms that I didn't correlate until Christi told me I was probably low in progesterone...I put off calling ANOTHER dr for awhile b/c I'm sick of always going to drs - between the food allergies and my sciatica and my broken wrist -but I finally went, got a compounded progesterone, and started taking it. BOY am I glad. I've noticed a HUGE difference! i'm out of my depression; I don't have suicidal thoughts anymore; and the other symptoms that I've had have gone away. Christi tested me for the progesterone today too and found that I'm at the right dosage, my body is happy...

I feel like all is right in the world.

Except that I can't eat. I can't WAIT for Thursday morning ;) 

And I wish I had Christi's knowledge...

Bone Marrow and Allergies

I just found this article online and am really intrigued by it! Basically, a boy had a severe peanut allergy and then got leukemia. He got a bone marrow transplant, which gave him the immune system of a healthy person - who happened to not be allergic to peanuts - and now he is not... http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/11/08/10-year-old-boy-cured-serious-peanut-allergy/?intcmp=latestnews I'm curious if that would translate to my situation...obviously not cure leaky gut...but would I be able to eat eggs, apples, beef, grapes and the tons of other things I can't have right now?? I think it is really fascinating!!

Goodbye forever, Eggs

Well, tried to bring eggs back into my diet, since it's been more than 6 months...had one scrambled egg yesterday morning and one in the afternoon... my stomach maybe felt a little gassy but not until 6 or 7 hours later...it wasn't much to write home about. I thought, hm, that's weird it's so delayed in any sort of reaction - normally it's 30 minutes to 2 hours later I feel a reaction. And I also thought it'd be a stronger reaction.

And then I woke up this morning...and thought it was b/c I ate too much for dinner last night, which ok, I may have, but by mid morning I was DYYYYING. I don't know why my reaction to eggs is so delayed but holy guacamole, they are out of the picture now. Forever.

So sad. Because I really, really enjoyed those two scrambled eggs of deliciousness that I had had...

Feeling a Little Disheartened

Overall I've been feeling pretty good...I was reacting to something last week but am better now. I have a pretty good grasp on what I can/can't eat...Still taking 13 supplements, but overall, things seem to be pretty good. I feel good, which is a big deal.

So my nutritionist came today and I asked her what the game plan was for the near future. She said she thought I'd be off a lot of my supplements by now, but my body could just need them even more so right now as I'm under a lot of stress...(I'm trying not to be stressed!!!!) She said I keep losing my clearings too (goodbye, chocolate, once again!) She said for the rest of my life I will need to be cleared.

The.Rest.Of.My.Life.

She said I will always react to things, depending on stress levels and what else is going on in my life.

That's disheartening I think. I don't want my allergies anymore. It's taught me to eat healthy but I'm tired of losing clearings and the resultant way I feel. I dont like the idea of having to pay to be cleared either...someday when I get married, I guess my husband will have to learn how to clear me....

Until then...keep calm and carry on, I guess?? :-/ If only I could just have a set amount of things I know I can't eat, stick to that, and be ok....

Guess I need to start praying for a miracle!!

Oh, Chocolate...

I was cleared for chocolate last Tuesday. Annnd apparently my body hates it! I tried very hard to not eat "too much" chocolate...which of course is all relative... but I was fine for the past week with what I ate, but I guess it culminated today and my body said no way, no how, nuh uh :( I was in the bathroom several times in the course of 3 hours...and let's just say, the brussels sprouts and salmon I had for dinner probably were not absorbed by my intestines...whatsoever :(

So, I'm super perturbed. I really enjoy chocolate and this is aggravating! But I'm going to try to be proactive...clearly my stomach is now inflamed b/c of the chocolate...it hasn't gotten so bad that I'm reacting to anything else (ok, except jasmine tea I think...!? booo!!) so I'm going to watch what I eat tomorrow and then Saturday I plan to do one day of the repair diet, fix my stomach and hopefully resume normal eating habits, sans chocolate...if I can catch it early, my hope is I won't have to do 5 days of the repair diet and can keep helping myself out of the hole. Sheesh. And I'm trying very hard to not stress in life right now, since stress is a known trigger...you know, no stress amidst training for a new job, training someone to replace me, helping lead my Bible study group and invest in their lives, go to multiple doctors appts for my injured hand and my sciatica, meet weekly with my nutritionist, grocery shop and cook all my food from scratch, and figure out where to exercise in my day and how to get as much sleep as possible before my 445am wake up call. Eh, no biggie ;) Talk about an opportunity to really have to rely on God to take care of me and to guide me in how to order my day...!!

Good news is, at least, my hand is healing :) and I'm learning a lot about things being in phases...not the rest of my life, just phases...take it as it comes, roll with it, and get through it (Mom, aren't you proud of me?! ;))

I also am learning how to ask for help - this is a side tangent. Had to knock on my neighbors' door Tuesday and ask them to open a new bottle of olive oil... My boss graciously helped me wrap my hand at work today when the bandage slipped and the gauze was stuck crustily into my wound and hurting every time I typed on the keyboard...and I'm learning to celebrate the small victories: I can now use a can opener, turn on my car with my right hand, and shave my legs :) Life definitely has its challenges...but overall...no chocolate and an injured hand...not the end of the world... :)

Feeling Overwhelmed

Oh geesh. Things were going so well for so long (ok, so it seemed) and I'm just not handling it so well now...

Just spent 24 hours in the mountains with my cousins, and that was awesome. But when we went out to eat, there was absolutely NOTHING I could eat on the menu. I anticipated that, but to sit and watch them eat nachos and sweet potatoes and elk shepherds pie and burgers and salmon slathered in butter, and I only had a granola bar to gnosh on, it was honestly really difficult. Often I can push through and not let it get me down, but last night was no such night. It didn't help either when we wandered downtown Estes Park and stopped at this toffee/fudge/ice cream shop. It was KILLER. And who was the one eating a can of olives while everyone chowed down on their toffee while we played board games? Yah... :-/ Sooo just kinda sucked.

Then, at my nutritionist meeting yesterday, I found out I lost my clearing for cocoa powder again (ie, chocolate.......)...which explains why I've been feeling full/bloated and just really nasty. But if I lose a clearing, that's most likely something I'm pretty sensitive to (like the almond flour and grapes and apples and strawberries that I had previously been cleared for, kept out of my diet for 3 months, and tried again...and reacted). So that means chocolate is most likely going to be out of the picture the rest of my life. That sucks. That really doesn't leave much in the way of sweets for me to eat. Those Quinoa Tahini cookies are awesome, but again, b/c of the sugar, I can't have much since I react to sugar.

Then tonight, I came home from the mountains and have to leave for Bible study soon and have a lot to do in between...and have an empty fridge. I figured I'd have a salad tomorrwo for work - and dinner tonight. Just realized that not only is my coconut oil all gone but so is my olive oil. Hence, no dressing. Plan B: Pumpkin smoothie for dinner.

The nutritionist also kinda scolded me nicely...she said my stomach is still getting inflamed, and b/c I'm autoimmune IN the stomach -t hat's where the autoimmune has a party when it gets flared up - it's a double whammy. I really, really have to be careful of what I eat. I'm not absorbing the nutrients right now (my count of teaspoons of magnesium keeps rising, when it had been decreasing, so that tells her that I'm not absorbing them well). Plus, my nose is often stuffy, which tells me that the lining of my stomach is inflamed. Sigh. So she told me I need to stick with the same things for a month to let my stomach rest. Try absolutely nothing new. As soon as I have any sort of reaction, my stomach is jacked until I take care of it. So I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed. I'm going on the repair diet for 5 days (veggies, meats and a few fruits) and then will add in nuts and beans and quinoa again. Then I'm going to have to stick with that for a month. And I just printed off all these new recipes to try too. Sigh.

AND she told me that I need to be careful to not eat too many raw veggies/day (in the family of broccoli/kale/brussels sprouts) b/c that can tell my thyroid to stop producing something (medical term... ;)) I don't know if that is for everyone or just me. I'm special, clearly.

On top of that, she's telling me I need to get some cardio in daily to get the blood moving and that will help me feel better too. She's right. And that's important anyways for so many reasons. AND my physical therapist for my sciatica also has told me to be getting in cardio. But on top of all the stretches and exercises he has me doing daily. Which would add up to about an hour if I did all of them. And sadly, I don't have time. I mean, an hour of stretches, 30 minutes cardio, plus time to grocery shop and cook, which is extra for me. I mean, I don't even know where to start.  So I don't start any of them b/c I'm too overwhelmed. Which is uncharacteristic of me.

The one silver lining in the day tho, is that after hiking with my cousins, we stopped by Safeway to get some lunch. I was looking at granola bars and found one by Two Moms in the Raw. I'd never heard of them before, but could eat all the ingredients! I grabbed it and left, then was like dude, go back for more b/c this is awesome. So I walked back and there was no box, no more, nothing. So it was like someone had just left it there...I saw it as a miracle. When I went to check out, the register didn't recognize it...(which now makes me think that someone dropped it there? Or an angel literally dropped it there? I don't know!) and the cash register guy was like, well, how about I charge you...$1.49? I was like yah!

I came home and looked them up on line and they are normally $4... I feel SUPER blessed to have gotten that. There is no way I can sp end $4 on a granola bar. I thought the Lara Bars were tough enough to splurge on at $1.69/bar!

Then the three granola/power bars I just made to experiment with this week - two of which were amazing - but both have cocoa powder/chocolate. Sigh. Back to square one.

Power Bars

I got overly ambitious today and tried three power bar recipes...! Mostly because I finally found the liquid stevia at King Soopers (of all places!) that the recipes called for but I had never seen...

The the first was the easiest - cherry vanilla almond bars. They were ok, but I'm not a huge fan of them.

THEN came the chocolate cranberry power bars (recipe here) and they were delicious!

LASTLY - and bestly - are simply titled Power Bars (recipe here) and are to die for! I think it's the salty combo of almond butter, combined with decadent chocolate. Seriously. I could eat the entire pan. Except then I'd go into anaphylactic shock... So I think I'll show some restraint.

Anyways, so exciting to have two bar recipes now!