2012: The Start of Paleo
Best Read from the Bottom Up
Nov. 29, 2012. Thanksgiving.
OMG, you have to try these! The best Thanksgiving dessert! PaleOMG Apple Fritters. http://paleomg.com/thanksgiving-morning-apple-fritters/
My stuffing was a flop. There is no good substitute for wheat bread in stuffing. I tried. I failed. Twice.
Apple sauce, great (Granny Smith apples cooked down with ground cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and a splash of coconut sugar).
The rest was pretty much the standard turkey affair, all good! I have to figure out stuffing…. Ugh! And Christmas cookies. I’ve got one good one for Hazlenut Chocolate chip cookies and another “thin mint” type one I haven’t tried making yet. Thoughts?
Nov 22, 1012. A Day in the Paleo Life.
I wonder if anybody reads this blog. Probably not. You’d be shocked about the comments I get… no real ones. They’re all spam. It says I have 76 current comments awaiting approval. Here are the topics of the first five: setting up a home based business, something about a million dollar marketing machine, something that has random words which make no sense (starts off “Around the world maybe you are body”… what DOES that mean???), another that is only partially in English about designers, and another about canvas messenger totes. Well, I will continue to talk to myself until somebody…. anybody???…. makes a comment about RA, Paleo, something!
Ok, anyway, a day in the life of what I eat:
Breakfast:
Juice (my traditional apple, pear, cranberry, carrot, collard green juice)
Leftover salmon cakes (SO yummy!)
Lunch:
Leftover turkey (my husband cooked it with bacon on top of the whole turkey breast…. yummm!)
Apple
Kit’s Organics Bar (I think it’s chocolate, almond, coconut flavor… very yummy, like a brownie…. no sugar!)
Water
Snack:
Dehydrated fruit roll…. I cheated and bought some (not sweetened)
Dinner:
Meatballs (my husband’s invention…. grass-fed beef and sausage)
Sweet potato fries (sweet potatoes cut into fry shape, shaken in coconut oil and cinnamon)
Water
4 squares of peppermint chocolate
So, did I mention my run of good RA? Well, you’ve read this far….
Saturday, walked to zoo without tiring out and felt fine on Sunday. That was good because Sunday, my son and I hung all the Christmas lights. By Monday, I was still feeling great, so Tuesday, I painted the garage. Did I mention I’m still feeling well, and it’s Thursday? Eh, now ya know…. a good run!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Nov 8, 2012. Nearly 10 Months Paleo… How Easy or Hard Is It?
I just read back through my posts. I realized that on a day to day basis, I sound kind of crazy. Some days I’m up. Some days I’m down. To be honest, that’s life with RA, and Paleo hasn’t changed that. The hards just aren’t as hard, and the easies are WAY better easies. The in-betweens are significantly better too. I got thinking that I may need to take a “10 month inventory.” Tomorrow will be the 10 month anniversary of my first post, “Twas the Night Before Paleo.” I hope this might be helpful to those who are considering this “diet.”
For starters, we’re trying not to refer to this as a diet anymore. It is a lifestyle change, and one that my husband and I plan on following indefinitely. My son, about to turn 7, is warming up to some of the Paleo foods, but it’s a more challenging sell to him. Therefore, there’s still Halloween candy, cereal, bread, and milk in our house. Do I miss them? Surprisingly no, not really at all.
What do I miss? Pizza! There are several Paleo pizza recipes out there, but I haven’t made a single one, as I know it would be a disappointment. A good deep dish Chicago-style pizza sounds DIVINE. And, although I don’t really crave them, when I smell fast food french fries, it makes me REALLY want some. Other than that, my cravings are pretty minimal, but I think you have to REALLY stick to the true diet for a few months before those cravings go away.
Another thing I miss is EASY. No, really, EASY, meaning I miss popping Stove Top and chicken in the oven and poof, there’s dinner. I miss sandwiches and a simple bowl of cereal. I miss take-out. Mind you, I don’t crave these things, but rather I miss the simplicity of them.
Last thing I miss is cooking with my son. He’s not very interested in Paleo cooking, and we used to make Sneaky Chef muffins all the time (puree fruits and veggies and sneak them in a bread recipe). About a month ago, we got a Paleo cookbook with some desserts in it. We’ve started cooking together a little bit since then. I think holidays will be the toughest. I’m known for my Christmas cookies and homemade stuffing. I’m working on some things that will hopefully work out before Thanksgiving. We’ll see!
Do I cheat? Well, it depends on your definition of cheat. It seems to me the true Paleo followers believe you should NEVER have a grain, legume or dairy. It seems to me they also believe that an occasional organic-ish sugar treat is relatively ok. This is about my motto, although the sugar certainly creeps in a bit more than it ought to. To the best of my knowledge, I have not had ANY dairy or grain. Could I have gotten a little when eating out? Quite likely, but not intentionally. I did have legumes once. We took our son to Disneyland, and I had to choose from the lesser of some evils, and a Mexican dish with some beans was consumed. This occurred about 2-3 months into the diet, and did not appear to have an effect on me. I do consume alcohol on occasion (non-grain clear alcohols like rum or vodka…. or both!) Alcohol certainly sets off my RA. This is something I’ve known for a long time, and so when I do this, I need to plan for a few days of not feeling my best.
What are my sugar sins? Non-dairy chocolates of various flavors (orange, peppermint, raspberry), organic spearmint green tea (with some organic sugar cane junk in it), cinnamon sugar coated almonds. A friend also gave me a cookbook: Paleo Indulgences. From this I’ve made gingerbread pancakes (not sweetened until you add pure maple syrup!) We’ve also found a very respectable brownie recipe in there which we’ve made twice, and a hazelnut chocolate chip cookie recipe, made once. I think if I completely got rid of any “sugar” or “high glycemic” ingredients, I’d probably have a little more steady RA. I did completely eliminate them the first month or so, but… well, I’m human, for now! I do realize I probably treat myself too often. It’s something to work on.
Am I happy with Paleo? Although it has its challenges, YES. I am thrilled. With a huge weight loss (44 pounds, 32 of which I attribute to Paleo and the other 12 lost when I started exercise rehab previous to Paleo) and significant improvement in my RA, it’s almost hard to cheat. It helps that my husband does this with me. I am thankful for that every day. He has to cheat a bit more than I do (drinks Boost, a supplement drink, because his body doesn’t tolerate the volume of fiber and he likes wine now and then).
Any yummy things? Yes, once you get into Paleo, your tastebuds seem to change. I can taste corn syrup now, and immediately spit things out if I think I taste it. Some of my favorite store bought easy foods are:
Dehydrated fruit strips (no sugar or artificial things added or I make my own).
Kit’s Organics Fruit and Nut Bars (chocolate almond coconut flavor) – These things are SO good and have no sugar in them.
Jerky (I have yet to find a store bought version that is acceptable, so I make my own… a lot… and freeze it)
Dehydrated bananas dipped in lemon juice (make my own)
Dehydrated kiwi (tastes like gumdrops, I make my own)
Other yummy, more complex foods:
Salmon cakes (from Everyday Paleo cookbook)
Sweet potato fries (Everyday Paleo)
Warm Arugula salad (think BACON! Everyday Paleo)
Meat candy (a date, pit removed, with a glob of sausage in it and wrapped in BACON… Everyday Paleo)
Roasted cauliflower (cut in large flat chunks, shaken in olive oil and roasted in the oven, a friend’s recipe)
Juice (I’m not sure this is 100% Paleo, but nearly daily, I make fresh juice in the juicer. Sweet enough my son will drink it, we usually do 1 pear, 2 apples, 5 large carrots, and 4-5 large collard green leaves and 1 add-in like leftover broccoli or cauliflower, or cranberries)
How do we make it work? There tends to be a lot of cooking in our house to make this work. We make big meals 2-3 days a week, such that we have leftovers for breakfasts and lunches for a few days. We might make a turkey breast or a roast, then eat it for 3 days. We might make double or triple batches of things like meatballs and honey mustard pecan chicken. We might make a big pot of soup. When in a pinch, we might make sausage. The protein is the most challenging part. Carbs seem to fall into place much easier.
I hope this is of interest to some folks who are interested in trying Paleo. I’m sure I’ll have more to write in the coming days, dealing with my son’s birthday party and 4 guests following Paleo (yes, people around me seem to be converting!) Might be time for some more Paleo brownies!
Oct 28, 2012. October, Yes, October.
I haven’t written anything since June! Agh! I guess it’s time for an update. I had a major setback. On July 23rd, I was feeling fabulous until…. I took my son to the water park. I carried a raft on my head multiple times. Not smart. I got my neck out of alignment (as happens frequently). Then, I went on a 2 week vacation, then school started back up. Still, my neck was not back in alignment, I was taking ibuprofen, I drastically slowed down my exercise program, and I was having mild RA pain. I stopped the ibuprofen in early September and immediately flared MAJORLY. The doc wanted me on prednisone, but I refused. I held fast to my diet and 8 days later, the flare passed on its own. That never happened before, so a weird accomplishment.
I started physical therapy and found out I had weak ligaments in my neck. There is another ligament, not easily testable at C1 (that’s the very top of your spine) that may have been shifting and causing spinal cord compression (very very bad). I had xrays done, and it was ok. The PT got me back on a good course, and I “graduated” last week.
My exercise routine is a mess, and I’m trying to restart it. I work on a Pilates reformer, which I started 2 years ago in exercise rehab. I now have one at home. My PT taught me some stronger core positions, and it’s a lot harder restarting. My tummy muscles hurt!
In my hunt for probiotic answers, I posted some questions on a Paleo website. The answers I got were that some people have a hard time starting probiotics and need to start them more slowly, typically doing better with foods rather than supplements. Just yesterday, I restarted the supplements, as I really don’t seem to have a taste for the probiotic foods. So far so good.
Thus far, I’ve lost 32 pounds (44 from when I started my exercise program). My inflammation markers were still normal as of 2 weeks ago. I went from a size 16 to a size 8, pushing a 6. My energy is better, but definitely decreased with the lessening in my exercise program.
I am currently at a crossroads. I want to restart exercise rehab, but I worry I need more help than that program is able to give me. I want to find a Pilates Reformer class, but there aren’t any near me. It helps me to have somebody to check in with, but right now, I’m flying solo. I think that’s fine in the short term, but if I fall off the bandwagon, I need good people to help me get back on. Again, time will tell.
That’s it for now!
June 13, 2012. Screwed something up big time.
In my pre-Paleo days, I had tried both fish oil and probiotics. Both seemed to set off my RA, especially the probiotics. When I started Paleo, I started fish oil relatively quickly and without issue. It actually seems like fish oil helps, and I will sometimes take an extra if feeling a little sore.
With the probiotics, I decided to wait until school was out for summer to try them. Good call. I was trying 1 kind that my husband and son had been taking, but they didn’t seem to be doing anything, good or bad. Sunday, I bought a different variety, thinking I would alternate the varieties every other day. I took one of the new ones Sunday. Monday I took the old variety, then Tuesday, the new. On Tuesday, I started getting very itchy, then breaking out in some hives, then I started getting symptoms like I do when I eat MSG and go into anaphylactic shock, so I quickly took some benedryl, which seemed to work. The bad part, I fell asleep from the benedryl early last night (around 8:30). I’m now awake, still mildly itchy, and mildly sore all over, moderately sore in my neck.
Likely, this is the probiotics. It could also be the fresh cherries I ate (hadn’t had them since I’ve been Paleo) or a turkey burger (less likely, as they were organic and only had rosemary on them, plus I’ve had them twice before).
Figuring this out might be a painful process!
June 12, 2012 Remission?
To me, remission means your disease is gone. Hopefully forever. You don’t have X anymore. A better definition of remission is “your disease is still there, but we can’t detect it anymore.”
On June 7th, I had an appointment at the rheumatologist. I showed him the bloodwork I had done at the end of April, with my good inflammation markers. He said that bloodwork in combination with his exam, my self-report, and my steady (not worsening) joint damage on xray means I am in remission. WITH Enbrel, Paleo Diet, and exercise, my RA is not detectable.
Something I learned via the doc:
Of people who reach a “remission” state like mine and stop their meds:
60% are able to continue for 6 months or longer without meds.
40% need to go back on meds rather quickly
Of those 40% who go back on meds, 1/3 are unable to get their disease back under control, at least within a 6 month period.
At some point, 1-2 years in the future, I hope to decrease or stop my Enbrel. I’m not ready yet. Still, it’s great news.
I’ve spoken to a few people recently who have been diagnosed with RA. They’re all interested in the Paleo Diet approach, and I know 1 has started the diet. I hope we’re able to see similar results for them all!
For comments, please visit:
May 21, 2012. Temptations!
So, I’ve had 2 events recently that provided a test of my desire to stick to the diet. #1 was a pot luck at a friend’s house. She was kind enough to make us something she knew we could eat, plus we brought stuff we knew we could eat. None-the-less, chips, salsa, desserts, etc… made for a need for strong willpower. In the end, I was a good girl. I did have a dish with tomatoes in it (a food that I think I ought to avoid). Within 20 minutes or so, I was sore. It only lasted a couple of days, and I was better. I successfully avoided milks and grains.
Today was a different matter. It was an appreciation picnic for volunteering at my son’s school. We went, and it was ALL yummy processed foods… hoagies, chips, cheese balls, cake. The only think I could eat (besides some dried out vegetables that looked yuck) was some fresh watermelon. Although it wasn’t my favorite thing, I ate 2 pieces, and we left early. Oh, and I ate 1 yummy plain potato chip. Shhhh! Thus far, no side effects! I’ve decided that food events with people I don’t know will be hardest. There just wasn’t anything we could eat there, and hard to explain to people who don’t know you.
Anyway, my special treat of May thus far was on Mother’s Day. I got pancakes for breakfast! The closest to bread that I’ve had since January, my husband found a recipe for almond meal pancakes. They had a bit of an eggy flavor to them, but were absolutely divine! Add some fruit on top, bacon, and fresh squeezed juice…. a great Mother’s Day treat!
Apr 25, 2012. A Miracle
I suck at blogging. But this is something that needs to be posted. 3 1/2 months on Paleo diet. Inflammation markers from blood test results:
Sedimentation rate (0-20 is normal):
July, 2011: 35
Feb 9, 2012: 28 (1 month on diet)
April 20, 2012: 13 AMAZING!
C Reactive Protein (under 1.0 is normal):
July, 2011: 2.8
Feb 9, 2012: 1.3 (1 month on diet)
April 20, 2012: 0.94 AMAZING!
Apr 17, 2012. 3 months, 7 days.
Minus 17 pounds since I started the diet, 29 since I started exercise rehab/ physical therapy. Eggs don’t seem to be going well. It may have something to do with the fact that I ate a zillion of them the week after Easter! Oye!! Tiny itchy bumps came back and persist, although I haven’t had eggs in 2 days. Major flare 2 nights ago. Bad storm moved through. My whole body got cold and sore. By morning, I couldn’t stand up from the couch, where I had slept due to not wanting to get more cold by getting out from under the covers to go to bed. Sheeesh! It was short lived. 1 Advil, 2 fish oil, 1 vitamin d and by afternoon, I only had mild pain in 1 hip and knee. Today, all is pretty normal, although my hips hurt last night in bed.
My worst cheat thus far has been a marshmallow…. a marshmallow
Mar 21, 2012. Day 80ish.
I started this diet to try to get better control of my RA. As it is ending up, I have seen so many other health benefits, despite my RA continuing to be up and down. As I try to get eggs and tomatoes back into my diet, I am not having huge success. I have a mini-flare and sometimes tiny, itchy, hive-like bumps that go away within 24-48 hours.
On the positive, I have seen periods of excellent RA, better than I was achieving before the diet. I have lost 14 pounds since being Paleo and 26 pounds within the last year. 20 more and I could be quite content. I am able to do more on the reformer, and I still have hopes to be able to squat and always alternate feet on the stairs (having more yes than no days on that right now).
Feb 27, 2012. Day 48 – Eggs
Yesterday, I reintroduced eggs into my diet. 1.5 scrambled eggs with bacon! Yum! We got high omega 3 eggs from the local organic farm. Within 2-3 hours, I was unable to move my neck/head. I am hoping it was just coincidence and that I perhaps injured my neck from a workout 2 days previously. 2 ibuprofen took care of it relatively well. Today, my neck feels pretty good, but not quite back to normal. I will try eggs again later in the week on a day I’m not working.
Other than that, I continue to do well. Alternating my feet on the stairs is still going well, although it seemed slightly worse yesterday after the eggs. I am trying some new challenging exercises on the reformer, basically doing the same resistance, with 1 leg instead of 2. My left leg seems much weaker than my right, something I had not been aware of. Hopefully this will help equal them out.
Feb. 22, 2012. Day 43 and Sick
So, I got a cold about 9 days ago, and haven’t had my Enbrel since. I tend not to take my shots or spread them out when sick, as I have a hard time getting over colds.
This cold is lingering. My son has had it 3 1/2 weeks. I’m not feeling that badly, but haven’t had a voice in 5 days. It’s unusual for me to not be miserable when sick. Luck or the diet? My RA is mild, especially since I’ve gone 10 days without a shot. I’m taking 1-2 ibuprofen a day and increased my fish oil from 2 a day to 3-4 a day.
We were introduced to oven roasted cauliflower. OMG! So good!
http://whatscookingamerica.net/Vegetables/CauliflowerRoast.htm
The diet is going fine. Chocolate seems to be ok on occasion, and I found some good gluten and dairy free ones. I have yet to introduce eggs, tomatoes, peppers, or nuts.
More to come!
Feb 10, 2012. Day 32 – The Doctor
Well, hopefully this is all good news. I saw my doctor, told him about my diet, and he thought it was fine for me to continue with it. He spoke to the positive research around fish oil for RA. My blood pressure dropped, now 105/75. A year ago it was around 135/90, but had been steadily dropping the last several months before the diet. This may have been due to my thyroid creeping up, and I note my BP is higher the lower my TSH number is. My TSH is low now though, so this is exciting. The last time I had labs was 7 months ago. Here are my comparisons:
C Reactive Protein (inflammation marker):
Was 2.9, Now 1.3 (under 1.0 is normal)
Sedimentation Rate (inflammation marker):
Was 35, Now 28 (under 20 is normal)
Vitamin D
Was (unknown, but low). Now: 26 (above 30 is normal)
Planning to get that up a little more. I’m trying to take 2000 IU of Vitamin D a day, but I know sometimes I forget and only take 1000.
Kidney and liver functions all normal.
TSH 0.81 (thyroid)
The doc noted my joint count was the same (aka, I currently have the same 3 knuckles on my hand that are puffy, but I know 1 of them is significantly less so).
He didn’t see any reason to change my current course of action. With that said, we noted my best CRP in the last 5 years or so was 1.2 in July 2008. I think my best sed rate was 19, and I am still well above that. It’s a goal.
Now, starting 3 days ago, I had a little square of chocolate each night. No milk, no gluten, but it did have sugar, obviously. After my test results, I had 5 little squares, and this morning am a bit sore. I did have a good workout last night, so it may be my workout or a sugar/chocolate issue. Time will tell. I intend to eat chocolate the next few nights, then stop it again to see what happens. I have to have SOME kind of cheat!
More to come.
Jan 29, 2012. Day 20
It’s almost too exciting to think about…. my RA being in remission through diet. I still don’t know what’s going on, but it appears to be something really great. My inflammation is noticeably decreased. Even my right hand is now showing big improvements. I got a few more degrees of range on my knees. I was able to get down from standing on the reformer without a step stool. I was able to sit on the step stool and get up by myself, using the counter.
My knees are doing strange things, unfortunately they’re things that hurt. I dare say my tendons and such are having a hard time keeping up with how loose my knees have become. The joints don’t hurt, but the surrounding tissues seem to crackle, pop, and occasionally get very painful for a few minutes. I think that might be good.
It’s almost too much to think about…. too much to wish for…. what if……?
Jan 28, 2012. Day 19.
Day 19 rocks.
The bad: my neck has been out of alignment for days now, and it’s been driving me crazy. I haven’t lost any more weight.
The good: my neck seems to be back in alignment today, but still sore. My flexibility has had huge improvements. My hands are looking better. I am sore when I try to see how far I can bend my knees and hips, but they seem to be bending further than in a long time. My swelling, although still coming and going, appears to be slightly better every day. There’s times when my skin seems to be “hanging” on my fingers (aka, my fingers are much thinner than typical). I’m having periods of typical fatigue, but my better times seem much better. Sometimes I feel like I could run (a long lost skill), but I’m not there yet.
Gosh, I hope these improvement aren’t all in my head.
We went to Chili’s for dinner. I had fajitas without the stuff… basically steak and onions. Yummy, but very salty.
Chris is still supporting me. He’s mostly following the diet, with occasional alcohol and Boost.
Until later….
Jan 26, 2012. Day 17.
Well, I did not lose a single pound the entire second week. The good news is, I’ve lost 2 more pounds this week, bringing the total to 10 pounds.
Now, week 2 sucked. My RA was up and down, my brain was foggy, I had a couple of dizzy spells (I think caused by lack of hydration), etc…. Minus the RA part, my husband was having similar issues. I get brain fog frequently, which seems to go with my RA. This was highly unusual for him, and he didn’t like it. He bailed on the diet on day 15. So, he’s still supporting me, which I appreciate, but he’s had to add some other things into his diet to make it work.
The last 3 days, my brain has cleared, my cravings are quite minimal, but my body is still not settled. Although my swelling seems less, my pain seems the same or a tad worse. On top of that, my neck keeps getting out of allignment, which doesn’t seem to be related to RA. My pains are very different than typical. Part of me wonders if swelling is down, so that makes tendons and muscles loose and not supportive. Time will tell.
In the meantime, I’m more than half way to my 30 day goal. I’ve discovered that both blueberries and/or blackberries make a salad delicious, and my son thinks so too.
More to come!
Jan 20, 2012. Day 12.
Well, it felt like a huge setback this morning, but is turning into a mild bump in the road. My RA, for reasons unknown, was quite horrible starting at around 4:00 AM. Usually I can pin it down to sleeping too long, stress, etc… but this morning I wasn’t sure what it was. Perhaps hormones. There was definitely a DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) component to it. I did an exercise on the reformer that I hadn’t done in a while, and every muscle and joint used hurt. It was a slow morning. It’s funny how that happens with me… I last used the reformer 36 hours previously, and this was the first indication of a problem. I’m not sure why the rest of my body hurt.
Anyway, 2 ibuprofen and 2 hours on the couch, and I’m back to normal. Despite feeling so badly this morning, I wasn’t significantly more swollen, and in fact, I think my joints look pretty good. I should think about photographing them over time.
My mother-in-law, who got me books on Paleo for Christmas, called this morning. She is thinking about starting it based on how good my husband (her son) looked after 1 week on it. Exciting!
Now, the food updates! The bacon brussels sprouts were great. I would eat them again any time. The bad part…. gas! Wow! Serious gas! The meatloaf with the fiber discards from juicing was also very good. A ballpark recipe: 1 lb grass-fed beef, 1-2 tsp garlic powder, several good shakes of Italian seasoning, and about 2 cups of leftover juice fiber consisting of carrots, apple, pear, and collard greens, mixed together and baked at 350 for about 50-60 minutes.
I didn’t weigh myself this morning, but suspect I’ve stayed the same. My husband said maybe we ought to weigh ourselves only once or twice a week so as not to get discouraged. I still say I’m in it for the RA help, and whether or not this works will depend much more heavily on that than my weight. Still, I think he is right and maybe weighing myself daily might be discouraging. But hey, I’m still down 8 pounds in 12 days. That’s pretty great.
Jan 19, 2012. Day 10
Well, the day started rough. I felt so great yesterday, but so tired, that I went to bed early. Too much sleep almost always ends up bad for my RA (and I wonder if I’m the only person who has this RA problem… everybody else seems to love their naps… NOT ME!) Anyway, it wasn’t very painful, but I was very stiff. I took an ibuprofen, and have felt great the rest of the day.
My eyes continue to seem a little better, but not as good as I’d like. They’re still very dry in the AM or any time I lay down. In case I didn’t explain my eyes yet, I was diagnosed with thyroid eye disease 6 months or so ago. It’s horrible in that your eyes can bug right out of your head. Google it for some pictures, and you’ll immediately get the point. I’m not that bad, and I hope to keep myself from getting that bad.
Food was good today. We had homemade juice this morning, and I used the fiber discards from the juice to make in a meatloaf tonight. It’s in the oven now. I sure hope it’s good. We’re also making bacon and garlic brussel sprouts. I’m not one for sprouts, but the bacon sure makes the house smell good. Hopefully the taste will be there. I’ll let you know next post.
I’ve been able to wear my wedding ring for the first time in 6 years. I stopped wearing it when I was pregnant with my son, due to swollen pregnant fingers. I wasn’t able to put it back on due to swollen RA fingers…. quite unfair! Despite being 15 pounds lighter than when my husband first placed it on my finger, it’s still tight. I have noticed how much my fingers change size over the course of the day since wearing it again. In the AM, my hands were real cold, and the ring was actually loose. As soon as my hands warmed, it got quite tight again… again very interesting.
Both Chris and I lost 8 pounds as of 3 days ago, but neither one of us have lost a pound since. I hope the weight continues to come off, but as long as the RA improves, I will try to be happy even if I don’t lost the weight.
Oh, the sugar cravings are significantly diminished today. That’s a BIG DEAL! I could hear chocolate chip cookies calling me all the way from the store.
Jan 16, 2012. Day 8.
My initial intent was to write a post every day, but it just hasn’t happened. So, here is a grand update….
As of this morning, I have lost 8 pounds. Yes, 8 pounds in 8 days… a bit freaky! my favorite meals have been fillet minon, salmon salad (baked salmon with olive oil and dillweed, broken into flakes on a red/purple salad mix with homemade dressing and lemon juice), and some concoction we have yet to name which included chicken, sweet potato, and pineapple cooked in coconut milk. Yum!
I am trying to work on the pilates reformer every 2 days, which has been going ok.
In terms of how I feel, I realized I was a bit dehydrated (getting dizzy on standing a few times), so have increased my water intake which helped immediately.
My skin seems tons more hydrated/oily, but not in an acne sort of way. I’m less itchy.
I am seeing possible RA improvement in both hands, particularly my left. My knees, although still stiff, are tons better than earlier this week.
I am unsure if the swelling in my eyes is improving, but they’ve seemed less dry the last 2 mornings.
One gross, but good thing… I have had chronic plaque on the back of my bottom 2 front teeth that I can’t ever get to stay gone (dentist thought it was my meds, would scrape it off, and 2 days later it would be back). It has shrunk significantly and is almost gone.
Chris has also lost 8 pounds (now down to 140 pounds). He has noticed some changes in his mouth, and he looks younger, partially as he’s lost weight in his face, but also because his skin appears more youthful.
We’ve eaten out a few times, which means we’ve sort of cheated. I’m sure we weren’t eating grass-fed beef, but we did eat beef and veggies. I’m sure they were cooked in some oil of unknown goodness, but we avoided the gluten (as far as I know) and the dairy. Hooray for us!
Hoping for a good second week and more excitement. I have a doctor’s appointment at the end of my 30 days. Should be the perfect time for an RA workup.
Jan 12, 2012. Day 3.
It’s always a better day when there is plenty of food to eat. I made another pot of soup…. a whole chicken with cauliflower, carrots, celery, and onion plus lots of herbs.
3-4 pounds down on the scale this morning, total.
Breakfast: garlic chicken salad
Snack: jerky and cherries
Snack: blueberries
Lunch: Garlic chicken salad
Snack: blueberries, dates
Dinner: chicken/vegetable soup
Worked out on the reformer. Less cranky day.
Jan 11, 2012. Day 2.
Day 2 went better than day 1. I made sure I had lots more food to eat. It’s a full-time job, just getting food prepped to eat.
The books said you’d likely lose 3-5 pounds in water weight the first week or so. I woke up a few times in the middle of the night having to go. I was down 2 pounds on the scale this morning.
I discovered the joy of dates. They’re pretty tasty, a nice treat.
Breakfast was chicken, fruit and carrots.
Jerky as a snack.
Lunch was chicken on lettuce, carrots, soup, and a few cherries.
Another snack of jerky.
Dinner was hamburgers. Now I have to say that getting lean (93% fat free) ground beef made for a hockey puck of a hamburger. We’ll have to figure out how to get that easier to chew and more flavorful. The answer may lie in meatloaf, although eggs and tomatoes are currently our for me for 28 more days, so I’m not sure I can make that any less of a hockey puck.
My RA seemed a smidge better today. It might be coincidence, as it has its ebbs and flows.
Jan 10, 2012. Day 1
Well, it was an interesting day, to say the least. I think the reason you supposedly lose weight on this diet is because you expend a lot of effort trying to figure out what you’re going to eat.
Breakfast: chicken (cooked last night), blackberries, and carrots.
Snack: homemade grass-fed jerky (dehydrated last night) and a carrot
Lunch: chicken (made last night), blackberries, carrots, clementine
Snack: jerky
Snack: blueberries
Dinner: Salmon and homemade soup (didn’t realize until too late that the vegetable broth had tomatoes in it…. oops).
How I felt: Hungry all day, but not “sugar crashing.” My energy level maintained all day, until cooking all the meals for tonight and tomorrow. Then, I was pooped. I craved something sweet, and lots of berries were on sale, so I got 10 pints of blueberries, some raspberries, and some kiwi. Hopefully that will last me the week or more.
29 days to go.
Jan 9, 2012. Twas the Night Before Paleo
Since my diagnosis of RA in 1996, I have held out hope of finding a way to make it better or eliminate my symptoms without medications. Pretty quickly after my diagnosis, I started taking supplements, 16 of them if I remember correctly, and altered my diet to exclude meat and dairy products. After about 8 weeks or so (I can’t exactly remember), I got chicken pox and so ended that phase. I was not going to the store poxed. Instead, I ordered pizza for a week! The diet did seem to help, but not nearly enough.
I have read many books and articles about helping autoimmune diseases. Some have been scientific. Some have not. It’s hard to tell what is real and what is crazy. My favorite was advertisements for emu oil as a cure for RA. I think not. I really think anything that claims to cure it is likely a hoax.
Some common threads have stuck with me as possibly making some sense. One has been that RA is a disease of modern times, not ancient ones. Another of these has been “leaky gut syndrome.” The thought is that some foods and e-coli get through your intestinal wall when they shouldn’t. I’ve seen a couple of scientific articles that weren’t necessarily studying leaky gut syndrome, but supported it none-the-less. One, I seem to recall, said that people with RA have higher levels of e-coli in their joints than the general population. Leaky gut has made sense to me. I also developed a life threatening food allergy around the same time as my RA. That seemed strange to me. I’ve also had some serious issues with constipation on rare occasions, never having those issues before. Before Enbrel, the drug which I credit for making me the functional person I am today, I would fast on really bad RA days. I would typically feel much better after skipping some meals. I don’t know if this is crazy or not. I guess it’s just a few leaky gut things that line up in my head.
Long story short, after trying my own version of non-researched caveman diets (because I really don’t believe we ought to be eating so much sugar and flour), which typically involved cutting out sugar, wheat, and sometimes milk, my mother-in-law showed me an article about Paleo. For Christmas, she bought me 3 books about it. The books made sense and put a little science behind the leaky gut theory. The overall theory is taking us back to what our hunter-gatherer ancestors ate for millions of years. Supposedly, our bodies and genetics have not yet adapted to our modern agriculture diet of the last 5-10,000 years. There were some interesting pieces of research behind the Paleo theory, but the diet itself does not appear to be put through good testing as of yet.
So, here I sit, the night before Paleo, January 8, 2012. I’ve read 1 book thoroughly and skimmed through the other two. My husband has agreed to support me on this, although he refuses to eat any eggs and may cheat on occasion. For 30 days, I plan on going full-out, no cheating with the auto-immune conditions. My rules as I understand them are: lots of lean meat, lots of vegetables and some fruits. For my first 30 days, I am also skipping out on eggs, nuts, tomatoes, peppers and eggplants (no loss on the eggplants for me) as this was recommended for people with autoimmune conditions. I may try to build them in, if the diet seems to help, at the end of 30 days. I am also taking Vitamin D (which I take anyway) and fish oil (to get my omega 3s up and in balance with my omega 6s).
We shopped for food this weekend, picking up some lean grass-fed ground beef, wild-caught salmon, 2 whole chickens (I would have preferred a turkey breast, but all the ones I found were quite processed or out of my price range), chicken breasts, vegetables, and fruits. Currently, I am making jerky in the dehydrator and 1 chicken in the crock pot. I ate a fair share of chocolate today… may as well get that out of my system. I guess I’m ready to go.
So, I can’t believe I’m going to put this out there for the world to see, but here it is. My name is Lori. I’m 39 years old. I’ve had asthma and allergies for 36 years, a food allergy and RA for 15 years, Grave’s Disease for 4 years, and thyroid eye disease for 9 months. I’m 173 pounds. I’ve been on Enbrel for 12 years. I’ve had prednisone for about 7 of the last 15 years, but not currently. My RA is currently under relatively good control. I’ve been doing pilates with an exercise rehabilitation specialist for the last 16 months. Let’s see what this Paleo does!