Hey, it’s Ang again! Just wanted to catch you up on what I have been up to the last few weeks… I have had problems with my GI health for years. I have had some major issues with bloating (looking like I am six months pregnant)! I have also struggled with mild kidney problems, migraines, feeling sluggish and tired all the time. I started doing some research and discovered all this could be from just a simple food sensitivity. So the first thing I did was eliminate gluten. Which these days was pretty easy. A lot of restaurants have gluten free menus even. This seemed to help quite a bit. Though, I was still having some of the symptoms just not as intense. So I decided to attempt the Elimination Diet. I have heard a lot about this over the years to help nail down food intolerances or allergies. The Elimination Diet is exactly that, you eliminate certain foods for a period of time then slowly reintroduce specific foods and monitor your symptoms for possible reactions.
You ideally want to remove the largest number of foods. So like any other diet, the more restrictive the better the result. Basically you want to be sure to exclude gluten, dairy, eggs, pork, beef, beans, corn, citrus fruits, peanuts and coffee. You should follow this diet for at least three weeks. I did exactly 3 weeks to the day, leave it to me to do the bare minimum! I just started the reintroduction phase. The first thing I decided to bring back were eggs. I really struggled with not being able to have my usual egg white omelet for breakfast every morning. The first few days of the diet I had a really difficult time figuring out what to eat. So what did I eat? For breakfast I usually made a fruit protein smoothie or quinoa flakes.
Quinoa flakes is pretty similar to oatmeal. So I would prepare it just like oatmeal by added fresh berries, chopped almonds, and half of a banana to sweeten it up a bit. Super yummy! At the beginning of the week I would do some meal prepping for lunches and dinners. I usually ended up making a separate dinner for the hubby. I kept his dinners pretty simple so it wouldn’t be too much of a pain, and wouldn’t be too tempting for me!
I am a big fan of prepping meals. I usually always do this to keep healthy options on hand for quick lunches. I roast a couple chicken breasts, a few fish fillets seasoned with basil and garlic, asparagus and quinoa. I did go out to dinner a few times, I am sure the waiters hated me though! At chinese I order steamed chicken and broccoli with no sauce. Other restaurants I ordered chicken or fish salads, with no seasoning and no dressing. A lot of the more trendy restaurants here in Montreal serve a lot of wild game, so since that was on the list of foods to include I took advantage and got a little out of my comfort zone. I tried venison carpaccio one night, and even horse tartare!! Both were very good, but probably won’t be a regular for me. I also kept fresh veggies and lentil hummus in my fridge at all times to snack on. I tried to keep cut up fruit as well to help with my sweet tooth! When the fruit wasn’t cutting it I indulged in almond butter. I am usually not a huge fan of the stuff, but I tried out this new brand and fell in love! One day I was actually eating it out of the jar with a spoon! Not my proudest moment hahaha.
Now finishing up with the three weeks I am feeling great! All of my symptoms I was experiencing are gone! I still bloat with the usual suspects like broccoli and carbonated drinks, but overall it’s a hundred times better than it was. After I can rule out eggs as the culprit I plan on reintroducing tomatoes. I never realized how many of my favorite foods involved tomatoes!
If you decide to try it, good luck! I am sure you will find it to be well worth it.
Ang
If you decide to try it, good luck! I am sure you will find it to be well worth it.
Ang