Here's a New Year's Eve WHEE diary to ring in the new year with a re-newed digestive system. (I hope)
WHEE (Weight, Health, Eating and Exercise) is a community support diary for Kossacks who are currently or planning to start losing, gaining or maintaining their weight through diet and exercise or fitness. Any supportive comments, suggestions or positive distractions are appreciated. If you are working on your weight or fitness, please -- join us! You can also click the WHEE tag to view all diary posts.
I've been having digestive problems for years, although I have not been very conscious of them until recently. After reading a book about natural remedies for migraines, I decided to keep a food journal and analyze the history of these debilitating monthly headaches. They began in earnest when I was an exchange student in England. At the time I thought they were "sinus" headaches, caused by pollution (I was in an industrial city) or the habit my friends had of offering everyone at the table a cigarette when we were in the pub. One person lighting up is bad enough, but with a whole table full, I often was in a cloud of smoke. After an examination of my eating habits, I realized that, a vegetarian at the time, I ate a large amount of cheddar cheese. Every week I went food shopping at a large market in a parking garage. There were so many delicious cheeses available, cheddar with herbs was my favorite. I ate large amounts of it. I still love cheddar cheese, especially English--also Cotswold. Years (and I mean years) later, I realized the cheddar cheese, if not the cause of my migraines, was aggravating them. I quit eating cheddar and the migraines were much less. I still got headaches, but without the nausea.
Food wasn't the only culprit. Hormones played a role, because I didn't get migraines during my pregnancies. But after the third baby was born, they intensified. Earlier they were more head based. Then it changed to my stomach. I could actually feel my digestive system rising into my nervous system right before an attack. Weird.
A series of health related episodes led to my digestive system as the root of my health problems. I was checked by a cardiologist and tested normal except for too high LDL cholesterol. Way too high. Also, I have gallstones, but they are asymptomatic.
So, my husband (he has his own reasons for doing this) and I decided to begin the new year by doing a digestive cleanse, or as the brochure from Standard Process calls it, a purification program. This lasts 21 days and consists of drinking a shake they manufacture and adding fruit to it. That's two or three times a day. We can eat most fruits and vegetables plus a small amount of rice or lentils the first 11 days, then add chicken or fish. I'm only going for the fish. My body has not been enjoying meat--well the beginning of my digestive tract does, but not the center.
I looked at the ingredients of the shake and various supplements (four, to be exact) and they look good. We're using only organic vegetables. This particular manufacturer uses whey protein, so it isn't good for people with serious milk allergies.
There is so much junk in our environment, and although I eat healthy foods most of the time, I'm no purist. Two foods that made me sick this holiday season: red wine, and a cupcake with red dye in the frosting. I'm finding slowly but surely that I simply cannot eat certain things. People have been bringing sweets and I've been entertaining, so I've been eating too much as well. My stomach is rebelling as I write this. Not too bad, but it's tight with slight pain.
The brochure for this cleanse recommends exercise as well. I've been good about working out, but between my work, having the kids off from school and the snow and ice that periodically falls or forms, I decided to take this week off.
I have always been interested in holistic health. We use homeopathy for most ailments. My kids have only rarely been on antibiotics. One son had one ear infection at age five. My daughter, the youngest, hasn't needed them at all. I can't remember when my older son was on them, either.
Allopathic medicine has its place, but I believe many chronic conditions such as mine are better dealt with in a holistic way. Even the cholesterol is digestive in the end, because it's made in the liver, I believe, from unused sugar.
I am looking forward to this cleanse and will report about it every so often in comments. I'll report on how it is and at the end, whether I think it works.
This diary is up early because I have to go to work and can't blog from there at this time. I'll be back around 1pm, EDT to comment on comments.