2 Weeks And...We're Done.

Reintroducing gluten with a beer & beer battered onion rings. BAM!

Overall, the elimination diet was a bust.

Oh well.

I can say that I gave it a real go of it and learned that the food I eat is not directly causing/aggrevating the pain I feel in my body --both Fibromyalgia pain in my arms/legs/back/neck and the more recent pain in my stomach.

I am proud of myself for doing it, however, and there were lessons learned along the way. It wasn't entirely a waste of my time. ;) Mostly, I'm glad that it gave my body a little reboot and I think from here on out I will be eating a little bit better. And I probably lost a pound or two because I can get my belt to the next loop. Nice!

The funny thing? I finally got to have some of the things I was craving so bad...and they were totally NOT as super fabulous as I remembered them to be. Well, except for the beer maybe. Ha!

My go-to sweet snack.

For two weeks I was pretty much surviving on green smoothies, chicken salads, soups, baby carrots & sunflower seed spread, grapes, and vegetable chips. It was nothing glamorous. I found recipes from a Paleo Meal Generator, The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen, and some of our regular cookbooks. There were a couple little gems in the mix! And some major duds (...an adzuki bean & seaweed soup was tasteless, a "hearty" beef stew was equally dull, and the parsnip fries were awfully tough. ~In the oven too long??) As promised, here are a few recipes that were tasty...Fish and two soups.

BAKED TILAPIA WITH LEMON & THYME (Paleo Generator/Whole Foods Market) This was lovely and non-fishy. We used Swai because Tilapia wasn't available at our grocery store, and we served this with a wild mixed rice blend and sauteed shallots. (And while it was lovely, it was still not as good as The Best Fish Dish.)

• Servings:Serves 4.

• Ingredients:

• 1 shallot, finely chopped
• 4 tilapia or cod fillets, skinless
• 4 teaspoons olive oil, divided
• sea salt and pepper
• 1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme leaves
• 1 teaspoon flaky salt, such as Maldon sea salt
• finely grated zest of 2 lemons

• Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Sprinkle shallot in a baking dish large enough to hold all of the fish in a single layer.
• Rub each fillet all over with a teaspoon of olive oil. Lightly season one side of each fillet with cooking salt and pepper.
• Place fillets on top of shallots in the baking dish, seasoned side down, and bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until flesh is opaque and flakes with a fork.
• While fish bakes, prepare the seasoning salt by combining thyme, flaky salt and lemon zest in a small bowl. Mix gently. The salt mixture will be slightly wet and clumpy.
• When fish is done, sprinkle a little bit of the seasoning salt over each fillet, making sure each portion gets a bit of salt, zest and thyme.
• Serve immediately with any remaining seasoning salt if desired.

ROSEMARY RED SOUP (Feeding the Whole Family) Super simple and savory. The pumpkin seeds that we added give a necessary crunch.)

• Servings: Serves 6-8. It fed us both and then I enjoyed two more bowls for lunches.

• Ingredients:

• 3 medium carrots
• 1 large beet
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (or coconut oil)
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 sprig of fresh rosemary
• 1 tablespoon fresh oregano
• 1 cup dried red lentils, washed and drained
• 2 bay leaves
• 6 cups water or chicken or veggie stock
• 2-3 tablespoons light miso
• Pumpkin seeds

• Directions:

• Scrub and chop carrots and beet.
• Heat oil in a 4 quart pot; add onion and saute until soft.
• Add carrots and beet; saute a few more minutes.
• Finely chop rosemary and oregano leaves.
• Add herbs, lentils, bay leaves and water to vegetables; bring to boil.
• Lower heat and simmer 40 minutes.
• Remove bay leaves and let soup cool.
• Puree in small batches in blender.
• Dissolve miso in 1/2 cup water and stir into pureed soup.
• Gently reheat before serving.
• Garnish with pumpkin seeds.

GREEN LENTIL SOUP ( Super Natural Every Day ~Thanks Ali!) So simple with such great flavor!

• Servings:Serves 4-6. Plenty for both of us and leftovers for a lunch or two.

• Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, ghee, or coconut oil
• 1 large yellow onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 5 1/2 cups veggie broth or water
• 1 1/2 cups green lentils
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, ghee, or coconut oil
• 1 tablespoon Indian curry powder
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• Fine-grain sea salt
• 1 bunch fresh chives, minced

• Directions:

• Combine the 2 tablespoons butter, onion, garlic, and red pepper flakes in a large soup pot over medium heat, stirring regularly, until the onions soften, a couple minutes.
• Add veggie broth and lentils, simmer, covered until lentils are are tender. (This usually takes 20-30 minutes, but can take as long as 50 minutes).
• In the meantime, warm 3 tablespoons butter in a small saucepan over medium heat and let it brown. Stir in curry powder and saute until the spices are fragrant, less than a minute.
• When lentils are finished cooking, remove from heat, and stir in the coconut milk and 1/4 teaspoon salt if needed.
• Puree with blender.
• Serve drizzled with the remaining spice butter and sprinkled with chives.

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. ;)

 

The Elimination Diet

Morning smoothie

Fish, wild rice, shallots

Parsnip fries with thyme, rosemary, salt, & pepper

Effective Monday morning, 8:00 pst, I began an elimination diet. My typical breakfast (a soy chai latte and a bowl of plain instant oatmeal) was replaced with a hearty green smoothie (made with avocado, kale, chard, cherries, blueberries, and ginger).

I have been thinking about doing this diet for a while but couldn't seem to muster up the motivation, and probably, the belief in myself that I could do it. It is NOT for amateurs! LOL. In a recent post, I mentioned that I had removed dairy, soy, and peanuts from my diet to see if these foods have anything to do with my Fibromyalgia pain. I kind of got the idea from Sarah. It turns out little Anna has food sensitivities/allergies that created chronic pain in her body, just like the pain I had at her age--and still do. I also saw a new doctor and he suggested eliminating gluten because of stomach pain that I have been having for the past two months. My blood work came back mostly OK and the Celiac test was negative, so he diagnosed with me IBS (he literally told me it was just because he didn't know what was wrong and that is a nice umbrella diagnosis for these types of things--much like Fibro. Ugh.) Often testing negative for Celiac happens even if there is an intolerance or sensitivity, so he said a gluten-free diet was worth a shot.

I figured if I was going to stay off peanuts, dairy, and soy, and also eliminate gluten, I might as well buckle down and do a complete elimination diet. I had read about them online and when I researched them further, I kind of felt overwhelmed. I called up Sarah for advice and Ally for a pep talk. Sunday I chose a particular diet, outlined by The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen, tweaked it a little because I am breastfeeding,* and made my grocery list and meal plans. I promised Dan that I would make my snacks and smoothies and avoid depending on him too much AND try my best not to be a crazy moody crabby lady.

I am allowed ONLY the following foods:

-brown rice/wild rice
-quinoa
-amaranth
-teff
-pears
-peaches, nectarines
-plums, apricots
-berries (except strawberries)
-cherries
-grapes
-figs (dried and fresh)
-mango
-kale, collard greens
-lettuce, spinach
-dandelion greens
-bok choy, cabbage
-parsley, cilantro
-sprouts (all types)
-brussels sprouts
-broccoli, cauliflower
-beets, carrots, parsnips
-winter squash (all types)
-yams and sweet potatoes
-avocados
-onions, garlic, and ginger
-sunflower and pumpkin seeds
-sunflower and pumpkin seed butters
-pine nuts
-mung beans, adzuki beans, lentils
-wakame seaweed, kombu seaweed
-nori seaweed, dulse flakes
-fresh herbs
-coconut milk
-coconut oil and olive oil
-kudzu, arrowroot (be sure its GF)
-guar gum (in small amounts)
-agave nectar and maple syrup
*-non-processed meats

I am NOT allowed:


-gluten grains and their flours
-gluten-free grains and flours
-potatoes, tomatoes, peppers
-oats
-yeast
-dairy
-eggs
-chocolate
-soy products
-corn
-mushrooms
-pineapple, papaya
-citrus fruits
-kiwi fruit, bananas, apples
-strawberries
-all tree nuts and peanuts
-all beans (except for mung, lentil, adzuki)
-sesame seeds
-refined sugar
-alcohol
-caffeine

After 14 days I will access how practical it would be to keep going an additional 7-14 days (WLNK recommends 28 days). After that, I will do phases of reintroducing foods such as soy, night shade vegetables, grains, and dairy. Dan is placing his bets on wheat. I have to admit that I kind of don't expect any foods to affect my chronic pain (even with Anna's success!) but I will be able to know definitively and not always wonder....

Anyway, it is the end of day three and I am really curious how this is going to turn out. I hope to have updates maybe every other day to keep track of what I eat, how I feel, and what this experience is like. I can tell you one thing: My savior so far has been Food Should Taste Good's sweet potato chips! ;)