Eat to Live

"Let thy food be thy medicine and thy medicine be thy food."

-Hippocrates

Well... I have been working on this post for at least a month as a response to all the people who keep asking me how my diet changes have been going and what I think about them.  I had paragraphs and paragraphs out the wazoo.  Then I woke up this morning and decided to delete it all.

Crazy? Maybe.  Freeing? Without a doubt!

I have had so much stress about this post and I think it boils down to that I just don't like to write about food.  I laid out in great detail the ins and outs of animal protein and its dangerously acidic nature, etc.  But let me tell you.... I decided to get rid of it.  I'm not here to preach to you about why my diet is the best or outline all the research backing it up.  I'm here to tell you what works for me.  So, without further ado, here is my food update:

Background:
I have had stomach problems since I was an infant.  (As in, my mom texted me last week saying she found some of the antibiotics they gave me that expired in 1983.  That's right folks, I have been on meds for my stomach issues since before I was even ONE year old.)

After trying everything from digestive enzymes to meds to allergy/disease tests, nothing seemed to help... if it worked for a day I was thrilled... but I wanted something that LASTED.  After having an allergy test and finding out I was "allergic" to 2 whole pages of food (yes TWO pages of ingredients/foods/essentials) and having tests run on my gallbladder, I decided to take matters into my own hands.

I kept hearing a lot of buzz on the internet about a book and decided to order it off the internet.  Half way through the book, I turned to my husband.... gave him a helpless look and slammed my head down on the table.  The book was the wake up call I needed!  Our health is our OWN decision... sure we can blame our genes... but the food/products we ingest actually manipulate and CHANGE our genes.  That's right.... FOOD CHANGES OUR GENES.  It can turn certain genes off and others on .... and let me just tell you, That is NOT a Good Thing.  

The book described my ailments to annoying detail and I realized that I could change my health.  SO.... that moment, I made a decision.  To Take Control.  No Excuses or Half-Assing Stuff.  I started focusing on the alkaline or acidic nature of my foods and started eating the things that I should eat rather than the things that I was in a habit of eating.

The book focuses on balancing the pH levels in the body.  When our bodies are more acidic, it promotes inflammation and disease.  So, I cut out the two most acidic foods (meat and dairy).  Cut them out COMPLETELY cold-turkey.  *besides one rough night after Kenny Chesney when I needed food BAD and all we had was taquitos... one too many beers will do that to you.   Fail.

I know what you're thinking... isn't beer acidic?  Why yes, but moderation people. moderation. We all have our vices.  Moving on....

5 Month Update:
It's been about five and half months.  How am I feeling?  SPECTACULAR.  You're looking at a girl who used to puke up food from once a week to every day.  When I first moved to Utah it got so bad that I threw up 5 times a day.  I would just sit in the bathroom and cry because I couldn't keep anything down.  We're talking actual meals in the toilet instead of digested food.  TMI?! Probably.  But it was that bad. I still eat fish about twice a week.  But mostly veggies, beans, grains and the occasional soy product. (Trying to get rid of soy but baby steps...)

NOW?... I have gotten sick twice!  TWICE!  in 5 months!  Well, that's just a gosh darn record right there! And a helluva one too :)  No more puking in my lap while driving or making sure my car was with me 24/7 so I could have an escape route at parties.... NONE OF THAT!  Oh glorious release!  

And... as a nice little added cherry to this sweet deal, I have lost weight! Who would have thought.  My body has DEFINITELY changed.  My stomach is almost back to where it was when I graduated college 5 years ago.  My husband was so impressed with how I've seemed to tone up that he is trying my nutritional change to see if it makes him feel better too.

If I went to the gym more than 4 times a month, I'd probably see better results. But hey, I went 2x last week and 2x this week... definitely getting better on the whole gym thing.  My goal is to make it a weekly thing and get 3-4 visits a week.... we'll see how that works out.

Well regardless, that's my update :)  If anyone is interested in learning a little bit about the changes and how they affect the body, I recommend watching "Forks Over Knives" on Netflix.  It's a great documentary I watched last night that happens to outline the information about the diet changes I adopted.  It also discusses one of the most comprehensive population studies for nutrition which is really interesting information.

I promise next time to write about something fun and not food related :)