What a week, whew!
Do you ever feel like you say that at the end of every week? Yeah, me too.
Did you also end this past week with a camera up your rump? Really?! ME TOO!
What a coincidence.
So yeah, I did the colonoscopy/endoscopy again. After I told you about how frustrated I was to find out the past doctor had done the Celiac Biopsy incorrectly I took a few days to wallow, 1 more day to whine & all of the above to be completely & utterly pissed off. I grumbled to P, my parents & my good friends that “I’m done with doctors! I just can’t go through that all again!” and they nodded, and said “I know.” Then I made the appointment. At least this time I had a great recommendation of a caring, young, woman GI in DC.
That was yesterday. If you ever need a colonoscopy you have my complete sympathy. Or I guess it would be empathy. I can never get those right. It’s not so much the process itself, you’re knocked out cold & while it is a smidge scary it’s really not too bad. The fasting & cleansing however, whoaaaaa Nelly, (no offense Nelly) that is pure MISERY. That’s all I have to say about that.
After the procedure the doctor said my bowels looked “pristine”. I know, right? There weren’t any signs of Chron’s Disease or Ulcerative Colilits which is really great news. The biopsies take around a week to get back.
I could just wait to get those before making any dietary changes but thanks to you guys I actually know better, much better. I have been absolutely floored with what I’ve learned these past few months about the immune system, particular inflammation, & it’s direct relationship with diet. Short of eating junk food every day or pounding back energy drinks I haven’t really given too much weight to how foods can affect a person’s sickness with the exception of having some sort of allergy or intolerance. I know how sick I’ve felt & I wanted a pill, heck even surgery to fix me, I truly did not believe a diet change could make a profound impact. Now, now I’m not so sure…
The first book I read that really changed my view was this one, ‘The Lupus Recovery Diet‘. It’s really about diet & autoimmune diseases in general, not just Lupus. I thought about it, & actually believe most of it to be true but I just wasn’t ready to go that far yet. While I highly recommend reading the book to gain a basic understanding of healing inflammation through diet changes, they’re solution is a vegan gluten-free diet. Yikes! No meat, dairy OR wheat? I’m just not that desperate yet I guess, that’s a heck of a commitment, especially when you still have to cook regular meals for your very finicky family. Right around when I was finishing the book & mentally bookmarking it as a last resort gameplan a few of you were so sweet & wrote to tell me about the Paleo Diet. Hence the title of this post. And you thought it was about the colonoscopy, shame shame…
This diet is one I think I can really commit to doing.
Wikipedia describes the Paleo Diet as this:
“The paleolithic diet (abbreviated paleo diet or paleodiet), also popularly referred to as the caveman diet, Stone Age diet and hunter-gatherer diet, is a modern nutritional plan based on the presumed ancient diet of wild plants and animals that various hominid species habitually consumed during the Paleolithic era.”
Basically, no dairy, grains or processed foods. Basically. There’s more to it of course but I like the idea that I can eat meat & I can eat veggies. I tend to naturally like meals that don’t have a starch anyway, I just usually add one to our dinners to keep us full. There is also an autoimmune version of the diet, The Autoimmune Paleo Plan
Now that the GI workup is done I’ve pretty much hit the end of the road with my local doctors. Several of them have recommended I see a team at the Mayo Clinic so I’ve decided to do that as well. My appointment isn’t until the first week of January & I just can’t stand the thought of feeling lousy over my favorite three months of the year…Halloween, Thanksgiving & Christmas. So cavegirl it is until January!
If any of you would like to try it along with me let me know, I’d love to keep in touch with recipes & tips!
And to all of you who keep encouraging me with new things to try like this diet ‘thank you’ just isn’t enough…most of you I’ve never even met yet I know your words come from a place of genuine love. You rock.
Good luck! I did a Whole 30 (read the book It Starts With Food if you haven’t already!) and ate meat, veggies, a little bit of fruit, and some healthy fats. It changed my life! I have never had so much energy or felt so good. I’m now transitioning to Paleo. It’s been fun!
I just finished the Yeast Connection Diet for some health issues I was having since January and blogged about it after seeing eight different doctors and them telling me there was nothing more they could do for me. It’s no sugar, yeast, or dairy for 3 weeks and then you slowly reintroduce it again to see what could be causing your issues. The doctors I saw put me on every medication available to treat my problem and nothing helped, but within three days of starting the diet, the problems were gone. A lot of doctors receive kickbacks for prescribing drugs, so they never suggest that you change your diet which I’m learning is the biggest factor in the upkeep of your health. If it wasn’t for a friend of my sister-in-law, I would’ve never known about the book and would probably still be miserable today. I’m meeting with a natural health doctor in Rockville at the end of the month and she says the biggest problem is that doctors come in, half-listen to you for five minutes, and then write you a prescription. My first appointment with her will be two hours long and I’m doing an iGg test for food sensitivities. It’s really detailed so I can restructure my diet around things I may not even know I’m sensitive to. But for now, I have to read the label of everything I buy, I use stevia to sweeten everything, but I don’t miss junk food as much as I thought I would (the first two weeks were a nightmare though, I’m not going to lie). My body was literally addicted to sugar so the headaches and mood swings were crazy. And I’ve learned my lesson about how dependent your health is on what you feed your body. I wish you so much luck on this diet and that you see some positive changes! 🙂 I have a couple of friends who do the Paleo diet for weight reasons and the pictures they post of the food they eat make me hungry!
Wow Amanda, that’s incredible! Can I please have the name of your doctor in Rockville??
Sure! Her name is Dr. Hayduk and she does a free phone consultation (a lot of natural health doctors charge for that). The price is steep because insurance doesn’t cover natural health (because if you change your diet and heal yourself, there’s no money to be made so they don’t recognize them as actual doctors, which sucks!) I’m going in for my first visit in a couple weeks but she said that it shouldn’t take more than a couple of visits because you talk EVERYTHING out and get so much information that you don’t need to keep coming back. Here’s her website: http://www.secondnaturehealth.com Hope it helps! 🙂
I left you a comment a few weeks back about Lyme disease and some alternative therapies. Seeing this post in my newsfeed this morning MADE ME SO HAPPY!!! I do this for a living and we see a modified Paleo diet (we include legumes for some people) change lives every.single.day. I’ve been following your story for a while and as someone else who has also suffered from chronic, unknown medical issues, I SO hope this helps you!!! The books Practical Paleo and It Starts with Food will be super good resources. Good luck!
Aww, thanks Jaime! I’m going to look those books up now, I really need some good food ideas to start with!
Those two books are life changing!
Hi Natasha – I’ve been following your blog and your your medical issues. I have Crohn’s Disease….you know you have it if you can spell it correctly. 🙂 Anyway I’ve been Paleo for 5 weeks now and the differences in my health are way beyond what I was hoping for. I did very little reading about it before starting so the associated benefits were a wonderful surprise. Obviously the GI stuff has massively improved but I’ve also lost 5 lbs (without trying), my hair and skin are silky soft thanks to the increased natural fat in my diet. All of my joint pains went away and my energy hugely increased. Because of the increase of energy and lack of pain I started exercising again, which had been on my to-do list but I was too tired to start. Also my mood stabilized even though I’m currently in a very stressful situation. I no longer wake up with debilitating anxiety and I sleep more soundly. This can’t be a coincidence because nothing has changed except my diet. Keep us posted on your progress. Good luck!
I’m sorry you have Chrohn’s Susan, my good friend has it and I know it can be brutal. I’m so encouraged though by your comment, I’m def going to come back and re-read all of these when the excitement wears off & all I want is a cheeseburger!
I did whole30 in July and then transitioned into paleo. I get really bad migraines, bad enough that I take daily medication prescribed by a neurologist, and the whole30/paleo diet changed my life. I’m actually off the daily meds now. Since changing my diet I rarely get migraines. It is definitely a lifestyle change and takes a lot of commitment, but it’s so worth it. Once you get used to substituting ingredients, you’ll realize there’s actually SO much you can make. I also have a friend who has bad arthritis & the whole30 has made it so she can just jump out of bed in the morning feeling great. Good luck!!
That is so exciting!! I get terrible migraines too and take imitrex about once a week, I didn’t even think about that this could help with those too, now I’m super excited! (and will remind myself of that when I reallllly want a slice of cheese pizza)
Nomnompaleo.com has the BEST recipes! She’s even coming out with a book this December. Tried and true recipes are the Asian meatballs, damn fine chicken, slow cooker roast chicken, and kalua pork. Happy eating! 🙂
Too funny, I just googled Paleo Blogs and her came up and I was just reading it thinking how much I like her sense of humor and I wonder if her recipes are any good! I’ll def try the ones you mentioned!
Start with the whole 30. It is HARD but you will feel so much better and eventually it becomes habit. You won’t want the old foods, and in fact eating them will make you sick (then you REALLY won’t want them). My mom has lupus and went paleo and hasn’t looked back. She is doing so much better and is happier and healthier now (plus she’s an avid crossfitter). Good luck!!!
Oh and paleomg.com is amazing for recipes too!
I’m really interested to hear how the paleo diet works out for you. More and more people I know are going for it. I try to eat as little preservatives as possible and I know that’s made a difference in how bright eyed and busy tailed I feel!
Congrats on your pristine colon though! You should get a merit badge or something, for all the trouble you went through to get that bragging right.
I will try this diet with you.I love to cook,so I am looking forward to sharing recipes.It sounds healthy and may help my arthritis.Thanksgiving is on it’s way……maybe we can share recipes for a Paleolithic feast. thank you for blogging!
Hi Natasha!
I’ve been (mostly) paleo for a little while now and I love it! Check out the book Whole 30 to get you started. There are lots of other great books too, especially Practical Paleo. Against All Grain, Well Fed, PaleOMG are great cookbooks. Those authors also have great blogs! I also recommend Nom Nom Paleo…yum! 🙂
So I never ever comment on blogs…but I have to steer you toward http://www.againstallgrain.com…her story is similar…autoimmune disorder in her early 20’s. Her book Against All Grain is phenomenal. Paleo, SCD, grain, dairy, and nut free. But you would never know what you’re missing.
Hey Natasha! If you want, me and my friends have a Paleo board on Pinterest. Here’s the link ( http://www.pinterest.com/prettylilrobot/much-needed-paleo-board/ ), and if you want I can add you to it. Good luck, it’s hard at first but it gets easier as time goes by. I even did a 21 day sugar detox. (That was hard.) ( http://the21daysugardetox.com/ )
Following it! Thanks!
My brothers are the ultimate preachers of the Paleo diet. When I can get the man to commit to it as well, the opportunities for delicious food are endless and you feel so good! One of my go-tos for simplicity is just cooking up some sliced kielbasa and cubed sweet potatoes or butternut squash with some olive oil. Simply yummy and your girls will probably enjoy it as well. Good luck! Hope the results come back with positive opportunities for you to feel better!
Hi Natasha! I don’t follow a strict Paleo diet, but I have tried a lot of Paleo recipes that I have LOVED! My friend is Paleo and I’m always her guinea pig, because I’ll try anything. I have been trying to change my eating habits due to health concerns that I have had, and to get off medication that I had been having to take daily. I have noticed what great benefits there are when you eliminate certain things from your diet. Yoga is also one of my saviors during this time of transition. If you’d like to keep in touch I’d welcome someone to share recipes and tips with 🙂
My husband and I have been eating Paleo for almost a year now and have never felt better! We have 2 little girls who are very picky and I’ve found ways to not have to make 2 completely different meals. I have a lot of favorite recipes and easy quick dinners for the entire family if you’re ever interested let me know I’d be happy to share. So many amazing Paleo bloggers out there. 2 great books are It Starts With Food and Well Fed (has notes for following Auto Immune Protocol for her recipes too). Favorite blogs are Paleomg, Paleo Parents (local here in Fairfax, VA and have great recipes for kids too), Health-Bent, Civilized Caveman Cooking (my girls love his banana bread), Everyday Paleo, and The Clothes Make the Girl. Good luck and I hope you start reaping the benefits. It really is a great way to eat, so much so that I had no problem getting my husband on board once he realized how great he felt!!
Wow, what great resources! Thank you so much Shana and yes, I’d love to have a few of your favorite recipes!
Natasha, also look into the “Wahls Diet” By Terry Wahls.
I have been thinking about this off and on for a while though….in all honesty it terrifies me 🙂 I did the South Beach Diet when my cholesterol was borderline high – lost 20 lbs and my cholesterol went down 20 points (yay!). This was back before I had kids and I didn’t have to worry about feeding anyone other than myself and my husband (who is technically underweight).
I guess I am concerned about being able to handle it all. My husband cannot lose weight, just not an option (his numbers show he needs to gain, but it’s just his body type) and my kids are very picky eaters…how do you make it all work?
My bf is paleo and there are a lot of great recipes out there (especially on pinterest) that I bet your family would love too!! We just made homemade chicken noodle soup last night but instead of noodles used spaghetti squash – nom nom. I just did a quick search and below is the basic recipe but you can always tweak it to how you like it 🙂
http://deliciouslyorganic.net/chicken-noodle-soup-paleo-grain-free/
I am currently on Whole30 and planning to stick to Paleo afterwards.
Check out these sites:
http://whole9life.com/2013/08/the-whole30-program/
http://www.primalpalate.com/
Hi Natasha–
I am a college student in the area and have been dealing with overwhelming exhaustion for the past year or so — so much so that I was skipping classes, missing work, etc. because I just did NOT have energy! In addition to currently going through the process of testing for a number of things that could be the culprit, (thyroid, low iron, etc.) my doctor recommended that a good starting point was to try to eat a Paleo diet– bodies aren’t meant to process carbs and the protein is great for energy! I look forward to your tips and tricks- love your blog!
P.S.- not sure if this is good news for you, but I discovered (a college student & sorority gal has got to have her drinks!) tequila, because it is, even the rail kind which I never (always) drink, made from agave, is one of the most Paleo-friendly alcohol choices!
Now there’s a helpful postscript!
@BBB You always leave the best comments! 🙂
Natasha, have you noticed any issues, post gall bladder removal, with eating paleo? As I understand it, the energy comes from fat, rather than sugars (e.g., carbs), and I know that can cause some intense, ahem, evacuations without the gall bladder’s addition to digestion in fat break down. I want to try this diet, but I worry about that aspect of it. (Sorry for the unbelievably personal question.)
Ha! There is no line anymore…that and I have no shame. (;
I haven’t noticed anything with Paleo, although I have only been doing it a few days. If anything it seems to be easier on my stomach (maybe, too soon to tell I think) than before, I definitely have a harder time digesting really dairy heavy meals since losing the ol’ gall bladder.
I say go for it! Maybe take it easy on the bacon though. Although I’m not. (:
I am trying to get up the energy and willpower to try the Paleo Diet too. I have had Crohn’s for over 13 years with one surgery and multiple hospital visits, the most recent being two weeks ago. I just had a follow up CT scan today and I still have a lot of inflammation that the antibiotics and prednisone are not helping. I am convinced my diet is making it worse, although I’ve been on an almost entirely liquid diet for the past two weeks. If this has a chance of helping, then I’m all for it.
Is it strange if I say I’m so happy you’ve decided to go paleo? I’ve been following your blog (and your health issues) for a while and wanted to perhaps mention switching up your diet, but didn’t want to seem too pushy or preachy (considering I’m a complete stranger who wanted to tell you to give up almost everything you love to eat). My bf and I switched to Paleo about 6 months ago and I’ll never look back. He’s lost 50lbs and I’ve concurred my blood sugar issues I’ve been battling for forever. All the comments above give great references. I can’t think of one that I use regularly that hasn’t been mentioned (WellFed/The Clothes Make The Girl, Practical Paleo, NomNomPaleo, PaleOMG, & Against All Grain are all a-maz-ing). However, if you ever find yourself in need of a little something sweet (like a single-serving brownie or coffee cake, check out http://www.delightedmomma.com. She has all sorts of paleo friendly desserts. 🙂
Good luck in your new legume-, sugar-, dairy, and grain-free adventure!
As Tacky as this sounds…
Hi I’m Iman, and the Paleo diet works for me!
Lol sounds like a commercial.
But seriously! I’ve been Paleo for about 3 months now and I’ve never felt better. I actually FEEL like a 22 year old instead of the 76 year old I’ve felt like for the past 4 years. and have dropped in pounds, look good, have energy, and most important of all, my almost nightly arthritis flares have become a 2 x’s a month occurrence.
In the past three months, I had a week where I didn’t eat right because of a lot of issues at home and I started feeling like I used to…The thing is, the cravings,the lethargy, sleepiness, fogginess, body aches that was so normal to me before, became strange and after 2 days of non-paleo I couldn’t believe I used to live my life feeling so dead. After the issues where fixed, I jumped right back into it.
I reeeaaaaally hope it works for you because I swear by it. I swear, I’m like the crazy Paleo lady when I talk to people. When I saw the title of this blog post I almost IMMEDIATELY knew what it was going to be on lol
good luck!
Oh and My Go-To’s are NomNom Paleo, StupidEasy Paleo, and PaleOmg
A couple of years ago I read the book Feed Your Face which is all about adjusting your diet to help combat common skin issues (acne, eczema, dull skin, etc.). This was when I really got clued into how big of a role food plays in overall health and appearance. Obviously your health issues are much more complex than what the book offered advice on, but after more research and other stories I’ve read about food/diet, I am 100 percent conviced that the cure can be found in the foods we consume. Good luck to you on your journey! I have really enjoyed your blog and reading your story. PS – the Wheat Belly Blog is a good resource for going gluten-free and they also have a lot of success stores that are great inspiration!
Natasha,
I know lots of people are recommending books, so I am volunteering two. I do like Paleo, and I use Paleo recipes, but I primarily follow the Nourishing TraditionsI book based on Weston A Price’s research.
However, I highly HIGHLY highly recommend the GAPS protocol. It actually helps heal your gut, and it was constructed for individuals with autoimmune problems. Please give it a shot.
If I’m remembering correctly, “sympathy” is when you have compassion for someone, but you don’t share the same feelings. “Empathy” is when you are able to share the feelings. So, I have sympathy for your colonoscopy. My husband has empathy. Glad to hear the diet is helping somewhat.
Just came across this list of Paleo Thanksgiving recipes, in case you’re interested. http://www.buzzfeed.com/christinebyrne/paleo-thanksgiving