It’s hard to believe that it has been five months since my last health update. I will try to give a brief re-cap of what has transpired during that time.
In August, I was able to get a neat kitchen gadget called a spiralizer. With Amazon gift cards and discounts, I was able to get this for almost nothing. It is a wonderful and very fun tool to use. With this, I was able to begin adding more vegetables to my diet because it was easier and faster to prepare them. Besides the need to add more vegetables, it also became apparent that I needed to cut down on fat and protein content in my diet because my liver and gallbladder were having difficulty handling it.
Sometime in August or September, my spiralizer had to be put aside for a time. I suddenly began to have even more troubles with intestinal motility. It became necessary to liquify even more foods and strain a lot of them, especially the vegetables. Soups became a regular part of my diet. Vegetables were cooked with spices and herbs and some kind of protein source, maybe a little olive oil as well. These were all whipped up in the blender and then strained.
Although the change in the way food was being prepared did help some, the terrible problems with intestinal motility continued. It was around that time that we discovered that the probiotics Mom and I were taking apparently were not working and may have even been worsening the problem. Healthy probiotic capsules should be able to make a good yogurt. However, ours did not even begin to turn into a yogurt. In fact, when they were mixed in the milk, it all settled to the bottom and became thick like starch. Is that what is really in it? Starch? The brand we were taking was Nordic Naturals, which was quite expensive. The much less expensive brand my sister takes made a very nice yogurt. It apparently has a lot of good bacteria. Needless to say, we stopped taking that probiotic that didn’t seem to have any good bacteria in it. We wondered if it were actually causing some of our problems. Mom’s intestinal problems were increasing as well.
After stopping the probiotic supplement, Mom and I began to make water kefir. This is easy to make and maintain, and it has seemed to help our intestinal problems the most.
In October I was able to go to a naturopathic physician. He did seem to be good and was able to help me a lot in knowing what my problems were. However, he wanted me to cut out a lot of foods. This was understandable; but, when we looked at those foods, and the ones that I had already cut out, there were hardly any foods left at all for me to be able to eat. This was especially true of protein foods.
After my doctor appointment in October, we decided to try a regimen and wait until December and retest to see if anything had changed. If this diet regimen did not work, then we would try to go back to this doctor or pray about the Lord’s leading to another doctor.
The basic idea of the new regimen I am on is to “overdose on nutrition.” It consists of a large amount of fruits and vegetables and is lower in fat and protein content. This, along with the probiotic water kefir really seems to be helping. Below are listed some of the positive changes that have occurred.
Positive Changes:
1. Increased intestinal motility.
This is still not where it should be, but it has improved.
2. Decreased reactions to food.
I still adversely react to many foods, but some of the reactions do not seem as severe, and it does not seem to take as long to get over them. However, they still cause setbacks in my journey to improved health.
3. Weight loss.
I have been able to lose 4 or 5 more pounds and am very excited about this. I would like to lose about 20 more, especially around the middle.
4. Lower blood pressure
My blood pressure had been averaging around 130 over 82
Now it has been around 115 over 75.
The positive changes in my health have been exciting. However, this journey has not been without its setbacks.
1. Setback when being exposed to foods I don’t tolerate well
a. Meal together at Cracker Barrel (It was really yummy though)
b. Meal cooked by others
c. Accidental cross contamination when I used the same serving spoon for my stewed tomatoes that I had used for Christy’s vegetables, which had green beans in them. Oops!
2. Third sinus infection in as many months.
3. Abdominal pain and trouble after a chiropractic adjustment of my low back. My hands and skin had been improving. However, after this adjustment, I had a lot of abdominal pain, and my hands became very pale again. I haven’t had my ferritin tested but suspect that it has dropped again. This adds to my suspicion that whatever is keeping my intestinal tract from “moving” properly may be on the outside of the digestive tract and pressing on it. After this problem occurred, my chiropractor started using a different technique (the Thompson technique), which did not produce any more problems.
Challenges
Not only are there positives and setbacks on my health journey, but there are also challenges. The blender has been a great tool for liquifying things that can be strained. However, it is a little inconvenient to use for making vegetable juice. Enter – Black and Decker juicer*. This has helped so much and has made juicing and getting more fruits and vegetables a lot easier.
*Note: This is not an advertisement or endorsement of Black and Decker. This was just the most affordable lightweight juicer we could find that had good reviews. I am not getting reimbursed in any way for mentioning their name.
1. Kefir water is producing headaches. This is not unusual or unexpected, especially when the body is full of toxins. However, it does mean I need to eat soon after taking the kefir water.
2. The more fruits and veggies I eat, the hungrier I seem to be. It is not just the, “OK, I’m hungry but snack time or meal time is coming up” type of hunger. It is the “I’d better eat something right now or I’ll have a headache” type of hunger. This makes it harder to stick to the types of things I should eat, and I end up just grabbing something and eating it. So, trying to find enough of the right types of foods to keep me satiated has been a bit difficult.
I thank the Lord for bringing me to this regimen, and I pray for His help to stick to it and follow through. Please pray for me also. Pray that I will do it right, that it will work, that I won’t have too many setbacks, and that I will know what to eat and how often and which combinations I need to get satiated and feel my best. Thank you! And thank the Lord with me too.