Tag Archives: autoimmune diet

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Diet Day 23… I ate this for dinner today.

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Heehee!

But, seriously, if I never eat fruit or veg again it’ll be too soon. I’m even sick of fish and nuts. Don’t let anyone tell you they start to enjoy eating a raw or paleo diet. It’s bullshit. I like it just like this – doesn’t need seasoning, doesn’t need butter, yum! Unless you have a personal chef or unlimited funds, your dinner does not taste as good as pasta and garlic bread, I don’t care who you are.

Pasta carbonara, garlic bread, red wine…pizza…tortellini…ham and cheddar toastie, pint of ale…peanut butter and jelly sandwich –ANY sandwich… burger, fries… kettle korn… irish coffee….Mmmmm…

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Fruit still sucks!

Who knew this would turn into a 4-post day? But I had to share one more thing. Never, in 39 years, have I ever seen anything like this. Fruit hates me. When I opened my banana to make a smoothie this morning, there was a weird red tinge, so I cut a slice away lengthwise and ~ just look at the photo below. I’m not kidding you, that whateveritis was red —RED— and dotted with MOLD. What IS that?! Red moldy internal banana bleeding? Seriously, if anyone has ever had peach earwigs, a moldy apple core and a red banana bruise in their LIFETIME, let alone ONE MONTH, I want to know about it. EW!

PS: We happened to have a pear in the house and I knew from the menu that Anna had linked to on one of my earlier posts, that I could use a banana or a pear as a good smoothie base. Never would have occurred to me. Thanks, Anna!

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Diet Day 16… Breakfast Oat Bars: Dairy-free, egg-free, sugar-free (one of them).

So, here are the two different versions of breakfast oat bars I made. I think they’re both pretty good and it was only my first try, so I’m sure I’ll make them even better next time.

Baked Oatmeal Sugar-free Bars

Ingredients

  • 1.5 cups rolled oats
  • 1/2 cup any chopped nuts
  • 1/2 cup any dried fruit
  • 1/4 cup any seeds
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp kosher salt
  • 1.25 cups soy milk
  • 1 egg (I substituted apple sauce)
  • 1 tsp vanilla

Method:

  1. Preheat oven to 350*
  2. Mix dry ingredients.
  3. Mix wet ingredients.
  4. Pour wet into dry. Stir to combine.
  5. Pour into a 9×9 baking dish either coated in cooking spray or lined with parchment.
  6. Bake for 40-60 minutes.
  7. Cut into squares.

While delicious, the only sweetness in these comes from the dried fruit. Add in 1/4 – 1/2 cup brown sugar  or splenda or agave syrup or whatever sweetener you like.

Chewy Oatmeal Bars

Ingredients

  • 2 cups rolled oats
  • 1 cup quick cooking oats
  • 1/4 cup any chopped nuts
  • 1/4 cup any dried fruit (optional)
  • 1/4 cup shredded coconut
  • 1/4 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/8 tsp kosher salt
  • 1 tbs olive oil
  • 1/4 cup agave syrup
  • 1/4 cup maple syrup
  • 1/4 cup vanilla-flavoured almond milk

Method:

  1. Preheat oven to 350*
  2. Process 2 cups rolled oats in blender until they become flour-like.
  3. Mix “oat flour” with dry ingredients in a bowl.
  4. Mix wet ingredients.
  5. Pour wet into dry. Stir to combine.
  6. Pour into a 9×9 baking dish either coated in cooking spray or lined with parchment.
  7. Bake for 20-40 minutes.
  8. Cut into squares.

Of course, I prefer the second “chewy” ones because they have all that syrup and coconut, but that’s not the only reason. The first ones are kind of wet. It’s like the milk bound to the oats, sunk to the bottom and got claggy. It’s not bad ~ it looks pretty on top with all the nuts and fruit, but I think perhaps I need to cook it more. Next time, I think I will make the second version, add seeds and dried fruit (which I left out) and omit some of the syrup…

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Diet Day 13… Healthy junk food shopping.

I still haven’t started the vitamin A. It took forever to find one to the specifications the doctor wanted and then I had to order it online, so really the supplement program hasn’t even started in earnest and I’ve already broken the bank. Today, at the medical center, the sleep study doctor said the same thing my Dad said, “Stop wasting money on all the supplements” and, damn, they ARE expensive. $160 I spent yesterday to replenish my stock. That can’t last too long with no income.

You know what else is expensive? Food that doesn’t have dairy or wheat or anything that tastes good in it. Another $160 (coincidentally) at the grocery store today. But I was actually kind of proud I made it to the store. I hate grocery shopping. It wipes me out and all the label-reading gets me frustrated and it is SO FREEZING ALWAYS. I must have been feeling particularly vulnerable and deprived because I bought 4 bars of chocolate (all 70% cocoa with no dairy) and 2 tubs of ice cream (dairy-free, sugar-free, gluten-free, fun-free), 2 bags of chips (taro and carrot/ sweet potato, the latter which I can pick around), and 2 bags of gluten-free oats (to make granola and breakfast oat bars). I also bought some frozen fruit for smoothies and some guacamole and ….turkey bacon! I’ve never tried turkey bacon, but anything resembling bacon — even without the eggs and toast — will make me happy. It occurred to me that, since I can have oats, maybe I can have black pudding!! Oh, that would make me so happy (I don’t think most Americans understand this)… But it probably has way too much fat to justify it as a “lean meat”, eh?

It just occurred to me that I pretty much missed the vegetable aisle. Oh well. I’m pretty sick of salads. I’ve fallen into a routine of a smoothie and a bit of granola for breakfast, something salady for lunch and dinner has been fish with veg or chicken broth with veg for a homemade “soup”. My Dad made us bouillabaisse while he was here — from scratch with fresh seafood. It was fantastic! The next night we grilled a whole salmon. But, honestly, I think I’d give a limb — or at least a toe — for a baguette smothered in Brie with a burger dripping fat on the side and some popcorn for dessert.

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The tests I’ve had done and thoughts on allopathic versus naturopathic medicine.

After talking to my father this weekend, it occurred to me that people who don’t know the background of my Year From Hell may think it’s ludicrous to try solving my problems with a bunch of supplements. There are connotations that I am leaving my treatment in the hands of quacks, that I don’t believe in science or that I have abandoned traditional allopathic remedies. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

I spent almost 39 years never taking a vitamin or a supplement of any kind. Except Emergen-C packets. I like to get vitamin C in me once in a while. I never took a multivitamin or fish oil or B-complex, even though I was told it might help my terrible periods. I never took a probiotic through all my doses of antibiotics over the years because I don’t have stomach or gut problems. I’m good, my body is a rock, I’m impervious to illness. I never took calcium, even when they told me I had pretty bad osteopenia ~ bordering on osteoporosis ~ in my hip at the age of 37. It just wasn’t part of my daily routine. I used to joke that I never get sick. I get the random attacks of anaphylactic shock and random collapses from low blood pressure, but, otherwise, I’m fine.

After the initial months of seeing my PCP repeatedly for the first diagnostic tests, I then saw an endocrinologist multiple times, a gastroenterologist multiple times, two different infectious disease specialists at two different clinics, an allergy specialist (listed as one of the top doctors in the city) multiple times, a rheumatologist (listed as one of the top doctors in the city) once, two physical therapists multiple times, a massage therapist multiple times, a mindfullness-based therapist multiple times, a psychotherapist once, a naturopathic doctor once, an optometrist once, an ENT doctor once, a pain management specialist once, a chronic fatigue specialist once and I’m sure I’m forgetting someone somewhere. I also have an appointment for my first acupuncture session this week and a consultation at the sleep study clinic (which I think I will have to cancel because I just found out it can cost $600+ after insurance and I have no income).

I was never given antibiotics, I was never given antivirals, I was never physically palpated, no one touched the tender muscle spots or suggested an EMG, no one took a stool sample (until this month), no one suggested a colonoscopy, no one wanted to take a second look at the MRI I had done a few years ago of my neck and head, no one suggested a physical therapist (I did that on my own), and no one seems to want to talk about M.E. or commit to that diagnosis when I’m 95% sure that it is correct.

I’ve spent 6 months researching infectious disease and chronic illness and endocrine, immune system, and neurological disorders. I know more than I’ve ever wanted to know about what can go wrong with us, what can invade us, what can infect us. If you don’t have a phobia and feel the need to develop one, just go to the listings of illness and disease on your state’s department of health website. That shit is right outside your door. Or just listen to the news. Could I have West Nile virus? Legionnaire’s disease? Whooping cough? MRSA? Necrotizing fasciitis? Swine flu? Salmonella poisoning? But that’s just what’s in the news. What I’ve really been wondering is, do I have M.S.? Or tick-borne relapsing fever? Malaria? Fibromyalgia? Rocky Mountain spotted fever? Polymyalgia rheumatica? Parkinson’s? I am told all obvious causes have been ruled out, but I can’t help thinking about my two toxic multinodular goiters which had killed my thyroid and were killing me (yes, the endocrinologists said that, if left untreated, my condition would kill me in the not-too-distant future) were not discovered for years because the blood tests were only a little off or only slightly low. Don’t trust the lab ranges! If your test results are low or high but within the “normal” range, they can still indicate a problem.

Now, ready? Here are the tests I HAVE had done:

MALARIA SCREEN (3 times, because the first test was positive)

COMPREHENSIVE METABOLIC PANEL

CBC, DIFF (three times)

SED RATE

G6PD SCREEN

CRP, HIGH SENSITIVITY (multiple times)

COMPLETE URINALYSIS

PROTEIN ELECTROPHORESIS

CULTURE:BACT – BLOOD

RHEUMATOID FACTOR (twice)

ANA REFLEX COMP

ANA PATTERN BY IF (is that the same thing?)

ABS TO NUCLEAR AGS

THYROID STIMULATING HORMONE

T3

T4

PARATHYROID HORMONE

CORTISOL

EPINEPHRINE

NOREPINEPHRINE

DOPAMINE

METANEPHRINE

NORMETANEPHRINE

5-HIAA

VITAMIN D

CHEST X-RAY

QUANTIFERON TB TEST

CT SCAN OF CHEST, ABDOMEN AND PELVIS W/ CONTRAST

ULTRASOUND ABDOMEN BACK WALL

ZINC

VITAMIN B12

FERRITIN

HEPATITIS C

HEPATITIS B

HIV (TWICE)

ANTI tTRANSGLUTAMINASE, IgA

TTG AB IgA (SAME THING?)

ALLERGEN PANEL (BLOOD TETS): IgA

ALLERGEN PANEL: SKIN PRICK TESTS

BLOOD EXAMINED FOR THE FOLLOWING PARASITES:

MALARIA, BABESIA, TRYPANOSOMES, MICROFILARIA, BORRELIA

FOLLICLE STIMULATING HORMONE LEVEL

LYME DISEASE (TWICE)

EHRLICHIA

CYTOLOMEGA VIRUS (CMV)

SPYHILIS

EPSTEIN-BARR VIRUS (EBV)

IBD SEROLOGY

CPK CARDIAC MARKERS

LIPID PANEL

LIVER PANEL

ELECTROLYTES

HLA B27

ESTIMATED GFR

C-REACTIVE PROTEIN

URIC ACID

CREATININE

(updated to 09/13/2012)

Yes, they were all negative except EBV, to which 95% of the planet has been exposed, apparently. On paper, I look great, which is why, after twenty years of working myself to the bone in this country, I won’t qualify for social security disability. I want nothing more than to work. They list hypoglycemia and thyroid gland disorders under the listings of disorders that can qualify someone for disability. I have both of those things, but they are manageable, but I would have a better chance of getting disability applying under those disorders than ME or CFS ~ the disorder that is actually disabling! They list Sjogren syndrome and anxiety-related illness on the SS website, both of which I probably have or could be diagnosed with if I just answered the doctors’ questions slightly differently.

In sum, I did not jump to licorice extract, borage oil and a no-grain diet to solve my problems. I have done everything I can possibly think of doing besides doping myself up with pain killers and anti-anxiety and sleeping pills, which is all most doctors really want me to do. And, at this point, I would try anything. I would drink a witch’s brew of eye of newt and toe of frog, wool of bat and tongue of dog, adder’s fork, and blind-worm’s sting, lizard’s leg, and howlet’s wing…

Any ingredients I’ve missed for my hell-broth, please let me know!