Okay. It begins.

I started at dinnertime last night, so right now, it's 7:00 p.m. (ish) on Monday and I have 24 hours in.  What I ate today was ground hamburger meat fried with onion on a bed of spinach, oatmeal, oatmeal with peanut butter, turkey, broccoli and cauliflower and a banana.  I stayed on the diet.  I would have liked to have gone without peanut butter today, but it was the most appetizing thing I could think of, from my list, so I had some.  I'll try not to have it every day. 


Tomorrow will be more difficult, I think, because I won't be working and I won't have work to distract me.  As far as my symptoms, I feel better this afternoon than I did when I woke up this morning.  Part of that is just due to the way arthritis is --- it's worse in the mornings.  I feel pretty good though.  My eyes are not burning, itching or stinging, I didn't have to use eye drops any time after I woke up today.  I did during the night several times. 


So that's day 1.

Still haven't started yet.

I still haven't started the diet.  I am currently cooking some broccoli and onions to make a creamy broccoli soup.  I'd use soy milk for the creamy part.  Hopefully, I'll be able to come up with a soup that tastes good.  I don't have a recipe but I frequently make a cream of celery soup with kind of the same formula.  As far as how I feel, getting started, I am still in this "pain storm" that I've been in for a few weeks.  All of my joints hurt, my urinary tract hurts, I'm having some weird random abdominal pains and my legs hurt all the way up and down.  I rated my pain as a 6/10 this morning, but it has eased up some at this point.  I'm taking it pretty easy today, just doing a few dishes and some light cleaning, watching some YouTube and eating things I won't be able to eat after today (for a while), like a Hershey bar with almonds and a bowl of Chex cinnamon with real milk. 


Here's a picture of some of the things I need in order to get through a day. 

Urinary pain relief, anti-diarrheal (not every day), Biotene, eye drops, eye ointment, Turmeric, prescription pain meds and Burt's bees chap stick (every day).  I also often take Tylenol and Advil, just to help me cope with my daily pain. 

I hope I feel better in a few days. 

More on my results.

Okay, I have shared what my results are now I'll share a bit more about them.  I've got some huge major categories of food that I'll be eliminating and it's kind of scary.   I'll be eliminating dairy, nightshades, eggs and corn, to name a few.  It's going to be difficult.  That's one reason I'm starting on Monday.  I have a dinner out with friends tonight and I'll need to avoid restaurant meals for a while after that.  That's not all that difficult for me as I don't eat out all that often.  The dairy and corn and egg and nightshades thing though?  That's going to be difficult.  They say as you do this, you might have withdrawal symptoms from some of the foods that you react to, and are also addicted to.  I'm not looking forward to that.  I had a nightmare experience with the AIP diet and withdrawal a couple of years ago and I don't want to repeat that.


Also, the list of things I can have is complicated by the fact that on this test, I didn't test as sensitive to gluten and I am.  I've been gluten free for 9 years so that may be why it didn't show up as a problem for me.  Consequently, some of the first (considered safest) foods for me this week that are listed are wheat, barley and rye.  I won't be reintroducing those.  I felt so much better when I eliminated them 9 years ago that I don't want to go there again. 


However, I am encouraged that this diet is going to allow me to have some things I enjoy.   I'll still be able to have peanut butter, sugar and oats, with which I can make no-bake cookies.   I'm going to make buckwheat pancakes one day and can have real maple syrup on them.  (I feel that I need sweets, another addiction!).  I'm going to cook a turkey breast this week and have a turkey soup, maybe a cabbage stir fry, a soy milk cream of broccoli soup, hamburger patties with avocado (love this combo).  I can also have all kinds of fruit.  It's not like I will go hungry.  The LEAP diet does not limit the amounts of anything you can have.  It's just a diet to help you feel better.


That said, I am hoping to loose some weight with it too and will be trying to make healthy choices and possibly leave the cookies as a last resort!!


I'll share my progress and struggles as I go these next few weeks.  I'm praying it will help me feel better!!

 

Beginning the LEAP!

I've been feeling bad for a long time.  I am going to investigate whether this is related to foods that I have been eating.  A couple of weeks ago, I saw a nutritionist who does the LEAP diet and MRT food sensitivity testing, sent my bloodwork in and got my diet recommendations.  I'm going to start on Monday.   Here are the foods I tested most sensitive to and then the list of foods I can eat for the first 2 weeks. 

 

Trigger foods

Red 
Do not eat!!

Pinto Beans

Yellow -
These may be able to be added back in at some point.  (I hope!)


Beet

Coriander

Corn

Cow's milk

Egg white

Yellow #5

Green pepper

Halibut

Honeydew

Hops

Leeks

Lima beans

MSG

Mung beans

Nutmeg

Phenylethylamine

Quinoa

Raspberry

Kidney bean

Rice

Solanine

The foods I CAN eat (according to my individualized plan) for the first 2 weeks are as follows:

Turkey

Soybeans

Sole

Scallops

Rainbow trout

Navy beans

Beef

Lamb

Salmon

Shrimp

Barley

Wheat

Buckwheat

Millet

Amaranth

Oats

Asparagus

Cauliflower

Pumpkin

Lettuce

Zucchini

Broccoli

Onion

Spinach

Cabbage

Blueberry

Avocado

Strawberry

Banana

Cantaloupe

Apple

Date

Watermelon

Olive

Plum

Goats milk

Tea

coffee

Eggplant

Whey

Cashew

Walnut

Peanut

Sesame (oil)

Turmeric

Lime

Maple

Parsley

Cane sugar

black pepper

garlic

Cinnamon

Cardamom

Coconut

I'm hoping that I can get rid of at least a few of the symptoms I am dealing with on a daily basis.   For the record, I'm going to list them here.

 

First, my diagnoses:
Sjogren's syndrome.
Fibromyalgia.
Chronic fatigue.
Asthma.
Obesity.
Osteoarthritis.
Interstitial cystitis.
Raynaud's phenomenon

 

And then my frequent symptoms:
dry, itchy eyes.
dry mouth.
sore joints:

• knees
• ankles
• back
• elbow
• hands
• shoulders
• neck

nasal congestion

ear itching
frequent urination
urinary pain
sneezing
fatigue
nighttime urination 4-5 times a night with reduced sleep
gassiness
yeast infections
fibromyalgia tender points
Raynaud's phenomenon
constipation / loose stools
nausea
heartburn

 

Wish me luck, because I feel like I've been cursed "to the pain"!