Week 3 Report

HOW I’M FEELING:

• Physically: Exhausted. The last few days have been less busy work-wise and I have had the opportunity to go to bed earlier and sleep in. And I am taking full advantage! But, I am questioning why I am sleeping 10-12 hours?! This had gotten me a bit down and I was wondering, WTF(?!) – but yesterday, one of my oh-so-smart clients (who changed her diet in this same way about a year and a half ago, and has had many positive results, including the disappearance of an auto-immune thing) asked me how I was feeling. “Pretty crappy – and I’m kind of bitter about it”. “Oh, don’t worry” she said, “You’re just detoxing, you’ll feel worse for a while and then you’ll feel awesome”! I am looking forward to this promised awesomeness.
• Emotionally: About the same as last week. Still feeling strong, positive and excited about this whole thing. Having fun trying new recipes etc.

GI SYMPTOMS:

• So great! ‘Nuff said.

MENSTRUAL STUFF:

• Not applicable at this time, try me in two weeks.

WEIGHT:

• Gained a pound this week – I think it was the cashew “cheesecake”. And the chocolate sauce. And the wine.

CONFESSIONS:

• Ian and I picked up a new bag of GF chips – ‘chipotle and cheddar’ flavour. We were about halfway through the bag when I clued in, “cheddar?!” I checked out the ingredient list and sure enough, it had dairy products. They were really super tasty – so I kept eating….

SUCCESSES:

• Um, I cleaned out the fridge and went to the gym 3 times. But that’s not what you’re looking for, is it? Really, the whole week was a success as I stuck to this thing – despite the ever-present desire for Chicago Style Pizza.

Poisoned!

So, back in the summer I bought myself a fancy pressure canner. It’s awesome. You see, you need a pressure canner to can low acid foods like veggies because a water bath canner doesn’t get to high enough temperatures to kill off things like, oh, botulism. I really wanted a pressure canner so I could start canning my own beans (kidney, black etc). You see, we eat a lot of those and not only was it expensive, but I also worry about the crap lining the cans and what things I’m ingesting because of it. Especially the cheap cans. And the tomatoes. However, tomatoes have almost enough acid in them that you can simply add a bit of lemon juice and can them in a water bath – no problem! Beans however, are death in a jar unless you do it right. And I’m just not prepared enough to always be soaking my beans in advance of when I think I’ll need them. It’s really nice to open a can and have your legumes ready to go!

Shortly after getting the pressure canner, I took it for a spin and canned myself some lentils. It was pretty easy. Soak them overnight, cook them up, throw them in the jars and pop them in the canner. 75 mins at 11 psi of pressure later and I had six jars of ready to eat lentils. And this past weekend, I thought I’d do up some other stuff – kidney beans, black beans and chickpeas.

I soaked my beans overnight (ok, maybe a day and a half because I got caught at a birth – sprouted beans are healthy too!). Then I popped them in jars, into the canner and…..they didn’t all seal. Anyone who knows anything about canning, knows that if they don’t seal you have to use them up right away, so into the fridge they went. I had three jars leftover, so the next day Ian made a vegetarian chili. And the day after that I made my Speedy Lentil and Bean Casserole. All seemed to be going well, until it was time to eat the casserole, and then something just seemed off.

Now, let me be clear. At this point I knew the beans were getting close – so I took a good hard sniff before using them – they looked and smelled FINE. Whipped up the casserole, threw on some vegan cheese* and into the oven. It was the casserole I know and love. Except when I took a bite, it tasted funny. I thought it was just me, so I ate another few bites. Still funny. Checked in with Ian who said it was fine. [And really, I should  know better, this man eats anything and does occasionally poison himself as a result – but, like my dog, he has a cast iron stomach. I shouldn’t trust him when he says something is ‘fine’]. Started wondering if it was maybe the cheese – just a litte different than what I’m used to. I ate another bite or two but couldn’t shake that funky taste – so I gave it to Ian and he polished it off.

Fast forward to the next day and my suspicions were confirmed – something was so not right with those beans. Ugh! My poor, poor guts……I don’t think the problem was with the canning process itself. I think rather, the problem stemmed from the length of time the beans had been ‘in waiting’. Note to self: Only can when you’re off call and use the unsealed ones that day or not at all.

Oh and not surprisingly, when I checked in with Ian about how he was feeling, he told me he was ‘fine’.

*Please stay tuned for a future post on the awesomest vegan cheese ever.

Cravings….

Craving a stuffed (deep dish) pepperoni pizza from here.

Or a spinach and feta omelette. Or a cheeseburger.

*sigh*

Week 2 Report

Reflecting back over the two weeks I’ve been doing this, I felt it would be helpful if I started doing a weekly report. So, every Monday I will focus on writing about the same categories of things – you know, to see if things are improving, deteriorating, or staying the same. I posted these ‘categories’ in a previous post but if there’s something that’s missing, something you’d love to know about, please let me know and I will do my best to accommodate!

HOW I’M FEELING:

• Physically: I’ve been feeling pretty good so far. I can’t say I’ve noticed a ton of extra energy or anything like that but maybe I don’t feel quite so run down? It’s been hard to say ’cause it’s been a busy couple of weeks at work – lots of babies, lots of visits, lots of late nights. Working 12+hour days is going to make anyone tired! On second thought, maybe I am doing well because I’m working these long days and not feeling totally dead by the end of the day.
• Emotionally: I am so super thankful at how well this transition has gone. I am not missing one little thing. I am feeling very positive about the whole thing. Also very hopeful that I will see a decrease in symptoms from thyroid stuff, endo stuff, bowel stuff and other stuff. Is this still the novelty of the thing? I don’t know….but I sort of feel like I did when I quit smoking. It was just so easy and I never looked back. Even a short time later, it felt like I had never been a smoker in my life. This GFV thing is sort of feeling the same way….kind of like it’s just always been this way….

GI SYMPTOMS:

• Well, there was some stuff going on related to my period, but it was certainly not as severe as it has been in the past. Over the last couple of days, things have actually been quite good. Not 100%, but better than it has been in a while.

MENSTRUAL STUFF:

• My period was essentially the same, just less. But, it had only been a short time that I had been eating differently. I’m keen to see what happens next time around.

WEIGHT:

• Down 3 pounds since starting. Not bad!

CONFESSIONS:

• I have knowingly and repeatedly eaten non-vegan chocolate. Partly because it’s in the house and I don’t want it sitting here for 3 months and then throwing it out. Partly because it’s just so damn tasty and I can’t help myself. It’s good dark chocolate though, so it’s good for me – right?

SUCCESSES:

• This past week I watched my husband and friends eat some very tasty looking/smelling homemade apple pie. I was tempted to eat just the apple filling, but most of that stuff also has flour in it too. So I stuck to my non-dairy peach ‘ice cream’ made in the vitamix – and maybe some chocolate!
• At an early morning birth yesterday I turned down some seemingly fantastic coffee. But I did have a glass of champagne with the family once babe was out! 🙂

Lucky Number 13

Day 13 over here and still going strong. I have to say that I am starting to notice little glimpses of feeling better here and there. Nothing specific really, just an overall sense of wellness and, apart from the previously mentioned expected monthly issues, my guts are feeling good too!

Last night we made this FANTASTIC potato and pea curry from my gluten free vegan cookbook. It had onions, garlic, potatoes, peas, cashews, and a whole whack of spices. It was super fast and super easy. And it cleared our cupboard of potatoes and our freezer of this bag of frozen peas that have been there since who knows when. So big points all around! I would love to share the recipe, but I’m sure that’s an infringement of some sort. So, you’ll either have to go buy the book or be a real-life friend so I can just lend you the book! 🙂

But this morning, oh this morning – I created a smoothie like no other. It is truly heaven in a glass. It was inspired by several other recipes I have found, but it was all my own creation. So with great pleasure, I present:

THE GREEN-A COLADA

• 1 Banana
• 1/2 cup Pineapple
• 1/2 an Orange
• 1 cup Coconut Milk
• 1-2 Tbsp Flax Oil
• 1-2 Tbsp Shredded Coconut
• 1 Tbsp Flax seed (another plus for the vitamix – no pre-grinding my flax seeds)
• 1 scoop Vega Smoothie Infusion
• 1 cup of ice
• 1-2 cups of Fresh Kale leaves – removed from the stem
• I also add some Vitamin D drops (2000IU) and a liquid multi-vitamin supp from my ND

Throw it all in the vitamix and blend it up – it tastes just like a Pina Colada! And the kale give it a lovely mint green colour while also packing it full of kale-y nutritional goodness….pure liquid bliss.

I heart my Vitamix…and more

Since getting my Vitamix three days ago I have used it at least twice a day – and it really is all it’s cracked up to be. I have made some very tasty (and healthy) smoothies for breakfast (lunch and dinner). And we have also tried out the soup feature which is AWESOME. The first night I got it I threw in some broth, tomatoes, avocado, half a lime, some garlic, cilantro, black beans and corn. Fired it up and 6 minutes later we had steamy hot avocado and black bean soup. So tasty and even a little bit healthy!

We tried soup again the next night, but we didn’t have all the ingredients we needed so it didn’t turn out so well – but let me be clear: this was OUR fault, not the fault of dear old VM. Instead, I had a smoothie for dinner! My friend Nat was trying to tell me that I can’t just live on a liquid diet, but I don’t see why not. She probably thinks that ’cause she hasn’t used VM for herself or tasted the love that it pours forth!

In other news, how am I feeling?

All in all, I’m feeling well. The last few days have been a bit funky because I got my period and that usually wreaks no end of havoc on my system. All symptoms were present and accounted for, but not as severe as they have been in the past. I’m still feeling a bit bloated but things are on the upswing.

Energy wise, I’m feeling alright – though it’s tough to say exactly because I’ve been busy busy busy. Lots of babies and the requisite assessments and visits that go with them.

To date, no known cheats – though there was one incident where the corn chips I was eating actually did contain some wheat (I guess that’ll teach me to read labels before I stuff something in my mouth).

What am I missing? Nothing. Seriously and truly, this has been pretty easy so far. For that I’m thankful.

Appointments: I had the follow up to get my MRI results last week which were (unfortunately) everything I expected and more. I’m not keen to go into too much detail just yet but the shitty news is certainly giving me great inspiration to keep at this diet and do it well. Other than that, no decisions are being made just yet – I am just in the process of information gathering. This week I saw my naturopath, my family doc and an endocrinologist. In a couple of weeks I see a gyne specialist. Then back to my GP and potentially off to another specialist for a second opinion as needed.

Can I just say though, you know I’m with the right family doc when she says to me “I think surgery is a bit drastic, maybe lets just stick to these dietary changes to reduce all this inflammation and see if your body can’t heal itself”.

I heart her too.

A Successful Week

It’s been just over a week and nary a morsel of gluten nor animal product has passed my lips. Yay me! Only 12 more weeks to go.

Oh, and I celebrated my first week by ordering a VITAMIX – it arrived this morning and I am already in love love love! I was up at a birth all night, so when the knock on the door woke me up, my first thought was “go away, I’m sleeping”. I was just about to drift back to sleep when the vitamix-obsessed part of my brain yelled “it’s here – go get it”! So, out of bed I flew, jammies, sleep mask and all, and ran to the door – poor delivery guy! I happily signed for the order and took it back to bed with me – we snuggled for awhile, getting to know each other for a little bit and then I put him to work – and he made me the most wonderful, velvety green smoothie ever….*contented sigh* I’m sure there will be many happy moments between us.

The rest of the week was fine – had one brief temptation on Saturday night. We had tried to have a neighbourhood BBQ (to which only 4 of the 10 confirmed guests showed up) – I had bean burgers and Karina’s awesome dairy free potato salad. Later we went to a friend’s house to play a game and drink some wine – and then he pulled out the candied salmon….mean trick! Even the wine wouldn’t let me fall off the wagon though, and I not-so happily watched the others enjoy their tasty treat.

That’s ok though, ’cause now I have a vitamix!!

4 days in – so far so good

Given that it’s been a busy week birth/work-wise, I’d say I’m doing pretty darn good. Day 1 was easy. Day 2 was also pretty easy given that I was hanging out with a client who’s kids have some dietary challenges so they are gluten/dairy free. While sitting around waiting to see if she was really in labour or not (planned homebirth), I was treated to some YUMMY GF/DF bagels from Aidan’s. They are not easy to get in Hamilton, but I may just have to make the trip out to Port Credit to get my hands on some of these tasty little delights!!

Day 3 was a surprise for me. I was up late at a birth (see above – she wasn’t in labour during the day, but really kicked in around 1130 at night so I was out until 430am). Usually, I wake up STARVING and willing to sell my left arm for a cheeseburger! However, as I rolled out of bed at the crack of noon to get myself ready for clinic, all I could think about was a “Happy Buddha Bowl” from my new favourite store, Kindfood. I love this place and my vegan-venture will be made much easier thanks to them. It was pleasantly surprising to find myself craving brown rice, avocado, sweet potato etc. And it also really hit the spot!

Day 4 *might* have involved another Buddha Bowl – also, a smoothie and some vegetable chips.

Talked to my mom today who is joining me in this little experiment. She has her own host of auto-immune crap going on – different than mine, but no less of a pain in the ass. Most notably, her Crohn’s gives her no end of grief. She’s been a seafood/dairy eating vegetarian for a number of years now. As our collective issues were getting worse through the spring and summer, I convinced her to try this with me. Her report as of this evening was that she was already feeling much better. She hasn’t taken her meds for Crohn’s in 2 days and has been reasonably pain/bloating/bowel issue free (something that was previously impossible). So, yay for quick improvements for mom!

Myself, I haven’t noticed too much of a difference yet.

CONFESSIONS:

1. Yesterday I was starving when I got home (my day ended up going sideways due to births/visits and I didn’t get home until 10pm – good thing those Buddha Bowls are filling!). I had talked to Ian on the phone earlier and he said he was making vegetarian Pad Thai. “What did you use in the sauce instead of eggs”? *crickets* “Oh crap. I forgot you can’t have eggs”. So, I reassured him I would find something to eat when I got home. Well, when I finally did get home I had been thinking about his super awesome Pad Thai though both baby visits and I figured that a little bit of egg couldn’t hurt. Except when I got home, the Pad Thai was nowhere to be found! I figured he had taken it with him to save me from myself. “What a sweetheart”, I thought. I happily ate my soup, loving the man who is doing his best not to tempt me. When he got home, I told him how nice that was because I had been ready to tear into a bowl of egg-laden-pad-thai-y goodness. “Um, I didn’t take it with me, when I cracked the second egg in after getting off the phone with you, it was bad. So I threw the whole thing out”.

2. Less of a confession, more of a “look how good I am”: I had tea at a client’s house today and she didn’t have anything other than cow milk to put in it – so I drank it black…with just a touch of sugar.

Day 1 – only 91 more to go!

Woke this morning with a little bit of a ribfest hangover in the way of some mild GI upset. It’s funny, yesterday I was feeling very apprehensive about this whole thing – worried about if I would be able to do it, thinking of all the things I will miss, wondering if I’m crazy for doing this through Thanksgiving and a trip to Palm Springs etc etc etc. This morning though, I was once again feeling confident about this little research project. I am getting excited to see the changes that I am pretty certain will come, excited by the challenge of eating this way and the new recipes I will try. I’m still a little worried about what will happen if I get slammed at births, but I’ve got a box of Larabars in the car and some GF/V bread and peanut butter ready to go at a moments notice. That, combined with a tasty chocolate VEGA smoothie should get me through the rough patches. I have also ordered some great tupperware that is good for the freezer and Ian and I are planning to make double batches of everything so I can freeze one or two servings of each meal for easy to grab meals in a pinch.

Food today wasn’t so exciting – not only was I hung over from ribfest, but I was also hung over from the birth this weekend. It’s always the day after missing a night of sleep that I feel like I’m walking around in a fog. I slept through my alarm for two hours this morning! (After going to bed at 10pm last night).

On the menu today:

Breakfast = one slice of toast, pb&j, tea with almond milk and agave

Lunch = One of the previously abandoned stuffed peppers

Snack = Some non-vegan chocolate (hey, I have to eat it or it will go bad) and a tablespoon of peanut butter

Dinner = The last pepper

And then, because I was still craving chocolate and peanut butter, I whipped up some GF/V cupcakes and V peanut butter icing and ate one of those too!

The chocolate/caffeine thing will be interesting. I am certainly off coffee and I will be trying to limit the amount of caffeinated tea I am drinking (because these are big no-no’s too). Also, will have to seek out a tasty Vegan Chocolate….because I can do three months without the other things, but three months without chocolate will surely kill me.

Anybody have any recommendations?

Ribfest – parts 1 AND 2

Yum, yum – I sure do loves me some pulled pork! Ever since I first tried it in North Carolina some 8 (?) years ago. It’s not something I eat too often, but it sure is tasty!

The original plan was to enjoy the ribfestivities on Friday – first day it was running – so I could quickly move on to my new eating habits. We were planning to go with friends who couldn’t make it on Friday, so we bumped it to Saturday. Then Saturday was a no-go for them too, so Sunday it was. Except Saturday afternoon I became struck with fear that the impending baby-storm would come to bite me in the ass and I was worried I would end up at births all day Sunday and Monday, thereby missing ribfest and my last supper. So I did what any pulled-pork loving hippy would do…I went twice!

That’s right folks, two last suppers right here! Two times the line-ups, two times the pulled pork, two times the gelato, and two times the bloating!!

Saturday evening Ian and I ignored the very yummy Quinoa Stuffed Peppers that were in the crockpot and made our way down to the lakeshore. We each grabbed a pulled pork sandwich and some baked beans, found some chairs that were not too wet (it had been raining off and on all day) and sat down to enjoy our feast. Except that it wasn’t so good. The beans were just so-so, the bun was as white and store bought as you could get and the pork was kinda dry. All in all we were very disappointed. So we wandered over to the newly opened gelato shop and consoled ourselves with some of the finest gelato I have ever tasted! Thus the evening was not a total waste and though I was worried that if I ended up at births for the rest of the weekend, my final meal wouldn’t have been anything to write home about, at least I had it.

As it turns out, I did end up at a birth all night Saturday, getting paged out 10 mins after I went to bed and not getting home until one the next afternoon. But I got to catch a lovely little girl and it was SO worth the lack of sleep! I slept from one to five, got up, showered and went back into Burlington for round 2.

Let me just add here that I think the fact that my first go-round was so disappointing was a key factor in the taste sensation I was offered the following day. You see, I was lamenting about my poor experience from the night before and the other midwife I did the birth with (who had made her own trek to ribfest on Friday night) said she had had some of the BEST pulled pork ever at a stand called “Fatbacks”. “Get the extra sauce”, she counseled me, “it’s awesome”!

So, upon arriving at ribfest for the second time in as many days, my group and I made a bee-line for “Tennessee Fatbacks” which, ironically, was right next to the place we had eaten the night prior – in fact, I had even considered ordering from there the night before, but we didn’t feel like starting in line again.

A half-rack of ribs, 1 pound of pulled pork (we skipped the ‘sandwich’ part, because honestly, the bread was just a delivery mechanism for the meat) and serving of beans and coleslaw later, Ian and I were some very happy campers, as were Debbie and Kenny who had ordered the same thing. The extra sauce was awesome and it was exactly what I had imagined when I planned it as my final “standard” meal.

Symptom wise, I was moderately ok Sunday morning – maybe because I was up all night and things were able to keep working themselves through. Or maybe it’s more of a cumulative thing because this morning (after two pulled pork dinners in a row) I was feeling it way more – bloaty and gassy. It’s late now and I’m still feeling it a little bit. Looking forward to not feeling this again for some time to come.

And so, it ends and begins today.