Eat What Your Body Wants

When I made the decision to stop dieting and listen to what my body wants in the spring of 2010, it was the best decision I ever made.  Now when I decide not to eat something, my mind set is different.  Although it is always nice to lose a couple of pounds, weight loss is not my main concern.  I approach a "diet" as a way to gain knowledge about what my body really wants.  For example, when I eliminated gluten from my diet, my intention was to have more energy.  It took several months of being gluten free, but I finally started to feel better.   I noticed it most clearly when I went to a science museum with my daughter, nieces and nephew this summer.  In the past, I would have pretended to enjoy an activity like that and yawned my way through the event.  This summer, I felt fully energized the entire trip and truly had a good time. Until I got my energy back, I didn't realize how much I was missing it.

Every time I get lazy and eat something with gluten, I can feel it draining my energy within a day.  Now that I have really listened to what my body wants, it is easy to pass on foods with gluten because hours of energy are more important to me than a couple of minutes of eating.  This weekend, my family had pancakes, and I didn't feel any desire to join them.  I sat with them and chatted, but I didn't need to be eating pancakes to enjoy their company.

Your mind might tell you that you should definitely put that bag of candy corns in your shopping cart like mine did when the Halloween displays came out.  That day my mind won.  (more about that later) The difference is I paid attention to how I felt after I ate them, which was sick to my stomach and in need of a nap.  The last couple of times I have been in a store and gone by the Halloween displays, I remember how I felt and easily walk on by.   I don't pass by the display because I am on a diet; I pass by because my mind has recently been reminded that there is no food in a Halloween display that my body really wants.

Six Weeks on New Vitamins and Gluten Free

After being on all of these vitamins and off gluten for six weeks, I was hoping to feel so much better.  Unfortunately, I feel the same.  As I have been talking with people about my progress, I have had some interesting conversations about the Epstein Barr virus.  For some people, once they have this virus, their energy is never the same.  Apparently, the only thing that can help is to get more sleep and avoid stress.  I am now wondering if it is the stress of caring for a child with a chronic disease that has caused the Epstein Barr to flare up and reduce my energy.  It has also been suggested that Epstein Barr can mask a Lyme Disease diagnosis.

Where do I go from here?  Well, since I have such terrible spring allergies, I will continue with the regimen that I am on until the pollen count dies down.  I could feasibly still be feeling sick because of my allergies.  Also, I will have a follow up appointment with Dr. Pouliot to see how she feels I should proceed.

Naturopathic Doctor's Opinions

Dr. Pouliot found many reasons for my constant fatigue after analyzing my blood work.  My vitamin D level should be between 30-100 and mine was 27.  Dr. Pouliot feels that for proper calcium metabolism it should be between 40-60.  My magnesium levels were in the lab range but out of Dr. Pouliot range.  She felt that my levels could be contributing to my muscle pains.  My B12 was in lab range but lower than Dr. Pouliot would like it.  Some of my thyroid numbers were low which can lead to fatigue, but there was no indication that I have a thyroid disease.  My vitamin A level was low which might have been caused by my under-active thyroid.  My ferritin or iron should be between 10- 232, and Dr. Pouilot believes it should be over 50 to avoid fatigue.  My ferritin level was 4 which could be the biggest reason for my fatigue.  She also found high levels of Epstein Barr virus (Mono) antibodies which indicates that I had Mono at some point in my life.  When the antibody levels are so high, she has found that it leads to a weaker immune system.  This could be the reason I feel like I have a cold all the time and contract every illness that I come into contact with.

 The only lab result that would have concerned a MD would have been my ferritin level.  If I just corrected that, would that have been enough?  I am not sure.  For now, Dr Pouliot has put me on several different supplements to help bring my levels up.  I hope to be feeling better soon.

2 Weeks Off Elimination Diet

Diets don't work for weight loss because they instill a mindset of deprivation that we eventually rebel against.  After reading Women, Food and God by Geneen Roth, I vowed that I would never go on a diet again.  Instead, I began listening to what my body, not my mind, really wanted.  I stopped dieting and ate what I wanted, when I was hungry, sitting down in a calm environment.  As I really began tuning into how my body felt, I stopped craving foods that stole my energy and easily maintained my weight.  Even though I felt like I was doing everything to support my health, I continued to get sick.  It seemed as if there was a tiredness that just wouldn't go away.

When I heard about The Plan by Lyn-Genet Recitas, I thought maybe there was a "healthy" food that I was eating that wasn't working for my body.  I had high hopes that this elimination diet would reveal the source that was draining my energy.  Although I broke my no dieting vow, I felt like I had a good reason that was not based on weight loss.  So, instead of eating what my body wanted, I had to follow a very strict diet.  The planning that was involved to start the elimination diet was intense, and I started eating larger quantities of food and more sweets.  By the time I started the diet my weight was in its higher range.  Being on the diet was very time consuming and complicated.  When I went off of it, I did not slip back into my balanced path but continued to incorporate sugary foods into my diet. Like many people, I am now heavier than I was before I started this diet.

However, my goal was not to lose weight but to try and determine what drains my energy.  On the bright side, this elimination diet did highlight the fact that even when I ate perfectly, I still felt sick.  This prompted me to make an appointment with a naturopathic doctor.  I had an hour and a half appointment with Dr. Pouliot, and she sent me for blood work that tested for 11 different issues.  I have a follow up appointment with Dr. Pouliot in four days to go over my results.  Although the elimination diet did not give me any clear answers, it did prompt me to work with someone who might.

3 Days Off Elimination Diet

After following The Plan by Lyn-Genet Recitas for seven days, I decided to take a break.  My initial plan was to continue to eat friendly foods and wait for my body to heal from its reaction to rye.  Since it also happened to be Valentine's Day, I ate a piece of cake and had some candy hearts.  The next day, I figured I would get back on track, but I didn't.  While I was eating mostly friendly foods, I was letting things like pretzels slip back into my diet.  The third day I had pizza for dinner.  On the fourth day, I woke up and my nose was like a faucet, and I had to blow my nose for about an hour.  Before doing The Plan, I would have thought I was getting sick, but as I reflected, I was pretty sure it was the pizza.  This realization brought back my resolve to figure out which foods create inflammation in my body so that I can eliminate them and stay healthy.  Going forward, I will continue to eat friendly foods until I feel ready to test some new ones.

For those of you interested in the weight, my total weight loss when I stopped following The Plan was 7.5 pounds.  After three days of being off the elimination diet, my weight was up 3.5 pounds.

Elimination Diet, Day 8

Even though I had an unfavorable reaction when I tested rye, I was pleased to see that it did not produce a weight gain on Day 6.  Once you have a reaction, you are supposed to follow a friendly day menu until the symptoms dissipate.  On Day 6 and 7, I did so, but my symptoms still did not go away.  Because The Plan menus are so specific and require a ton of cooking and planning, on Day 8, I decided to take a break because I had grocery shopped to move forward not to continue to eat the foods from Days 1-4.

During the first seven days of this elimination diet, I learned that dairy causes a mild reaction and rye causes a dramatic reaction.  Moving forward, I am going to continue to eliminate all grains and limit my dairy.  Although I will continue to eat friendly foods, I won't have to worry about drinking too much water or following strict menus.  Whenever my symptoms go away completely, I will start up again and test more foods.  Hopefully I can start up again Monday.

Elimination Diet, Day 5

On Thursday, February 7th I started the Plan by Lyn-Genet Recitas.  I decided to do this elimination diet to see if I could discover what makes me constantly congested and tired.  The first three days were a cleanse.  There were a couple of times on Day 1 that I felt sick, but it passed and I made it through the day.  I was not a big fan of the flax granola that I had to eat for breakfast, but all the other food I ate throughout the cleanse was delicious and satisfying.  On Day 2, I tested raw almonds with no reaction.  On Day 3, I tested chickpeas with no reaction.  The cleanse ended on Day 4, and I was allowed to add 1 oz. of dark chocolate and red wine which don't count as a test on this plan.  On Day 4, I tested 1 oz. of goat cheese and had a bit more phlegm in my throat.  On Day 5, I tested rye which is the easiest grain to digest.  Within minutes my throat felt thick and was, sorry to be gross, oozing phlegm.  My back and teeth began to ache like I was getting the flu, and I felt tired and in need of a nap.  When I told my colleague about the reaction, she noticed that my dark circles under my eyes had come back.  While I continued to teach, my tongue felt strange as well.  Quite a wild reaction from two rye crisps weighing less than an ounce.

For those of you interested in the weight loss, I was down a total of six pounds on the morning of the fifth day.