See those roots? They are a perfect illustration of how my health feels like these days. Twisting, turning and ever ready to trip me up. Near constant flare ups that have become increasingly debilitating are beginning to seriously impact my quality of life, ability to do things and mental health. The inflammation has become constant and pervasive.
In an attempt to find some relief and turn things around the decision was made to go back to my Naturopath (who I haven't seen since early 2017). Conventional medicine wasn't working well enough to make a real difference and I was tired of living the way I was. Plus living with medication side effects when you the medication isn't working all that well anyway was beginning to feel like an extremely ridiculous thing to be doing.
After an hour and half appointment and a review of my bloodwork the Doctor added a few supplements to the ones I was already taking and she recommended that I do a four week elimination diet to see if there were any foods that could be causing or contributing to the chronic inflammation and flare ups I was experiencing.
I spent a few days getting ready and started this past Monday. I'm not going to lie, it hasn't been easy! But I'm on my 6th day and still trucking along. And in the spirit of full disclosure it has been a rough week. Lots of inflammation and pain, flu like symptoms and too many bathroom trips...ugh.
But I'm holding on to the hope that in the end this will be worth it and I'll begin to feel better. It's been a little frustrating coming up with a meal plan that works within the strictures of the diet. Any ideas are more than welcome!
Some of the rules of the Elimination Diet that I'm following are:
-no gluten
-no dairy (can have ghee which helps!)
-no eggs
-no sugar (I can have maple syrup, honey or stevia in small amounts)
-no soy
-no nightshades (so no potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant etc)
-no mushrooms
-no bananas
-no chocolate
-no strawberries
-no cashews
-no peanuts (which I'm allergic too anyway so no big loss there)
and I could go on...but I wont so I don't depress myself even more than I already am (kidding, sort of)
Here are some of the meals I've been eating
One of my chosen breakfast. I decided that in the interest of saving my sanity I'd only make a couple a week and just eat the leftovers the other days. It's hard to come up with breakfast ideas when you can't have eggs or bread. I am going to have a look at some of the gluten free brands and see if there is one that I like and am allowed. This breakfast was made up of leftover rice simmered in coconut milk, sulphite free cranberries, cardamom, cinnamon and maple syrup. I topped it off with almond milk and walnuts for protein.
I made myself a creamer for my coffee (which I have to stop but I'm on the slow train to cut it back as approved by the doctor). I usually use half and half in my coffee but it's a no go so I thought I'd try to come up with something. This is made with a can of coconut milk, a couple of medjool dates, water and a bit of vanilla. It's not half bad but I'm still missing the cream in my coffee!
I've been drinking a lot of this. The licorice in it has been soothing my stomach a bit and it's helped somewhat with the congestion and flu like symptoms I've been having
The second breakfast of the week. Oatmeal with added flaxseeds, hemp seeds and chia seeds. I cooked them up with some frozen raspberries and ate them with walnuts and almond milk.
For my lunch I've been keeping it simple since I tend to eat breakfast closer to 11 or noon. So really it's more of a snack. A couple of days I had this tuna salad with carrots and celery topped with diced avocado. I used lemon juice and avocado oil to hold it together.
Other days I kept it even simpler with carrots, celery and hummus.
I've tried to make our dinners at least somewhat interesting within the parameters of what I'm allowed. The first night I made haddock and broccoli en papillote with rice and a detox salad blend topped with avocado slices
A sort of chicken lo mein. I used a bag of coleslaw mix for the vegetables in this and lots of garlic and ginger. The noodles are asian rice sticks. I seasoned it simply with wheat free tamari.
Baked Greek chicken, green beans and parsnip mash. I didn't know what to expect from the mashed parsnips to be honest nut oh my goodness they were delicious! Roasted parsnips, coconut milk, ghee, salt and pepper all thrown into the blender and sent spinning. I will be making this again for sure!
Pan-seared salmon topped with a cranberry compote. Side of roasted broccoli and steamed carrots.
I made the cranberry compote with cranberries from the freezer, honey and a little bit of water. It's definitely helping with the meals around here!
That's about it for now...hoping this will all be worthwhile!
xo
