Never Beyond Repair in this Brand New Day

...and in this brand new day, God continues to give us food for our bodies, nourishment for our souls and breath for our lungs.  Thank You, Lord.

HOWEVER, the food for our bodies can turn on us.  Or perhaps, our body itself is leading the revolt, choosing to no longer digest the "sustenance" we give it.  Is it that the food God blessed is no longer blessed?  Or is it that what God has blessed we have altered, changed, modified and created new foods which we (ahem, perhaps 'Moi' to be more specific) can no longer digest.

My symptons?  Let's see.  Brain fog, fatigue, weakness, shortness of breath, aching limbs, (fibromyalgia) sudden outbreaks of hives.  Sounds horrid, doesn't it?  Or does it sound at all familiar?  Some have worse, much worse, physicial issues no doubt.   But if I do nothing, what ailment comes next?  The latter, the outbreaks of near full body hives each time I work up a sweat, is my last straw.

So here's to the first day of a brand new journey.  My kitchen is my lab and I am the specimen.  Care to follow along?  I won't promise excitment, but perhaps the only way I can commit to a... to a what?  Oh yes, to an 'elimination diet' is by choosing to blog and to nutriontionally bare all (you see, perhaps if people follow along, the sheer fear of emarrassment from quitting before the results are in will keep me going, capiche?). 

So why the song?  I heard it for the first time coming home from the grocery store this morning.  It kind'a gave me a little extra "oumph" and Holy Encourgament to try this new, ugh, "diet" or way of eating, in hopes of finding out if indeed the food that I eat is what's affecting me physically...

Here is is - The Elimination Diet.  My goal?  To start with a week, then two, then hopefully up to six.

http://www.precisionnutrition.com/elimination-diet#_ftn2	Foods to include	Foods to exclude
Fruits	Almost all fresh fruit	Citrus fruits (orange, grapefruit, lemon, lime, etc)
Vegetables	Almost all fresh raw, steamed, sautéed, or roasted vegetables	Tomatoes, eggplant, potatoes (sweet potato and yams are okay)
Starch	Rice*, buckwheat*	Wheat, corn, barley, spelt, kamut, rye, oats, all gluten-containing products
Legumes		Soybeans, tofu, tempeh, soy milk, all beans, peas, lentils
Nuts and seeds		All seeds and nuts
Meat and fish	Fish, turkey, lamb, wild game	Beef, chicken, pork, cold cuts, bacon, hotdogs, canned meat, sausage, shellfish, meat substitutes made from soy
Dairy products and milk substitutes	Unsweetened rice milk*, almond milk, coconut milk	Milk, cheese, cottage cheese, cream, yogurt, butter, ice cream, non-dairy creamers, eggs
Fats	Cold-expeller pressed olive oil, flaxseed oil, coconut oil	Margarine, butter, processed and hydrogenated oils, mayonnaise, spreads
Beverages	Drink plenty of fresh water, herbal teas (e.g. rooibos, peppermint, etc.)	Alcohol, caffeine (coffee, black tea, green tea, soda)
Spices and condiments	Sea salt, fresh pepper, fresh herbs and spices (i.e. garlic, cumin, dill, ginger, oregano, parsley, rosemary, thyme, turmeric)	Chocolate, ketchup, mustard, relish, chutney, soy sauce, barbecue sauce, vinegar
Sweeteners	Stevia (if needed)	White or brown sugar, honey, maple syrup, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, desserts

I'll need these songs, no doubt, as well as the prayers of many if I'm to have any willpower at all!

 

Blessings,

SMC