The holidays are here! Yikes! The candy! The denial!

Well, the holiday season is in full swing -- when did it start, with Halloween or what? It's tough to be on the SCD diet this time of year, as sugar, flour, and pretty much anything cooked by anyone else are not allowed. No chocolate at all, no grains at all, no sugar or maple syrup, make even baking your own holiday treats kind of difficult.

Ah, cookies and chocolate, what fond memories I have! Now I use nut flour instead of grains in our baked goods, which is expensive and hard to do sometimes, but it's all we're allowed on this crazy diet! It's funny that they allow nuts as I'd heard that they can be allergenic, but they haven't caused ds or myself any noticeable problems, not even peanuts (other than the almonds, but they aren't true nuts anyway). We still have the dark circles under our eyes that are indicative of food allergies -- I hope it's not dairy, eggs, or nuts or we'll be sunk.

Sometimes I'd love to be able to eat normal food again, but seeing how well Chris has been doing lately makes me want to continue with it, at least for a few more months (they do fly by, don't they?). I am hoping he will be able to tolerate almonds soon, that the diet has healed him enough for that. Already, he is able to eat grapes now, which he could not just a couple of months ago (it caused a combination of constipation and diaper rash back then).

Giving up chocolate wasn't as hard as I thought, I've already given up so much stuff I used to be hooked on (like coffee -- had to for my homeopathic remedy, now find that my intestinal complaints from it keep me from wanting it), I already know what works for me -- eating a handful of raw cashews or pecans seems to satisfy any candy craving I have, for some reason.

Why SCD?
The idea behind the diet is that food intolerances are caused by a leaky gut. And that this diet can heal the gut and bring about a state of health that can mean you can eat normally again, although I would think it would always have to be low on the processed foods end. I will reintroduce true whole grains first, probably as soaked porridge.

We are doing the diet mostly because ds has so many digestive problems. I think ds's problems started with six months of thrush, his first six months of life, and also, I actually gave him rice cereal once when he was only four months old at the urging of my pedatrician. But it's also genetic, as both dh and myself have food intolerances, and probably systemic candida infections (which cause leaky gut). And of course, I have a mouthful of mercury fillings, and actually lost one at some point just before I got pregnant. See the "Smoking Tooth" video at http://www.iaomt.org if you don't think mercury fillings are a problem to be considered (I didn't until recently).

But my PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome) symptoms started when I was ten, with abnormal weght gain and premature breast development, and PCOS is a sign of chronic inflammation, so I had leaky gut even then. And I recall now sympoms of candida even then, including a vaginal yeast infection that I didn't realize was that, so it must have been an ongoing problem. Did I give ds my leaky gut, and did my mom give me mine? She probably had it too, especially since she died of an autoimmune disease - dermatomyositis - and leaky gut can trigger such things. My father had fibromyalgia, which is definitely linked with leaky gut by the alternative health people. I hope diet can heal it. I don't want my son to suffer as I have.

Today is Saturday and I'm feeling kinda down

Well, I'm feeling kind of negative lately, and have been thinking that I need to do something about it. I just took a new homeopathic remedy, which I hope will help, but I'm not sure whether or not it will, as I've tried other remedies and feel that they haven't made much of a difference.

This specific carbohydrate diet thing is tough. You can't buy food that's already been prepared, so either you have to spend a lot of time cooking, or eat really boring, plain foods. Such as, dinners for us are usually some sort of meat (chicken, fish, beef), frozen green beans and/or carrots, and salad. Sometimes ee have split peas or lentils, or some sort of soup, to round things out a bit. Breakfast is usually eggs, sometimes banana pancakes or cashew butter pancakes (got that recipe from the web). Occasionally we have sugar free sausage from the health food store. Lunch is often just yogurt, steamed veggies, and cheese, and some leftover meat like cooked chicken. Pretty boring.
DS is a fruit hound, eating usually at least one piece of fruit per meal, and also snacking on some. Mostly bananas and apples, but lately he's been snagging dh's raisins and prunes. I have a feeling he has been craving the fruit because of candida (yeast) since I have ongoing issues. I still have a yeast infection, by the way, and am thinking I need to eliminate honey and cut back on fruits.
I'm using Candex, an enzyme product, along with Candistat, and they haven't been enough so far.
I also have always had depression, and am feeling like that's really in the way of my healing, since it robs me of energy. I have been off medication (prozac) since my pregnancy, except for a brief period after ds was born (I stopped because I felt it was making the candida worse -- he had nasty thrush). I am sure talkative tonight!

Boy, it's been ages since I posted!

I totally forgot about the blog thing. It's been five months since my last post. Lately we've been investigating possible sensory integration issues in Chris, along with problems with digestion with both him and me. We started the Specific Carbohydrate Diet http://www.breakingtheviciouscycle.info/beginners_guide/beginners.htm in September, and have been doing better. Yesterday we went off it for dinner because I was so sick of cooking, and we ordered pizza to be delivered. Today I want to try to go back on it, especially since Chris seemed a bit more out of it today, possibly from the pizza. I know my guts are in rebellion from it!

Today we were supposed to get a visit from a member of the early intervention program, for an evaluation for sensory integration issues, but she cancelled. Just as well, I've been so tired lately, the place is a mess.

I am hoping that some day soon we will have all this dietary stuff figured out. I know there is something up, because I have PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome), which is thought to be caused by chronic inflammation. Which in turn can be caused by food intolerances, which in turn can be caused by a leaky gut. I know my body is trying to tell me something! That and the depression I've had on and off all my life make my life very difficult!

Rant:
We in our culture are so dependent on mass media, processed foods, and the medical establishment, it's very very difficult to figure out what's really going on, particularly if you have a chronic disease. Most doctors just want to prescribe you a pill, and know very little about nutrition. And most nutrition information is provided by agribusiness, which has kind of a conflict of interest in such things. We need to find a better way to deal with our food system, the current one is killing us, either slowly and painfully such as with cancer and chronic conditions or quickly with nasty diseases like e. coli. infections. What can we do?

July in the Pacific Northwest

Today it was really hot today, a change from what it has been. I took Christopher to the park and we were so listless, it took us an hour to get through what would have normally taken 15-20 minutes. Carrying a diaper bag, a two year old, lunch, and water can be exhausting in the heat. But we did have fun looking at the animals there -- it's a small farm park, with chickens, sheep, a turkey, goats, ponies, a donkey, an alpaca, and some horses, among others. Chris was getting tired, but he really didn't want to leave (as usual), so after we ate lunch, we went back and looked at the animals. He also had to climb this tower thing they have there, that has a tin roof -- an boy was it hot! I picked him up to carry him down and he stiffened, which meant he had pooped -- so I had to change his diaper in the heat. Yuck! And he cried because I took away a stick he had -- because he was poking me in the face with it while I tried to change him. Whew! I still think he may be outgrowing his nap.