TWO WEEKS!

I made it to about day 32 of my Whole30: Project Wedding before we had a cheat meal. It was totally worth it. We went to Dogs 'n Frys for dinner Sunday night and it was delicious. First of all, they have TURKEY corn dogs. So I always get a corn dog. Second, they not only have turkey bacon but also TURKEY PEPPERONI. And let me tell you, as a person who is not a pepperoni fan, I actually liked this. So I got a loaded pizza corn dog with loaded fries to go with it. Like I said: Worth. It.  

I'd say I'm still eating paleo 90-95% of the time if not more. I did start having smoothies for breakfast a few days a week. They're a little less harsh on my stomach than my standard eggs and sausage were. [Starting to think I may have an egg sensitivity...] Tonight I had some tortilla chips with melted cheese. 

With both of these "cheat meals" (or whatever you want to call them), I did not have any immediate reaction. Of course I do pay for eating this way eventually. It's just baffling that when I eat healthy foods/foods I'm not sensitive to, my stomach gets upset almost immediately. But then I have something like this and--nothing. IBS would be slightly more tolerable if it was at least consistent. 

Two weeks from tomorrow I'll be getting married! I thankfully don't have much left to do. Just a few little things. I'm trying really hard not to worry or stress. It's. So. Hard. That's what she said. 

Although I'm really excited/nervous/anxious for the day itself, I'm also extremely excited for everything that comes after it. There are so many things we've been putting off until after the wedding and I'm ready to get started on those! And I can't wait to get back into freelancing. [And having the time and energy to take on those projects.]

I will also be glad once I can go to the doctor. I'm planning on seeing a specialist about all of my stomach issues sometime after the wedding. Pretty sure the next step is a colonoscopy (yuck). I've been keeping a journal of literally everything that goes in and out of my body. I want to be able to show whatever doctor I see that I have changed my diet and cut out foods I'm sensitive to and I'm still not seeing any improvements. It's time to move on to whatever the next step is because eliminating gluten and dairy has made almost no difference. And, from my experience, that's almost always they first thing they suggest. Been there. Done that.

I realize IBS can be made worse with stress, and there are few things more stressful than planning a wedding, so I'm sure that's not helping. But I'm not expecting a huge improvement in my symptoms after the wedding. And let me tell you, trying to follow a strict diet is kind of stressful too. Food has been the source of several arguments in our house. Mainly we get tired of eating the same things over and over again, but have a really hard time finding new and delicious (but also incredibly easy) meals to eat. 

I really need to do some yoga. We don't have class again until the Wednesday night before the wedding (which I'm not sure I'll make it to). Probably a good thing with all the things I have to do in the evenings over the next two weeks, but I miss it. It's definitely a stress-reliever for me.

Right now, I'm trying to just breathe deeply and think happy thoughts about sitting next to my hubby on the beach ;) 

IBS is a Crap Diagnosis

Whole30 pro tip: Mindlessly eating healthy food in front of the tv will make you feel as bad as mindlessly eating junk food in front of the tv. Lesson learned. Always be mindful of what you're putting in your body (and how much of it).

Today is day 31 of my Whole30: Project Wedding and I have to admit, I'm feeling pretty discouraged. This is my fourth or fifth Whole30 over the last year. That's almost half a year of eating paleo. And for the most part, when I'm not Whole30-ing, I eat fairly healthy. I definitely notice a difference in how I feel when I'm not eating paleo/Whole30 though. I'm more tired, I constantly feel bloated, my clothes just don't fit right, I'm always uncomfortable, my eczema comes back, and I get a lot more pimples. One thing doesn't ever seem to change, no matter how healthy I eat, and that's my stomach/digestive issues.

I've been dealing with this since roughly my senior year of high school (which was EIGHT years ago). Back then and during college, I attributed those problems to all the junk food I ate back then, especially during college. Over the last year and a half, I've cleaned up my diet. In fact, the Whole30 helped me discover food allergies I had no idea I had. The hives that I had broken out in numerous times prior to that and during my first Whole30 completely stopped once I cut out beef and pork. To my disappointment, none of those food allergies were the cause of my stomach issues.

I had an extremely hard week a few months back and ended up at the doctor's office. I had to do tests and give samples (you don't even want to know how gross that is...and for those of you who do know, I'm sorry). The doctor's diagnosis? That particular bad week was probably food poisoning. But overall, I probably just have IBS. She gave me a muscle relaxer to help with the pain and cramping I experience and told me to "just take Immodium whenever I need it."

I accepted that for a few days. Then I decided that I'm an otherwise healthy 26 year old woman and I don't want to take copius amounts of muscle relaxers and Immodium pretty much every day for who knows how long. IBS is a crap diagnosis, in my opinion. And after our wedding and honeymoon is over, I will be going to see a specialist to get more/better answers. I will not accept that someone who is young, healthy, eats paleo at least 90% of the time, and exercises regularly has to take medication daily for potentially the rest of my life.

Frankly, it's just not fair. I started the Whole30 way back when to try to eliminate the problems I was having so that I'd be 100% healthy for our wedding and honeymoon. No one wants to feel like this on their wedding day, in a white dress of all things. And yet, here I am, less than a month before the wedding, and my situation has not gotten better. Sure, I now know a few things that definitely exacerbate my problems, like coffee (which I avoid most days, but sometimes, the need for caffeine is more important). But I can't seem to further pinpoint exactly which foods are giving me problems--if any.

I can't help but feel frustrated and disappointed. There are a lot of things I wanted to do before the wedding that aren't happening now (and really just aren't important), like getting my teeth whitened. But I just wanted to feel perfectly healthy on my wedding day. I didn't want to have to worry about how my stomach would feel that day. But here I am, worried about how my dress will fit. Will I be bloated? What if I have to go once my dress is already on? What if I eat the wrong thing at some point throughout the day? What if the alcohol I drink makes me sick?

Everyone keeps saying everything will be fine. And almost everything will be fine. But the likelihood that I will feel like literal crap on my wedding day is very high because that area of my life seems to be completely out of my control.

Going "Natural"

As I said yesterday, I haven't been able to work out much lately. Okay, that's basically a lie. I haven't worked out at all in the last month or so. Spending 4 hours a day in a car and working all day and then job-hunting most evenings is pretty exhausting.

I've still been reading a lot of blogs and stuff though and there was one thing that I kept reading about over and over: the amount of chemicals and unnatural things that go into the stuff we eat, bathe with, clean our houses with, etc. The more I read about all the horrible effects these chemicals can have on people, the more inclined I was to start making some changes.

The problem is "going natural" can get expensive. With our current budget, we just can't afford to buy natural or organic everything. Buying and eating all healthy food is really hard and expensive. The speediness and convenience of frozen meals and fast food right now isn't something I can completely cut out right now. I don't have the time to cook every night or do meal prep or anything like that. And sometimes I just really want a cheeseburger and fries. Don't judge.

So while I am making a small effort to eat healthier, I just can't make any major diet changes right now. The next thing I tackled was soaps. Reading about all the negative effects that fragrances and detergents used in shampoos, body washes, laundry soap, etc. made me want to make some changes.

I now buy handmade soaps from Herbaria Soap in St. Louis. I use their soaps for everything now: body, hair, face, hands. Switching from liquid soap to bars was rough for me at first. I've never liked using bars of soap. But knowing exactly what my soap is made of, where it's made, how it's made, and who my money is going to was all worth it. Oh and they smell pretty incredible too! I highly recommend their soap. While it hasn't solved all of my skin issues (most recently and most frequent is itching all over), I do feel that it has made a difference. And I love that I'm not buying a ton of different (and expensive!) soaps and cleansers all the time.

Since my itchy-skin-issue wasn't resolved just from switching soap, I decided maybe it was time to try some "free and clear" laundry soap and dryer sheets. Again, I haven't noticed much of a difference. However, I did read that detergents can linger in fabrics even after several washings with natural soaps, so if that's the case, I could be itchy for a very long time. (Yes, it may be time to see my doctor about this, but I'm using that as a last-resort.)

That leads me to my next issue: allergy medicine. First of all, that stuff is really expensive. Second, what I had been taking (and what had worked most of the time) has recently stopped working so great. So I tried something else instead. That hasn't worked either. I'm tired of spending money on medicine that only works for half the time it says it's supposed to (like, 24 hours maybe lasts half a day for me). So I've decided to look into some natural allergy relief. What I've found so far is that Butterbur and Vitamin C are the best, especially working as antihistamines. I also read that a combination of the essential oils lavender, lemon, and peppermint can help relieve itching and inflammation.

I've been considering trying a natural deodorant as well. I've even done quite a bit of reading on DIY deodorants, but I think I might just buy some from Herbaria first and see if I like it.

Eventually I want to move to using as much natural and/or homemade products as possible, but that takes time and money.

What's your take on "going natural"? Do you have any tips or tricks or natural/DIY products you use? 

Gluten-Free Day 23

So I've been doing this whole gluten-free thing for almost a month now. Unfortunately, I'm not seeing a huge difference.

I've read that cross-contamination can be a big problem for some people, and I haven't be overly careful about that, so that could be part of the problem.

Or it could be that I don't have a gluten allergy (at least not a severe one anyway). I don't know. I'm going to stick it out until the end of the month (since I started it, not to the end of April), and then go see a doctor.

Well, I might keep doing it until I actually go see the doctor. I don't know. I guess it will depend on how soon I can go. I don't even know where to start as far as looking for a doc goes and stuff. I definitely want to see a gastrointerologist if I can.

If any of you have a good doctor or know someone who does, let me know. I could use some help!

In the mean time, I'll keep doing this gluten-free stuff and see how it goes. Going gluten-free sucks. Gluten-free things are more expensive in general, and you have fewer options to what you can eat overall. I think my biggest issue with it is that I'm still not seeing a big improvement in how I feel.

From my research and talking to other people I know who are gluten-free, most people noticed pretty significant improvements in the first few days and the first week. Here's a few I've read/heard:
Improved digestion (almost immediately)
Improved complexion (fewer pimples/breakouts/etc.)
Improved mood (less depressed, overwhelmed, etc.)
Improved sleep (more restful, not waking up more than once during the night)
Increased energy levels (less fatigue)
Etc.

There's probably more, but those are the ones that stood out to me.

My digestion has changed since I've started this diet, but I wouldn't say it has improved. I get more pimples now than I ever did as a teenager. I haven't seen any change in my mood, except that maybe it's worse sometimes (which could be from not getting to eat what I want and the stress of buying gluten-free foods). I haven't seen any change in my sleep habits. I don't have increased energy. In fact, I think I feel more tired now.

There are plenty of other explanations for most of these that could be the reason I haven't seen any changes--stress from school and work effects just about every one of those areas where people have seen improvements and I'm not. Obviously there's not much I can do to make either of those less stressful. As far as the fatigue goes, that could be from stress as well, but I've noticed that it's becoming more difficult to get myself to go the gym on my lunch breaks. I've even been skipping a few days here and there, or taking it easy at the gym because I'm so exhausted.

Maybe I'm not seeing a lot of improvement in my digestive health because I haven't been super diligent about the whole cross contamination thing (seriously, some people suggest not even using the same pots, pans, utensils, etc.--even after they're washed--because that could potentially cause problems. I don't know about those people, but I can't afford to replace everything in my kitchen that may or may not have come in contact with something that contained gluten). And some people can be affected by the most minuscule amounts of gluten (even some products that are labeled "gluten-free" can still contain trace amounts of gluten in them; and there's always the possibility of cross-contamination before you even buy your food from the store).

It's really hard to tell what's causing what here. Maybe gluten is the problem, but with all these other factors, I'm not seeing a huge improvement like other people have. Or maybe I'm not allergic to gluten at all so cutting it out is making zero difference on my overall health.

I guess I really won't know anything until I see a doctor. Even then, I seriously doubt I'll get a straight answer as to what's causing all of my digestive problems. But maybe I'll at least have a better idea of what's going on so I can make some changes that will actually help.

Any tips, suggestions, doc recommendations, etc. would be greatly appreciated!

Gluten-Free

My stomach issues are not getting better. I have learned that the best way to deal with this is trial and error first--then go see the doctor. The last time I saw my doctor she said I might be lactose-intolerant. She said she wanted me to cut out ALL dairy for a month or so and see how I did. First of all, that was torture. I love milk and cheese and other dairy-based things. I hated soy milk. It was awful. I was just miserable. And to top it off, it made zero difference.

I'm thinking when I decide to go back to the doctor, A. I'm going to see a specialist rather than my regular doctor, and B. I'm going to be prepared. I've already tried cutting out dairy and that didn't work. The next possibility is gluten. Again, this pretty much sucks because it means no wheat. And I love bread. But I know if I were to go to the doctor tomorrow without trying it, that's what they'd tell me to do. No tests, no answers until I know for sure it isn't lactose or gluten that's causing me problems.

Luckily, there are a lot of foods that are gluten-free now, so that helps. I talked to my boss about it a few weeks ago and she told me she makes bread with some sort of rice flour and whatnot and she said she'd bring me some the next time she made it. She came in yesterday with a slice for me and it was delicious. Beyond my cooking skills? Probably. And I can't tell you exactly what's in it, but I do know she added poppyseeds and cranberries (and I topped it off with a little jam and butter).

Proof that not all gluten-free things will taste terrible. 

And now for the weekend recap:

I got almost all my homework done Saturday (or so I thought--I now have two days to finish the rest of my homework for my research class...grrr.). Chris came home and we had planned on going out for dinner and possibly trying a restaurant in downtown Farmington. After sitting on the couch for a while, we decided we'd prefer to just stay home. So he went to McDonald's and got us some dinner and a couple Sprites and we watched Saw. We also possibly watched Saw II that night. I can't remember. 

On Sunday, we did our usual routine--woke up, went to breakfast at the Factory Diner, went grocery shopping, and then came home to watch more Saw movies. I believe we watched Saw III-V. So we have another two or three to go. I don't know. Those movies are weird. But Chris likes them. And I make him watch Disney movies with me constantly, so I kinda owe him. 

 We also got Copper a nice big bone to chew on:

It apparently has a "real meat" center--that stuff stinks!

It's raining/snowing/sleeting/etc. I told Chris we should quit our jobs and move to a beach. His response? "I could just transfer to a store in Florida." Totally do-able. Except for the part where I asked him what I would do all day and he told me to take cooking classes--yeah right. 

First of all, I'm not a terrible cook. I just despise it with every bone in my body. And working full-time and going to school full-time makes me want to never ever cook. Seriously. I had ice cream for dinner last night because I didn't feel like making hamburger helper. And yes, I'm well aware that ice cream for dinner is probably not the best thing for my stomach, but let me remind you--I'm not lactose intolerant! :) 

Anyhoo. It's Tuesday. It's raining. I started my morning getting hit in the face with Copper's pea-soaked tail. Fun stuff. I imagine that's similar to parents who change their baby's diaper and the kid shoots pee in their face. It's hilarious when it doesn't happen to you. 

Have a good one everybody!

P.S. If you have any tips/recipes/whatever for eating gluten-free, I'd love to hear them!