I never posted this, sorry

Well, I now know what happens when you take all the possible food allergens out of your diet for 5 weeks and feel great, then splurge and have Taco Bell with both dairy and wheat in it -- you spend a lot of time sick!!! It has been over a week since I have been on here, I had finals for school due last week, and all the stress of finals lead me to stress eat and eat my favorite food -- Taco Bell. It was great, it tasted wonderful!! But I ended up sick on my stomach and puffy all over!! Oh, and I downed a fair share of Dr Pepper too over the weekend. So I am now in the detox mode, drinking lots of water and eating only food that is on my diet. I finally felt better last night, but woke up with a killer of a headache this morning. The headache, I am sure, is from caffeine with drawls.



So I went to the grocery store last night, came home and as I was putting all the pantry groceries away this morning, I realized that my pantry is now full of organic foods and plain foods with no allergy foods in them. I have fallen over to the healthy food way of life. My family is starting to get on board. Chris eats pretty much what I do, Zach could care less, as long as I feed him. Katelynn is the one with a little resistance, but she is coming along!!



I am looking forward to having my allergy testing done in a few weeks to see what foods I am actually allergic too. Today is my last day on the anti-biotic to clear up the gut-bugs (bacteria in my digestive system) I have only had minimal allergic reactions to the anti-biotic, nothing some benedryl didn't curb. So I am still on several herbal pills to help clear up the gut-bugs and also to cleanse my liver!! So off to get the little ones to school!!

2 doctor's appointment & lots of info!!

So this past week I went to both of my doctors. On Monday I went and saw my new doc and the Vancouver clinic. She was good, my cholesterol is making progress. I still have some hard work to do, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. My triglycerides have dropped down to 114 from 250 three months ago! My ratio is also with in the guidelines, but my HDL and LDL are still out of balance. So continuing on with my new diet and going to get motivated to make it to the gym again. I also found out that my Vitamin D levels are pretty low (that would explain a lot) and my liver functions are way out of wack! I have new vitamins to take and back there in 3 months.

On Saturday, I went back to my Naturopath doctor. Some test results came back showing I have 3 bad bacteria living in my digestive system. One of them is pretty rare and is fund in burn patients and also can be found in those working in hospitals. Very interesting, I have been reading on the Internet trying to figure out how I could have contracted that. I am on an antibiotic to clear that up, which is quite a challenge since the top 2 antibiotics to treat it I am allergic to. So we are trying a sulfa based drug, plus some herbal stuff in hope that I do not have an allergic reaction and that it clears up this nasty stuff going on inside of me. I just cant imagine that could be what has been causing my stomach issues for years!! I am also on some liquid vitamin D drops and some liver cleansing pills to try to regulate those. Next month when I go back, I will have allergy testing and find out which foods I am allergic to, until then I will stay away from all the common food allergies. Also she is concerned that if my liver levels do not come down that I could have Celiacs Disease. So much more options to look into, but in the meantime I am plugging along.

So in conclusion to the end of my 4 weeks with no dairy, wheat, eggs, soy or corn, I splurged and caved in to some pizza, not the crummy gluten free stuff, but the good real stuff!!! But after the afternoon of being sick on my stomach I have decided that if I splurge again I will have to make it Papa Petes pizza!!!!

Also, for those of you that know me well, know about my adversion to green veggies, well I braved it and made asparagus for dinner last night! It was not so bad, I even had it again for lunch today, call me crazy but I think I am going to make it on this journey to health!!! Now on to month 2!!!

HELP, I lost something and can't seem to find it!!!

I am missing a fat roll that used to reside on both sides!!! Can't seem to find it, but I think I will quit looking and be content with it gone!!!

Going to the doc tomorrow to find out the results of my latest cholesterol check and also see if she will run some labs to determine my risk for heart disease. Will post tomorrow how it all goes

In the mean time, dinner of kettle chips and maybe some coconut ice cream!! A super big thanks to my friend Amy for introducing me to the yummy ice cream that Chris wont even touch because it says coconut on it, even though it does not taste like coconut, but I don't guess i need to tell him that!!!

Unbelievable!!!

So my new steady diet of kettle chips and organic root beer has caused me to drop another few pounds and I even had to cinch up the belt today!!! Oh, and the rice noodles with spaghetti last night was actually pretty good. I think I am finally adjusting tasting no flavor!!

Simple pleasures in the life of one who can not eat anything good!!!

Still wondering what I ate at Burger King that gave me a terrible tummy ache today, was it the plain hamburger patty or the french fries? Will stay clear of there for a while.

Got my bloodwork done today, now to have to wait till Monday to find out the results! Patience is not a strong point of mine!!

2 weeks down, now for the rest of my life!!

Well, I have officially made it 2 weeks with no wheat or dairy in my diet! Tummy aches are much better!! I have slipped up on some of the other foods the doc suggested I stay away from, and crazy thing is that when I have had soy or corn I have experienced tummy aches. Interesting, I sure hope that does not mean that I am allergic to those as well.

It is still amazingly frustrating to go to the store and find foods for me to eat. I did order a case of snickerdoodles from Whole foods today, no egg, wheat, soy, or dairy!! I am pretty safe with meat and cook veggies, but there is only so many times in a week that baked potatoes will satisfy you. Who would have thought that rice cheese would have dairy protein in it, it must be such a small amount of dairy that my body doesn't go into tummy ache fits!!

Also this past week I have ventured out to the real world of eating out!! So I have discovered that when all else fails, order a large side of fries and loads of ketchup and all will be well!!

So I have learned that changing your food habits is such an emotional journey!! Resisting foods you would love to eat is so hard!!

So Wednesday is the day, I go in to have my cholesterol checked. Lets see what my body has been able to do with natural remedies. Cant wait till next Monday to get those results!!

10 days down!!!

I can not believe that it has been 10 days of this diet!!! I have an easy way for any of you that want/need to loose weight ---- find out you are allergic to wheat and dairy, then try to find something that will feed your junk food cravings without any wheat or dairy in it!! You are bound to starve yourself skinny. That is what I feel like I am doing.

10 things I have learned in the last 10 days..........

1. Even when you tell yourself day in and day out that you are in this to feel better and to live a longer more active life, it still does not make this journey to health any easier!

2. What really stinks is that most munchies have either wheat, dairy, soy or eggs in it!!!

3. Try going to the mall and find some lunch that fits with-in my diet. Thai food!!! I am in love with this place in the Vancouver mall, as I walked by there was a guy handing out samples, I started to tune him out thinking that I don't need that temptation till I heard him say "try this, it is wheat free" I was like, "what did you just say?" He said in broke English, "this is wheat free" I was like, "can I have it all!!" I was so happy!!

4. Even shopping at health food stores, it can still be pretty depressing finding food that I can eat!

5. Mexican food rocks!!! I met an old friend for lunch on Monday, I did great, no wheat or dairy. But I did fudge on having tortilla chips (not suppose to have corn) had salsa (not suppose to have raw veggies right now) and I splurged big time with a root beer!! It tasted so good!! That was my 1 week mark on my diet, so I got to have a little treat!

6. For the first time in 10 days, everyone in my family ate the same thing for dinner. Yes, I said it right, but we did have something a little different. I got some organic spaghetti sauce (no wheat fillers in it) and the family had spaghetti with regular noodles, and I had spaghetti with rice noodles. So rice noodles are not the same, but they are growing on me. OK maybe not, but I ate them.

7. So gluten free pizza is not the greatest, but leftovers are even worse. Could not even swallow it on day 3!!! YUCKY!!! I am going to have to wait a while to try that one again.

8. So in the last 10 days, I do have to say my favorites are still what they were before starting this journey to health. I may have altered them a little, but not too much. My steak and baked potato, although no bacon bits on the potato and I am able to stomach the rice cheese and the dairy free butter.

9. For the record, dairy free chocolate chips are pretty good!! They still fulfil that chocolate craving and make me not want to harm anyone!! just kidding!

10. I found some snickerdoodles that ROCK!!!! I am not sure how they can be egg, dairy, wheat, and soy free but they are and they are GREAT!!!

**So I think I am going to make it**

Day 6

Saturday mornings in the Vasilas house call for a slew of pancakes!! I make several batches so I can freeze some for a hot breakfast during the week. Normally I get my fair share of pancakes too by snacking on them as they are nice and hot. Well I did it!! I managed to make a zillion pancakes without even trying one!!! I was quite proud of myself!! I am excited for my friend to get back into town this week so she can give me a gluten-free pancake recipe, then I can alter it for no eggs or milk. Instead of pancakes, I ate my yummy apple cinnamon bread, not quite the same but it was fine.

I had to run over to the mall today to do some exchanges around lunch time. So in the process I ran by Burger King and got me a large fry and then a hamburger patty (who is crazy enough to order that?) But it was fast food and it was in the guidelines of my diet!

So for some really cool reason, God blessed us here in the Northwest with a beautiful sunny Saturday, so after the little ones napped, we went outside for about 2 hours!! What a glorious day!!! I have missed the sun!! Since we were out later, we decided to make it a pizza night. So Garlic Jim's here I come....A Canadian bacon & pineapple pizza!!! Gluten free crust and no cheese. Sure it may have tasted like cardboard, but it sure smelled GOOD!!!! I added some of my special rice cheese when I got home so it was OK. They told me the next time I could bring in my special cheese and they will put it on for me before they cook it!! I am so excited!! so life on this anti-inflammatory diet is going to be OK!!

I googled 'anti-inflammatory diet' and was amazed at all the resources that popped up. This diet is a natural remedy for all sorts of issues, from asthma to fibromyalgia(sp?)!! I am impressed!! Now if only I could stomach the spiced to cleanse my liver!! I have got to figure that one out still!! That is some nasty stuff!!