Wait, I thought that was GOOD for me!

Broccoli. Cauliflower. Brussel Sprouts. Garlic. These are all foods I LOVE - even though my family doesn't. Okay, my husband likes Brussel Sprouts (roasted) and Garlic. They're also foods that are supposed to be healthy.

And they are among a rather large list of foods my GI doc gave me the other day of foods that are bad for me. Okay, he didn't state it quite like that - but the list of foods are things that could potentially (and quite likely) be bad on my stomach.

Fodmaps is an acronym for Fermentable Oligosaccharides Disaccharides Monosaccharides And Polyols.  .....  The problem with fodmaps comes when foods containing them hit your intenstines - they're hard for the body to absorb.

There's a whole diet plan worked around low-fodmaps. On the advice of my doctor, I'm going to be experimenting with some fodmap elimination.

Very unsurprisingly, milk is on the list to avoid. Hmm, have we heard somewhere else that milk isn't all that good for us? I've actually wondered about milk for years and years - mainly why our culture drinks it where most of the world population doesn't.

Most of the foods on the "Don't Eat" list are healthy - well, ice cream isn't exactly healthy, but still.

So I'm back to no dairy. That's not quite true. I'm willing to have minimal butter and cheese - there are some cheeses on the "Do Eat" list that I can have! But I'm saying no to milk. And I'm also trying to focus more on the foods it says are good for me to eat. But I'm going to do this slowly, so I can keep track of which eliminated foods make a difference.

If anyone is interested in learning a bit more about which foods contain fodmaps and which don't, here's the list my doctor gave me. It obviously doesn't cover everything, but it's really sad to see some of the foods I shouldn't eat - apples, peaches, avocados, mushrooms, honey, watermelon, onions (except the green part of green onions).

Anyway, here I go on a new adventure. If it helps me feel well, it'll be worth it!

No Sugar Group!

Some of my girlfriends and I were up at a cabin over this last week and as we ate WAY too much junk food we decided we needed to take action!  So we have all agreed to stay off sugar (including diet soda) for a minimum of two weeks, three weeks for some and even longer for a few others.  This is no easy task, but WE CAN DO HARD THINGS!! And we want our sugar bug/worm gone! We want to have more energy to play with our kids and just feel better!  Every time we chose yourselves over sugar we have won a small victory and that is very empowering.  It takes 2 weeks to rid yourself of addiction and your taste buds start to change.  The first couple days are the hardest, but be strong, sugar is the enemy here and we will win!   

I will be posting some recipes that are free of sugar and oh so yummy! We start on Monday Feb. 10th let me know if you want to join in our fight against the sugar bug!

 



ThePaleoMom Presents... Green Plantains

Found this interesting.  I've never had a plantain before but I have seen them used in a lot of recipes I've found, so I thought I'd share this with all of you.  Have you had a plantain before?  What are your thoughts?



~Christy

“Did I see God’s Hand in my life today”

I love Mercy River!  Their music is so inspirational! These women are truly beautiful inside and out! 

Read about how Soni learned a valuable lesson from being sick:  
http://mercyrivermusic.blogspot.com/2014/01/what-i-learned-from-having-mono.html?m=1

Brooke writes about her goals:
http://mercyrivermusic.blogspot.com/2014/01/a-contented-heart.html?m=1

Whitney writes about not procrastinating anymore: 
http://mercyrivermusic.blogspot.com/2010/03/i-did-something-stupid.html?m=1

Body image

This blog post goes right along with the one Lynette posted about stopping the fat talk. 

“For many people, their body is the target of their harshest judgments and the barometer by which they measure their self-worth. They hold themselves up to an unattainable standard and berate themselves for coming up short of perfection.

Imposing harsh judgments on your body limits the range of experiences you allow yourself to enjoy. How many times has a potentially wonderful day at the beach been tainted by your judgments about how you look in a bathing suit? Imagine how liberating it would be to happily walk across the warm sand without feeling self-conscious. Think of all the activities in your life that you have deferred until you look different, better, or perhaps even perfect.” Quote by Cherie Carter-Scott

Read the rest here:    http://conniesokol.com/blog-posts/being-gentle-with-your-body-image/

Stop the Fat Talk!

This is a must read!!
http://www.thehouseofsmiths.com/2013/12/shhhh-utting-it-down-this-year-stopping.html?m=1

Test Results

Well, my CT results came back, and everything looks "pretty normal" (whatever that means....).

So now, with all these tests having come back normal, we know there's "nothing structurally wrong" with me. And we get to move on to testing functionality. (Didn't the Dr. say the CT was the last thing they could do???) Also, I now have a take-as-needed medication to see if it will help.

Anyway, now that we know there's no reason not to, I can start up with yoga! Seriously excited for that. I'm going to start easy - with 15 min of beginner relaxation yoga. Then I'll slowly introduce strength and balance asanas. The point, though, is I finally can get moving!

Also, I think I'm going to try some food elimination experiments..... After listening to 2/3 of the podcast Claudine posted - it froze up and wanted me to start from the beginning and I didn't have time to run the whole thing again - I'm thinking I'll start with milk. :) That one should be fairly easy, since I've never really liked the taste of it!