Elimination Diet - Detox Stage (aka hell)

What can I say...my head is pounding....I'm beyond tired, my concentration level has flatlined.

I asked for it.

If I didn't know any better I'd think I had the flu.

The detox stage of this diet is absolutely horrid. Way worse than any symptoms before. I woke up this morning, made my usual cup of coffee, put my creamer in it....

Crap.

I can't have coffee.

I can't have the creamer either.

Soybean oil, corn syrup, sugar. Nope. Not happening.

I for a second thought my headache may be from my coffee withdrawal. I guess it's possible, but I only have one cup a day, and it took 7 hours past my usual coffee time for this headache to set in. I've felt progressively worse throughout the day actually. Let me tell you the two reasons this detox stage sucks: there's practically no protein consumption, since everything is on the "no foods" list, and it's actually fairly hard to get your calorie goal without getting incredibly bored from the few foods you can eat. And the foods allowed (fruit) have a lot of simple sugars. Bad idea. So I guess that's three. But, I must continue, I have an end goal in mind.

I woke up, and got my mason jars ready. On the right, my usual water, this time with strawberries and mint. Then the hell sits in.

Green smoothie of death. Everything that makes a smoothie delicious (milk, juice, almond milk, yogurt) is not allowed during this diet. Sooooo, that blows. I opted for strawberries and spinach, with some flax seed and coconut. Not horrible, but definitely not tasty.

And then, on the left is a variation on my soup I've made before. It has sweet potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic, apple. Cook it with some olive oil, and purée, and tada! The whole "everything needs to be puréed" thing about this diet is just nonsense. I get the reasoning, but I like eating!

So, I ate/drank what you see for the day, and then some coconut water, and here I am, feeling absolutely horrible. 

Phase two includes solid foods and chicken/turkey/fish. No products with gluten, dairy, nuts, sugars, corn, soy. But I get quinoa and oatmeal! For the sake of my survival, phase two has now begun. If you have serious symptoms, or do not have hypoglycemia, try and do phase 1 for up to 3-4 days (book recommends two). If that's your thing!

More updates mañana! Time for food prepping! Steel cut oats for breakfast!

The Elimination Diet - Determine Your Food Intolerances

If only I had stuck to my water...

Right before I sat down to type this entry, I was sticking my fingers into a cake my students had given me last week. So I'm a little uncivilized, but as I was cleaning out my fridge and kitchen to start my next journey, the craving hit...I couldn't let good cake go to waste! And in I dove, white frosting, moist gooey cake. All over. Yum.

(The cake....now cleaned up):

Not smart, Jennifer.
And then the nausea and weakness hit.

My body doesn't appear to like me much. I am sick often, to the extent where friends and family members find it hard to believe. I don't have a visible injury--you can't tell that I'm feeling weak and nauseated. But it's a legitimate thing, that plagues my life. So apart from my poor self control, it's clear that it's time for something new. Something, with my decreased work schedule over the summer, that actually might be able to manage....The elimination diet.

For those of you that know me personally, you know I have struggled with some health issues over the years, mainly this recurring nausea and weakness I was just mentioning that seems to haunt me at random moments. While hypoglycemia (my diagnosis) probably plays into this, I continue to think something else has got to be off. I'm exhausted, I have lingering anxiety that doesn't go away, I'm shaky, weak, have stomach cramps. But my blood tests always come back normal. So what gives.

Upon searching for my summer reading in Barnes and Noble the other day, I stumbled across the food and diet section. I was hoping for a sign--something to help me with these mystery conditions. Nothing popped out at me. It wasn't until my good friend amazon.com had some recommended titles for me that I caught wind of my must-read for the summer (apparently they know I'm a basket case). One of those being, "The Elimination Diet."

The principal of this diet is based off removing any possible triggers from your diet to determine what may be causing unwanted symptoms-- fatigue, nausea, cramping, headaches, etc. It has used scientific studies to determine the foods that most commonly cause people to have allergic reactions or intolerances, and then takes those away.  This is not a diet in which you strive to lose weight and watch calories. This is a diet where you watch your food consumption and are consciously aware of what your body is doing and how it feels.

It is a process to identify the triggers for the unwanted symptoms and feelings that have gone undiagnosed for years.

I invite you to follow along in my journey, and even participate in your own journey as well. I bought the book on my kindle app for iPad for $12.99, or you could get it shipped to you. I don't typically like digital versions of books, but I felt like this was an urgent matter that I couldn't spend any more time waiting to begin. I would love to hear your own situations as well...does anyone else have nagging symptoms they can't seem to figure out?

Tomorrow, I begin step 1 - The detox.

Essentially, they want me to starve and whither away first. Okay, that might not be entirely true, but that is probably how I will feel by the end of day 2. It is based off of soups and smoothies. No solid food. Hmm. I'm not typically a "fasting" or juice cleanse endorser-- explicitly opposed actually. But, for the sake of my case study, I'm going to give it a go. Veggies all ready in the fridge!

(Unfortunately I don't get to drink the wine during this journey....)

Until tomorrow....