The lovely thing about the Internet is the instant wealth of information. You just need to know where to look and how to spot a reliable source.
I posted earlier today on a forum I belong too about our food issues. I've posted numerous times about them and never really get what I am looking for. I get lots of artificial quick fixes from people wanting to say something but not sure what. We've had every diagnosis under the sun thrown at us as a result. Maybe it's a gluten intolerance, maybe it's IBS, etc. Nothing was "right" (though I'm sure they seemed that way) because without knowing my husband and being involved in the day to day things it was jsut a guess based off things I could remember at the moment. Things that were the most bothersome at that time.
Our quest to become vegetarian started long ago. He was one for a few years when he was younger and I, while interested, never had the chance. We started talking seriously about it about a year ago. Finances were bad though and we weren't in the best spot emotionally with ourselves and each other. We went veggie for a few months and quickly went back to being omni's. While we felt it was the right choice at the time neither of us were happy with our diet. His food issues suddenly became so obvious it was like we had a room mate. I became angry with him because I couldn't understand what he was going through and why couldn't he just trudge through it. He became angry with himself because he was so controlled by it all. We talked about making the switch again. Still not in the right place we started eliminating things the best we could.
First we tried to stop the gluten. We started buying bread without it (it's listed in the ingredients) and avoided foods that seemed like they would have it. It's hard though since gluten is a wheat based thing and is in a lot of foods. The tricky thing about ingredient lists is that they (the company) only have to list the top 10 or so. Once an ingredient falls below a certain percentage (based off total percentage in the total makeup of the food) they don't have to list it. We quickly learned this was going to be more of anuphill battle than we thought. Gluten is also difficult to get rid of. Once you know there is a gluten allergy EVERYTHING must go. Why? Gluten cross contaminates very easily AND can bind to certain things. Say for instance you make a peanut butter and jelly sandwhich. One spread of the knife across the bread and you contaminate the knife the peanut butter, and/or jelly. The ENTIRE bottles. There are families who once they have a diagnosis have to toss all their dishes and get new because of the cross containation. Teflon really holds it in. So while we thought we were doing so well by not buying items with gluten we were still having issues. Things cleared up/mellowed out for a bit but not for long. Discouraged we went back to wating breads we liked regardless of the gluten content.
Next we eliminated potatoes. Those are a definite trigger in any form (especially for those with blood sugar issues) so it was easy to cut them out. We've managed to not have potatoes in the house for about a year. He is away on business and as a treat I bought some so that I could have a baked potatoe. Sadly, it wasn't that great and the potatoes were small. The bag will be given away in a few days. :)
Next were certain fruits and then certain veggies. Everything has been such a wait and see situation that we'd often get discouraged and go back to our old eating habits. Why were some foods ok one week and not ok the next!? During this time we moved a couple times and were back to talking about going veggie. It was really becoming a pressing point for us, especially since we were almost there due to bad foods and potential bad foods.
We moved on last time and we both swore once we got settled we'd make the switch. We got into a house after some big issues and also got temp. custody of his son. We weren't going veggie for a bit. I was angry, he was eating bad foods, and meals were a constant battle. Figuring out what I could make that would appeal to all of us was a rarity. If we liked it his son didn't. If it was something we could all agree on it made him sick. None of us were happy.
A few months ago there was an event in California that the husband had to go to (business related). We drove out to Idaho where we visited with family for a bit and then he continued on to the event while I stayed behind. Our original plans were he would do all the things he needed to business wise and then swing back by, visit family some more and back home we would go. Once there though our client persuaded him to consider moving there! His trip got drawn out much longer than planned. During that time we both had an epiphany of sorts in regards to diet. I was tired of eating quick foods and nothing felt good to my body. I wanted fresh and I wanted simple. I didn't want chicken fried up in oil next to some over boiled green beans. My husband was realizing that even though my meals were making him sick, they were making him far less sick than when he ate out. Our client there is vegetarian to a degree. If he goes somewhere and it's not his choice (say a business meeting) he will eat fish if there is nothing vegetarian available. However, most clients/business partners know his diet and it's not an issue. My husband was looking forward to eating places with him. He could count on going somewhere that wasn't going to be harsh.
After a few weeks passed I joined him in California where we stayed in a hotel/cottage that had a kitchen. It was more of a wanna be kitchen. Our only cooking unit was a microwave. Realizing this we knew eating was going to be tough. Thats when we took the plunge and went vegetarian. You don't have to cook vegetables after all. :) There have been times when we both crave a hamburger from McDonald's but so far we are loving it! We haven't had any slips except for the occasional thing like yogurt that has gelatin in it. Quickly fixed and on our way we go.
The last time I posted about our food problems someone mentioned the
FAILSAFE diet. It was us!!! It was as if someone had snuck into our home and documented everything. I was so thrilled and we started practicing little things here and there. The differences were shocking. This was before his trip to California though and once he got there all that progress had gone out the window.
Tonight when I posted someone mentioned sourcing. Know your sources....organic was better than not and raw was better than organic. Raw organic? Supreme. Fresh was better than boxed and raw was better than either. I pulled up my link for the FAILSAFE diet and re-read everything.
The initial changes to our diet are going to revolve around sourcing. We are going all organic now. We used to get dairy and eggs non-organic due to price but no more. We know he can tolerate certain foods if they are organic so the FAILSAFE principals really work in our case. If we can go raw we will..there is a place where we can get raw dairy and we are going to give them a test run. Ideally we'll make that switch since I have some issues with dairy that could be helped (nothing to do with dairy itself really....thats another post) by possibly going raw. We'll still eliminate grains for now but once our bodies adjust we'll re-introduce raw grains. This includes crackers and pastas and the like.
One of the people who replied tonight mentioned it's all about finding a balance to the tastes in a meal not neccessarily about having everything on the food pyramid. There are three key things to a meal (that makes our brains and bodies feel/think balanced): salty, savoury, and sweet. An ideal meal has all of these. That I think will make it slightly easier when it comes to meal planning. It'll give me a starting point.
I have so much more to say but I'm getting tired and forgetting certain points that I want to get out. Since our initial conversation though I am feeling more optimistic about this. I was feeling so....restricted earlier but I know a good part of that was thinking it was impossible. I know that thinking is in part due to my upbringing. America is fat and does everything to the extreme. Very few Americans have healthy diets. I couldn't get over the fact that we weren't going to have carbs for awhile. It seemed like such an integral part of a diet, how would we survive. One poster made me see how possible it is. Yes it will be hard work but in the end it'll be worth it. It better be damn it. :)
