7.29.13

FINALLY DOWN 30 Pounds! (technically its now 30.8 pounds down).


And if you are paying attention yes i did get my belly button pierced. I told myself that once i lost 30 pounds i would get it done. When i was bigger i never wanted anything to draw attention and now i have a reason to show it off!

It amazing to see the results. The past few months i stopped working out for the most part and just continued with hiking and walking with the dogs outside. This week i decided its a good time to start going back to the gym and hitting it hard. Since the weight i find certain activities have gotten easier. Like running! Which was previously the bane of my existence, now all of a sudden feels easier. Not completely though i still am not a fan haha. I went to the gym tonight with 0% motivation and managed to do some pushups, run a little bit, do some woodchops/upper trunk rotations and then try out the assisted pull-up machine. So i at least got myself moving a bit. Tomorrow i am meeting up with a friend and we are actually going to work out. Seems that this week will be a bit rough :/ 

In the past i have followed the Jamie Eason's 12 week fit trainer with no success. Unfortunately i feel that was due to me being sick. So here i am round 2 and *hopefully* will be seeing better results. 

In the meantime i am looking forward to this week filled with some fun outdoor activities. Stand up paddle boarding on Tuesday, hiking on Friday and kayaking on Sunday! 

As always i want to thank everyone for all the support on instagram, facebook and in person. Its been really nice to get to know other people with similar issues and to share my experiences with all of you is amazing. 

As always. Positive thoughts and wishes :)

Update 7.21.13

Hey guys,

Sorry i've been SUPER lame and haven't posted anything in a while!

So basically this was a combination of being mad at myself for not hitting my projected goal on time and enjoying (a little too much) of the holiday festivities. I am all about the holidays that involve blowing things up, drinking, dressing up and having no stress and all fun. So 4th of July is right up there with Halloween and Cinco de Mayo in my book!

Well i am officially under 170 now which is AWESOMMEEEE. And if you are reading the number below then you see that this means that i am officially .8 pounds away from being 30 pounds down! So get ready for that obnoxious update post soon...

I can already tell i look better in the top photo than the bottom one but i ran out of apple cider vinegar (i use Bragg's and ran out then i tried stop and shop brand and that was a learning experience BIG NO NO) and had to go without it for a few days which unfortunately led to some bloating :/

So those are the two selfies i took and its seriously crazy how much of a pound difference makes.. And then the gem below was taken this morning. One of the good things about this whole process is that its been neat to see the small changes in my body through the pictures. And a bad thing is that i have become a selfie whore.. I can't help it and i swear i am not self obsessed its just cool to have pictures to look back on remember why i do everything i do.

Well on that note i will get better on updating and within the next few posts i want to share my favorite GF/Paleo/Auto Immune friendly snacks and treats!

Peace!

My daily nom noms.

Okay!

Now to try to explain my super confusing diet that i certainly don't totally even understand myself..

So i started first ignoring all of my food that my blood panel told me i was a allergic to. Now let me impress you with my allergies... (level 1=less severe, level 2=hives, throat swells, level 3=anaphylactic shock, severe stomach pain etc.)

Level 1:

Brussel Sprouts

Blue Cheese

Cherry

Ginseng

Licorice

Lime

Millet

Nutmeg

Parsley

Pecan

Red Pepper

Pecan

Pumpkin

Radish

Tumeric

Turnip

Vanilla Bean

Almond

Asparagus 

Barley

Carrot

Cauliflower 

Swiss Cheese

Cocoa

Crab

Egg Yolk

Gluten

Cows Milk

Oats

Green Olives

Oranges

Peanut

Rye

Shrimp

Black Walnuts

Wheat

Yogurt 

Level 2:

Cranberry

Goats Milk 

Malt

Level 3:

Casein

Whey

Bakers Yeast

Brewers Yeast

TA DA! Look at them apples... now lets add in my other dietary restrictions.

I also followed a Dr.Feingold's diet for four weeks following my diagnosis to calm my stomach from all possible irritants. (i also briefly avoided FODMAP foods but since they were all already on my other lists is seems pointless to mention it) So there goes:

Artificial food coloring

Artificial food flavoring 

Many others (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feingold_diet )

So basically all the delicious foods in the world haha.

Currently i follow a Paleo diet and i add some of my other diets ideas in there too.

So for me i avoid all:

Gluten

Dairy (casein, whey)

Wheat 

Yeast (bakers and brewers)

Grains (oats, rice)

Red Meat

Added sugars, flavorings or colors

Nightshades

Corn & Beans

So basically i live on a steady diet of eggs, turkey burgers, jack daniel's honey BBQ sauce, chicken, salad and sweet potatoes. Now i found certain cookbooks to be a HUGE help in finding what to eat. I LOVE the Practical Paleo book. It goes into great detail about which certain foods and activities can be avoided to help your particular situation. 

I do occasionally do cheat by eating gluten free bread (contains brown rice flour) or frozen yogurt. They don't hurt my stomach but i do notice an immediate gain in weight or stomach bloating. 

Please if you have any questions feel free to drop me a line :) 

Introduction

Hello Everyone!

My name is Katie and i am a 21 year old living in suburban Massachusetts living with leaky gut. Now for some of you who may not know what that is...

Leaky Gut (aka. intestinal permeability) is when your digestive system isn't properly functioning! Rather than allowing smaller single amino acids to pass though the intestinal lining into your blood stream, it allows larger partially undigested proteins to pass through and make havoc on your body! This leads to all sorts of nasty problems :/ in my case the allergic to "everything", resistance to weight loss, weight gain, stomach bloating, mild to severe stomach pain and a backed up lymphatic system. For other people they can also have problems like: constipation, diarrhea, gas, vitamin deficiencies, frequent colds, intense seasonal allergies or other inflammatory responses. 

PICTURE TIME!

Now to explain this. I like to think of my intestinal lining like little security guards (like the ones at Buckingham Palace..who don't do their job apparently) who are the gate keepers to my blood stream and SHOULD let only fully broken down proteins through. Now see my guards got lazy and decided to let anyone into my blood stream and thats where we get this leaky gut party started! Now the impermeability can be caused from many things: an overactive adrenal gland, infection, taking NSAIDs medications, hormonal or neurological problems, or a bad diet. And the best part of all of it?!.. drum roll... this diagnosis is not accepted by all "traditional" doctors and is a process of elimination for the diagnosis not just a set test. 


Now all of this came from about five years of playing the super fun game of "guess whats making Katie sick?!". I had been to my primary care doctor and at every visit i would make mentions of my growing stomach pains. The past three years after consistently going to from specialist to specialist just to end up begging for tests that i have determined from my oh so reliable internet searches to perhaps contain the answer. First i thought it was my thyroid (which wouldn't have been too far off) since hypothyroidism was in issue in my family, i had at this point gained about thirty pounds and after reading the symptoms so many times i'm pretty sure i convinced myself i was loosing my hair and had thickening skin. Now blood test after test kept coming back as negative, within normal range or positive. Nothing was coming close to my badly needed diagnosis. 

Now after this point i had been looking for a new PCP since i was getting annoyed and felt like he wasn't taking my pain seriously. I mean what does a girl have to do to get some attention around here?! I know i wasn't blowing up like a pufferfish and turning blue but just because you can't see it apparently that makes some people feel like your problem isn't real. :(

I had heard about integrative doctors and i liked the more holistic approach to healthcare. So in conjunction with him my new holistic primary care and a naturopath we came to my mystery diagnosis.

Now i was set off on my way with a new diet, new medications and some lifestyle adjustments to manage my pain and make me a healthier and happier me! (see future post)

And now we start my story and battle with managing a health leaky-free life...