Hey Friends and Fam - this is a diet update

I once listened to a This American Life episode where one of the contributors interviewed her british and very Martha Stewart Manners type mother about proper conversation etiquette.  It was good for me, because I learned that I break all the proper 'rules' regularly.  :/

She said very crisply, "Never talk about your health.  Because people don't care."  I can't remember the other things.  Oh, your cycle.  Yes, don't talk about that.  Or your hobbies, "Because it's boring." There were a few more, and in the end I felt sorry for her because I think she must not have real friends who care about those parts of her life.

So, real friend, let's have a real conversation about health and cycles.  Ha.  Not the cycles part really.  My sister blogs about her poo, and everyone loves her blog, so.... :)

So, I've changed my diet.  A month ago, I did a 3 day water fast to detox and get the bad stuff out.  It had been 12 years since my last fast, so it was literally painful.  Dull, throbbing leg aches the whole time.  I was sooooo grumpy, and took at least 2 naps a day and fainted everywhere I walked.  Thankfully Nathan was home through the whole process.

I had been reading up on inflammatory foods, because I have inflammation problems with my tummy and skin, and discovered that I really just want to live the Paleo diet, which I totally avoided for years because, if it seems like a fad and pops up on Pinterest 3900 times, I decide it's not for me.  But I guess it really was for me.

Paleo follows a strict anti-inflammatory diet of meat, high omega3 fat, unrefined oils, no grains, no dairy, no starches (corn), all the un-starchy veggies and fruit you want, no legumes, no alcohol, no sugar, and if you can handle it, no coffee.  I couldn't handle that part (did it for a month and nearly died of lack of motivation to live).

Where I went wrong:
A few years ago, I had read a book by a dermatologist who addressed diet (which is hard to find.  They usually just want to give you antibiotics and never ask what you eat).  But she said I should eat less/no meat and more legumes (she said they were healing!), no dairy, no sugar or stimulants.  I loved this idea.  So we became practically vegetarian, and big-time bean-lovers for a few years.

Guess I should have read more than one book though.  She was wrong.  My tummy and inflammatory problems grew significantly worse over the 2-3 years since becoming bean lovers.

So one day a month ago, in a fit of frustration, I spent the whole morning sleuthing and being my own doctor on the internets, which Nathan says is foolish and that information found thusly is unfounded, because "bloggers are dumb people".  His sermon is that you can't trust a blog, because look, even crazy people like Amanda Weber can publish stuff.  Oh well.  I love lots of health bloggers.  And I kind of don't like doctors.  They keep not helping me.  Anyway...

After enough reading I said I'd quit coffee, alcohol, dairy, grains, sugar, legumes, starches.  I've always tried quitting one of these things at a time, but never all at once.  I think that's the key for me.  If I splurge in one area, I see the harm from it.  I used to live off humus and never realized it was just sugar in my body.  Now avocado replaces my humus.

I did just come off of a happy 4th of July weekend and Kate's birthday party, at which I indulged in all the things I'd missed for a month (Ice cream! Mojito!).  I finished off the weekend with half a slice of Andolini's pizza over a bed of baby kale. :) Mmmmmm.  Having fully fallen off the wagon, I am happy to climb back on now.

And aren't you glad to be informed of these things? :)

I've poured many prayers over these health issues over the years.  I've had plenty of low moments where I felt like life wasn't fair.  But my genes are my genes, and the Lord loves me even through my vain moments of despair.
It's been surprisingly hard to learn how to feed myself and my family now.  Finding new recipes, new snacks, and not starving is a challenge.
Everything I've ever fed my family and what fills my Pinterest boards is the opposite of what I need to eat now.  So it's been a little discouraging making grocery lists and trying not to go over budget (meat costs a lot more than beans).

So, it's all still a work in progress, finding things to replace cereal, muffins, pita bread, tortilla chips, the super easy humus and veggie lunch...
But we'll get there.