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.