Another AIP Blog.

I contacted a nutritionist who does mediator response testing and Leap protocol diet.  Apparently it works like this, you give a blood sample and you get back a list of foods that are safe for you to eat and a list of foods that may be safe and a list of foods that you should not eat based on how your immune system responds to these foods.  Then the nutritionist designs a diet for you with only safe foods and then you do an add in protocol until you find how you react to most foods and get a diet that is designed specifically for you.  It's going to cost around 750 dollars total and take about 6-8 weeks for the initial part.  I'm sure I'll be working on this for the rest of my life, but I think that this will give me a good starting point.  After 6 months off my trigger foods, I may be able to add them back in.  We'll see. 

I've limped around all day, my side is hurting, I have palpitations and feel dizzy and shaky every time I stand up and try to do something and I can't deal with it anymore.  I was trying to get ready for our houseguest and I ended up lying on my bed crying with 2 of the dogs licking my face.  That's when I made the decision.  I'm done. When I get under the care of a nutritionist, I will have someone to call and see if the symptoms I am having are a cause for concern.  Now, I don't.  This is just something I decided to do on my own, medically unsupervised and woefully uninformed.   I'll see the nutritionist and then I will ask her to help me design a program to get healthy slowly and carefully, not overwhelming my body with withdrawal or whatever the heck this is.  Sigh.

Still feeling bad.  My joints are, if anything, worse than yesterday.  A bit constipated.  Dry eyes and dry mouth not improved at all.  Feeling weak and shaky, don't really feel like I can do anything.  When I went gluten free 8 years ago it was all good, good, good.  I felt better with every passing day.  This is not the same.  This sucks.  We're having a guest this weekend, someone I've met only once, and we have to clean and get ready for her and play hosts and I just don't know if I can handle it.   I may break down and eat something off the diet in the middle of the day.  Still don't know.  I am going to try for 21 days.  That's 10 days from now.    I guess maybe I'll be able to tell if some of my symptoms are worse?  I don't know. I wish I'd never heard of this diet. 

I feel like crap.  My knees and feet hurt very bad, I'm stiff and sore, I feel like I can't handle anything, like I can't do anything.  I can't focus.   I feel like the only thing I am doing is this diet.  Everything else is falling by the wayside.  I also don't know if I should quit or not.  I feel like I should give it a good try, but is 10 days a good try?  I may quit and just go see the nutritionist and do whatever she says to do after my food sensitivity testing is done.  I haven't decided. The scale says that I have lost 15 pounds in 10 days but that doesn't seem right.  I wonder if it is a scale malfunction.   

I'm on day 9.  I never would have thought I could make it this far after my first attempt, in which I was on the diet for only half a day.  Planning helped.  Now that I am on it, I'm waiting for that elusive day when I feel good and then I'll start adding foods back in.  I guess.  I'm still waiting to be contacted by the nutritionist I contacted.  I really would like to have the MRT food sensitivity testing done to help this whole process along, but I can't make anyone answer their phone and I can't get them to call me back.  So here I am, eating not much of anything and yesterday, not keeping hardly anything down.  My lap band does not like the texture of meat so that's always been an issue.  I try to chew it up properly, but sometimes it is still a no-go.  How do I feel this morning?  Spacy, brain foggy, achy, especially my feet and knees.  I do not have that thigh and lower abdomen pain that I get so often.  Of course...

I messed up that one day (Monday), kind of intentionally and ate nightshades, but otherwise, I've been compliant with the diet.  I don't know if it is getting easier.  I felt awful yesterday, all day long.  I needed to lie down and take a nap at one point.  I would be doing housework and just think "I can't do this"  and feel overwhelmed and defeated.  I'm not sure why.  I did puppysit and do a little cleaning yesterday and went out to an activity last night, but I felt like I was dragging the whole time.  I went to the grocery today and tried to refrain from buying specialty products.  I already have some coconut milk here, cassava flour, coconut flour, coconut sugar, maple syrup, unsweetened applesauce, sweet potatoes - these are the things on the diet that I would not normally eat.  I've got things cooked, some cauliflower soup, some Mongolian beef  (I made an AIP compliant version that everyone ate yesterday and there were no co...

I made some thanksgiving type stuffing with plantains.  It was interesting buying them, trying to peel them and cooking them, but they didn't make a very good dish.  I mean, it's okay, but I'd rather not have it again.  Unfortunately, it makes several servings so I will be eating it for a few days.  I've made a decision not to buy any more specialty foods this week's trip to the grocery.  I'll make do with what I have.  I will buy bags of frozen veggies and meat, fresh fruit and vegetables and go from there.  I may look into modifying some of my favorite recipes and see what I can come up with but otherwise, just keep it simple.  I haven't heard from the nutritionist I was hoping to hear from today, so I'll wait a couple of days and then call her and see if I can get an appointment.

I kind of knew this was going to happen.  I had a long-standing lunch at Olive Garden scheduled with some friends.  I ordered a bowl of the zuppa tuscana (?) soup that has potatoes in it.  I know I could have ordered a salad but with my Lap Band, I can't keep salad down and I didn't want to pay 8 dollars for something I couldn't hold onto.  I opted for the soup and scooped the potatoes out and ate the kale and sausage and the juice which probably had potatoes in it.  At the salvage grocery I found Just Mayo light which is an egg free mayo substitute.  It does have peas and a small amount of sugar, but I figure in the small, small amounts I will be using, it might be okay.  I haven't decided yet.  I may wait until the first 4 weeks are done and then decide.  Today is Day 7.   I cannot believe I've been (mostly compliant) this long.  I don't feel good.  This morning, both knees were hurting, I feel constipated and my eyes and mou...

I can't believe I've been able to do this for 5 days already.  Five days.   I have not been perfect.  I ate some cough drops last night just because they tasted good.  Also, I haven't been eating the grass fed and organic stuff because I can't afford it.  I'm just eating regular meat and vegetables from the grocery store.  I don't know if I've learned my lesson about trying new recipes or not.  I did go to the grocery for other stuff last night and they had plantains 2 for a dollar, so I got some to try a recipe.  The plan is to keep things a little more simple this week but I will make some cauliflower soup and maybe this recipe with the plantains since I already have them.   Other than that, I'm going to try and keep what I eat more simple, while cooking regular meals for my family.  I'm not looking forward to it.  This diet makes you feel, several times a day, like you might as well just go to bed because there's...

Just because a food is the same color as another food does NOT mean that it is a good substitute.  Mashed parsnips DO NOT taste like and cannot substitute for mashed potatoes.  The end.  

I can't believe I'm on the fourth day.  Of course I haven't made it through the fourth day yet .... I got kind of desperate last night and started looking for a dietician that can do food sensitivity testing with the delayed reaction and all that, so that maybe I can get a diet targeted to me.  Even if I have to exclude 50 foods, that's better than the thousands I am excluding with this diet!  So I sent her an email and I am hoping that she contacts me soon and rescues me from AIP!  This morning, the scale is down some more, an unbelievable amount of about 13 pounds and I don't believe it.  I tell you my scale is kooky so don't think you're going to lose 13 pounds in 4 days.  I am not sure what is happening with that.  Also this morning, I am crabby, constipated and have a headache.    My joints aren't too bad this morning.  My eyes and mouth were very, very dry when I got up but I think I only used the drops and mouth spray overn...

I can't believe I've made it this far.  Two days is 4 times as long as I made it last time.  I've got so much stuff cooked and in the fridge right now that I won't have to cook anything for myself for a couple of days.  That helps me think I might get through it today as well.  It truly is one day at a time for me and I am tempted to give up at every moment.   I saw something on Facebook yesterday that said "When You Feel Like Quitting, Think About Why You Started"  and I keep trying to do that.  In the fridge, I have Mongolian beef, broccoli soup, chicken salad, banana bread, bone broth and pumpkin bars, also, part of a peach I started yesterday. Symptoms this morning: Sore knees. Sore feet. Sore hands. Dry eyes (3 times eye drops last night) Dry mouth (3 times last night, but maybe not as bad as usual.)  (I'm also on Plaquenil for these 2 symptoms.) Up to pee 3 times during the night. No thigh and back ache li...

The newsflash today is that I actually made a couple of things that tasted pretty good!  It's a miracle.  Yesterday I designed (in my head) a T shirt that said "You know you're on the AIP diet when the best thing you've tasted all day is your toothpaste."  But today, some of the things tasted okay.  I made a version of Mongolian beef with coconut aminos and coconut sugar and it was good.  I also made some pumpkin bars that I enjoyed.  Still have my distrust of recipe writers for AIP though.  :-P  Survived another day, but I feel kind of sad when I think that I have 28 to go. 

I am going to try and do other things today.  Yesterday, I was basically just dieting and not a lot else.  Today, I'm going to distract myself and do other things so I won't think about it as much.  My headache is gone this morning and that helps.  Also, I am accustomed to fasting in the morning until noon and I haven't eaten anything yet, so, so far, it's been pretty easy.  The scale says I've lost about 7 pounds, but that is just one of those flukes that you see when you weigh yourself daily.  It will come back tomorrow, I'm sure, but it was nice seeing that new number.   With all the cooking I did yesterday, I have chicken salad, broccoli soup and banana bread in the fridge for today.  I'm also going to cook Mongolian beef for my family and will cut off 1/4 of the roast and make a version for myself as well.  I'm not sure how the coconut aminos is going to substitute for the soy sauce, so I don't want to possibly ruin the whole r...

Well, I didn't have a good first day, but I guess it was better than my last attempt at the AIP.  I've made it all day, but in fairness, I fasted until 1:00 pm and started from there.  I haven't really liked anything that I have cooked and am regretting spending the money on baking supplies, cassava and coconut flour, coconut sugar, heart of palm, etc. in an attempt to make it easier. I was just about in tears today trying a heart of palm mayonnaise substitute recipe to make chicken salad because my blender was not up to the job when my husband said "what is so hard about just eating meat and vegetables?"  and he's right.  I need to just accept the blandness and eat plain meat and veggies for 30 days and stop trying to cook all these fancy things.  I think.  The heart of palm mayo, though chunky, wasn't terrible, but I don't think it's worth it to spend the money on.  Tomorrow, I'm cooking a roast and I'll throw some carrots and celery in w...