Today, on the ball

Okay, so it's been taking me much too long to get both back into this blog, and back into the phase 1 of healthy eating. I'm slowly but surely doing that 'diet' thing again, but it's much tougher this time around. Maybe because I don't have a reward at the end? Who knows.

Since returning from Mexico I've tried to eat according to the rules. The only thing is that I haven't managed to let go of sweets. I've been sneaking spoonfuls(huge ones) of Nutella, eating dried cherries, a chocolate bar or two, and sugar in my coffee...

One other thing that I've decided to do, is not forgo brown rice. I need a little bit of carbs, I mean i got so skinny right before my trip, and luckily gained it back thanks to all the drinking and eating.

Yesterday this is what I ate:
Breakfast, a few strawberries, and a black coffee with sugar. Make that two black coffees with sugar, a friend did a Starbucks run at work. For lunch, I'd brought leftovers of the stir fry goodness I made the night before.
In the stir fry, I had chicken, almonds, sunflower seeds, and tofu I roasted in butter, red pepper, onions, green beans, bit of broccoli, bit of carrots, and tomatoes. Once all cooked, I separately cooked some brown rice. n my bowl I added avocado, and frank's red hot sauce for the ultimate dish.

I had leftovers of this again for supper. At night, I found a snickers bar in my suitcase from Mexico(from the free fridge mini bar), and I ate it. We brought back some delicious coconut rum, and I also made myself a drink with the coconut rum and ginger ale. Soooooooo delicious!

So that pretty much sums up yesterday's meals. They aren't so bad, other than the alcohol and sugar...
Another thing I need to get back into is the gym. I've done NO exercise whatsoever since returning. I feel really really lazy, and am getting soft.

Sorry for the stall in posting, I will try to keep it up again from here on out.

Days to be restarted...

So it's my last night in Mexico, and I'm writing to say that I really haven't eaten that badly this trip. Given, I have indulged on more than one occasion, and that's not taking into consideration all the alcohol I've drank. Not that I was drunk every day or anything...Pfft, who does that?

So anyway, throughout the trip I had ups and downs as far as stomach pain. I stayed away from eating cheese for the most part. Luckily, real Mexican cuisine doesn't use much cheese at all. I definitely ate lots and lots of guacamole, but also ate some French cuisine, Steakhouse, lobster house, many buffets, and of course; tons of Mexican delicacies.

There was also a tapas restaurant at the second resort we went to. One of the chosen items was a platter of cheese. I'd avoided it until the waitress imposed it on us. It was divine, but I only had small bits of each kind.

I may fill you in more on my eating habits from my trip some time when I get back.Perhaps the gory details will be fun, providing I can remember it all!

When I do get back, sadly, late tomorrow night, I will have to face reality once again and start to eat properly to fix the damaged I caused in paradise.

I'm going to have to restart the phase 1 part of the IBS healing diet. This time, I will keep certain carbs such as brown rice, because I really lost too much weight that I didn't need to. Mexico has helped in that respect too.

All in all I've had a wonderful time and have met some terrific people. Reality will bite, but I think I'm on a much healthier path where I'll eventually be able to eat as I please in a moderate manner. Taking probiotics has seemed to be an integral part of not totally screwing up the repairs that I'd started. I did have to rely on Senekot S twice.

For those that are curious, at Stuffed Ashes I will review the resort(s) I stayed at during my trip. It was a superb adventure, and much more of an adventure than we'd planned, which turned out to be awesome.

Hasta Luego!

Day ? Mexico

Quick post to say that I'm eating pretty badly here in Mexico, and am feeling the consequences...Ugh.

I'll post soon with more details.

Loves!

This week and Next

I have been incredibly busy to be able to update in the past few days. This will not change, I am leaving for my vacation this weekend, and may try to update you while I'm away, or may not. We shall see.

That being said, I'll be back to regular writing on Feb 22nd, whatever 'day' that is.

Thank you all for the support during this difficult time for me.

Day 20 no cheese, day 8 IBS healing diet

Yesterday was the second day that I was technically off the IBS diet due to a work trip. That being said, I tried really carefully to still try and abide by most of the rules.

For breakfast, all that was available were croissants of different types. The platter was decorated with 3 strawberries, and I managed to take one. I also had a coffee with sugar in the morning. Midway through the morning, I was quite hungry. If you can recall the Dempster's Healthy Way squares that I used to eat regularly, well, I still have about  of them left. They are expired, but don't smell or taste bad. I've been hanging on to them for emergencies. They're just dry. At least, I think that's the only thing wrong.... :I

I ate one of those mid morning because I'd forgotten my probiotic. You need to eat with probiotics, so that's why I did so.

I just realized something. I messed up. Last night, I'd written about the meals I'd had that day, instead of the prior day. Woops! I had been drinking :I
So the meals I had yesterday, was what I'd written about last night.

In the salad that I'd chosen for dinner, I added sun dried tomatoes. I didn't think of that at the time, but I don't think they fit within the guidelines. The other bad thing I ate yesterday was that one huge chocolate chip cookie, and I never mentioned the little mousse dessert square I'd eaten after lunch.

I've been trying to recap my meals again from yesterday, because for the past 3+ hours, I have been having extreme sharp pains in my lower abdomen and I don't know why. Was it the 3 glasses of wine? Was it the cookie, the cake, my sugar black coffee, or the white bread I was forced to eat? I don't know... it just really sucks, and I don't have any Advil to 'de-flame' anything. I could also be that my body's trying to release the last bit of "poison" still had in those intestines. I still don't feel 'normal' or 'empty'. I really hope this pain goes away soon. My lunch today was slightly better health-wise, and I did not have dessert, nor did I have any sugar in my coffees. I should probably forgo the coffee altogether as per the rules, but it's never hurt me before.

Still in lots of pain. I will tell you about what I ate all day today- tomorrow. Sorry I messed things up and technically didn't tell you about one day's eating habits. They were not that great actually, but not horrible.

Sigh.

Day 19

Very short post, since it's quite late and I'm tired.
For those that need a recap, I'm out of town on business, and thus cannot fully abide by the laws of devil IBS-C diet.

Breakfast: 1 small croissant (bread!!!!), 1 large strawberry, 1 coffee no milk, 1 sugar.

Lunch: Chilled grilled eggplant and artichoke, leafy green salad with a balsamic dressing, and 1 mini roast beef sandwich on a white baguette. The sandwich was just roast beef and a piece of lettuce, thankfully. The bread was like heaven at this point.

You guys should have seen the beautiful cheese platter on display in front of me!! I can't believe I didn't even take one piece. This is like a miracle. The old me would have filled her plate and suffered for it. So crazy, mind you I did not venture up too closely; I kept my distance.

Oh. In the afternoon I had 1 evil fantastic chocolate chip cookie. It was divine, and if no one was in the room, I'm certain that I would have made noises as I ingested it. SOooooo good.

For dinner, I met up with my lovely second cousin, and went to this awesome salad chop place where you select your lettuce type(me = spinach), then chose a variety of vegetables, meats, eggs, basically anything you can think of that could go in a salad, and they add it for you. They then mix it all up, then ad your dressing of choice. Balsamic for me. Delicious. I added chicken, green peppers, strawberries hard boiled eggs, artichokes, geez I can't remember the rest. Basically I was able to eat according to the rules, minus the dressing. I don't really know what they could have added to the balsamic dressing, but, at worst there was some sugar.

I managed to take all my probiotics today. Thankfully, that did not interfere with my wine drinking. Oh, was I supposed to mention that?

Woops! So I had a few glasses of vino. :)

Day 18 - Felt better! (other than being sick)

Yesterday was much better. I had my watermelon-cranberry-strawberry shake in the morning, and got better... You know what that means in this context.

So! I'm thinking that it's really the probiotics that are making the difference. If that's the case, then, hallelujah! I can't wait to start eating normal food again. No, I won't binge eat the bad foods that I know I really shouldn't. Everything in moderation. I think that throughout this so far I've really come to learn my lesson. Via suffering, no less.

Overall, due to my cold yesterday, I wasn't feeling that great. Thankfully my abdomen was feeling just fine. For lunch I had some leftover dinner from the night before, and I was actually looking forward to it. It really was a delicious stir fry, I think the seeds and nuts add something special to it that I'm not used to. Of course, I still could not help but to have some more Frank's red hot sauce.

This is going to sound boring, but yes, I had the exact same leftovers again for dinner. I really didn't mind. There was enough flavour in that meal to have me wanting more.

I also did a nice workout at home yesterday. (2 reps each).I did some backward double lunges with two 25 lbs, criss-cross lunges-15 each leg, backward leg-lifts 20 slow each leg, bicep curls with 15 lbs, don't laugh -3 chin ups!(twice, remember the 2 reps each thing?), tricep dips(just using the coffee table),  bench press with 2 15 lbs, thrusters with 2 10 lbs, and wide-leg squats 40 reps. I think that's it. I ran on the spot for all of 2 mins before starting, just to warm up. I'm sure I looked like a fool running on the spot staring at my aquarium, but it worked.

In the evening, I didn't snack. I tried to go to bed early because I wasn't feeling well. The workout actually took place before dinner. I wouldn't have been able not to eat afterwards, lol. I also packed frantically in the evening because I left it to the last minute like I usually do. I think I made it to bed by 11:20. Not too too bad. My suitcase is definitely too heavy for 3 nights, but whatever. I had a laptop and a bottle of wine in it, so those are my excuses.

Night night!

Day 17 Sick

Did I mention that I have a cold, too? I didn't. Well, I've had  sore throat for around 3 days now, and it's gotten worse. You know when you're sick and you want nothing more than comfort food? Yeah. Me too. Sigh.

Yesterday I ventured into the eggs category for breakfast. I had scrambled eggs with green peppers, a little bit of jalapeño and banana peppers, organic herbs, and I had it with a bit of Frank's Red Hot sauce. That sauce only contains 'normal' ingredients. Dried chili peppers, onion flakes, garlic, vinegar, and salt. That's it. It's really not that bad. The bowl of eggs was a nice change, although I'm sure the Frank's played a big part in it.

I still wasn't feeling any better yesterday as you can imagine from my miserable post. My probiotics were not taken at the proper moments, so that may have attributed to it. It's easy to forget to take them with food! I think of them when I'm not eating. Ugh.

I finished the fresh strawberries for 'lunch'. That's all I ate. I was discouraged and didn't even want to eat.

For supper, I made myself another healthy stir fry of sorts. I started off by toasting soy beans in butter. That was sort of fun, because they pop a bit. For my ingredients this time, I used chicken, zucchini, a bit of leeks, collard greens, spinach, green peppers, and a bit of jalapeño and banana peppers. I also added almonds, pecans, sunflower seeds, and pumpkin seeds(the green ones). The stir fry was pretty good because I added a lot of organic herbs to give it more flavour, and some freshly ground pepper. To my plate I had a little bit of Frank's red...

Last night I started to feel really dizzy when it was time to make our Sat night snack. I was cutting up my avocados and nearly passed out. I really think that carb-lessness is not good for me. I don't have enough 'spare' energy, i.e fat. I think that it is more common for people with weight problems to have IBS, and so his suggestions also help them lose weight. It isn't good for me. Because I was about to pass out, my husband continued to make my guacamole for me, via my instructions while I sat at the table with water. He also fed me a few multigrain tostitos, which actually made me feel better. I had to cheat on that one, I was really not feeling well. I'm also taking Cold FX to combat this cold so that I won't feel like shit for my work trip next week.

I went to bed totally bloated again, and woke up the same this morning. I still wasn't feeling any better(still constipated), until after my large shake this morning. We'll see how the rest of this day goes.

Day 16 Miserable

So yesterday was Friday. There's no excitement for any days anymore. It's always always shitty. I'm sick of this BS diet 'health' crap. I don't want to do anything, or go anywhere. On top of it, I'm still not better. Yesterday and today, constipated again. Sorry. Gross, I know.

What did I eat?

Breakfast: a smoothie with cranberries, strawberries, honey dew, and watermelon. Yay. I also had 1 cup of black coffee with 1 spoon of illegal sugar. Maybe that's why I'm still not well? Who knows.

Lunch. I had another salad with spinach, avocados, cucumbers, pecans, sunflower seeds, a dollop of guacamole, and almond slices. I used the bad dressing again. It was delicious, but again, it's not supposed to be had I adhered by the 'laws' of IBS-less-ness.

The problem with this diet too, is that I don't have freaking time to always be chopping stupid vegetables, and de-thawing meat. I'm clearly just ranting right now, but I'm very very annoyed with it all.

For supper I had rock sole again, but didn't' over cook it. I hadn't marinated it or anything, just cooked it in a bit of butter. On the side I had grilled zucchini again. It's so very unsatisfying. I'm losing weight and I don't want to!

At night we went to the grocery store, I bought some more fresh ingredients, including fresh strawberries. I ate some strawberries as a night time snack. Oh. I begged for 1 chocolate covered raisin that my husband was eating. He gave in. I ate it. It was awesome.

Maybe Day 18 will be better? I know that Day 17 isn't, because that's today, and clearly I'm not in a good mood. Day 18 is Superbowl Sunday. You know, the night where everyone gets together and digs into delicious greasy finger foods. I should just stay home. It's going to suck having to answer to everyone why I'm not eating anything. Why is the skinny girl not eating? Um, because she can't. :(

I forgot to mention that I took  my probiotics and two of the 3 vitamins throughout the day. I cannot find Quercetin yet, but haven't checked at all vitamin stores.

Day 15 Overcooked fish

Breakfast: Smoothie with cranberries, strawberries, honeydew and watermelon. I'm still not tired of this smoothie, thank God. Otherwise, I'd have to cut up fruit and eat them. So little options on this damn Phase 1 of healing!

What has been annoying so far is the fact that I have to prepare food in the mornings. I am not a morning person, so this has made me a little late for work. Thankfully, no one seems to care, so long as I stay my whole 8 hours.(Or leave after everyone else does, which is typically the case, lol)

Yesterday's lunch followed all the rules, but one. I made myself a spinach salad with avocado, guacamole(the one I made- just a dollop), cucumbers, pecans, sunflower seeds, almond slices, and pumpkin seeds. The cheating part is where I added my favourite fig balsamic dressing, which contains sugar. I knew that I could have easily prepared myself a dressing without sugar, but, I wanted that flavour. So I shook it all up in a tupperware, and indulged. I made sure to have my probiotic.

After work I went to the mall to get my vitamins, then went to the gym. After warming up on the bike, I focused primarily on my upper body with three reps of each of the following: bench press with free weights(2 15 lbs), bicep curls (15 lbs again), dips on the machine(my weight minus 60lbs-whatever that is), and back pulls on the machine(45 lbs). I also did a bit of legwork, with leg curls on the machine (70 lbs), then hamstring curls on a large workout ball. It was an overall lazy-ish workout, because my friend and I were both hungry. No kidding what with salad for lunch.

For dinner, I'd marinated some rock sole in some balsamic, olive oil, and lemon juice. I pan-fried it. The package said to fry it for 2-3 minutes per side. Because it was dark from the balsamic, I couldn't really see if it was cooked. I didn't trust the package(I should have). I cooked it too long. It was definitely not the texture that I would have liked. Much too dry. On the side I fried up some zucchini in butter(salted shh). I also had some guacamole, and ate each bite of fish with it, since the fish was dry. I also had another probiotic, but didn't get around to opening up my vitamin powders. I felt unsatisfied from that dinner.

Later that evening, I finished my red pepper hummus. The one that's not really allowed, but that should be. I ate it alone. So weird the things you do when you're restricted. I didn't feel like cutting veggies to go with it, so I used a spoon  my finger.

Day 14 - 2 weeks, can you believe it?

Yesterday it really hit me that the food I was eating was extremely boring. I had a few pouting moments in the evening. Luckily my morning shakes are delicious, so at least I have one thing to look forward to every morning. It's not fun at all though.

So for breakfast yesterday, I made sure to take the time in the morning and shake it up, with cranberries, strawberries, honeydew and watermelon. It's actually a really delicious mix with plenty of flavour. I also took a probiotic.

I still cheated in that I still had a coffee at work. I took it black, but added a 'lil sugar. :I

You guys, I'm actually noticing the difference finally. Phew! There's light at the end of the tunel.

For lunch, I still had leftovers of my really leek-y mix. I was a little embarrassed heating it up in the microwave because it smells quite strongly, but no one seemed to notice. (phew). In the afternoon I snacked on a few seeds.

Doesn't that sound pathetic? Snacking on seeds? Lol.

For dinner, I'd forgotten to thaw the rock sole I wanted to have, so luckily I still had some leekiness. You know what I did to it? I cheated just a tiny bit. I still had some red pepper hummus, so after I heated it, I added a heaping spoonful of it, and mixed it all together. I'm sure that sounds disgusting to you, but it made a world of a difference. I'm a person who really loves flavour, so even though hummus is not necessarily recommended. There are NO additives to it, the only ingredients that are questionable are the chic peas(no mention of them in IBS book so I have no clue), and the salt. Oh, and who really knows what "natural smoke flavour is". I didn't care. It helped. I took another probiotic with dinner.

Later that night, I made some fresh guacamole. I chopped some onion, a small tomato, a bit of jalapeno(he didn't mention spicy peppers, just said I was allowed peppers, so I say some spicy ones can't hurt me). I mashed up my avocados, added my vegetables, oh, and some minced garlic, and lemon juice. I also cracked some pepper on that shit.
I ate my guacamole with a spoon. Not all of it, in fact I had some again today, and still have some left; but I didn't want any more bell peppers, so I ate guac with a spoon for a snack. Yum.

Oh yes. There was also another moment of weekness yesterday after work. My husband bought himself a box of mini gingerbread men with red sprinkles on them. They are tiny. I'm talking 5 cm by 2 cm, and are fairly hollow(cheap). I ate 1. I couldn't help it.

I was too lazy to go and buy my vitamins last night, but did so today. Will discuss tomorrow.

Good Night!
(sorry this is so late. Too busy playing LoL)

Day 13

So as you know from my post yesterday, not only have I given up cheese, but I am now undergoing a healing diet so that my system can get back to normal. I will then be reintroducing foods slowly, according to the guidelines of my IBS help book. It's going to be a big challenge, but I'm really trying.

I will find it difficult next week, because I have to travel for work. It wouldn't be quite so bad if I could buy my own food during the day, but I can't because it's a planned conference with meals included. I'll have to pick and chose, and not eat the bread, etc. I think I'll get funny looks, especially since I'm skinny. We'll see how it goes. I mean, if there's really nothing I can eat without having to 'cheat' then I'll just have to 'cheat' cuz THIS girl ain't starving herself. I wonder how well avocados travel in a suitcase? It's only a 2 hour trip...

So yesterday was the first day of this 'Phase 1' diet. It only started in the evening though, as I hadn't gone to do any groceries etc. Yesterday morning I  still had a coffee with milk and sugar in it. I also had a smoothie for breakfast, which contained the same ingredients as the evening before. Blueberries, Strawberries, cranberries, and honeydew melon. The only thing that would not be allowed from that now, would be the blueberries, oh, and perhaps the cranberry juice added.

For lunch I had Pad Thai from Thai Express at the mall. I added a ton of hoisin sauce to it, some lemon juice, and some crushed peanuts. I hadn't had this in a while, so it was a good treat. I asked for medium spice, but it really wasn't spicy enough. I find that it is give or take with that place. Sometimes you ask for medium spice, and it's VERY hot spicy. Other times, it's much too mild. Oh well. Still flavourful. I think my favourite part about eating Thai express is their little food boxes. They're so cute!

I went to the grocery store, and it was quite the quick trip. Everything I needed was in the fresh produce section, and the meat aisle! That's it. I bought lots of vegetables in the 'unlimited' categories.

At home I made my stir fry, which consisted of the following: Leeks, asparagus, zucchini, eggplant, and AAA grilling steak with no visible fat. I fried it all in butter. Now, here's where I cheated. I used salted butter. I couldn't help it, I needed SOME good flavour... I think that's still really good. Oh, I also grated some fresh ginger root and added that, in addition to fresh ground pepper, and a sprinkle of garlic power.

I think I was too generous with the leeks. I figured there really wasn't going to be much flavour, so I put in two leeks(only the stalks, not the greens). The stir fry was quite tasty, but very onion-y because of the leeks, and it definitely had some kick because I added the grated ginger, around 2 tsp worth. I've never used fresh ginger before. I put a lot of butter, so it was very edible, but that's probably not good. Although the book mentions the butter restrictions as a weight thing. I don't have to worry about my weight, so I'm not too worried about it. I'm having it again for lunch, so I'll definitely need gum afterwards. Leaves you with an awful breath. Blech.

I forgot a very important factor about phase 1. Vitamins.

Phase 1 vitamins required:

Vitamin C: 1500 mg 4 times per day (pure nonoxidizable fully reduced and powdered-not chewable tablets, powder to mix with water as tablets harm your teeth enamel and are not recommended. The vitamin C is supposed to reduce inflammation and stimulate the immune system.)
Quercetin: 1000 mg 4 times per day (helps the body use the vitamin C properly)
Glutamine: 2 grams, 1 in morning on empty stomach, and 1 on empty stomach in evening(helps speed repair of gastrointestinal lining, and assists in balancing your alkaline-acid levels)
Acidophilus: 2 doses of freeze-dried lactobacillus acidophilus, 3 times a day with food.(this is a probiotic, he recommends to continue the probiotic beyond phase 1)

Phase 2 will be a multivitamin, and he lists what it should contain.

On to the vitamin store tonight. I think that because I'm focusing on healing at the moment, I'm not so worried about my cheese being missing. This is good. My reward will pretty much be my trip in 2 weeks, but once back I'll likely have to do a bit more of phase 1 before moving on to phase 2.

Day 12 New Page

I'll talk to you about my meals for yesterday, but then I'm tell you about my new goals. It appears that just cutting out cheese so far has not improved my symptoms. I'm happy in a way, because obviously I love cheese, but at the same time, there's obviously still foods that aggravate my insides, and more importantly, that my insides are damaged to the point where I need to heal completely.

So first off; yesterday.

For breakfast I had my coffee, and the last Fiber One bar that I had at my desk. The very chocolate-y kind that the fiber seems to get lost in. In my coffee I still added milk and sugar, but even less sugar then the day prior. I really don't need that much sugar. I like the taste of coffee and will have the odd dark espresso.
For lunch I'd brought leftover brown rice pasta from the day before, to which I again added a bit of sour cream after it was heated.

In the afternoon, someone had brought in some zucchini loaf, which was very delicious, so I had two small pieces to tie me over until dinner.

Something that I've not been mentioning is the fact that I drink water constantly throughout the days and evenings. At least I try to.

For dinner last night I had the rest of the brown rice pasta dish, because it would have been too old by the next day. This time, in addition to the sour cream I added a bit of chili pepper spice, some garlic powder and fresh ground pepper.

Another thing I've started yesterday was taking probiotic supplements to see if that helps. The pills are very annoying to swallow and you have to take 2 per day along with food. I'm not very good at remembering to take daily vitamins or pills, so we'll see if I can keep this up.

For a late night snack, my husband whipped me up another delicious fruit smoothie. This time, it contained mainly blueberries, strawberries, cranberries, and honeydew melon. It was very delicious.

A few years ago when I'd first learned about my IBS-C condition, I'd purchased a book called "What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About IBS" by Richard N. Ash, M.D. A very excellent and informative book.

In this book there is a ton of helpful information about your digestive health, in addition to numerous factors that all come into play to maintain a symptom-free life without the use of meds. In addition to this, there are a few different healing diets, and ways to determine which foods are the culprits to your symptoms. The "diet" I'm going to embark on finally, is the three-phased meal plans that fix your digestive system. Phase 1 should last between 1 to 2 weeks. It includes only 7 core foods that should allow you to repair your damaged intestines, and start with a fresh healthy system before slowly adding more and more foods back into your life. This phase has you add alkaline foods, banish bread, cut carbohydrates, and drop daily completely.

While this will be very tough, I now realize that I should really take care of myself, and not just pick and chose the things that I cut out. I've known these tools and food suggestions for nearly three years, but I've never had the guts to go at it full strength.

So, here I go. Tonight I'll be headed to the grocery store and will focus on the following foods that I can have for these first 2 weeks. I'm not supposed to move onto Phase 2 unless I actually feel a drastic improvement. This will be a bit problematic since I'll be going on vacation in 2 weeks, but, instead of just pushing this off
until afterwards, I'm going for it now.

Foods I'm allowed in Phase 1:

Meat, Fish, Shellfish, and Fowl:

-Fish, freshwater and saltwater, preferably fresh. Canned is not
suggested although if carefully drained in water it is acceptable.
(No worries here, I HATE canned fish bleh)
-Shellfish
-Fowl: Turkey, Cornish game hen, goose, chicken, squab(?),
pheasant, and duck.
-Meat: conventional meats (i.e steaks, roasts, chops, etc), but not
those high in fat. All meats should be trimmed of fat. Absolutely

Note: NO pork is allowed.

Dairy:

- Eggs
-Unsalted butter(shucks darn)
- Goat's milk.

Note: No other dairy or cow's milk products.

Nuts and Seeds: 2 Tbsp sized servings only

-Pignolias(?)
-Braziil Nuts
-Pumpkin or squash kernels (ooh I have those!)
-Sesame (that'll be weird on their own)
-Almonds (yes!!)
-Walnuts (these always taste poisonous to me)
-Pecans
-Toasted soybeans (oooh you have to toast them!)
-Sunflower seeds (Have those!)
-Hazelnuts (does nutella count?)

Vegetables:
I may have unlimited quantities of the lowest-sugar(3% carbs) and lower-sugar(6% carbs) vegetables during phase one. I can also have a limited quantity(max 1/2 cup per day) of low-sugar vegetables (10% carbs).

Lowest-sugar Vegetables(3 % carbs)
-Bean Sprouts
-Beet greens
-Celery
-Chicory (?)
-Chinese cabbage
-Chives
-Cucumbers
-Endives
-Escarole
-Fennel
-Lettuce
-Olives (huh!Likely not the ones basked in oil)
-Parsley (a vegetable, really?)
-Dill and sour pickles (phew!)
-Poke (lol do YOU know what a poke is?)
-Radishes (meh)
-Rhubard, raw (I can do rhubarb, it's sour!)
-Watercress

Lower-Sugar Vegetables (6% Carbs)
-Asparagus (mmm)
-Bamboo shoots
-Broccoli
-Cabbage, raw (nahhh)
-Cauliflower
-Chard (always been curious about chard)
-Collard greens, raw
-Dandelion greens(too bad it wasn't summer, I'd have TONS!)
-Eggplant
-Kale
-Leeks
-Mustard greens (really?)
-Okra (almost Oka, but not quite)
-Green Onions
-Peppers (I hope this includes spicy ones, I'll need SOME flavour!)
-Rhubarb, cooked (that doesn't sound good unless its in a pie with
sugar)
-Sauerkraut (eew)
-Spinach (nice)
-Turnips
-Turnip Greens
-Water chestnuts
-Zucchini

Low-Sugar Vegetables (10% Carbs)
-Artichokes
-Green beans, french or wax
-Carrots
-Celeriac (celery on crack?)
-Cabbage, cooked
-Brussels sprouts
-Collard greens, cooked
-Chervil (?)
-Garden cress
-Kohlrabi
-Onion, raw
-Rutabaga (I thought that was an instrument)
-Tomato

Note: Corn, potatoes, sweet pickles, sweet potatoes, and yams are not
allowed.

No grains whatsoever are allowed during phase 1. Once my IBS symptoms have been eliminated(imagine that), I can add grains one at a time, in the following order:
-brown rice
-Quinoa
-Amaranth (?)
-Oatmeal
-Rye
-Buckwheat (kasha)
-Millet
-Wheat
-Barley
-Flaxseed
-Rice
No white bread, crackers, macaroni, spaghetti, pancakes, rolls, waffles, and products made with refined flour are permitted. Boo.

Fruits:
Just like the vegetables, the fruits are categorized into three, based on their sugar content. I'm allowed unlimited fruit in the first two categories, but only 1 serving per day of the last.

Lowest-sugar fruits (7% carbs)
-Avocado (my saviour)
-Watermelon
-Rhubarb

Lower-sugar fruits (10% carbs)
-Boysenberries (where do you even BUY those?)
-Cantaloupe
-Casaba melon
-Coconut
-Cranberries, raw
-Fruit salad (no grapes -that's not one fruit!)
-Gooseberries
-Honeydew melon
-Lemon
-Lime
-Mukmelon (?)
-Strawberries

Low-Sugar fruits (15% carbs)
-Apples - 1 small
-Apricots - 1 small
-Blackberries - 1/2 cup
-Cherries - 1/2 cup
-Dewberries - 1/2 cup (another mystery berry)
-Elderberries - 1/2 cup (ooh, the wise berries)
-Grapefruit - 1/2 large
-Grapefruit juice 1/2 cup
-Loganberries 1/2 cup (why have I not heard of these either?)
-Oranges - 1 small
-Orange juice 1/2 cup
-Peaches - 1 small
-Pears - 1 average
-Pineapple - 2 slices
-Plums - 2 small
-Raspberries - 1/2 cup
-Tangerines - 1 average
-Youngberries - 1/2 (they're still learning to be elders)

Note: Bananas, grapes, mangoes, dried fruits(oh shit!), and fruits canned in syrup are not permitted.

Beverages-Springwater
-Herbal teas and decaffeinated coffees(what's the point?)
-Ginger tea (half a tsp of gingerroot steeped in hot water and strained)

Note: Colored plastic bottles should be avoided, clear is okay. Tap water should be avoided, unless you have a reverse-osmosis water filter(fancy). No alcohol, caffeine, cocoa, coffee, cola, or soft drinks allowed.

Only two weeks. Only two weeks. Only two weeks.

I can do it!

The book also has tips on how to make your own condiments. Woot. There are also some recipes for each phase, and additional grocery shopping tips. There is also a chapter on vitamins, since you'll be receiving less during phase 1, you have to supplement with calcium and others. The book says that I should stick to organic products because food chemicals are a very common factor in IBS sufferers. I need at least 8 glasses of pure water per day. I also have to chew properly, lol. No biting my cheeks, perhaps!

I won't bore you on any more of the details right now, but I thought I'd share the Phase 1with you all, in case you would like to try it too. It certainly cannot hurt.