Starting a Log on Day 13

[Jenny C.]

Well, unlike most people, I've waited until day 13 to start logging what I'm eating. I'm going to start, though, with an brief (hopefully) overview of what brought me to the Whole 30 challenge.

 

I've had food intolerances since I can remember, but doctor's visit after doctor's visit as a child yielded nothing -- no positive test results anywhere. Leaving my family (and me) wondering if how I felt after I ate was all in my head.

 

Fast forward to this new thing called the Internet, which for me, wasn't really accessible and useful enough until I was in graduate school in the 1990s. FINALLY I could do some of my own research and could cut doctors who insisted I was fine out of the equation. It was through the Internet that I learned that some people couldn't tolerate certain foods. They weren't allergies -- just intolerances. Over time I identified two key foods I couldn't eat: gluten and soy. So I eliminated those, which was no easy trick, but mostly doable, and I felt a lot better and a lot more in control of how I felt. However, something still wasn't right.

 

2008 was a bad year. In the years leading up to 2008 I felt better than I'd felt in a long time. I had run four marathons and countless 1/2 marathons. (One marathon I was two minutes from qualifying for the Boston.) I felt really good. And then 2 things happened: I lost my job and I got an infection in my leg. The first is self-explanatory, I suppose. The infection started after I ran a trail race -- where you run through trees, sticks, creeks, etc. During that race I cut my leg somehow. I didn't even think about it. But the cut turned into something awful, and my doctors couldn't figure out what kind of bacteria was causing the infection. I was hospitalized for 2 weeks with different antibiotics dripping into my body. Finally they sent a sample of my tissue to the CDC, only to learn that I had a soil-based bacteria in my leg that was not native to my state. (I hadn't been out of the state for months, so no one really understood that one.) Long story short, it took about a year on antibiotics before my leg was healed. It took longer for my self-esteem to heal from the lost job. It was the most physically and emotionally stressful times of my life. And my body has never recovered.

 

Five years later, and my body is still a mess. Finally, last year, I went to an alternative medicine doctor. He ran a ton of tests (most of which weren't covered by insurance, so thank goodness I was employed again). Here's what he determined was going on with me:

• Adrenal fatigue
• Systemic candida
• H Pylori

I also had low levels of things like zinc and gaba. My doctor's idea of what to do was to start me on a ton of supplements -- and on both Amphotericin and Diflucan for the candida. I kept asking about dietary changes, but he insisted that as long as I was "eating healthy" (which he defined as "not eating things that make me feel bad), According to him, I didn't need to change or restrict my diet. That never felt right to me. With candida? Really? A real problem with his advice is that eating made me feel bad. So had I stopped eating things that made me feel bad, I would have stopped eating.

 

It's now a little over a year since I first saw this doctor. I'm still under his care because I still think he's probably a better bet than someone who's going to run some blood work, tell me that there is nothing wrong with me, but then proceed to put me on some Eli Lilly medication. I am better now than I was last year. I have more energy and fewer stomach-related complaints. But after a year on his supplements, I'm still not where I'd hoped to be.

 

Food has been a major hang-up. Before the Whole 30 challenge, whenever I got to the point when I couldn't stand how I felt anymore -- the fatigue got too bad and my head go to cloudy -- I could make it go away with sugar. I just needed a reprieve. Sugar could temporarily run off the overwhelming fatigue and cloudiness.

 

 I started this Whole 30 journey after I finally decided a few months ago that this phrase was defining my life -- "If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always gotten" (which people call the definition of insanity). So it was insane for me not to make some sort of huge change. I had made a lot of smaller changes -- I had cut back to one cup of coffee a day after drinking FAR too much coffee all day, I had cut out all gluten from my diet, and I had cut out soy (the latter resulting in a HUGE cut in foods in general, probably bigger than the gluten, since soy oil seems to be in everything!) The paleo diet had caught my eye because I had always suspected that it wasn't just gluten that bothered me. Other grains seems to be a problem, too. And while I could eat dairy, I suffered for awhile after doing so.

 

One day about two months ago I was shopping in Whole Foods Market and walked over to the book section. The title "It Starts with Foods" caught my eye -- and I remember laughing and thinking that if my doctor wrote a book it would be called, "It Starts with Supplements (Especially Those that I Make Money Off Of because they Have my Name on Them)" I bought the book, read it, and was hooked.

 

So now I'm 13 days in . But I'm really struggling on the Whole 30 diet. I think, given my history, my Whole 30 may need to be a Whole 365. I believe in this way of eating. And I need to be very, very, very patient with myself. I know that the tiger blood for me is not going to come at day 14 -- or whenever it is that a lot of people seem to get it. I started this diet from a very deep hole. It may take a month or two just to reach the surface and see some light. The tiger blood is probably a good ways away for me. In the meantime, feeling good about what I'm putting in my body (and feeling like I finally know what to put in my body and why) is helping me emotionally -- which will, undoubtedly help me physically while I wait for my body to heal.

 

I don't expect that anyone is going to read through all of this. But having written it was very therapeutic. I'll just use this log as a place to indicate what I've eaten and as a place to try to get my thoughts out, which feels good.

[amberino21]

of course people will read it I did!

 

it sounds like your body has been through a lot in the past few years, and you're right - it may be a long healing process. you sound like you're committed and determined and wanting to be healthy. I hope that your journey to that spot is a constantly improving one

[Jenny C.]

Oh wow. You're amazing for reading through that book-of-a-posting. Thank you for doing so. It is nice to be "talking" to someone. And your words of encouragement mean the world to me. Thank you.

[amberino21]

knowing someone's story makes it easier to understand why they're here, and what their struggles are - it's also interesting (to me) to read how people react to doing this, so reading about your progress and any successes you have, or negatives you experience (hopefully less of those!) will be great.  

 

i hope you start to feel more energetic - hopefully posting your food here, as well as your thoughts, will help you track what you're doing and perhaps allow others to give suggestions

[GFChris]

Read it too: wow - what a road you've been down already. 

Great that you've hung in there, continued to seek solutions and not give up. You're clearly determined to take control of your health. 

I look forward to cheering you on and supporting you any way I can.

[Jenny C.]

Thanks, Chris. Yes, it's been a looooong road. And I've never had a real problem with motivation and dedication. When you feel bad, those seem like the only option. The problem has been trying to figure out what to be dedicated TO. Thanks for your support. It means a great deal.

[Jenny C.]

DAY 13

Ok. I need to post meals 1 and 2 before I forget what I ate!

 

MEAL 1

• 1 cup of coffee
• a chicken fillet rolled in coconut milk and then coconut shavings and then pan cooked in coconut oil. (I want to avoid using eggs for a few days, just to see how I feel, so I used coconut milk instead of egg to try to get the coconut shavings to stick. It only sort of worked, but it was still really good.)
• Cubed sweet potato sauteed in coconut oil
• Spinach sauteed in coconut oil

(Note: I felt really good after breakfast. My head was clear and I had energy.)

 

MEAL 2

• Can of salmon (canned in H20)
• 1/2 an avocado
• Yellow squash sauteed in coconut oil

(Note: Lunch gave me a headache and made me feel really thirsty afterwards -- which is where I am right now I felt better being hungry before lunch than I feel now having eaten.)

[Jenny C.]

You know, in the name of full disclosure, I should probably mention one more thing -- b/c at this point I have absolutely no health secrets, so I might as well lay it ALL out there.

 

In 2009 I started having pain in my right side. Tests showed that I had an overactive gallbladder. A HIDA scan showed that my ejection rate was 99%. So my doctor suggested that I have it removed. (I wish I hadn't, but I did.) So even though I've read in the forums about people who have had their gallbladders removed and are doing the Whole 30 challenge w/ no problem, I still can't help but wonder if the reason I seem to feel worse on the diet than off is because I've never eaten so much fat in my life -- and my lack of gallbladder just can't take it. I don't know...

[Jenny C.]

Ok, I didn't think I had enough for meal 2, but I started to feel so bad that I couldn't stand it. So I just had a banana and a piece of chicken (the same chicken I had for meal 1). I can tell that I'm to that point where I'm just going to have to slog through the day and hope I wake up feeling better.

 

I'm making soup for dinner. I hope it's good. It's a blender soup with sweet potato and pork.

[Tom Denham]

When you had both avocado and salmon in meal 2, I wondered if you had too much fat. Salmon is a fatty fish and avocado is fat, so you had two servings of fat. Add to that your lack of a gall bladder and it may be that you had too much fat for you. You might want to try taking a digestive enzyme with meals to assist you in the digestion of fat. That might make high fat meals much easier for you. In contrast, your meal 1 was relatively low in fat. The low fat meal 1 might explain why you felt better after it than after meal 2.

[Jenny C.]

Yes, I think you may be right. After the banana and piece of chicken, I felt much better this afternoon. I DO think the high fat meals are too much for my gallbladder-less body to deal with. I was so determined not to worry about fat the last 13 days. I wanted to just eat what I needed to eat. I guess I thought that worrying about fat meant worrying about weight. And I don't want or need to worry about fat. So I kept pushing that out of my mind. But b/c I don't have a gallbladder, I can't ignore it.

 

Keeping this log will definitely help me identify things like that. I should have started it on day 1.

 

amberino21, Chris, and Tom, the 3 of you have been the biggest help to me in the forums through the last two weeks (and have been very patient with me -- thank you). I am so grateful.

[Jenny C.]

MEAL 3

 

Sweet potato soup (so good!) -- Besides sweet potato it has garlic, onion, and chicken broth in it.

Ground beef with sauteed celery in it.

 

So I've got a fat (the ground beef) and a low fat (the soup). I feel ok. And ok is good.

[Jenny C.]

DAY 14

 

I woke up today feeling only mildly cloudy. That's two days in a row. "Only mildly cloudy" is definitely good.

 

At 4:30 am I had a cup of coffee and a banana.

 

Meal 1

• Cabbage,onion, and apple sauteed in coconut oil with some chicken broth mixed in (my own concoction -- it was fine, but not great)
• Scrambled eggs with only one whole egg and some pieces of cooked turkey breast mixed in
• Frozen strawberries/blackberries pureed with some coconut milk

I feel good. I do think that one of my problems the past two weeks is that I've been eating too much fat in one sitting. Not having a gallbladder to help me deal with all of the fat was making me sick. I feel foolish for not figuring that out sooner. But honestly, I don't ever really think about the fact that I had my gallbladder removed. I've never been a big fat eater -- I was well brainwashed by American cultural "forces" to believe that fat=bad and low fat=good.  So I didn't avoid fat b/c I didn't have my gallbladder. I avoided it b/c I thought it was good for my overall health to do so. Then when I learned that all fats are not created equally, and that you don't need to be super anal about fats as long as you eat good fats -- and subsequently started the Whole 30 -- I didn't even think about whether I should be eating that much fat. My lack-of-gallbladder was as far from my mind as it has been for the past five years or so.

 

When I was feeling bad after certain meals, I kept trying to figure out which foods in the meals were making me feel bad. FODMAPs? Autoimmune foods? I knew that there was something going on other than my body just getting used to the Whole 30 diet. It clearly wasn't getting used to something about it. So hopefully, hopefully, hopefully the fat thing was it.

 

Eliminating some of the egg yolks from my breakfast seems to be allowing me to eat eggs again. I had absolutely decided that eggs were making me feel bad. Although there was something about that that didn't seem right -- since I used to eat eggs before the Whole 30. The difference, of course, was that I used to remove many of the egg yolks back then, but stopped removing them when I started the Whole 30. I'm so relieved I can eat eggs! That was going to be a major bummer. For one thing, I LOVE the mayonnaise I've been making from It Starts with Food. I thought that was a thing of the past...

[Jenny C.]

Ok. Never mind about eggs being ok. It was wishful thinking. My face got all bloaty after breakfast this morning -- and right now I feel drugged. I need to cut out the eggs. In fact, I'm thinking of just doing the autoimmune Whole 30 from now on. The only big loss, as far as I'm concerned, are eggs. I already avoid nuts, etc. b/c I know they make me feel bad. Peppers are no big deal, either -- nor are the other few things that I'd need to avoid. I AM going to miss the eggs, though. It's not so much the taste of the eggs, but the convenience of the eggs -- and the mayo. Oh well.

[Jenny C.]

MEAL 2

Same as dinner last night -- sweet potato soup (w/ onions, garlic, and chicken broth) and groups beef mixed w/ sautéed celery.

I feel ok...

[Jenny C.]

I wonder if my body is just struggling to detox...

[GFChris]

Oh boy Jenny, sorry the eggs aren't working for you. Yes, it will be interesting if the auto-immune protocol helps you feel better.

I just googled and found this recipe for mayo that doesn't use eggs or nuts (you'd use a date paste instead of the honey she used for it to be Whole30 compliant). http://www.nomorenuts.com/nut-free-recipes/eggless-mayonnaise-recipe-gluten-free-soy-free-dairy-free-egg-free/

[Jenny C.]

Oh wow. Thanks so much, Chris! I'll make some tomorrow.

 

I've tossed all my eggs...

[Jenny C.]

Pre-work out meal -- can of tuna and a banana.

 

Meal 3

Spaghetti squash

Salmon

[Jenny C.]

I woke up with two things on my mind:

 

1. That the support of this forum and web site should cost money because in many ways it seems too good to be true -- and again, I'm so grateful. This is been a long and lonely road.*

 

2. That, for 30 days, I'm going to follow both the low FODMAP & and the autoimmune shopping lists. I'm tired of wondering whether I should be following one or the other or both. 30 days is nothing. I can easily follow both for 30 days -- especially if I feel better -- and then start reintroducing things to see how it goes.

 

* Back to the "lonely" thing for a minute -- I think most people who have chronic health problems and feel lousy much of the time know what I mean. I have a wonderful family who would hate to think that I feel "lonely" with my health problems. They would do anything for me. But what I've learned is that you can only say, "I don't feel well" so many times until you begin to sound like a bore. I learned to reserve, "I don't feel well" for the days when I feel truly incapacitated...

 

On a happy note, I woke up this morning feeling a bit better than usual.

[GFChris]

Yay to feeling better! 

[Jenny C.]

Whole 30, Day 15/Whole 30 w/out FODMAPs and autoimmune inflammation triggers, Day 1

 

Pre-Run Meal

cup of coffee

banana

some ground beef

 

I need to go to the grocery store! I'm close to being out of foods I can eat

[riverwaters]

Glad that you're feeling a little better today! 

[Jenny C.]

MEAL 1

 

• Chicken rolled in coconut milk and then rolled in coconut flakes -- and cooked in coconut oil. (This is really good for anyone trying to avoid eggs. An egg would make the flakes stick a lot better, but when it's all said and done, it still tastes really good.)
• Sauteed yellow squash and zucchini

 

I ran this morning -- which I do often. And I usually wear my Garmin (runner's watch to measure pace/distance). I went out on an easy 30 minute run. My goal was to take it easy and just focus on the scenery and on feeling good -- and at the end of the 30 minutes, I DID feel good. It was a really nice run. I thought I'd gone out and back a bit more than usual for a 30 minute run. (I just turn around when my watch hits 15 minutes.) When I checked my pace, I was really surprised to see that ran at an 8:44 pace. Usually on my easy runs I'm around 9:10 or so. I thought I felt good today -- but I was so excited to see that pace of 8:44. It's not that I care that I'm going faster. It's just that I see it as an indication that something good is happening in my body. It's been a long time since I ran an easy, relaxed 30 minutes at an 8:44 pace.

[Jenny C.]

MEAL 2

 

Ok. This is terrible. But I'm sitting here the next day trying to remember what I ate for my second meal yesterday and i'm drawing a blank. I have to do better at getting this logged sooner.

 

Between 2 and 3

 

I DO remember getting hungry between meals 2 and 3 and having some ground beef and a banana. That's making me wonder if I accidentally forgot to eat a 2nd meal yesterday. My meal 1 was later in the morning. So maybe I forgot somewhere along the way that that was actually my first meal. Hmmmm. That's not like me. Well, I won't worry about it now.

 

MEAL 3

Green salad with olives and a vinaigrette dressing that I wasn't that excited about. (I need to find some new FODMAP/free autoimmune safe recipes. I know I'm limited...)

1/2 a spaghetti squash

bison buger