3 Months In, RESULTS & A Recipe!

FYI: I talk about poop in this post. If that doesn't disgust you read on...

These past few weeks of the diet were probably the most difficult. Christmas was brutal. I did pretty well staying to the diet but became incredibly constipated and got a kidney stone because I was eating too much protein and not enough fat. I was MISERABLE. Luckily for me, Bee had a plan for those who needed to get back on track. Liquid foods for 9 days and colon cleansing enema's every day. Sound fun? You know, it actually wasn't so bad! Towards the end I was getting really bored with the liquid diet but my digestion improved significantly and the enemas? I heard about the benefits of colon cleansing enemas in April 2010 and even bought an enema bag that sat, unopened until this episode. Oh my goodness, they are awesome! I didn't enjoy doing them but I loved how I felt afterward.

Now I am back on track and beginning to see results! I went to my fabulous doctor for my yearly physical last week it went really well. Everything was where it needed to be, and my blood pressure has finally gone up. Aside from being diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, which I knew was probably the case, I have a clean bill of health. The best part? My blood test results arrived today and my fasting glucose was perfect! That hasn't happened without medication since my diagnosis of insulin resistance in 2007!

I am so very encouraged by these very tangible signs of improvement. Though I was disheartened to hear that I most certainly have developed Fibromyalgia I am so confident that I can beat it with this diet. There is no cure for Fibromyalgia; and medical treatments (antidepressants and pain medications) have only been mildly successful but both diet and chiropractic have shown great promise in controlling the symptoms and even, (dare I say it?) curing, Fibromyalgia.

And now, a recipe I created during my liquid diet. This is a wonderfully nourishing recipe with nutritious eggs, mineral rich bone broth, B-Vitamins from the Nutritional Yeast and wonderful fats from the butter. This is very easily digested and would be ideal for someone who is sick. Seriously, this is delicious! It is fast and you can make as much or as little as you need. My whole family loved it, even the toddler. Enjoy!

Nourishing Egg Drop Soup
1 egg per cup of chicken broth (preferably a mineral rich bone broth)
1 tbsp. Nutritional Yeast Flakes (NOT Brewers Yeast!) per cup of broth
1 tbsp. butter per cup of broth
Salt and pepper to taste

Bring chicken broth, nutritional yeast flakes and butter to a boil. Gently beat the egg just until the white and yolk are combined. When the liquid is at a rolling boil slowly stir in the beaten egg(s), salt and pepper to taste and serve warm. I like to add extra butter or coconut oil at this point 1-2 tbsp.   

The Empty Womb

"Empty But for Love"

When I miscarried last August I wasn't ready to get pregnant right away. A nagging feeling kept telling me that it was a bad idea. Right after the loss I set a tentative date of January 2011 as the time when we would probably be ready to try to conceive again. And yet, here we are in January and there is no baby making going on, nor any in the foreseeable future.

At the moment not being pregnant just sucks. It seems like everyone that I know and love is pregnant (even my favorite blogger recently announced a pregnancy) and it hurts. I doesn't hurt in a jealousy kind of way; more in the way that I felt when I was infertile. It is lonely. That is why I titled this post "The Empty Womb" because that is really the only way to describe the feeling. Having experienced a pregnancy before I sometimes feel "ghost kicks" or muscle twitches/gas bubbles/whatever you want to call them that remind me that at this moment I would be less than a month away from my estimated due date and instantly I am overcome by sadness at my lost experience.

I just found out that one of my best friends is expecting a girl later this year. On Facebook. This is the same woman who told me she was pregnant the first time before she even tested! While I am not sure this is the case, I wonder if she would have told me earlier if I had not miscarried. I hated learning through a website. If I wasn't on Facebook would I have heard about it ever? Maybe next year we would get a Christmas card from them and there would be a baby! Surprise!

While I am still occasionally bitter and sad, I am growing to appreciate my currently empty womb. It has given me an opportunity to work on healing myself that I wouldn't have had if I had been pregnant/nursing. The empty womb has opened doors for us and the journey that Andrew and I have been on in the last few months has been amazing in so many ways. It has been so difficult and yet we know we are now on a path that we would not have otherwise gone to if we had not lost the pregnancy. I might even dare to say that this is a better path...but more on that later.

Controversial Monday: Dr. Oz

Is it just me or is anyone else getting sick to death of hearing this: "But Dr. Oz says..."? Since when did Dr. Oz become THE authority on health? Oh yeah, because Oprah endorsed him. Yes, he is a medical doctor with a PhD but he is also a television personality which makes his advice highly suspect to me. First of all, he has to watch what he says because of sponsors. In order for his television show to keep running he needs both to keep his viewers AND his sponsors happy which, in his case, means endorsing their products. Anyone seen a product with the "Endorsed by Dr. Oz" label lately? Hmmmmm?

Another thing that bothers me about Dr. Oz is what he does to get ratings. I haven't seen his show for quite a while but it seems like more often than not he is fear mongering over such silly things as dinner mints. Just Google "Dr. Oz and fear mongering" and you get tons of hits about people ranting over how he makes rare incidences into "epidemics." Yet another reason I don't like him is his overuse of that word. This is, of course, only my personal view point so if you like his show, good for you.

Personally I like to gather my health and nutrition information from a variety of sources. If those sources agree, back their statements up with well-performed scientific studies and make sense then I embrace them. That, however, takes a lot of time. Why go to all that work when you could just watch Dr. Oz?

Controversial Monday: Nutritional Dogma

Dear Readers,

Today I felt affronted. Today I felt attacked. It was all because of Facebook. I feel that people should be respectful of every one's beliefs despite how damaging (or what I perceive as damaging) they might be. That doesn't mean that I don't feel like I can't throw information out there when I feel like it so long as I am respectful. Unfortunately not everyone feels that way. It makes me not want to be an active part of the Internet because at this moment while I write this post that maybe two people will read, I could be reading a book instead, or knitting or forcing my husband to listen to my nutritional dogma of the importance of fat and cooking ones vegetables! But noooooo, I am too keyed up.

Here is another beef: Moderation. I am so SICK of that word. What is moderation? Is it what a government body decides is moderate? How about a scientist? Blogger? Television show? I guess it all depends on whose definition you trust. Moderation in my estimation as pertains to nutrition has to do with NOT eating things we know to be bad for us except in VERY rare circumstances. By rare I mean a few times a year, not every day or even once a month. But then again, what foods are really bad for us?

So, I am irritated. I am annoyed not because people disagree with me but because they chose to do so by putting me into a box of tyranny that makes any statement that comes out of my mouth tantamount to the dithering of an idiot with a large stick. All I want is to enjoy REAL food and for others to do the same. A propos: I have decided that I will no longer comment on anyone's facebook posting if it has anything to do with food because I am a Real Food Tyrant who believes everyone should be forced to eat saturated fat (gasp!), properly prepared grains (the horror!), and pasture raised meats (No!). Yes, you can just call me by my acronym RFT (pronounced Rufft) and if you eat sugar or uncooked cruciferous vegetables this dithering idiot will beat you with the aforementioned stick on thine head.

Not a whole lot o'bloggin' goin' on...

December went by in a mad frenzy. Still struggling with my diet (I have a hard time getting enough calories) I somehow made it through to complete all my projects and even made cookies for the neighbors, which I had sworn I would NOT do because who, in their right mind, makes delicious Christmas cookies when they can't eat a single one? Oh, it was painful but I was pleased when after all the baking was over I had somehow conquered the urge. Who knew that I was THAT stubborn to be able to resist such delicious temptation?

Christmas in Virginia turned out to be nothing like I expected due to both weather and illness but it was nice to be with family. Ravenna had a fabulous time being with her aunt Rachelle and uncle Josh and has perfected being a "monster." Now I find myself with the itch. Whenever I get something new I survey all that I have and find that I have too much! I am seriously considering having a garage sale in January just for the delicious feeling of getting rid of "stuff."

I have some really fabulous primal recipes to share too. This Cauliflower and Ginger Soup is shockingly easy and fabulously delicious. You won't be able to eat just one serving! I made this on Christmas Eve but I will be making it again ASAP in my lovely new Enameled Cast Iron Dutch Oven!

How was everyone's Christmas? Any fabulous new recipes?