I am not creating this blog to convince anyone else to eat the way we eat, just charting the journey. I pray that it does help those who are on the same journey.
So where do I start? Let me tell you how I came to this conclusion that a drastic change needs to take place. (gradually, of course) After having my son in 2011, I fed him breast milk only. He had an allergy to dairy which meant all dairy products were off limits for me. How would I ever quit cream cheese? If it was in the house, I would lay awake at night, dreaming of what I could dip in it. Pretzel sticks, tortilla chips, fingers. But it was for the health and comfort of my son so I did it for him. I breast fed him for 7 months. My son seemed to be less sensitive to most of the foods I was slowly adding back in and was starting to supplement with formula. I went on a Slim Jim binge.Why? I do not know, especially when the first ingredient was mechanically separated chicken parts. Who reads that and still eats it? Well I did. I started having upper-right abdomen pain. An ultrasound for gallstones was negative. I had to have a HIDA scan done to check the function of my gallbladder. The HIDA scan is a nuclear medicine procedure. The information I received was conflicting as far as breastfeeding goes so I stopped breastfeeding for a week. My son would never go back. It was so sad for me because I wanted to breastfeed for a year. I only added some formula because he seemed so hungry all the time and I was afraid he was not eating enough. I knew he was my last baby and it saddened me to have to stop breastfeeding. The HIDA scan revealed my gallbladder was only functioning at 12%. I had pain no matter what I ate. Two days after Christmas, 2011, I had the gallbladder removed. Now, you would think that it would be smooth sailing after that but no, I could no longer eat dairy, spicy foods and well, just about anything other than some vegetables and fruits. It seemed like everything I ate sent me in to an attack, attacks stronger than I had ever had before having the gallbladder removed. After a few months, I was able to slowly add some foods back in my diet but dairy was never a welcomed friend.
A couple of weeks ago, my in-laws visited from out of town. I made my famous broccoli-cheese casserole. I was not sure if I should try it but I could not resist. I had also been drinking some soda and not much water. That night while climbing into bed, I came down with strong abdominal pains. "Great", I thought, "When am I going to realize that I am now lactose intolerant?", a common problem after gallbladder removal. The pain got worse and worse. I soon realized it was something more serious. The pain started on my lower left abdomen, eventually radiating around to my back and hip. My husband drove me to the ER. As I sat in a room at the ER, I suddenly thought I could end up on that show about people who did not know they were pregnant until they were giving birth! I was doing the same type of breathing and rocking back and forth to deal with the pain. I had to wait for a blood test to rule out pregnancy before they could give me pain medication. I am a person who is very sensitive to meds and hate taking pain medicine but I was pretty much begging for it. My angel of a nurse, Amber, rushed my blood work and got pain meds to me as fast as she possibly could. A CT scan revealed that I had five kidney stones, 3 on the left and two on the right. Before I left the hospital, the Dr told me that he gets stones often and his vice was diet Mountain Dew. It got me thinking, what sacrifices do we make just for taste? Once the taste goes away and that momentary happiness/comfort wears off, the rest is still traveling through our bodies, wreaking havoc on us at a cellular level. Just like trash does not just go away when the trash truck removes it from our property, it goes somewhere and has some type of effect.
Sitting in the hospital bed, praying out loud for God to help me( which is something I never do. I am a private prayer usually), I realized that he has been trying to help me for a very long time.
1. I would eat or drink something and feel terrible afterwards.
2. I gained a lot of weight over the past few years.
3. I could not have dairy while breastfeeding.
4. My gallbladder failed due to diet.
5. My sugar was slightly elevated for a short period of time.
6. My mother was diagnosed with diabetes
7. Two uncles were diagnosed with diabetes
8. My cholesterol climbed to 210
9. I suffered from post partum anxiety
10. Heart palpitations aka PVC's. Told no more chocolate or caffeine.
11. Kidney stones
So a whisper on change is becoming louder. I do not want to make God shout at me.
I have to begin the change in diet now and teach it to the rest of my family. I am becoming a believer that food has more to do with preventive heath care than medicine does. I am not knocking modern medicine. We have come a long way in saving lives but how many of those diseases could be avoided if we control what we eat from the start?
My family and the challenges of changing the way we eat:
Me- 39 - lover of cheese, chocolate and Pepsi and bread! Love me some bread!
Daughter - 6 lover of mac and cheese and anything carbs with even more cheese
Son- 18 months, loves carbs and comes running when he hears the pantry door open. Hubby has recently oiled the door so it no longer makes noise :)
I have told my family about this change I would like for us to make. I told each of them that the choice is theirs but I hope they will at least give it a try. Hubby has agreed to meatless Mondays. He gave out a little sigh after that but I am hopeful he will stick with it. My daughter says she loves cheese too much to give it up. This is going to be a chore but worth it!!
I am a baby at learning what is the correct way to eat. So I hope you will embark along on this journey and stick with me when I get long winded, like now :)
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