Suddenly It Is Day Eleven!

Rosemary red lentil soup with pumpkin seeds ~ Yum!

Ice cream alternative: Strawberry Italian ice!

Adzuki bean and seaweed soup

Of course I had all the intentions in the world to keep a sort of diary going every day or other day while on this Elimination Diet, but YEAH RIGHT. It was all I could do to quickly scribble what I ate at the end of the day before crashing. It has been one of those weeks. Just NUTS. I struggle to figure out how I can possibly keep up a hobby like blogging while working full time and being the best wife, friend, and mama possible. Sigh.

Anyway, here we are on day eleven and I kept you all in great suspense! Ha! A few of you commented (off-line) that it sounded similar to your low-carb or no-carb diets. My hat is off to you, no-carb ladies, because this has been HARD and your diets are actually MORE difficult! I was able to at least sit around and shove root vegetable chips into my mouth with absolutely no regard for carbs. ;) Truly, I am going to turn into a sweet potato. I have consumed many bags of chips the last eleven days! (Food Should Taste Good and Terra are the best!) I also didn't have the motivation of weight loss to consider, so a few things crept into my diet that were actually No No's, and this was mostly because I was overwhelmed and gave in for convenience's sake. For instance, apples. I didn't make my morning smoothie so I picked up a Naked smoothie which actually contained apple juice. I also absentmindedly had strawberries when I ordered a cup of Italian ice at the car show last weekend. I was so excited about finding an ice cold sweet treat that wasn't dairy, I ordered strawberry because I was so focused on avoiding chocolate. These didn't seem like tremendous slip ups however, because I wasn't truly expecting fruits to be part of my potential problem.

I know I said in my first post that I didn't really expect any foods to affect my chronic pain, but I guess I was lying. On day three, I had a huge flare. My legs were horrible and I could hardly walk. By the time I went to bed, my arms were just as painful and I just wanted to curl up into a ball and cry. Oh my goodness, was I surprised the next day at how disappointed I felt. I just wasn't expecting a flare up while off all of these foods. I really thought my pain was going to be very mild or non-existent, and that things would get more interesting as I reintroduced foods. Here I was three days in and in tremendous pain! And that has continued. :( I have had some rough days with awful pain that has made working, taking care of Raine, and just daily life tough to manage. As far as the stomach pain goes, that has remained as well. SO. I feel like this has been a giant FLOP.

However, I'm doing it and learning things from it. What have I learned so far?

1.) I have to eat, like, all the time. And not because of my blood sugar, like I thought. I'm a compulsive eater. I think this is because I still have a restless energy and I used to placate with smoking. Especially when I am stressed. And while I am sitting at my desk at work all day, stressed to the max, I just have to be eating. Like I said before, I ate a lot of chips. I also snacked on grapes and seeds. That's better than donuts!
2.) I don't have blood sugar trouble on this diet. I suppose the foods I have been eating are lower on the glycemic index, so the question will be can I (or do I want to) stick with some of these changes to keep my blood sugar problems in check?
3.) I won't die if I don't have Starbucks every morning. I replaced my addiction to lattes with green smoothies and they filled me up and gave me more energy and stamina for the afternoon than sugar, chai, or espresso ever could.
4.) You adapt. You really do. I adapted to the loss of chocolate, bread, alcohol, etc. Whatever you think you can't give up: You can. I should have known that by the fact that I was previously able to give up smoking and also meat for a vegetarian diet, but you know, I was kind of feeling a little addicted to certain foods. And when you feel addicted it is scary to take a leap and let go.
5.) I don't know where to go from here in terms of my pain. I feel like I've lost a little hope that there is a solution. I don't think there is one anymore. I think I will continue to live with the same pain I have always lived with my entire life and nothing can be done about it. But this is for another post another day.

I'm still going to finish out my 14 day plan. So I have a few days to go over the weekend and I'll report back! I definitely have some recipes to share. ;)