Days 5-13, Raw challenge

Days 5-9
Not much happening here. This new eating plan is actually going much better than I expected. I’m definitely having some cravings, but I seem to be doing a decent job ignoring them.
One of the ways I’ve been encouraging myself is with expected weight loss. Raw diets definitely have the tendency to take the pounds off. Every time I start craving something, for instance pizza, I distract myself with some thoughts about weight loss. And to help matters, I’m so busy at work, I don’t really have time to think of food anyways.

I have already seen a noticeable increase in my energy levels. I feel a ton better. Each day I can tell my stomach is getting flatter. I never feel heavy. However, I am tired every day around 2pm.

After one week – weight loss is 6 lbs!

Day 10 – Getting sick. The day was pretty hard. All day I felt miserable. And to top it off, I had horrible cravings. Half the day I kept thinking I should quit this challenge and start eating meat again. The glands in my throat were swelling, my sinus’ were killing me, and my body was aching. I wanted chocolate bad. And I wanted dairy, and chicken, and steak, and just about anything else you can think of. I finally gave in and had ¼ cup of chocolate ice cream and savored every bite. Yum. But I was very good the rest of the day. By evening, I started to think maybe I was in detox and had wished I hadn’t eaten that little bit of ice cream.

The idea is that with raw food – your body gets all these great disease fighting nutrients. I found this online that explains it:
“…once the body begins to assimilate a higher proportion of natural raw foods, it initiates detoxification and health-building actions since it is always striving to establish a higher state of wellness.
The new, enzymatically-active live raw foods with their nutritious, energizing sugars cause the body to spring into action, utilizing much of its energy in cleaning house: purging debris, shedding old inferior cells, and using the new raw nutrients to build a completely new, healthier body.
When a toxic load becomes too dangerous for the body, it intelligently enacts a detoxification/elimination/purging/housecleaning event or phase, manifested by any of these "symptoms": sore throat, inflammation, fever, skin outbreaks, coated tongue, mucus expectoration, body aches, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. …When we experience any of these signs of elimination, we typically feel fatigued and sleepy, as the body is directing much of its energy toward accomplishing the housecleaning. At such times, it is always wise to assist the body by heeding the calls for extra rest and sleep. All of these "symptoms" will diminish and then vanish when the body is sufficiently cleaned out, providing we adhere to a healthful lifestyle regimen.”

The fact that I am going through what obviously appears to be a detox stage has me slightly concerned about the foods I ate before that obviously caused some problems??

Day 11 – Definitely not detox, my coworker is also sick with the exact same symptoms. The good news is that hopefully my body want ache for more than a day or two. Detox can be quite lengthy for some.

Day 12 – Feeling so much better!!! I was able to get 10 hours of sleep last night and it made a world of difference. My body had a chance to start recovery. The past few days I haven’t eaten past 4pm; I haven’t been hungry. My cravings are gone. Maybe it's the stuffy nose that's causing it.

It was honestly so much work just to figure out what to eat, that I didn’t want the hassle of counting calories or fat. So I have no idea how much I’m eating, instead I’m only eating when I’m hungry. But when I look at sample meal plans, I know there are many days where I am probably not eating enough calories. I just have no desire. I’m not hungry. This was also the first day I haven’t been tired after lunch – maybe it was the 10 hours of sleep.

Weight Loss to date: 11 lbs

Day 13 – I think whatever bug I had, must have taken away a lot of my appetite. I did eat a lot more today, but I’m generally not very hungry. This morning I also woke up at 3:15 am and felt very well rested. At 4am I finally figured I was not going to be dozing back off so I got up to get some things done. It’s 9:50 now at night, I’ve not been the least bit tired today. Loving the energy.

For an idea of my meals, here’s what I had today. This is more than I’ve had most days. I feel like a little piggy now. I added some calories on purpose – I felt like if I didn’t my metabolism may drop b/c I just didn’t eat much the last few days.

Breakfast : Fruit smoothie – 3 cups fruit, coconut kefir, and water – this is twice as much as I normally have been drinking. It took me all morning to drink it all. And a banana with peanut butter.

Lunch: 2 Vegetable sushi rolls – this was just 1 avocado, 1 carrot, wrapped in seaweed

Snacks: ½ peach, homemade fruit and nut bar (made with dates, raw cashews, coconut, cocoa, and coconut oil – YUM)

And….some popcorn. Don’t tell anyone. I’ve actually had this a few times now. I see it as my one cheat, it doesn’t have anything on it. I figured 98% raw is close enough to 100% raw, right? However, I think I’m going to cut it out for the rest of the month.

Dinner: 1 grapefruit, 2 baby carrots, 2 grape tomatoes, and some nuts

Our Frugal Girl

This story came secondhand because I was at work - but it was the highlight of my afternoon. So when Thomas called me and relayed this story I lauged and laughed and knew I had to post it.

Petra heads out the door.
Petra: Bye, Bye
Thomas: Where are you going?
Petra: To the store.
Thomas: What store?
Petra: um, to the grocery store
Thomas: Why? What are you going to buy?
Petra: Ummm
Thomas: Do we need food?
Petra: Yes, I need coupons!

Raw Food 30 Day Challenge

Day 4
Absolutely great day. Full of energy. No headaches. (surprising seeing as that I only had a few hours of sleep again - Jasper woke up crying 4 times - he didn't like his pacifier.)

Eating was simple and easy. Fruit/kale smoothie for breakfast. Salad for lunch. Fruit and nuts for snacks. I had some carrot sticks at 4pm and forgot to eat the rest of the day. I missed dinner at home with the family due to work. And wasn’t hungry anyway.

Day 3
Uggh, first day at work as raw foodie and suffered horrible headache and sluggishness – which I am sure had something to do with not having coffee and not sleeping more than 4 hours at night. Everywhere I turned there was cake and doughnuts. I spent 15 hours at work trying my best to avoid the chocolate cake 10 steps away.

And I did it.

The worse problem today was that I didn’t eat enough for breakfast. And then the rest of the day, I kept grazing and never really eating. Every hour I was putting a piece of fruit in my mouth because I was hungry.

Day 2
After a very frustrating day 1, day 2 fell into place quite well. The trick was learning to fix my thinking about how I eat. I’ve had a template in my head my entire life-well as long as I can remember- that says for dinner fix 1 meat, 1 green vegetable and 1 starch. Which is what caused my frustration on day 1. But I got the message loud and clear on day 1 that I needed meal ideas – so a quick surf through the internet and I found a load of resources. It turns out that a lot of raw foodies eat loads of plain fruit. Here was a sample I found for someone: (THIS WAS NOT WHAT I ATE)

Breakfast – 3 lbs of watermelon
Lunch – 2 mangos, 1 avocado, 3 sticks of celery
Snack – 2 mangos
Dinner – Large salad (cucumber, tomatoes, green onion), with sunflower seeds, two avocados, and fresh-squeezed lemon

It was very refreshing to see that many of the meal plans I saw online focused around very simple eating. And to top off the day, I have not been hungry at all.

Our little heartthrob

Our little boy is such an amazing and uniquely different person than anyone I know.
He is so lovable and so serious … all the time. As his parents, we see both sides, but not everyone does.
He is so tenderhearted that every time we read a book he has to stop and hug almost every page so that he can give the characters love. He is helpful to us, following directions very well. And he also genuinely loves his sister and is willing to help and give her with nearly anything. Earlier this week I watched as he carried her cup up the stairs to her because she was wailing for it. A few mornings ago, I watched as he handed her his pacifier (out of his own mouth) to stop her tears. These are not things we asked of him, but things he did on his own recognizing what it was that would satisfy Petra.
He loves to laugh and play. He can also now pose for the camera- with a big cheesy grin, scrunched up nose and eyes closed.

But there is the other side of him, the side we see a lot and the only side strangers usually see. This side of him shows the seriousness of him. His “scowl” and “mad” look. His face as he looks around and absorbs the world around him is always serious and evaluative. You can tell he processes life around him … and trust me you can tell when he has decided he is upset about something. While some children cry and whine, he lets out an unbelievable deafening holler of offense. From others we never hear the words “Oh, what a happy baby.” But instead hear “Oh, what a serious baby.” People stop and talk to him and he just stares and scowls. I honestly think he is wondering why they would be speaking to him--Don’t they know that he doesn’t know them? Maybe the good news of all this is I will never have to worry about him talking to strangers.

He is growing by leaps and bounds. Sometimes running and loving every minute he can escape us. And other times running to us for hugs and kisses.
And even though he isn’t talking, he is learning his alphabet letters and sounds. We were amazed two weeks ago when he started pointing out letters we were asking and also making some of the sounds. It turns out he knows most of his alphabet sounds. He can point at a letter and tell us its sound.

And as a parent I am learning more and more each day to appreciate and value his ever serious, contemplative, yet sweet nature. Oh, how he makes me laugh!

30 Day Raw Food Challenge

I'm not sure where I picked up that 30 days was a normal time to try raw food eating - but it has led to my current plan.

My first thought was that this would be easy. Fresh fruits and veggies - no real cooking involved. May even be a time saver.

Nope. What was I thinking? I must have been crazy.

Raw food basically means nothing you eat is cooked. Nothing boiled, nothing sauteed, nothing heated over about 110 degrees from what I have read. (I'm certainly no expert so don't take my word on everything here) To limit temptation in my home, my plan was to switch everyone in the home mainly to raw foods for the next month - with myself following a 98% raw food plan, and husband and children following it about 85% of the time.

Have you ever tried to make a meal out of all raw foods? Just think. What would you make? Post your comments I would love to hear them.


DAY 1
Today was day 1. I'm not sure what I was thinking. This has got to be one of the hardest things I have ever done. I had no idea what to make for breakfast, lunch or dinner. I bought a lot of fruit and veggies - but I wasn't too sure how to combine them raw to make a meal. Yes, I know how to make a salad, but I couldn't possibly feed myself or everyone else salad 3 times a day for the next month.

To top it off my food processor broke a couple weeks ago, and I don't have a blender. Thank goodness for my new hand blender which is helping me get through this time until I get a new bowl for the food processor. But today, every recipe I found that I wanted to try needed either one of these appliances or included ingredients I didn't have or had never heard of.

As supportive as Tom's been - I'm also thinking he is going to decide I'm not feeding him if I hand him a green smoothie for lunch or dinner.

I struggled today...With caffeine withdraw and a headache. With general tiredness. With recipes. With how in the world to make a meals for my family and work until 7pm or later each night over the next 2 months. With how to feed the family raw on a monthly budet of $350 for food. Is any of it possible??

The only thing that gives me much hope is that I am now finally sitting here with a small glass of wonderful delicious coconut milk and a small date/nut bar. Finally...delicious and creamy. It makes me think maybe I won't be giving up all the foods I love after all.

Celiacs? Wheat Intolerance?

My last post gave some clues that we are seeing doctors, and moving forward on some infertility tests. Part of us moving forward extends into my diet.

I've learned over the years that the endometriosis in my body affects me in many, many ways. The backaches and cramps that I experiences nearly every day are horrible. After two laparascopies I know it is still there, I feel it.
There seems to be only one thing I can do to control it - and that is to control my diet. A couple years ago I found some information online that said many women who went on a special diet - mainly excluding gluten or wheat - had almost all their pain disappear.

About two years ago, I tried this. And it worked. Nearly no pain. But it is super hard to avoid wheat and I have done a poor job controlling my diet.

I mentioned this to our IVF doctor - he laughed. I mentioned it to my gynecologist - he nearly laughed.

Then, about 3 weeks ago, in my search for ridding my house of all white flours and sugars, I made a batch of muffins with whole wheat pastry flour. Within two hours I was very sick. I had a rash on my arm, I was nauseous, I developed a migraine, and had many other pains. I had to leave my desk at work and go lay down in the clinic - not a normal occurrence.

I suddenly came to the realization there was a good possibility I was dealing with - a possible case of celiac disease or gluten intolerence - that was leading to the endometriosis - that was leading to infertility. There is a lot that I keep thinking about here, but mainly I keep thinking that if I have an autoimmune disorder, I should probably see a fertility specialist that deals with reproductive immunology.

So I called my new primary doctor and finally had an appointment yesterday. She agreed; no laughing. What a relief. She said it was very likely that I might have celiac's or a gluten intolerance and I definitely needed to be tested. I went for the bloodwork. If it comes back negative, then I have to go see an allergist for a skin test.

And regardless of the test results, the bottom line is I know wheat has an affect on me. And this is one area that I have control over. And one area that might affect my fertility. So I am moving foward on new eating plan.

The recommended endo diet goes something like this - no meat, no wheat, no dairy, no coffee, no tea, no hydrogenated oils. I figured if I was going to follow this, I might as well try a raw food diet...more to come.

E-TEGRITY and Infertility plans

I haven't taken the time to update anyone in the blog world on the E-tegrity test that I was considering.

I considered, I postponed, and I finally did it.

It was not a very easy decision. There is a lot of controversy behind its usefulness. Very few doctors put much weight in it. But I decided to go ahead based on two peices of information.
1) I think part of our problem in our getting pregnant has something to do with implantation problems, and 2) the top fertility center in the nation uses it. At some point I decided those two reasons were enough for me to go ahead.

The results tell you if you luteal phase is correct and if you have protein that is common in the uterus during implantation time. I'm not going to go in to detail about any of it here. If you are interested in details because it's late and I'm tired - so if you want more information on the test look it up.

The uterine biopsy that had to be done for the test hurt like crazy. Literally. I clenched my mouth shut to keep from hollering. The best part was the pain last for about 2 minutes total, this total time included about 20 seconds of HORRIBLE pain, and then it was over. I had absolutely no pain following the biopsy.

The results are useful, maybe. It really depends on whether we find a doctor that uses it.

But they told us that my luteal phase was correct, AND that I am MISSING the protein (beta 3 integrin) that is common during implantation - this is "a glue-like protein necessary for implantation to take place" according to the website.

So, I guess you could say its good news. We found a problem.

The website says that treatment is 3 months on Lupron. I have no idea if this is indeed what we will do.

Our only decision to date is to have more tests done with the belief that the more we know, the better decision we can make. So, we contacted a local fertility specialist who opened an office here in town recently - and they are helping us with getting all the remaining tests we want to have done.
And then maybe we will decide something.