The Elimination Diet

Before writing in about the beginnings of my elimination diet, I want to give some credit to my significant other, Phillip, who at first, really didn't understand what I was going through. There were many points at which his worry about me turned into worry about himself and our future. I think, as a Fibro sufferer, that it's extremely important to think about how your pain may be affecting the people around you. Phillip brought to my attention that I tend to have a negative view about the whole situation and that it radiated throughout our lives. I understood what he was getting at, but I also made it a point to express how difficult it can be to stay positive when I'm in pain or am exhausted all the time. Fibromyalgia encompasses my entire body and causes mental, emotional and physical symptoms. It's even more difficult to stay positive when you feel like someone is judging you for your pain.

 It's so important to talk it through and give your partner ideas that will help him/her be supportive. If they haven't experienced your pain, they probably don't know what to say or do.

On that note, Phillip decided to do the Elimination Diet with me (his own idea), and I'm really going to need the support.

An elimination diet is a pretty basic concept. You cut out all of the foods that are known to irritate the human gastrointestinal tract: dairy, soy, gluten, red meat, pork, sugar, alcohol, additives. For the most part, we thought this wouldn't be too difficult for us as we already drink almond milk and rarely eat gluten or meat. Every morning Phillip makes a smoothie with spinach, blueberries, bananas, carrots eggs, and granola. We are a produce household for sure.

Still, we splurged on things we knew we wouldn't be able to eat for 3-4 weeks and quite possibly not be able to eat afterward either. Zeppoli donuts from The Olive Garden (my weakness), a cinnamon wheel from Papa Murphy's, Donuts from our local donut shop, Pho, Thai food...yum.

Then, on Sunday, the day before the beginning of the diet, we went grocery shopping. It was far more difficult than we thought it would be. We had to switch to an unsweetened almond milk, even the "original" had things we couldn't have in it. We couldn't get our granola so we bought puffed rice instead; it weighs as much as air. We stocked up on quinoa and flax seeds to supplement the produce. We had to purchase free-range chicken and free-range organic chicken broth (no veggie broth as it has tomatoes in it and tomatoes are a no no). We couldn't buy any canned tuna because ALL of them added soy for extra protein. We got cold-pressed olive oil and agave syrup to help season things. We even had to purchase all organic beans because other beans have sugar additives. Phillip got a $30 bag of nuts to help us with protein. Here's the grocery belt with our selection on it:

When we got home, Phillip insisted on hiding all of the food that we won't be able to eat for the next few weeks.

It seems a little crazy but it's a sure fire way to find out if foods are irritating you! Most of the time when I eat I feel more exhausted or extremely bloated, so I must be doing something wrong. Your GI tract houses 70% of your immune system so it's important to be good to it. Also, many foods can cause inflammation.

So this morning, Phillip was supposed to change our smoothie up to be a "Green Smoothie" courtesy of "The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen" Blog for phase one of the diet. (http://www.nourishingmeals.com/search/label/green%20smoothies) Phase one is all about detox, getting all the bad out. Instead, Phillip just made a smoothie with acceptable ingredients. No big deal, we'll get it right tonight and tomorrow is a new day. 

I'm feeling good about this.

Please check out the links at the bottom of the page to read more about the elimination diet.