Thursday, August 28th

What I ate today:

Breakfast:
Smoothie with blueberries, strawberries, yogurt, milk, and vitamins.
cheese string

Lunch:
Honey mustard chicken salad from Quizno's.

Dinner:
Homemade butter chicken, rice, subji.

Wednesday, August 27

What I ate:

Breakfast:
String Cheese

Lunch:
turkey breast
pickles
cucumber with light cream cheese
slice of colby cheese

Snack:
chips with cheese

Dinner:
1/4 rack of ribs, mashed potatoes, garden peas, some salt and pepper chicken wings

Dessert:
part of a peanut buster parfait from Dairy queen

How I felt: Did not eat well today! Did not have very much energy. Pain was higher today.  I think I just needed a bit more motivation.

Pain scale: 4/10

Tuesday, August 26

What I ate today:

Breakfast:
Steel cut oats with coconut sugar, raisins, and pumpkin pie spice.
Applesauce

Lunch:
half a grilled chicken breast
chicken wild rice
cucumber salad
broccoli salad
green beans

Snack:
tortilla chips and cheese
pudding (supplements)
small mocha coconut frappucino from Starbucks

Dinner:
stew (beef, potatoes, carrots, onion,(all from my garden) and celery)

snack:
applesauce (supplements)

How I felt:
I felt kind of tired today. Plus my kids were so hard to handle today for some reason, so I felt really on edge.  Still, more energy and motivation than a normal day.  I also ate some gluten today (gasp!).  Of all things, I ate 3 of Ainsley's cheese nips.  I've been able to turn down all gluten, but not that. Sigh.  I got Trev to take the box out of the house with him so I wouldn't eat more. :)

Pain scale:
3/10

Monday, August 25

Here's what I ate today:

Breakfast:
Steel cut oats with coconut sugar, pumpkin pie spice, and raisins
applesauce

Lunch:
Salad from Subway with lettuce, tomato, cucumber, onion, pickles, chicken, cheese, and honey mustard dressing

Snack:
scoop of hard ice cream from the Rolla store (felt sick after... possibly contained gluten?)
string cheese

Dinner:
Grilled chicken breast, steamed broccoli, green beans and carrots (from my garden), mashed potatoes (from my garden), cucumber (from my garden... lol) with a bit of sour cream.

Snack:
pudding and applesauce (yay, supplements)

How I feel:
Pretty good. I did get sickish after ice cream.  Had lots of energy!

The Supplements

A big part of my health journey is correcting the deficiencies I have.

Here's a list of what I'm taking and why:

Vitamin D3 Drops

Vitamin D aids in the development and maintenance of bones and teeth and plays an important      role in immune health.  Low levels of vitamin D are associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, allergies, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and some cancers. (And just a basic lack of energy!  Vitamin D also improves insulin sensitivity.  Almost all adults are at least a little vitamin D deficient, especially if you live up north, so start taking vitamin D if you aren't already!

Magnesium

Magnesium helps with protein synthesis, it is essential for muscle and nerve function, blood glucose (sugar) control, and blood pressure regulation.  It helps dilate your blood vessels which lowers blood pressure.  It helps those of us who have low quality sleep.  

N-Acetyl L-Cysteine and Alpha Lipoic Acid (NAC ALA)

NAC helps promote the excretion of mercury from the body, helps thin mucous, and increases insulin sensitivity.  ALA is a natural occurring amino acid (from flax, chia seeds, etc.) that improves blood sugar metabolism and helps with energy levels. 

Vitamin B12

Vitamin B12 is huge! This is the one that I have the lowest level of any patient they've had in the clinic.  Vitamin B12 deficiencies can get downright scary : http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/vitamin-b12-deficiency-can-be-sneaky-harmful-201301105780Vitamin B12 is essential for building DNA and new red blood cells (which your body is always doing), regulating hormones, providing energy, and is essential for a healthy nervous system.  I'm not sure what may be causing my B12 shortage (most adults have a shortage, but mine is so extreme right now).  None of the normal reasons for having a B12 deficiency apply to me, except for one that I never thought might be a possibility: celiac disease.

Probiotic

Provides good gut bacteria, and helps support against occasional digestive upsets, especially if you are struggling with food allergies. 

Selenium

This one is the worst! Well, it tastes pretty awful.  But it is an antioxidant mineral (a yeast) that works with vitamin E to fight free radicals.  Not sure if I'm going to keep taking this one.  It is very hard not to gag.

ReadiSorb

This is a liquid called Glutathione that protects cells against free radicals that cause oxidation damage and removes toxins.  It also helps your body absorb the supplements you are taking.  And it is GROSS. But helpful.  But oh, so GROSS. 

Fulvic Liquid Minerals

Fulvic minerals help vitamins and minerals to be better absorbed into the cells of the body.  It is a plant based substance.  Just 5-10 drops a day is all you need.  It is pretty much tasteless- I just drop it in my smoothie, apple sauce, water, juice, etc.

Iodine

Iodine is essential for proper functioning of your thyroid, which regulates many hormones in your body.  My iodine levels are incredibly low.  Just 6 drops a day of iodine can make a huge difference.

Chromium

Chromium helps regulate blood sugar levels, as well as boost good cholesterol while lowering triglycerides in the blood. 

So... that's what I am taking right now.  I will probably be taking more supplements in the future when I am able to get my hands on chewable/liquid supplements.

Sunday, August 24

Today was an interesting day for me.

We had a special guest visiting: our Foursquare Unit Supervisor all the way from Whitehorse, Yukon.  Because we had a special guest, we also had a special dinner with him at a friends' house.  Later on this evening we helped put on a big barbecue for all of our church volunteers.

So, today was a lesson in how to eat when in situations beyond my control.

I have to say, our hosts for lunch were quite gracious when serving.  They pulled out chicken breast for me to eat when the hot dogs and sausages they were serving both had gluten.  So sweet.

Also, Sundays are incredibly busy for us, and I NEVER eat breakfast before church. It's just too hectic.  However, I know now that I absolutely need breakfast, and that's when I take the majority of my supplements.  As always, I was running late this morning, so I was so grateful that I could throw a smoothie together and take it out the door with me.

Here's how my eating went today:

Breakfast:
Smoothie with blueberries, strawberries, yogurt, milk, supplements.

Snack:
half a small french fries (eek... this has to stop!) from Mc Donald's

Lunch:
Half a grilled chicken breast, raw cucumber, carrots, and grape tomatoes, spinach salad with mandarin oranges, cucumber, almonds, and green onions with a poppyseed dressing, a handful of dill potato chips.

Dessert: Raspberry sauce with a dollop of whipped cream.

Dinner: broccoli salad, a small portion of potato salad, half a hamburger, tortilla chips with a side of cheese sauce, fudgesicle.  (I know... kind of a weird meal! We were getting rid of the excess food from our food booth, so it was a nice mishmash of a barbecue.  lol)

Snack: 3 potato skins with sour cream (also, yikes).

So, I've learned I need to make better snacking choices.  I've also learned that it is possible to eat in situations that I don't have control in and stay away from gluten.

I did have a bit of eggs today in my potato salad.  I'm feeling a wee bit sickly right now, so I think maybe I'm paying for it. :/

That's all for today! Good night!

E

Friday and Saturday, August 22-23.

This may be slightly boring for those of you who may be reading this, but I really want to use this to track multiple aspects of my journey, especially the food I eat.  Seeing that I'm trying to figure out a gluten-free egg-free life while at the same time eating a diet that discourages insulin resistance, I've got a lot of learning to do!

Friday:

Breakfast:
Steel cut oats with blueberries, coconut sugar, and cinnamon. A wee bit of 2%milk.

Snack:
String Cheese, pudding (I need the pudding for my supplements)

Lunch:
Grilled chicken breast

Snack:
Small fries from McDonald's

Dinner:
Gluten free spaghetti with garden fresh zucchini and tomatoes sautéed in olive oil with garlic and spices, grilled chicken breast.  Side salad with tomatoes and cucumber.

Snack: applesauce


Saturday:

Breakfast:
Smoothie with blueberries, strawberries, half a banana, yogurt, and milk (and a whole lot of vitamins). Applesauce

Lunch:
Grilled Chicken Breast with fresh garden peas, sautéed zucchini and mushrooms (in olive oil), two stalks of celery.

Snack:
string cheese
pudding

Dinner:
Grilled chicken breast (I'm seeing a trend) and baked potato (from my garden) with sour cream, cheese, green onions.

Snack:
A scoop of vanilla ice cream
2 slices watermelon
applesauce

The beginning of the road (for reals.... seriously.)

Trevor and I got referred to this incredible organization called Pure North by some friends of ours.  Don't worry, it's not a pyramid scheme or a get-rich-quick company.  It's basically a health initiative set up by a big company here in Canada for its own employees to focus more on preventative medicine versus crisis management.

Trev and I went  at the beginning of July and had our blood drawn, weight and measurements taken, health history, etc.  We met with an amazing Naturopath who we both connected with and felt so comfortable around.  We were given supplements based on our health histories and surveys we filled out about our current health situations.

Honestly, I struggled.  I was having a very difficult time with the supplements.  For those of you who don't know, I have a huge problem with my esophagus.  I have struggles with swallowing (dysphagia) and I constantly get stuff stuck in my throat.  Food, drink, medicine, you name it.

So every time a normal person would take a handful of pills and swallow, I chop mine into tiny pieces.  And for the capsules, I dump them into a smoothie, applesauce, or pudding.

That gets tiring after a while.  Especially when the powders taste SO BAD.

So, I kind of gave up.

Okay, I fully gave up. HA.

So this Thursday,  we were scheduled to meet the Naturopath again to go over our results.

Honestly, I didn't want to go.

All week I felt like crap.  I had been sleeping a lot, I was in a lot of pain, I felt this huge fog around me and a complete lack of motivation.  The last thing I wanted to do was go to Fort St. John (spit) (Corner Gas reference, anyone?) and hear about how nothing was really wrong with me- I was just fat and lazy, and if I could fix that, I'd be set.

We got into our van and the kids were whining and screaming that they didn't want to come.  I was grumpy, too.  At one point I looked at Trevor and said "Aidan sounds like what I feel like."

I think we could all agree that we weren't off to a good start.

We made it to FSJ, the kids were in a better mood (Ainsley napped on the way there and Aidan got a hamburger), and we were ready to take this on.

Honestly, I feel like my whole life changed while I was in there.

The nurse and naturopath listen to us.  Engaged us.  The staff played with our kids and gave them granola bars and colouring sheets (we were the last patients of the day, so there was only staff there).  We went through our results.

All of a sudden, the years of wondering what the heck was going on with my body started to come together.  For the first time, I wasn't blown off, shamed, or treated like I didn't know what I was talking about.

I have insulin resistance.  I figured for years that I had it.  I went to the doctor and asked for tests, and all we did was a glucose test.  So I would get a "No, you don't have diabetes!"  I know I don't have diabetes!

A simple blood test showed that my insulin levels were insanely high.

I have a low B12 level.  In fact, the naturopath said she had never seen any patient with a number as low as mine.  It was off the charts low.  B12 is essential in DNA building, the nervous system, pain management, and especially hormones.

I have a very low iodine level, which regulates the thyroid.  Hello, difficulty losing weight and problems with hormones and body temperature regulation!

(there are a few more things, but I'm trying not to bore you)

And the one that really blew my mind: I have a gluten allergy.

I'm a pretty competitive person.  So, if I'm going to be bad at something, I'd rather be THE WORST. You know?  I know, that makes no sense.

So, I got kind of a weird satisfaction when she told me I had the worst gluten allergy rating she's ever seen in a patient at the clinic.  Who knew?!?  I don't get upset stomach and such when I eat wheat.

But, I have chronic inflammation and head aches, problems swallowing (AHA!), brain fog, no energy, etc.  Isn't it nuts?  Those are all symptoms of gluten allergy.


I felt so... validated.  I'm not crazy.  There are some serious things going on with my body.

So, what's next?

Well, no gluten.  Or eggs. (Apparently I'm allergic to those as well- not as severe).

Insulin resistant diet- which means high levels of protein and veggies, low carbs, watch the glycemic index.  No fried foods, etc.

I'm taking all kinds of supplements.

No more pop. Yeah, that's happening!

I feel very settled and determined now.  I have been able to have confirmation from someone that I'm not crazy and have been empowered to change my life.

yes, I'd still love to lose 100 pounds.  But, I believe that will come with being healthy and whole for the first time that I can remember.