That is the real question. How does it affect us and where is it coming from?
Inflammation has been negatively affecting me for years! I never really understood where it came from. I thought I was eating too much salt and I was retaining water (which I am sure was part of it). I felt overall lethargic when inflamed. I could tell when I was inflamed by general swelling on the outside, or subtle discomforts on the inside even if it was not evident as a visual on the outside.
One thing I had found recently that had been negatively effecting me is gluten. Now, not to just jump all over this new GF bandwagon, but truly... Gluten is my arch-nemesis! It seems to have been part of who I was for a long, long time, yet, I knew that, at least for me, gluten was an inflammatory. I decided to remove gluten from my diet - pretty much completely and saw amazing results! 1. Weight loss (not a bad side effect) and 2. No more Emergency Room visits. Yes! that's right, even without a
Celiac Disease diagnosis from my doctor, gluten consumption landed me on a gurney in the Emergency Department every time!
Third time was a charm and I decided to "diagnose myself", eliminated gluten and Viola! No more ER visits and... I felt better! And magically... no more heartburn! I had heartburn from hell eating gluten!! I was diagnosed with GERD and put on Prilosec. I could always tell if there may have been a little gluten in something I ate. Not ER kind of pain, since I still attempted to eat GF, but there may have been a coating on something, or a gluten filled ingredient that a server may not have even realized and I would have awful heartburn all night. I am proud to say I have stayed GF for over 10 years now.
So, one down... Gluten - eliminated.
Still feeling a little achy in the mornings and also feeling still a little swollen or puffy, I investigated more. Upon more research, it appeared that for me, two more culprits were making me inflamed from the inside out.
Sugar and
Dairy. I know! Don't freak out!!! Mind you I am a full fledged sugar addict! "Hi, my name is Mary-Anne and I am addicted to sugar". It is awful! I have read that sugar addiction is worse than an opioid addiction... I BELIEVE IT!! Plus, dairy?? How could I survive without my cheese!! 😞
Giving up sugar will be allot harder for me. Gluten was hard at first, but now there are so many GF options. But sugar??? Guess what makes all those GF options taste so good???? Yep! You guessed it... Sugar! This will be a real challenge for me. I know people say the more you eliminate sugar the less you crave it, well... they lie! lol or at least I have yet to see the full benefits from that! Maybe I have just not followed through long enough to see those positive results.
I have tried
The Whole 30. I will have to say, I was pretty pumped to start and did follow through for the well, I'll say 28 out of the 30 days, but did realize a 10 pound weight loss and I felt less bloated.
I have tried most all the fad diets over the years... early on it was "Fit for Life" and "The Atkins Diet" then there came "SouthBeach" and then the new and improved Atkins diet - "Keto". They repackage allot of the same information and deliver it in such a way that it seems new... (Another perfect example of this is the book "The Secret" as if that information was new... Bitc#, please! I will discuss this in another post). I digress... I even bought all the books for those diets, downloaded any apps plus ordered matching cook books! I try. I succeed for a while, and then right back where I started... Ugh... The struggle, my friends, is real.
Is this another fad, I don't think so, since it seems very factual plus no one in particular is financially benefiting from the information, but... I just watched
The Game Changers. WOW! I advise checking it out. It will change how you look at what you eat everyday. Subsequently I have watched
What the Health &
Cowspiracy. Also very interesting and, not going to lie... A little fareaken gross!!! Wait until you get to the puss part. Yes, puss. And the allowed level of puss. (It's as if I can see your face!! I am literally LOL) Where they just slice the pustule on the animal, let the puss gush out right there on the line and it keeps going onto production for packaging... ewwwww..... 😝 Sorry had to share!
I know what you are thinking... Holy S#!t.... C'mon... What's a girl to eat??? No meat, no cheese, no sugar... Say it isn't so!!!
Welcome to my new challenge. What do I eat, that will sustain me while still tasting good. I am Italian, and I LOVE to eat... I'm a foodie! Yes, I am one of those ones who posts pics of almost everything they eat!! LOL Presentation is key. I need food to taste good! All of my socializing is based around food... well, plus cocktails! (Yes, I post those too!) And yes, I do know that alcohol breaks down into sugar. But let's curb one thing at a time, shall we? 😉
Join me over the next few weeks and months to see how I transform my overall well being with diet. Lets talk about what's in your pantry to what's in your fridge plus I will be joining a farm share! We will get to exercise and physical health later... as well as the other factors... emotional, mental, spiritual as well as financial health.
Thank you for reading!
Be Well
Mary-Anne
