I've seen some improvement in my Crohn's issues and it has only been about two weeks! I wanted to list them for you, because I am a list kinda person...
I had a pain free day yesterday!!!
One week of no sprints...teeheehee- decipher that one :)
I still have joint pain in my hands, but my feet feel great!!
I don't feel so bloated and my stomach is less poochy
I am confident I will be able to add to this list after the 30 days are complete. Thank you to all that have kept with me this far in the journey. I have some amazing family and friends and am also meeting new ones through this process.
Friday, March 30, 2012
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
I think my taste buds fell asleep...
For, like, 30 something years!!!! They are awake now and the fresher the food the better it tastes. This is a big deal because I am not a big fan of vegetables (I know shocking, huh? This Paleo thing is half veggies?!?!?). I am also now drawn to making my plate full of colors...(crazy, rainbow lady here!)
Lots of good changes going on and I am nearing the half way point. Anyone interested in joining me??
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Snack Attack!!
My good friend, Biscuit, shared this snack recipe. It is ALLL Paleo- in fact, she lovingly renamed it Paleo Crack! Love that girl! It is chock full of good fats and flavor. The flavor part is REALLY important :)
5 cups of nuts and seeds (slivered almonds, sunflower seeds, pecans, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, etc.)
- Be sure to use at least 2-3 cups of slivered almonds; this replaces the oats of a normal granola
1/3 cup of honey or agave nectar
1/3 cup of coconut oil
2 tsp vanilla (preferably natural)
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 cup raisins or dried cranberries
1 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut
Mix honey, oil, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Be careful; it will boil quickly! Move off stove and cool. Meanwhile, mix nuts and seeds in a mixing bowl; pour cooled mixture over top and mix til thoroughly coated. Spread on a baking sheet on parchment paper and bake for 20-30 minutes at 300 degrees. Watch closely and don't put it too close to the heating element. The idea is to just "toast" everything. Allow to cool slightly, and then pour it back into the mixing bowl and add your dried fruit and coconut. Spread over wax paper until cooled, then place in airtight container where it will keep until you eat it all, which will be about an hour.
5 cups of nuts and seeds (slivered almonds, sunflower seeds, pecans, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, etc.)
- Be sure to use at least 2-3 cups of slivered almonds; this replaces the oats of a normal granola
1/3 cup of honey or agave nectar
1/3 cup of coconut oil
2 tsp vanilla (preferably natural)
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 cup raisins or dried cranberries
1 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut
Mix honey, oil, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Be careful; it will boil quickly! Move off stove and cool. Meanwhile, mix nuts and seeds in a mixing bowl; pour cooled mixture over top and mix til thoroughly coated. Spread on a baking sheet on parchment paper and bake for 20-30 minutes at 300 degrees. Watch closely and don't put it too close to the heating element. The idea is to just "toast" everything. Allow to cool slightly, and then pour it back into the mixing bowl and add your dried fruit and coconut. Spread over wax paper until cooled, then place in airtight container where it will keep until you eat it all, which will be about an hour.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Week One!
Week one is done! I'm feeling decent, I have a little more energy and here is the BIG news...drum roll, please.....
I am down 8 lbs.
My main goal is to get my Crohn's in check, but the fact that weight loss is included?!??!?!?! I am loving this :)
I'm charging into week 2 like a warrior...ONWARD!!!
I am down 8 lbs.
My main goal is to get my Crohn's in check, but the fact that weight loss is included?!??!?!?! I am loving this :)
I'm charging into week 2 like a warrior...ONWARD!!!
Friday, March 23, 2012
Aha! moment
"I know this sounds intense or ‘over the top’… but take a minute and think about it??
With ALL of our advancement in the fields of science and technology why is it that we continuously get fatter, disease rates are always going up, and new diseases are popping up..
It’s simple.. We are not treating food as medicine – instead we dismiss it’s affects and blame everything else.."
I got this from the Caveman Strong Website.....it was my AHA! moment. It was easy to connect the dots after that. Taco Bell is NOT medicine, either is Diet Pepsi (my love!). Just wanted to share...
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Exercise and Days 3 & 4
I think Paleo and Crossfit are married. Most places that reference Paleo talk about Crossfit as well, and vice versa. I think I'd like to 'date' crossfit. At least to see if we have a connection. Don't worry, C, doesn't mind. But, until our first encounter, I am exercising 5 days a week. About a year ago, I got the Insanity workouts (from a friend). So, Mon-Wed-Fri I do those. Then on Tue and Thurs, B has Lacrosse practice. The field has a HUGE sidewalk/track around the perimeter. I rock out while I walk and then hang out in my car after and do homework.
Days 3 & 4 are behind me now and I am doing good. Yesterday I pretty much drug my behind around all day, counting the minutes until bedtime. I checked out Trader Joe's and found a couple of things. At this moment I am eating salmon patties, fresh spinach and TJ pico de gallo. Very tasty!!
My Crohn's issues are pretty much the same, but I do see a difference in my how much better I am sleeping and my face is getting clearer :) Haha! Things, they are a changing!!!!!!
Days 3 & 4 are behind me now and I am doing good. Yesterday I pretty much drug my behind around all day, counting the minutes until bedtime. I checked out Trader Joe's and found a couple of things. At this moment I am eating salmon patties, fresh spinach and TJ pico de gallo. Very tasty!!
My Crohn's issues are pretty much the same, but I do see a difference in my how much better I am sleeping and my face is getting clearer :) Haha! Things, they are a changing!!!!!!
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Detox, Diet and Day 2
Robb Wolf, the author of 'Paleo Solution,' told me this would happen. He outlined the why's and how's but I kinda skimmed over that part.... until today. Holy Moley, Shish kambow! I have a detox HEADACHE! I am smiling right now. (Through the pain) It is working!! It is working! My body is responding to Paleo. If I was keeping score, it would be 1 point Paleo- 0 points Crohn's. (Insert a little end zone boogie here)
What do you eat, you may be thinking. Well, remember my hot Paleo friend? She sent me this http://cavemanstrong.com/food/meal-plans/ It is two weeks of easy Paleo meals. Meat, eggs, veggies, some fruit, nuts and good fats. My love of avocados if finally allowed!! :) There are also a TON of Paleo bloggers that post recipes, as well. I am sticking to the very basics now, I know I will explore and experiment a little later. I just don't want to get distracted by huge, long lists of ingredients.
Day 2- P had a spring party in kindergarten today. Several weeks ago I committed to making no bake cookies for the party. I, selfishly, chose these particular cookies because I LOVE them. I was anticipating eating the leftovers. Well, my big plan worked...very few kiddos ate the dog poo looking cookies (I am an evil genius!) But wait, jokes on me! I can't and won't eat a single one. Maybe I will use them to sweeten up a neighbor or two?!?!
** On a side note, the outpouring of love and support I have received since sharing this blog has made me feel like a million bucks. I am beyond blessed with such wonderful people in my life. Thank you so much for your kind words and prayers!
What do you eat, you may be thinking. Well, remember my hot Paleo friend? She sent me this http://cavemanstrong.com/food/meal-plans/ It is two weeks of easy Paleo meals. Meat, eggs, veggies, some fruit, nuts and good fats. My love of avocados if finally allowed!! :) There are also a TON of Paleo bloggers that post recipes, as well. I am sticking to the very basics now, I know I will explore and experiment a little later. I just don't want to get distracted by huge, long lists of ingredients.
Day 2- P had a spring party in kindergarten today. Several weeks ago I committed to making no bake cookies for the party. I, selfishly, chose these particular cookies because I LOVE them. I was anticipating eating the leftovers. Well, my big plan worked...very few kiddos ate the dog poo looking cookies (I am an evil genius!) But wait, jokes on me! I can't and won't eat a single one. Maybe I will use them to sweeten up a neighbor or two?!?!
** On a side note, the outpouring of love and support I have received since sharing this blog has made me feel like a million bucks. I am beyond blessed with such wonderful people in my life. Thank you so much for your kind words and prayers!
Monday, March 19, 2012
I'm going PALEO!!!!
I have a good friend from Germany that went Paleo about a year or so ago. She looks uh-MAZ-ing! I kinda asked about it back then and, well, I thought she was NUTS. So, here I find myself on Paleo...Who's NUTS now??? Me! When I got my 30 day stay of execution (it felt like that) I searched for what would get me the results I need. Lower my inflammation, take some weight off, help with my iron and generally feel better. When I asked my doctor, he suggested a low fiber and minimal vegetables. I was stunned. This just doesn't sound right. I get the fiber part...fiber and me are just not friends and never will be again. But cut out the veggies and eat just white bread and rice? Maybe not.
So, my hot friend came back to mind and I looked into Paleo. Several stories of people, just like me, popped up and they had a complete turn-around in their disease. They were medicine free and healthy!!! I felt like I hit the lottery. This is it!
I read the "Paleo Solution", got the book "Everyday Paleo" and scoured the Paleo blogs. I shopped (it took 4 stores to find everything- thank you, Lord, for Whole Foods, Trader Joes and Wegman's) I printed out my first two weeks and now it is time to start. OK....1....2...just push me now....WAIT! I can do this 1.....2......3 JUMP!!!
So, my hot friend came back to mind and I looked into Paleo. Several stories of people, just like me, popped up and they had a complete turn-around in their disease. They were medicine free and healthy!!! I felt like I hit the lottery. This is it!
I read the "Paleo Solution", got the book "Everyday Paleo" and scoured the Paleo blogs. I shopped (it took 4 stores to find everything- thank you, Lord, for Whole Foods, Trader Joes and Wegman's) I printed out my first two weeks and now it is time to start. OK....1....2...just push me now....WAIT! I can do this 1.....2......3 JUMP!!!
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Where do I start...
for the past 8 months it has been easier to say "we're great, all is well, everything is wonderful" instead of telling the truth. The truth isn't so wonderful or great. It is also easier to hide behind the other and to an extent start to believe it so you don't have to admit the real deal. Whoa...the real deal. Here it is... I have Crohn's. My immune system is attacking my small intestine, this has some rather unsavory results. If I don't get a handle on this, I will suffer some pretty scary consequences. Life altering ones. Just take some medicine...you might say. Well, I have, but to fully get the picture....strap in and hold on tight, we are about to reflect on how I got here. Here we go.
In Oct. 2008 I got the swine flu, then it became pneumonia. I ended up in a German emergency room and they standard test your white blood count to detect inflammation. Well, my was very high (no biggie- it was due to the pneumonia) After I recovered my normal American doc redid this test. Still high, but no alarm yet. We checked my blood again after a couple of months...still high. Well, I had no outward signs of inflammation, but my blood said differently. I had a sinus infection sometime in there so my doc sent me to an ENT doc. So here we are at June 2009 and my ENT doc says you must have a chronic sinus infection. I have surgery to fix a deviated septum. My sinus' clear up but after another test to check my white blood cells, they are still abnormally high. Thinking it is a lingering result from the surgery we wait a few months. Back to the lab I go and this time the results show high inflammation and low iron. Iron supplements are prescribed and off I go, thinking this is the fix. Not so fast....the iron supplements do nothing. Yet another blood test with the same results. Excepts my iron is very low and now my Vitamin B12 is low. The doctor gives my a Vit B12 injection and refers me to a gastrointerologist. Uck! A gut doctor?!?!??! It took forever to get into him, but in the end, he discovered the real problem. I had to have a colonoscopy (don't laugh..one day you will find yourself scoped, it could save your life) Gold mine!!!! Where my small intestine ends and my large intestine begins (terminal ileum) I have about a 10cm area of diseased area. After a MRI of my stomach area a second location of inflammation was found at the very beginning of my small intestine (duodenum) about 6cm long. Now, in between all these test, I experienced the monster that Crohn's is. It was an ugly, painful nightmare. My first flare brought me to my knees in more ways than one. It was a difficult time that I will skim over.
Here starts the medicine part...My GI doc prescribed an oral steroid for me. It was AMAZING! I was normal! I could eat anything I wanted (and I did) without any issues. I could even forget I had this disease. Looking back, I took the easy road here. I relied fully on the drugs and took no responsibility for what I could control, namely food. After a bit, some of my symptoms peeked through, so I just upped the medicine. Until I was at the max dose.
In Oct 2011 we moved back to America!!! It was so exciting. And stressful. I went crazy....eating out at all the restaurants I wasn't able to go to for three years. My guts fought back....to a new GI doc I went. Things start heading downhill here. He puts me on an immune suppressant. This is something a person who has had an organ transplant takes to avoid the body rejecting the foreign organ. It makes it easier for me to get sick, and once sick, I can become VERY ill and unable to fight off infections. A simple cold isn't that simple anymore, I have to be on guard for it to turn into something worse. The immune suppressant started to work, and AGAIN I could live in denial, a few months later, the dose needed to be upped, then it needed to be upped again. I am at the max now. My Crohns symptoms are returning.
In eight months. I have gone from the entry level drug for this disease to now, facing the end all of drugs. Remicade infusions. It is the last option. If it doesn't work, I am screwed. My head hangs low, right now, I did this to myself. My doctor said, come in to see him and talk about when we will start the infusions. I begged for 30 days. 30 days to turn back some of the damage I have caused. 30 days to change. He only gave my 30 days, too much more and irreversible damage may be done.
If I am successful, I can avoid Remicade, take back my health and get off the immune suppressants. It is clear what I have to do.....it is time to change.
for the past 8 months it has been easier to say "we're great, all is well, everything is wonderful" instead of telling the truth. The truth isn't so wonderful or great. It is also easier to hide behind the other and to an extent start to believe it so you don't have to admit the real deal. Whoa...the real deal. Here it is... I have Crohn's. My immune system is attacking my small intestine, this has some rather unsavory results. If I don't get a handle on this, I will suffer some pretty scary consequences. Life altering ones. Just take some medicine...you might say. Well, I have, but to fully get the picture....strap in and hold on tight, we are about to reflect on how I got here. Here we go.
In Oct. 2008 I got the swine flu, then it became pneumonia. I ended up in a German emergency room and they standard test your white blood count to detect inflammation. Well, my was very high (no biggie- it was due to the pneumonia) After I recovered my normal American doc redid this test. Still high, but no alarm yet. We checked my blood again after a couple of months...still high. Well, I had no outward signs of inflammation, but my blood said differently. I had a sinus infection sometime in there so my doc sent me to an ENT doc. So here we are at June 2009 and my ENT doc says you must have a chronic sinus infection. I have surgery to fix a deviated septum. My sinus' clear up but after another test to check my white blood cells, they are still abnormally high. Thinking it is a lingering result from the surgery we wait a few months. Back to the lab I go and this time the results show high inflammation and low iron. Iron supplements are prescribed and off I go, thinking this is the fix. Not so fast....the iron supplements do nothing. Yet another blood test with the same results. Excepts my iron is very low and now my Vitamin B12 is low. The doctor gives my a Vit B12 injection and refers me to a gastrointerologist. Uck! A gut doctor?!?!??! It took forever to get into him, but in the end, he discovered the real problem. I had to have a colonoscopy (don't laugh..one day you will find yourself scoped, it could save your life) Gold mine!!!! Where my small intestine ends and my large intestine begins (terminal ileum) I have about a 10cm area of diseased area. After a MRI of my stomach area a second location of inflammation was found at the very beginning of my small intestine (duodenum) about 6cm long. Now, in between all these test, I experienced the monster that Crohn's is. It was an ugly, painful nightmare. My first flare brought me to my knees in more ways than one. It was a difficult time that I will skim over.
Here starts the medicine part...My GI doc prescribed an oral steroid for me. It was AMAZING! I was normal! I could eat anything I wanted (and I did) without any issues. I could even forget I had this disease. Looking back, I took the easy road here. I relied fully on the drugs and took no responsibility for what I could control, namely food. After a bit, some of my symptoms peeked through, so I just upped the medicine. Until I was at the max dose.
In Oct 2011 we moved back to America!!! It was so exciting. And stressful. I went crazy....eating out at all the restaurants I wasn't able to go to for three years. My guts fought back....to a new GI doc I went. Things start heading downhill here. He puts me on an immune suppressant. This is something a person who has had an organ transplant takes to avoid the body rejecting the foreign organ. It makes it easier for me to get sick, and once sick, I can become VERY ill and unable to fight off infections. A simple cold isn't that simple anymore, I have to be on guard for it to turn into something worse. The immune suppressant started to work, and AGAIN I could live in denial, a few months later, the dose needed to be upped, then it needed to be upped again. I am at the max now. My Crohns symptoms are returning.
In eight months. I have gone from the entry level drug for this disease to now, facing the end all of drugs. Remicade infusions. It is the last option. If it doesn't work, I am screwed. My head hangs low, right now, I did this to myself. My doctor said, come in to see him and talk about when we will start the infusions. I begged for 30 days. 30 days to turn back some of the damage I have caused. 30 days to change. He only gave my 30 days, too much more and irreversible damage may be done.
If I am successful, I can avoid Remicade, take back my health and get off the immune suppressants. It is clear what I have to do.....it is time to change.
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