The New Diet

If you regularly read my blog, you know I have been struggling with an undiagnosed autoimmune disorder for about a year now.  A couple of weeks ago, while not sleeping (one of my least favorite new activities), I decided to look at the hash tag #autoimmune on twitter.  At this point, I don’t care where the answers come from, I just want one, some, something, anything.

Before I proceed with my story any further, I need to lay some groundwork information for you.  I am a fan of food.  I enjoy watching the Food Network.  I love shows like Diner, Drive Ins and Dives and Iron Chef.  They are like my food porn.  These shows inspire me to try new and different types of food.  I also enjoy cooking and baking.  I love going to a restaurant, trying something new, and then going home to reverse engineer it.  Allrecipes.com is my friend.  Bottom line, I’m a foodie.

That being said, this self admitted foodie has been at war with food for almost a year.  My mystery illness was first thought to be something gastro-intestional. First it was a clear liquid diet.  Then it was a no fat diet (enter living on greek yogurt).  I would feel worse after I ate.  I got to the point where I just got really good at not eating.  Unfortunately, you can’t not eat indefinitely.

So the other night on twitter, I find a post about C.R.E.S.T., the autoimmune I suspect I have but has not been confirmed.  You don’t see this one very often, so I clicked on it.  It was a blog post about the Paleo diet and if it could help with C.R.E.S.T. symptoms.  I had no idea what the Paleo diet was.  Time to go to Wikipedia.  Basically the Paleo diet (aka Paleolithic diet) is eating like a cave man.  If it can be hunted or gathered, it’s good.  Eat as raw as possible.  No grains, no dairy.  No Dairy????  I’ve spent the better part of the last year living on Dannon Greek Yogurt.  Surely they jest.

At this point I was willing to try anything that sounded reasonable.  I went to the grocery store.  I stocked up on fruit, vegetables, nuts, fish.  After just 24 hours, I felt better.  My acid reflux due to my hiatal hernia wasn’t as bad.  I had more energy (that’s a win).  So I continued. I am happy to report it’s been about two weeks since I started to eat like a cave man.  I feel better.  I have more good days than bad (HUGE win).  I was able to start walking again.

I find my new diet extremely boring, frustrating at times.  I mourn the loss of my friends bread and dairy.  I try not to think about them.  When I get tempted to see them, I just remind myself what trouble they cause.  Sometimes my logical head wins.  Sometimes I pour myself that missed bowl of cereal and pay the price (It happened last night ). 

I think to keep temptation to a minimum, I will also be avoiding the Food Network and the Cooking Channel.  Guy and Nadia G, I will miss you!

Until Tomorrow  Melissa