It has been one month since cutting out the nightshades. I wanted to post about it so I could remember and maybe it will help others too. The first time I went grocery shopping it was kind of hard to not buy our foods we have bought for years and even based meals around, like tomatoes, potatoes and peppers among other normal foods for us, like broccoli. Instead I bought a lot more cabbage, cauliflower, kale, and sweet potatoes. It was actually not too bad of a transition and I did come up with a lot of new recipes...I will try to post some things we tried.
So some good things that have been happening health wise are that we introduced a lot of new veggies. For two weeks I ate all raw and no night-shades. My savers were
Sunfoods coconut wraps to wrap in carrots, avocados, spinach or romaine and zucchini with sprouted beat hummus. I felt pretty good, fit and healthier, even though my knees and wrists didn't change. My stomach felt better (it's been one month without any acid/burning in my stomach-yay) and my MIND felt better, I wish I could remind myself how great I feel in those moments. Then I had dates, raw brownies, and decided to try sweet potatoes. They were great, but then the "all fresh" feeling left, and I decided to eat cooked-vegan, but no nightshades or grains except for some quinoa. Unfortunately we then found an amazing almond-flour blueberry muffin recipe and an almond-flour almond butter brownies. I say "unfortunately" because while we replaced wheat flour with almond flour, we still added all the pure maple syrup and then the sweet/salty cycles begins again, wanting more- never feeling "satisfied" like when I eat all raw, low fat and not extra sweeteners.
However, life is a journey and this month I have learned SOOO much! I now know about Paleo...even I was almost convinced that I needed fish again...and I never liked fish I the first place! I can see how it may work for people going from SAD to Paleo, but not for me. I've been email bombarded with Dr. Axe's "bone broth benefits." While I like a lot of his "fruit and veggie for this or that" lists, I am not about to add a powdered meat product to my diet..nope not for me. I looked at the Gaps diet- I liked the idea of adding in fermented foods and probiotics... even though I don't really like the taste of vinegar, sauerkraut isn't so bad mixed in a salad. I looked at Candida and while I do think my family eats more natural sugar than anything else, I do not think I have that, but at least learning about it motivated me not to buy raisins, dates, pure maple syrup and agave for a while. Actually I think we may be done with agave for good... Still debating with all the controversy going on about it, it seems like since 7 years ago when I was first buying it that it has gotten thinner...is it really agave?
Anyways, I had no idea that there were so many variations of what people eat. I guess when you choose a lifestyle and go with it for so long you don't really have a reason to go searching again, unless a problem arises or unless you are a fad dieter...which I've never been.
So after a month of no nightshades I did some muscles testing and found that tomatoes, peppers, and potatoes were all strong. Goji berries, cayenne, chili powder and eggplants are still weak. But I have just been thinking how amazing is is that just by avoiding these foods my body could create a tolerance to them again! Our bodies are truly a gift from God.
Well, yesterday I decided to try a tomato on my almond-flour tortilla with avocado, lightly cooked spinach and zucchini with salt and pepper. I have to say that even reaching for the perfectly ripe tomato I didn't WANT to eat it, but I tried it anyways and I ended up scraping it off. It just tasted weird and actually kind of gross and sour. My conclusion is that maybe my body is not necessarily intolerant to tomatoes now, but maybe I do not really NEED tomatoes in my diet. What did I really eat them with before? Salsa.. and since I have not had corn either, we cut out our blue organic corn chips, it was probably for the better. Soup...with LOTS of chili powder! I may keep a few around for my hubby, but we'll see since I do most of the food fixin'. :)
Oooh, but let me say that without chili powder I have come to like a few new spices. I like black pepper and cumin together, and the Gram Masala that I get in our bulk section does not have any nightshades in it and adds a yummy balance of sweet almost cinnamony and curry-ish flavor (nope, my old love of curry is still on my no-list.) It will be interesting to see if other food sensitivities clear up.
I want to end with this. With all the learning, my brain has become overwhelmed! Reading and reading and thinking things like, "less cashews, more greens, less dates, berries are low sugar..." and "If I eat this, what will I feed my 6 children and husband?!" or "This food is now "good" but that one causes mold in the body"-which by-the-way is what I think is making my wrists and knees flare up, and we had our vents cleaned, but now I think it is already IN me, so that is one more reason to kill the bad in my gut and put in the good, okay another tangent, I know!
While feeling overwhelmed with reading, and trying to decipher what are truly "the best books" or "sites" these days, I finally sat down to read my scriptures today and while reading had the thought, "Do what you already know works for you, start there..." I'm thinking, Like raw? Some cooked veggies, not much added sweeteners and add in these new fermented and probiotics and probiotic-rich foods? Could it really be that simple? I then turned to a random page, which I do occasionally just to see if I can be inspired and in The Book of Mormon in Alma chapter 20:4. I had this underlined, "I know, in the strength of the Lord, thou canst do all things." It brought me to tears and I had to say a quiet prayer of thanks right then. What I learned best of all is that no matter what trial, disease, limitation, stress, or burden you carry, the Lord cares about you and He can comfort you in and through it all and He will let you know in His way and His timing what He wants you to know, do and feel. Today I did not find "the perfect diet" for me, but I found comfort and peace. The rest is in the hands of the Lord.
