Day 51 – Crazy Times

Today was extremely busy and a pretty rough day—had our standard juice for breakfast along with eggs and toast (made from our awesome bread we made yesterday—recipe on recipe page).  Lunch was more quinoa and salad while dinner was burritos.  My wife’s school had a math and science nigh and the school provided Panda Express (well I actually think Panda Express provided it).  Our boys enjoyed the Orange Chicken for dinner while we watched them eat.  I use to eat at Panda Express quite frequently and the meal looked good… but it was definitely out!

I feel OK and still know I feel better than I did, but progress is extremely slow and it’s hard to know the best way to speed it up.  I do suppose though that I will continue this crazy path as long as it takes… or at least I think I will?

Day 50 – Days are blurring together

The ups and downs of this diet are a killer—reading online doesn’t really give you any relief because the “horror stories” of people sticking to this type of diet for a few months and then—as they put it—fall of the banwagon, totally go crazy.  A few posts talk about ladies who have gone 1-2 years or longer before they had complete relief of their symptoms.  I had originally planned to go the 30 days and then found out it was 60 days and now understand why these people just give up.

Today was not a terrible day but it has been one of reflection and longing for the items that I’ve left behind (even if only temporary).  Today started pretty good, we both got up and had a date with Tony Horton but for one of the ten minute workouts not the full P90X.  Breakfast was eggs with some of the new bread as toast to go with it—mmm mmm mmm.  Our same-old standby juice: Cucumber, kale, romaine, celery, lemon juice, ginger and I added some of our spring mix salad to finish off a bit of it.

Busy day—felt like it was go, go, go.. but lunch was great!  I sautéed some onions with chicken in coconut oil seasoned with lemon juice, sea salt, and basil.  Mixed all that with some avocado and quinoa and then topped over a HUGE salad.  I ended up taking the salad with me so I could get my son to pre-school on time and ate it in my wife’s classroom.  My wife told me later that some teachers were complaining of a stinky smell coming from the direction of my wife’s room—we could only surmise that is was me and my “stinky” garlic filled meal!... I didn’t think it was stinky I thought it was awesome.

I braved a new bread recipe since our one from yesterday worked out so well.  I did tweak it a bit and made it work with what we had, but it was the BEST bread we have had so far but we are not sure how much money we’ll be saving since the ingredients are a bit pricy—looks like I’ll be doing a cost analysis.  Dinner was left over soup from yesterday mixed with my lunch quinoa—mmm mmmmmm!

As I was typing this I was reminded of something creepy happening at our house.  For the last week or so we’ve noticed in the morning that our garage door is open.  At first we thought maybe it had been opened from the night before (which is hard to believe because of how obsessive I am with making sure multiple times that the garage is closed.  Well… what we’ve figured out is that our garage door will mysteriously open sometimes without us doing anything… now my wife understands why I’m so paranoid about making sure the garage door going into our house stays locked!

We are not ready to give up on the diet and will continue, but I don’t know if I can wait for 2 years before all my symptoms disappear—as long as improvement keeps coming I’ll be fine.  On a side note I read online that a company may be looking for a husband and wife soon to be the first to travel to mars (I suppose to circle the planet and prove it can be done) and then—hopefully—get them back to earth.  I would love to do something like that but my wife didn’t even have to think about it when I told her—“NO” she said.  I suppose our kids do need us here… ;)

Day 49 – Blue and Gold

Can’t believe we are so close to the end of our 60 day journey, but who knows what will happen after that.  Breakfast was AWESOME!  Some amazing pancakes (lemon almond) from this site http://www.dietdessertndogs.com/2009/03/08/grain-free-lemony-almond-pancakes/ we did tweak it a little to make it more “candida” friendly (we used raw almonds [not lightly roasted], almond milk [we’re not fans of soy milk although I’m sure it would be fine], pure maple syrup [instead of agave], gluten flour [instead of bean flour—which we are going to stay away from for a while due to the white rice in it].  They were THE BEST pancakes we ever remember having.

That is all we had, but I did cook an egg to put over my pancakes—however, we did not have the juice this morning (first morning in a very long time).  A little rough this morning—feel like I may be eating something that does not agree, but not sure what it is (this is why we are staying away from the gluten free flour).  However; this is part of the problem I’ve talked about before… how do you know when something you are experiencing is a problem with candida or a problem with what you are eating?!?  So frustrating!

Lunch was a HUGE spring mix salad topped with quinoa and onion, lemon juice, sea salt, basil and coconut oil.  The afternoon was good but I was slightly worn out.  I stared a great soup in the crockpot tonight—took the leftover chicken from last night (bones and all) and put it in the crockpot and added a bit more water, then let it cook for about 3 hours.  I then cooked some more onions with a few carrots (only a few) in some olive oil and coconut oil with lemon juice, basil and sea salt.  I added some celery to the soup, the mixture of onions/carrots I fried up and also a vegetable base (which is freeze dried potatoes, celery, peppers and some carrots—then let it could for a few more hours.

WOW… dinner was great!  Only my wife and I ate dinner because it was my 8 year old’s blue and gold banquet for cub-scouts and he—along with my 4 year old—would be eating there.  They really had a good spread but we couldn’t eat anything but some of the salad they had there.  The 2 most difficult parts of the night were when we went to get our salad and were “blasted” (in a very nice way of course) for not eating the other food and then how sorry they were they didn’t know about our diet so they could accommodate us.

First of all… we don’t like anybody accommodating us, but second, there are so many different possibilities in the foods we eat and what we try to stay away from that we wouldn’t even dare eat anything anyway for fear it had something it shouldn’t inside.

The second most difficult part of the evening was when I saw the dessert they were serving was peanut butter fingers (one of my old favorites from long ago)—it was very hard help my 4 year old with his and have to watch everybody eat theirs but then not have any.  I had to tell myself over and over that getting rid of my symptoms is better than any dessert they could give me… RIGHT…?

Day 48 – I Have the Key to One-Eyed-Willey

A classic line from a classic movie—The Goonies; a great 80’s hit with Sean Astin as well as Rat Pack favorite Corey Feldman.  I actually thought about this statement when thinking about the progress I’ve made on this crazy diet.  I do get frustrated that there are peaks and valleys, but I know that is just par for the course.  I am only frustrated because I want to see all my symptoms disappear and when I have the peaks and valleys it’s hard to know if it is just that or if there is actually something that I’m eating that bothers me—I guess that is a great reason for writing this blog… so I can go back and look at the foods I’ve been eating.

Breakfast was Amaranth hot cereal and the same green drink as the previous 2 days.  We’ve decided to steer clear of stevia for the next few days to see how we are affected but did put some pure maple syrup in our amaranth—it was pretty good.  However, I felt really tired throughout this morning and this is where it gets hard.  The tiredness may just be coming as a peak and valley issue, but it may also be that there is something with amaranth (a grain I have not tried until yesterday), I may steer clear for at least a few days and then introduce again—I just can’t wait until my symptoms are completely gone so it becomes a matter of finding out what foods affect me and then just steering clear.

Lunch was some leftover quinoa mixed with the squash leftover from last night topped over spring mix, spinach and romaine.  I decided to try my hand at some bread this afternoon and it was looking great!  Even felt spongy like bread when I felt it just before taking it out of the oven, but then it fell and when I cut into it it was very wet still.  I think I know why and will try to adjust, but if there are any brave souls out there here is what I tried.

1 cup almond flour

½ cup of all purpose (gluten free) flour

½ cup of Flaxseed Mill

2 tablespoons of pure maple syrup

2 eggs

1 cup almond milk (no sugar added)

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 heaping tablespoons of ground flaxseed

1/3 cup of coconut oil

1/3 cube of butter

½ avocado

Pre-heated the oven at about 350-375 degrees.  I placed all the liquid stuff in the blend-tec along with the avocado—mixed on smoothie setting.  Mixed all the dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then poured the dry ingredients in with the pre-mixed wet ingredients, and then mixed thouroughly.  Place mixture in a pre-oiled bread pan and cook for about 50 minutes.  I think the mistake I made today was putting too much liquid (almond milk) in with the mix.  I need to add more eggs and less (maybe none) almond milk—I may also try baking at a little lower temperature for longer.

Afternoon was good—and decided to buy a chicken to roast.  It was the first meat we had had in about 1 week, it was good: whole chicken smothered with a mixture made of fresh lemon juice, fresh minced garlic, basil, sea salt and coriander then rubbed in all over the chicken and place in our George Forman Roaster with olive oil, green onions salt pepper and some lemon juice.  We also had red potatoes cooked in olive oil and seasoned with sea salt and rosemary.

I did try a Cacao-Pow today without stevia, but used a little bit of maple syrup and the M’Lis sweetner—which I am not a big fan of because of the aftertaste I get, but I have talked to others that like the taste better than stevia.  Great day!

Day 47 – Stevia a Problem?

There are plenty of posts online that talk about stevia being a great alternative to sugar—they use it in many other countries including Japan and Brazil to—evidently—great fan fare.  It is possibly an issue for my wife who has struggled the last few days with a little case of bloating.  We noticed that she was bloating (we both kind of were) while trying to gain weight to get ready for our next juice cleanse but just chalked it off to all the food we were eating—and sure enough when the cleanse came and went so did the bloating.

However; in the few days this week we have been back on food—actually it was Wednesday when we started—my wife noticed that she started bloating more than usual again.  We pored over the issue tonight along with the foods we have introduced (we have been more careful and slow this time around).   The most likely culprit seems to be stevia so we are going to try to cut out stevia for about 3 days—without changing anything else—and see how she feels.

Today was another good day—I did get more tired mid-day today, but for the last 2 nights I have gotten to bed really late so I think I just need to get some better sleep tonight and I will be fine.  Breakfast was our favorite green drink which was exactly the same as yesterday, but we tried a new cereal called amaranth (actually it is just a grain, but we cooked it as a hot cereal).  It was very good, but very interesting… definitely not my favorite but not bad either.

The boys did great at church which makes it a lot easier for us adults while we are there.  There are some Sundays where the boys make it very difficult and we joke that those are the days where the only thing we are learning at church is patience (which is not a bad thing to learn), but if you are of the school where you learn the lessons you need then we must really need some patience.

Lunch was a few leftovers (the leftover burrito stuff) mixed together and put over salad—we also added some of the guacamole on top of a spring mix, romaine and spinach salad and then snacked on the sweet potatoes we cooked in the oven yesterday.  We made a new dessert to try—we like to call it Chocolate Moose (ish) Cake.  It has a feel ofcheese cake but does taste really good for not having any sugar.  I say “ish” because it does not taste exactly like chocolate moose but it reminds us of it—I adjusted a recipe I found here: http://yourlighterside.com/2012/11/candices-low-carb-almond-flour-brownies/

Kickin Cacao Moose (ish) Cake

Here is my recipe loosely based on the above site:

1/2 -  large avocado

1/4 - 1/2 cup almond milk

1 - cup almond flour

4 - eggs (although we are going to try with 3 next time)

1/3 - cube of butter

1/3 - cup of coconut oil

About 3 droppers (60 drops) of stevia

2 heaping tablespoons of cacao powder (although we could have added one more)

Great Sunday nap and then dinner—Brussel Sprouts cooked with green and yellow onions and peppers seasoned with lemon juice, sea salt, pepper and basil.  We also cooked some quinoa (our grain of choice right now) and then cooked some Butternut Squash the same way we cook sweet potatoes (on a cookie sheet with coconut oil turmeric and sea salt).

We’ll see how the stevia thing goes (or if it is just something that we are just too worried about), but who knows… as we continue our research it seems that plenty of people say that xylitol is no good either and some say it is worse than stevia… I guess we’ll just have to find what works for us and stick to it!

Day 46 – Like a Kid Again

It's true—my wife and I both agree that the way we feel right now is a way we have not felt since being children.  This is a statement that is hard to explain unless you have felt similar but perhaps all we’ve heard about feeling worse as we grow older is a bunch of hooie!  OK… so It’s only been a few days and it is likely this elation we feel now is not indefinite and we will surely feel stress and other grown-up emotions.  But, just to feel like this—like you are on something to make you happy—without actually being on anything other than healthy eating is awesome.

Food was Great today!  WE had French-toast this morning with some bread we got at a health food store to test a not gluten no sugar loaf—I may have mentioned it before but it is not very good, not sure we will be trying it again; especially since it is like 8 bucks a loaf!  Nevertheless… here is a picture of the bread for those daring souls out there who are just clamerin for some bread (or bread like substance) and they don’t care what it tastes like—come hell or high water they want it.  We used real maple syrup… mmm mmm mmm good!  I also added a fried egg to put over my frenchtoast which I have to say was devine.

As always we had our favorite green drink—cucumber, spring mix, celery, kale, spinach, lemon, lime, ginger and romaine lettuce.  All I can say is beverage goodness!  WE helped a friend move today—it was a little funny because he had been putting it off because of the snow and then finally decided that this morning was the time so he rented a U-Haul and planned it all only to have it blizzard like conditions during the move; although we did fine getting it done.

They provided pizza for everybody after so we let our boys eat the slices we would have eaten if we were eating “normally.”  We had more than one of the people there ask us about how we are feeling and what we are doing.  I told them that I just felt like my wife needs to lose a few pounds we are on a diet ;)  a few of them looked at me like I was the devil, but with the few laughs we got and the ice broken we were able to explain to them what I meant.

Since we didn’t eat the pizza we did run home and make lunch—my sweatie made lunch while I cleared the driveway and walks—there has been so much snow this year I really don’t know how long it will take for it all to melt away.  Lunch was quinoa mixed with green onions, and peppers cooked in coconut oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper and of course our drug of choice… BASIL!!  We added some refried black beans from Trader Joes and topped it all over spinach and spring mix.

Off for some errands this afternoon and then home to get ready for dinner and for my brothers kids to come over for the night.  Now about feeling like a kid.  My wife and I both went to sleep at about 1:00am and got up at about 7:00am—which is something we have done before, but today we both felt good most of the day and as long as we were just sitting down we seemed to have a lot of energy.  It is acutally about 11:45pm and we are still up trying to get ready for bed—we did have a small power nap this afternoon (about 20 minutes) but that is it and we are going strong and have been all day—this is surprising for my wife because she has never done this.

She mentioned today that she hasn’t felt this good since being a kid and I have to agree. During game night last night a side of me came out that I haven’t felt since being a little kid (I got up and did a victory dance when my team won while playing a game!  I have not done that since being a kid; at least not like I did last night—my wife did wonder who I was.  She is also doing better as far as mood and other womanly issues are concerned.  It is amazing that I recognize it, but what is more amazing is that she recognizes it.  Again… hard to explain unless you have felt it!

Dinner was burritos.  We found some brown rice tortilla shells at Trader Joes along with some refried pinto beans and we made our own guacamole from 2 avocadoes, about 1-2 tablespoons of lemon juice and then sprinkle salt on for taste.  Mash the avocadoes to the consistency you prefer and then add the lemon juice and salt—delicious.  We used the left over quinoa from lunch and had great burritos!

Another good good day—although we are done today and really need to go to bed!

Day 45 – TGIF

It’s just been one of those days.  The energy is great and the cleanse is great but it was just a rough day… and a long day!  Breakfast was AWESOME—eggs with the new salsa mix we found we can eat along with quinoa mixed with millet with a little bit of pure maple syrup, stevia and ALMOND MILK—its about time!  We topped it all off with a green drink same as yesterday and then the day gets off.

I went to a lunch meeting with my 4 year old to McDonald’s and the friend I went with bought me three side salads since he didn’t know what I could and could not eat—I brought warm quinoa leftovers from last night to top the salad with.  My son enjoyed a chicken nugget kids meal with chocolate milk and of course apple slices—McDonald’s way of trying to be healthy.  Kind of like ordering a fast food meal supersized with a diet soda, as if that will off-set the rest of the garbage we put in our gut.

Made Spaghetti from fresh tomatoes, coconut oil, olive oil, green onions, yellow onions cooked with salt, pepper, lemon, oregano and of course basil—it ended up being great.  The day was long today because my wife had to stay later at work and my 4 year old decided he would be a 4 year old—not wanting to listen to me or eat the spaghetti.  His poor little body was so tired and hungry he couldn’t see past the frustration he was feeling and would not calm down—it didn’t set me off, but it made it more difficult to get things done and the pressure mounted.  We had karate for my 8 year old tonight and got a baby sitter so we could go play games with my family at my mom and dad’s house.

We brought one of our Cacao-Pows for our dessert made with all the goods, about 28 ounces of almond milk, 2 tablespoons of cacao powder, 2 teaspoons of maca powder and about 4-5 tablespoons of hemp hearts with one avocado, 40 drops of stevia and 1 scoop of M’Lis instant meal and about 20 ounces (volume wise) of ice.  Game night was great a lot of fun, my wife even noticed a different side of me she has never seen—I actually had fun with a game we played, or as my wife puts it I actually played the game.  Good Good day after the little bit of a stressful afternoon and evening!