Regaining Health

beautiful wings

I am 37 years old and I'm not one of those women who is afraid to tell you her age. I am also not afraid to tell you that I felt 80 years old and have for a long time...up until this month when I found myself in the ER TWICE in one day. I have been living with chronic pain for a long time now, if it wasn't debilitating abdominal pain from some mysterious illness it was a constant fatigue in my legs, hips, thighs and back. I attributed it to a back injury I sustained almost 4 years ago. I thought it would be something I would just have to live with- try to work out and become so sore within hours that I couldn't do anything else for the rest of the day. In fact Gym Day was solely that- GYM only because I would have to lay down and complain for the next 24 -48 hours about how I couldn't move my legs. It made working out and losing weight even harder. Stupid back injury ! Even cleaning the house for a little while would just flood my body with pain. I didn't think anything else was the problem until just recently.

As I lay in bed recovering from my last ER trip and trying to hold down a piece of ice (seriously there was nothing more precious in the world than that freezing little liquid gold!) I researched "endometriosis" and what one should do if they had it. I was pretty sure that was my problem and I wasn't happy to read I had to change my whole diet. I also wasn't happy about feeling like I was dying and having to go to the ER every month so I was ready to roll up my sleeves and do the work. Here is what I have had to QUIT:

Caffeine

Gluten

Red Meat

Refined Sugar

Dairy

Alcohol

Processed Foods

Some people quit them one at a time and then there's me who decided to quit them all at once. I had already quit caffeine about 6 months ago after a trip to the ER showed I had gastritis from all the pain meds I was having to take. That was the hardest to quit and if you're going to quit it get ready for about 2 weeks of weirdness. Brain fog and grouchiness. I was only drinking 1 cup a day, that's how much of an addictive drug caffeine is. I have also been drinking almond milk for years now so that wasn't a big switch for me but let me tell you the heartbreaking truth I HAVE A SWEET TOOTH LIKE NOBODIES BUSINESS AND IF I COULD MARRY CHOCOLATE I WOULD. I could also live quite happily on wine and cheese ooh la la so imagine how sad I was to read I had to say goodbye to ALL OF IT! :(

Then I started reading about alternatives to cheese, vegan recipes, gluten free bread and cake recipes...ok, ok, it's getting not so bad. There is hope, I can still survive!

Now let me tell you about how miraculous I feel after only being off all that junk for three weeks. My weigh in before the ER trip was 137. 3 weeks later I'm 123. I did a double take at the clinics scale, was pretty sure it was wrong and weighed myself at the gym...yep-123!

All the chronic pain in my body is gone. I can now do a full session at the gym for an hour AFTER doing about 40 minutes of cardio and come home FULL of energy and ready to jump into the next project. NOT COLLAPSING ON THE BED or climbing into a little granny Epsom bath! 

My skin is clearing up and it gets BAD. All the extra estrogen that gets stored in your excess fat is horrible for you, you need to lose it and get it out of your body. That's hard to do when you're always in pain and when working out causes more pain. I was in a constant state of inflammation, self perpetuating with every piece of WHOLE WHEAT bread I thought was good for me. WRONG!

So what can you eat? Everything else! Fish, white meat- turkey, chicken breasts, lots of vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts, seeds, corn tortillas instead of flour...even rice tortillas! Grains like brown rice, quinoa, gluten free pastas and gluten free breads. You have to spend a little more time in the kitchen but remember what you're getting back in exchange- NO MORE CHRONIC PAIN and TONS OF ENERGY! Heres a sample from my food log of a typical days food, I have been keeping the log to track my pain and what could possibly be causing it.

Breakast: Sweet potato, yogurt, *honey, cinnamon (honey, organic maple syrup or agave in tiny amounts)

Lunch: black bean soup, strawberries, pineapple, apple juice

Snack:  cup of Fish soup, corn chips, guacamole

Dinner: sushi, salmon/tuna, carob cake (gluten free, dairy free, sugar free)

Breakfast: *EGG, corn tortilla migas, onions, gluten free toast, OJ (*one egg a week for me)

Lunch:Salad, tomatoes, cucumbers, vinaigrette, fish soup, grape juice

Dinner:2 corn tortillas, chicken, fake cheese, guac, salsa.(quesadillas gluten and dairy free)

Breakast: Carob-banana-yogurt shake (plain Greek yogurt only), sweet potato, toast gluten free, peanutbutter

 Snack:banana

Lunch:cauliflower/chicken Masala, rice, lentils

Dinner: gluten free DAIYA pizza, salad, tomatoes, dressing (olive oil, herbs,lemon) , female toner tea, grape juice, carob cake (gluten, dairy, sugar free)

*Supplements I take: Vitafusion Multivitamin for Women along with Calcium,Magnesium, Zinc supplements. *My doc told me my immune system sucked and I needed Folic Acid daily.

*HYDRATE! Lots of water!

*At least 30 minutes of walking a day! Even better if its fast walking and even more amazing if you add some strength training and core building exercises. 

So you kind of get the idea, you find a way around the things you can't have. You find alternatives. I'm still working on my diet, like I should have less fruit juice right now because it's still sugar but so far so good and the results have been amazing. I'll keep posting recipes from my new diet as I go along for anyone interested in changing their diet or even just trying a better diet one day out of the week. I feel like a gleeful little kid with so much energy...able to work out and lose bad weight and strengthen my muscles and be stronger. This is a true gift, I hope I can pass that gift on to you.