My life in 15 minute increments...

So I had to start that juice cleanse on Thursday morning. I just kept reacting so much, that it was ridiculous. And actually, it helped to start at work. Work has been so slammed this week, that the day flies by. So I don't think about not getting to eat... I just feel like a robot. Every 15 minutes my phone alarm goes off, I take a swig of this maple syrup/lemon/lime water, reset my alarm, and plug away at work.

I sent my boss and email the first morning saying, hey if I burst into tears or snap at something that doesn't require either of those reactions, I'm just hungry...

Thankfully this has been a lot better of an experience than I expected! My coworker told me I was pretty quiet...but I think that's b/c I was so busy, trying not to overreact to anything, and slightly annoyed I couldn't eat food when that's what I wanted!

But I didn't feel irritable...I haven't felt cranky...when I get a headache or feel hungry, I just add more maple syrup to the mix and it seems to be working out pretty well...

The nutritionist has me taking magnesium citrate also so I can go to the bathroom, since I'm not getting fiber in my diet. That has been...interesting..we'll spare the gory details but at least it's finally working.

She originally told me 48 hours, but said that's all she could get through b/c she started to react to the juice! But she said the original fast is supposed to be 3-5 days. Oh sheesh. So I'm aiming for 72 hours, which will be about 6:30 tonight...yes, I'm cheating and assuming I started the fast after dinner Wednesday night.

But my friend is having a 1920's Great Gatsby style party tonight, and I don't want to be the nerd carrying around a water bottle and timer and sipping every 15 minutes...(the reason for every 15 minutes is to keep my blood sugars even and not crashing...which has really helped).

As I bring food back in, I have to be kind to my stomach...so basically going on the repair diet...so veggies, a few fruits and quinoa...the second day I can probably add in some meats and then  slowly build up from there. I'm praying none of the food in my fridge has gone bad...I don't want to waste food :(

But it's been really nice to not bloat after everything I eat! I'm feeling great, really... other than like my teeth are rotting from the acid and sugar...

Yesterday I had to go buy a bridesmaid's dress... I was like, great, of all times to try on a dress and guess a size, it's when I'm on a juice fast... So trying to tell the girl helping me, well, this is what I'm at now, but I'll be putting on more weight by the time I get the dress b/c I'll be able to eat again, so will there be enough give and room?? haha. So here's to hoping it fits in 3 months when I get it..

Anyways, that's just an update on this reset diet...Nice to know this option exists in case I get really messed up in the future... and I'm so thankful it wasn't as bad as anticipated...'course, I still have this day to get through... :)

Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse...

Soo I've been bloating lately..but figured it was a lot of fiber, or maybe I was reacting to quinoa flour (all my baking) or definitely I reacted to mangos... so I considered these all one offs...

Well I saw my nutritionist today and s he told me that b/c I was exposed to gluten, my body is still trying to get unwhacked...and PS grains apparently are inflammatory...which is partially why my body was reacting to quinoa - b/c it's a grain. GRR

So basically I have to shock my system into resetting itself. MORE than just the repair diet...For two days, every 15 minutes I have to drink a combo of maples syrup, lemons, limes and water. That's all. Two. Whole. Days.

And I thought repair diet was bad. I'm waiting til I finish the food in my fridge and then will do this... but if I don't, my body will start reacting to all the foods I currently eat (and like!)... which makes sense as I look back at when I keep getting bloated.

SUPER annoyed. Kinda excited too - it'll be nice to reset really good. My nutritionist just had to do this too and she said it made a world of difference and she's not reacting to things anymore.

But gosh, I don't want to be around me for 2 days... Probably will start this weekend...

Feeling Adventurous...New Recipes

Today I decided to try out some recipes I had found online awhile ago... It's always scary to do this, b/c the ingredients are rather pricey, so I don't want a flop...but then again, I need new recipes, SO what's a girl supposed to do?!

Have a Sunday afternoon to try them out, I guess :)

Anyways, these are Quinoa cookies... and, other than the fact that I made them way too large, and they got pretty well cooked...they're actually really tasty! SO, here is a cookie I can have! Amazing! The quinoa gives it a fun crunch. I ate two, and felt sick but I'm pretty sure that's b/c of the sugar...I'm not used to eating a lot of sugar, so two cookies was a little much. But I was pretty excited!

 This is a chocolate chip cookie dough dip - I plan to bring this to Bible study on Wednesday for gluten free people. The idea is to dip vanilla wafers and apples in it. It's made from white beans... sooo it's not bad..but I'm not sure if I'll make it again. I can taste the hint of bean...and while most people might be ok with it...I'm kinda over it. I like that I can use beans for a lot of things, but I think I've overused bean flavored stuff lately. This is definitely better (and thicker) after chilled...I think it'll be good with apples... sooo this was a pretty good dish, but not sure yet if I'll keep the recipe.

 These were called "Sweet Quinoa muffins" and I laugh...they are NOT sweet!! It called for Sucanot, which I was going to ignore and just use agave, but since I had to run to Sprouts for something else, I happened to see it in the bins and picked some up. It's dried sugar cane...so, I've now discovered another thing for cooking! I have no idea what quantities you'd use it in, but certainly more than the 2 T it called for in a batch of muffins...I threw in craisins, which was a good idea. I'll probably end up finishing these off by drizzling them with agave. Kinda like a corn muffin...

 This is a happy side note - I planted mint in my pots and was like gee, Cathy, that was a great idea, NOW what  are you going to do with all this mint?! I went out and bought one of those ball infusers and a new water jug and have had mint flavored water...which has been a BIG hit for those coming over to my place! It's so refreshing and a perfect summer cool-down treat!

 Lastly, I tried out garbanzo flour chips... I cooked them in a skillet and am dehydrating them in the oven? I think it's too much work for this quantity...but, we'll see what I think when they're fully dry... Right now I think I'd prefer to eat my sweet potato and beet chips I can buy at the store ;)

So, productive afternoon. I also cooked up cabbage and onions and mushrooms and celery and chicken - all separately - so I'd have food to grab this week for lunches and dinners...it's looking to be a busy week.

On the positive side, I reintroduced strawberries and grapes into my diet this weekend! And I can eat them! Since I developed a sensitivity to them 4 months ago, I'll have to have them in small quantities, but at least I can now eat them. And green apples. This is SUCH an exciting thing :)

Monsanto/GMO foods/FDA

Dear Monsanto and FDA. YES there is a harmful effect to GMO crops. Go away!

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/05/30/187103955/gmo-wheat-found-in-oregon-field-howd-it-get-there

Some encouragement

This week has been sooo difficult...as already documented... This morning, I was finding myself irritable and cranky. As I have been off and on this whole week :-/ This entire week I've wanted to eat an elephant... and of course this morning was no different. I was fighting some random headache and struggling through figuring out why a spreadsheet I use daily has all of a sudden morphed and is costing the company money b/c it's giving out wrong data. I finally looked up and told my boss I couldn't do it anymore. We've been going over this spreadsheet for the past few weeks, and just when we thought we had it figured out, we don't. And then I caught myself almost start crying in front of my boss (!?!) and was like what the HECK is going on with me!? I'm not PMSing, I'm not pregnant, so why are my hormones allllll over the place?!

Then my friend at work suggested that I'm under more stress than I realize b/c of fighting the food allergies... and it dawned on me that I guess she might be right. And stress makes our bodies whack out, as clearly demonstrated. And I'm supposed to stay away from stress. So this is a vicious cycle.

I've been on the repair diet all this week and it's been killer. So today is the last day and instead of waiting til tomorrow morning to end it, I'm planning to end it tonight :)

I saw my nutritionist just now and she reminded me to slowly introduce things back in so I don't react. Dang it. But the encouragement she gave me.... is that b/c I was exposed to gluten, it inflamed my small intestine. So everything that passed over it was causing a reaction in my body. So here I was thinking that I was developing new sensitivities and taking major steps backwards, when in actuality, I have NOT! THANK GOD. I am SO relieved about this...But this goes to show how severe it is when I'm exposed to gluten. It's crazy.

She was talking too about if i want to someday get pregnant, it's imperative that I have all food triggers out of my body for 6 months BEFORE conception so that I don't pass antibodies on to the baby and don't stress out my body. Then keep every trigger out throughout the pregnancy and breastfeeding. Sounds pretty overwhelming to me..I'm not going to even think about it right now.

The other frustrating thing is that I'm running the Color Run on Sunday. The color they use to throw on us is harmless...but naturally is made of corn starch... I kinda was joking with people ahead of time saying, oh hope I don't have a  serious reaction! BUt thinking, yah, it'll be fine, it's not like I'm eating it. My nutritionist cautioned me and said while I can't stop living life b/c of my allergies, I need to probably wear a mask...since my body is already weak and coming back into its own after the gluten exposure... I will definitely get a reaction by inhaling pure corn starch. Oh geesh. How does one run with a handkerchief over one's mouth while trying to breathe? I'm going to look like a bandit...albeit a colorful one. Anyways I can joke about it right now but it's a little depressing how far reaching these allergies are.

And I've beenn craving all sorts of foods I can' even eat. For some reason, this week it has really been hitting home, how unfair and angering these allergies are. How all encompassing they are of my life.

I'm really thankful for the friends and family that are very supportive throughout it all tho...and finding others who are going through similar battles...makes me know i'm not crazy... :)

I hate my allergies

Today I really just hate my allergies :(  I had some gluten last week and gave myself leaky gut again. So this week I had to go back on the repair diet to heal that. It's good for me and I feel good by the end of the 5 days, but the first part of it I really get cranky and frustrated with not being able to eat what I want - that's on my normal regime!! Right now it's just veggies and meat and some fruits. No nuts or beans or sweets - nothing that is "satisfying".

This weekend "the girls" are going out for a progressive dinner party- apps at one place, dinner at another, and back home for dessert...this week I just can't handle saying no three times while watching others eat really tasty food.

And today I found out that I didn't get a job I applied for, and I'd really like to eat a Milky Way and Fritos as comfort food..but nope... my comfort food was instead sweet potato wedges from last night and I might pop open a can of olives...

And my store has stopped selling the salami I used to buy and eat with my olives :( So I'll have to look around for that.

But I'm basically whining today and feeling frustrated and discouraged that I can't eat what others can...it's not fair, I didn't do anything to deserve these allergies and I quite frankly don't like them.

But then again, it could be so much worse and I know I'm doing a lot of character building :). Most of the time it's not this bad. I think I'm over tired this week and there are several things that have me down, so food is not helping that.

On the plus side, I'm discovering quinoa flour and think it might be a new muffin - maker possibility, since I started reacting to coconut flour again :-/ I seems that since I ate some gluten, I have regressed significantly with everything I was cleared for...so if it used to bother me and I was cleared... now it is bothering me again...I don't know how to live the rest of my life in this limbo :-/ Part of the journey I guess....

Moldova

So, I'm pretty excited to report that God totally took care of my stomach in Moldova...I fully expected to come back and have to go on the Repair Diet - which I wasn't looking forward to- and I don't!!!

However, I don't want to eat tuna, quinoa, or granola bars for a very long time ;)

Every day for breakfast I had a few prunes and cashews/cinnamon roasted mixed nuts...then ate an orange and had my protein shake.

For lunch every day I had a tuna packet - raw tuna, no salt, no mayo - some tangerines and occasionally  more nuts (pistachios, cashews) and granola bars.

For dinner, the cook made me quinoa (thank you Drew and Kristin for the bag you sent me for my birthday - that was a life saver in Moldova!), boiled chicken, and boiled veggies. Occasionally I got cucumbers and tomatoes.

I brought a few chocolate bars I could eat and some almond butter packets...

All in all, God totally kept me full, and provided food ... it increased my faith because there were several situations that socially I needed to eat the food - M&M's, Sprite...and I prayed God would protect my stomach and I didn't have any symptoms like I would have normally...so that was so encouraging that by Saturday on the plane ride home, when I was craving a variation in food, I broke down and had several salads with dressings that I knew I shouldn't be able to eat...I prayed, and didn't have any symptoms...That was awesome...So encouraging too!

The snacks I brought came in handy for several people who were super hungry and we weren't around food... Plus, I had bought some candied ginger as a natural help for queasy stomachs...several people weren't feeling well on a bus ride, so I passed it out...it tasted so nasty, but one of the girls commented how it helped her stomach, and asked for it again the next day...I ended up giving her the whole bag when we left :)

I'm sad b/c I missed out on experiencing Moldova culture through their food...which was hard...and if we had stayed one more day, I probably would have lost all will power and tried some of it anyways... and it was really hard on the plane when the snack they passed out on our 9 hour flight was hot bread...the smell of it was killer!!

But I believe God totally watched out for my stomach, and I'm pleasantly shocked that I don't have to do the repair diet...was so full the whole time...and saw God do a miracle in protecting me from the food I ate that I "shouldn't" have...

So now I'm curious - was this God's one time blessing for a trip...or has He healed me/will He heal me?? I was reading a book about miracles on the trip and that too increased my faith...so stay tuned ;)