4.14.14

HELLO LYMIES!

So many things have happened since we last spoke. err well from when i spoke and you read haha. 

So BIG things have happened

I moved!! Little girl in the big city, well its not Boston but its fifteen minutes away and super close to work which is amazing. As many people battling auto immune disorders understand all the extra rest time you can have is a total godsend. My place is beautiful and i'm finally starting to really get settled and explore the area and really call this my "home". I share it with three other people that are rarely home which means i get a humungooo gorgeous kitchen all to myself! Not to mention there is a totally gluten free health store down the street that makes fresh juices! Can you say amen?

I honestly can't remember what was in this but it was delicious.

I started working weekends for an online company telecommuting. Which means i'm working a lot more now.. aka why i haven't written anything in a while. Nothing really crazy to report here.. you know work is work. 

I met with a nutritionist. Her name is Juliane and she was amaze balls. The only downer to her being so awesome was the new dietary restrictions i was given.. No dairy (duh), no gluten (double duh), no dried fruits or fruit juices and NO SUGAR. Now having lived more than half my life learning to not become attached to foods because i know in some way or form things always seem to be "bad" for me.. no matter the actual nutritional value. So when i heard i had to stay away from sugar i really wasn't concerned. 

Gluten free oats, frozen mixed berries heated up, walnuts and banana.. my now go to breakfast!

This was the book i was told to get by Juliane, yet to read it all the way through since i got it today but i'm excited for this change! Fuel your body not the disease.

HOLY HERX! I don't know how to emphasize this more. Starting on the 4th i stayed away from sugar. After 24 hours i had a severe migraine, and here is little naive old me thinking this was how it was going to be for a few days. Now let me reiterate.. when you have lyme disease nothing is ever "that simple". Three or so days go by then i notice my stomach is getting super sensitive. I then start alternating in between a low and high fever for another week, i then loose my voice, stomach is having pains and my body pains start worsening. Now mind you i totally doofed up and forgot to check the lunar calendar, because behold the full moon we had. In case you didn't know full moons somehow tend to make my pain and symptoms more aggressive and worse. So here i am a solid ten days after my last piece of sugar (sort of.. i cheated and had a SMALL piece of chocolate and lordy did i pay for it) and finally starting to get over the fevers and throat things. 

Oh and how did i almost forget.. I got the okay to drink again! THANK YOU UNIVERSE. So i had some clear rum and tequila the other night with total success! Well partially.. i apparently lost my tolerance and became a lightweight.. and my wallet is okay with that! haha.

Me and the boyfriend out in Beantown :)

I started working at my work's apothecary part time, four hours doing my normal desk job and four hours down in there. I honestly love it because it breaks the day up, not to mention since i've been on more than half of the things in stock its a good learning experience. 

I finally have been feeling well enough to start really moving around. I got so serious i even re-instated my gym membership! I am yet to go since this all happened today but i will start back slow soon which i'm super excited for.

Its been so nice being so close to so many friends and new activities out here i even got to go bouldering the other day! I plan to try as many new activities as my body will allow now being close to the city. Not to mention its fantastic to be able to go out and not worry about an hour plus ride home!!

A few weeks ago when things were pretty terrible i received this in the mail:

This was an awesome reminder that you are not alone and there are others in the same place you are all over the world. Be good to another and be kind.

Here's wishing well to my fellow fighters. Keep on trying it'll pay off. Here are some little words to live by to help keep your mind in a good place!

<3 Namaste lovies! ॐ

New Diagnosis New Life?

When someone has told me that they had an experience that "literally changed their life", i always found that hard to believe. I find that most events in my life that could have been considered that were always made into memories that occupied shelf space in the library of my brain while i putted through life. Occasionally looking back and reflecting. 

This past Friday was surely an exception and an experience that completely changed the way i look at the world and life in general. Its in my professional opinion that having the feeling of dying will do that to you.

I was admitted into Mass General Hospital after being out at a show and having heart complications. 

I was with one of my best friends and her two friends seeing Mackelmore and Ryan Lewis at the TD Garden. That day was no different than any other. I worked in the morning, took a nap, ate food and then was off to get ready to pick up my friend and head into boston to get our tickets for the show. 

When i got there i was relaxed, excited and relieved. I had a really rough work week and it was nice to finally catch up with a good friend and be at a show. I have always found my happy place to be at a show or in nature and usually a show is more accessible. 

We saw the two opening acts and then halfway through Mackelmore's set (right after he played Thrift Shop) my friend noticed i wasn't moving around. The whole night i was dancing and wiggling (i swear i can't NOT dance when i hear music). Now this is where my memories get really fuzzy so this is my knowledge of what happened hearing it from my friend. 

I stopped moving around and stood there really taken back and she said that if she didn't know me better i would have looked overwhelmed by the crowds and claustrophobic. She kept asking me if i was alright and i responded multiple times saying "i feel weird, i feel sick, something isn't right". She said "okay do you want to sit down" and i said yes and bolted out of the general admission area, through the bleachers into the hallway. A little back drop here... i am almost 5'10" and my friend is 5 foot nothing so when i walk fast or run this poor girl is booking it to keep up with me.. and when i panic i run REAL fast. Anyways so i get to the hallway and sit down and my body is shaking pretty violently. Not to the point where i think it was a seizure but something for sure was not right. I wasn't really responding to any questions they were asking and i don't even remember anyone asking me anything. The EMTs arrived and starting poking and prodding asking my friend questions, asking me questions and i start to come out of whatever it was. I felt like my heart was going to explode. It was beating so fast and hard that i literally thought it was going to jump straight out of my chest. 

A week prior to this i consulted with a cardiologist because i was having episodes of heart fluttering or feeling as if it had completely stopped. Now anyone who has had any issues with their heart can understand what i mean by i was scared for my life. Now having body aches and pains, stomach problems, orthopedic issues i can all handle but when there is something wrong with an organ that determines whether you live or die by its normal function.. thats a whole other story right there. 

Once again this part is pretty fuzzy but they gave me aspirin to take after taking some vitals and i couldn't even fully control my arm and the pills flung off the wall behind me. We tried again and finally got them in my mouth. I was taken by the stretcher to the ambulance and off to MGH we went. 

Side note: Why are ER nurses either the nicest people you have ever met or condescending bitches? I mean yes i am aware i got a heart monitor to watch for these episodes and NO i didn't use it. Oh i don't know when you're not fully conscious would you have been able to reach into your bag and do that? I don't think so either.

After seeing three doctors a slue of nurses and attendants i was taken for EKGs, chest x-rays, blood work and more blood work (they mixed up the tubes the first time around and conveniently forgot to mention this to me until i asked to leave three hours later...). They gave me a blood thinner and did another EKG and then put me on an IV drip. I sat there waiting for answers for hours. After a while i felt fine and wanted to go home. And if you have ever had to tell a nurse that you wont wait for them.. well thats a whole other level of sass right there. So my friend and i had left now it being the following morning. TO HAVE MY KEYS LOCKED IN MY CAR. My friends friend drove my car from TD Garden to MGH so we could pick it up after (which i am very appreciative of) but he didn't know my car is from the dinosaur ages and doesn't work normally. So after calling security to come open my car and several failed attempts later, it was finally unlocked and we were on the way home.

Later on that day i woke up at 3 or so after that shitty night i had and my chest was beyond sore. I was calling my cardiologist and primary care HOPING they weren't closed for Veterans day so i could see them ASAP to get some sort of answers from these tests. Nothing.. noting nothing nothing. 

Test after test didn't catch anything and i felt like shit and i was scared out of my mind. 

My primary took some blood and i pushed him to test me for Lymes disease because one of my friends has it and has simular issues and they were already going to run some other tests since the blood thinner and IV fluids would have messed up my previous results. 

and on Thursday i got the news. I have borrellia burgdoeferi (Lyme Disease), ehrlichiosis and babesia microti. 

So now to play the game good news bad news. 

Good: This may be a possible answer to all of my health issues

Bad: This may just be another empty diagnosis and treatment that leads to nothing changing.

Good: This may be the cause to the heart problems and after being treated it could all go away.

Bad: The medication is known to be super aggressive and make people very ill before seeing any improvement. (If you want to read about the special sort of hell i am going to put my body through over the next few weeks/months/year(s) please read this  )

Good:This is treatable and curable but it will take years for all side effects to go away.

Bad: Caught this years after i would have been infected so the complications and treatment are significantly higher.

Bad: Treatments by Lyme specialists are extremely expensive and not covered by insurance past the prescribed medication.

Well it seems i have more bad things to say about this diagnosis than good but i am pretty optimistic that this will make a change in the way i feel and the way my body behaves. 

For the time being i am taking it one day at a time and seeing how it goes. 

I start my first day of medication today (Saturday, November 16th, 2013) so i will be sure to keep everyone updated on that.

Hampton trip...

So i just realized that i never even told you guys about what happened in Hampton! I'm not sure how this one got missed...

Well basically what happened is C and i signed up to volunteer at the spartan race up in Amesbury sometime in august. We got stuck in a ton of traffic on the way up and by the time we got to park we were beyond late for our assignment. There was a huge screw up on the spartan race's park by lack of direction with the volunteers and then we had decided to head up to hampton and make it a beach day and then go back the following day to help break everything down.

We really had an amazing day just hanging out by the water, laying back and relaxing. We ended the day buying some fireworks and setting them off by the beach. Before we left to head back on the 90 minute drive home, we decided to stop and get something to eat. 

I saw a place i have been before and decided it was a good idea to stop there. We stopped at Ceal's clam shack. (Now mind you i have learned now that it is never a smart idea to eat at a shack/stand with food intolerances and allergies but unfortunately this lesson i had to apparently learn the hard way.) I almost squealed with excitement when i saw a little sign that said that they had Udi's gluten free rolls. When i went to order i told the woman i was allergic to gluten and she seemed to understand and put in our order. 

I was so excited that i even took a picture.. oh the irony

My plain hamburger on a udi's roll popped out of the other order window a few minutes later and i woofed that thing down like i haven't eaten in days. Within about five minutes my stomach started to get really upset. I knew something wasn't right...

So C started driving us back and i could feel my stomach starting to wrench and twist around. WHICH FEELS AWESOME. This was seriously the worst episode i have had in the past year by far. I was sitting in his car and with each passing moment i could feel myself getting more and more sick.

Sweating, fevering from hot to cold, hot to cold.

Feeling my stomach twist and turn.

And to be honest and a tad graphic i didn't know if i was going to straight up shit myself or throw up.

The poor guy kept asking if he needed to pull over. No no...

Now keep in mind we were still doing that hang out dating sort of thing then. And lets get real no one ever wants to go into explicit detail of what their body does to "evacuate" food when you are intolerant/allergic to it.

Anyways i don't really remember much except for sitting in his car crying with my hand over my face and repeatedly apologizing for having that happen and being completely mortified. We finally got to my house and i was completely delirious at this point. Rushed into the house and pretty sure i told him i would grab all of my stuff later.

C being the super nice guy that he is sent me a text shortly after making sure that i was okay.  A few weeks after this thats when he told me that was the day that he knew he really cared about me.

Needless to say i did not end up returning the following day. I was feeling the effects for about ten days after it happened. Sick to my stomach for the following three and bloating  weight gain and brain fog for the rest.

I followed up by calling the restaurant and letting them know what had happened. I wasn't mad (although i had every right to) i was more concerned that someone with a more severe allergy could have landed in the hospital. The manager was very kind and assured me that she would be re-educating her employees on food safety. 


Moral of the story/lessons learned:

1. NEVER EAT FROM A CLAM SHACK AGAIN

2. C is a keeper.

3.Finding places to eat out is becoming increasingly impossible with my ever growing food intolerances.

4. If at any time you are not sure about the safety of your food DO NOT hesitate to talk to the waitress, manager or chef.

I was feeling pretty good during the day and made this little thing in the sand. looks pretty neat eh?

September 25th 2013

So i don't even know where to being without ranting. Its been a long month full of lots of changes and new beginnings. 

So the good, the bad and the nasty.

The Good:

I have been seeing an amazing guy for a little while now who i can officially call my boyfriend. We'll call him "C" (out of respect for his privacy and i'm pretty sure he doesn't even read this blog...). He is amazingly supportive, a genuinely good guy and for some reason or another can put up with me and all of my health woes. FINALLY NOT SINGLE. Better yet that feeling of being 100% comfortable with someone and knowing that you completely support you. Nothing can really touch that feeling right now.

Oh and remember back when i got glutened in Hampton? Oh ya that was C in the car driving. That was 90 minutes of pure horror on my behalf sitting in that car mortified of having that episode with him being around. Well at the very least he knows full willingly what he got himself into haha. 

C and i got to spend a nice weekend up in Vermont at the Spartan race at Killington Mountain. I was so happy to have a stress free weekend away. I was really proud of my progress with my arm strength because for the first time i was able to do the monkey bars all by myself (saving my 30 burpees! yay!!) 

I have become an unstoppable trivia force and am seriously considering packing my bags and traveling around winning trivia everywhere i go. Just kidding. But seriously i have been winning trivia every tuesday for a while now and finally won some money on scratch tickets ($105 total!) plus i won a winter classic hoodie and tee shirt last week. winner winner.

I have stopped losing weight but i am super happy with the visual progress i have seen in my body from continuing to work out. (far left early Sept, middle is two weeks ago and far right is the day after the spartan race)


Lastly finally getting a grip on what foods i can have without dying. Close to coming to a point where i get what my diet is. Dessert hacks! I attempted to make "ice cream" from bananas. Well it didn't blend as well as i hoped and i added some almond milk and soon enough it ended up looking more like a frosty from wendy's than ice cream. Either way it was delicious and totally agreed with my tummy!

Frozen bananas, nutella, non dairy enjoy life chocolate chips and slivered almonds!

The Bad:

My stomach problems have only been getting worse. With every weekly trip to the doctors comes more medications, more diagnosis, more bills, more tests..more more more.

After seeing Karen (my naturopath) this past week i actually took a day off work today because i was sick. Sometimes after she does the manual lymph node drainage a day or two later i feel like death. Correction every time she does it this happens. It just gets worse like it is today when there are bugs going around. 

The Ugly:

As of this past week i was officially diagnosed as having celiac disease. Now this is a bittersweet diagnosis because i'm very glad to know whats wrong so i can make corrective changes to my life to get better. But on the other hand my tests for sensitivities and allergies are getting worse. Either that or i had an incorrect reading previously. Either way it makes me pretty concerned. 

Sick girl supplies at it finest 

After i get the lymph node drainage massage from Karen i get pretty sick unfortunately. Whats happening is that my body is physically releasing all of the toxins and sickness that was being held into my system. So basically it sucks more times than others when its flu season because otherwise i don't get sick it just comes full force all at once. So here i am home sick from work today writing this post. At least i'm being productive?.. ish?

Silly faces can heal your soul sometimes..maybe not but i enjoy making a goofy face anyways

Now don't get me wrong  over the past few months my attitude towards my health issues have greatly changed. I feel as if i have become more positive and confident in my decisions regarding my health. I have a great support system of friends who unfortunately share similar issues, a great boyfriend and a mom who is trying to understand. Surrounding yourself with good and understanding people is really the best advice i can give to anyone in a similar position.                                                                         

 I feel very optimistic for the future and even with my new diagnosis comes more life changes. This is all a process of learning and growing and i am more than thankful for everyday and for the people who are in my life. 

Nothing but love love love.

Until next time....
  

"Resetting your system"

Hello hello!


I was speaking with a friend about doing another "reset" of my diet since things have been declining recently. So i usually do a one of these following diets to help my system take a break.

GAPS (Gut and Psychology Syndrome)- This diet is primarily  used to help tame the symptoms of such psychological disorders like ADHD, ADD, Dyslexia, Autism, Depression, Anxiety and Schizophrenia.  As we all know because of the link between the neurological auto immune responses this diet in turn can help calm a lot of aggravation in your system.
GAPS diet is more than just a dietary change. In GAPS it is recommended to make certain lifestyle changes and add certain vitamins and supplements into your system (most of which is you have candidia or Leaky Gut you are already on).

GAPS requires that you DO NOT CONSUME the follow foods:

NO-NO FOODS:

• Added Sugars (agave, aspartame, corn syrup, nutra-sweet, dextrose or any sugar/sucrose of any kind)
• Dairy Products (cheese (goat or cow), Acidophilus milk, cottage cheese, cream or whey/casein/lactose)
• Junk foods (hot dogs, ice cream, soda, tapioca etc.)
• Grains (cereals, bulgur, couscous, buckwheat, wheatgerm, pasta, rye, rice, etc.)
• Beans (chick peas, black eyed beans etc.)
• Randoms (white potatoes, okra, pectin, sago, sherry, starch, turkey loaf etc.)

Click here for a full list of GAPS foods

For the most part those foods are common sense to avoid. I find that i no matter what always stay away from gluten and all dairy products because i have such a severe reaction. 

For the approved GAPS foods the basic rule it to get it as fresh and organic as possible to be able to get the most nutrients from your foods. 

YES FOODS:

• Berries (all kinds)
• Almonds
• Butter/Ghee
• Coconut (fresh, Shredded, dry no additives)
• Herbal Teas
• Lentils
• Gin, vodka (occasionally) 
• Lamb, Goose, Duck
• Fresh homemade yogurt

(See link above for full list)

Dr. Feingold's Diet-  So this elimination diet was designed specifically for children with ADHD. He believes that having synthetic additives in the diet that it can cause serious learning, behavioral and health effects for those who are sensitive. This diet specifically eliminates salicylates, added food dyes/colorings, aspartame and preservatives from the diet. (AKA. if it comes in a box more than likely you can't have it).

So Simple if it isn't fresh or have a ton of ingredients on the back of the box DON'T EAT IT.

FODMAPS (Fermentable Oligo-, Di and Mono-Saccharides, and Polyols)- Is an abbreviation for a collection of short chain carbohydrates found in many common foods. This diet is used to treat those with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS/IBD) but has been found useful with those with conditions that leave their stomach sensitive. The idea is to eliminate these carbohydrates from the diet to relieve the amount of gas and liquid that collects in the small and large intestine which then leads to distention. 

This diet does not encourage eliminating major groups of food but rather the foods that can cause the most upset. Click here for a printable for the list of FODMAPS.

AIP (Auto Immune Protocol)- This diet is designed specifically to deal with Leaky Gut. This diet in my opinion is spot on for treating the aggravating factors for my stomach. I although (like a bad girl) do not follow AIP along with Paleo 100% of the time. I personally love my eggs in the morning and my tequila to end my week. I do however not do this every week and i refer to the AIP when my stomach needs a "reset". Now keep in mind that this is in conjunction with the Paleo diet so that means ghee= good (gluten/dairy/grains/added sugars are all a no as well). My favorite book Practical Paleo by Diane Sanfilippo goes into great detail in the auto immune section about why these are to be avoided. 

NO NO FOODS:

• Eggs
• Nuts
• Seeds (cocoa, coffee, seed-based spices as well)
• Nightshades (Potatoes, tomatoes, eggplants, sweet and hot peppers & spices derived from peppers.
• Alcohol
• NSAIDS (like aspirin or ibuprofen)

I find that unfortunately for the most part this is all a guessing game in figuring out what works best for you and your body.

As always email me with any questions or comment below if you have any experience with any of these diets! 

That last post was me being a negative Nancy so i'm going to try and pull things around this time haha. So things sadly have not improved much since i last wrote. 

I spoke to a few of my friends regarding my new symptoms (in which all either have AI disorders or stomach issues unknown). Recently i find that there is a disconnect from my head and my body. I know this sounds weird and bare with me while i try to explain myself the best i can. I feel as if there is no connection between the two. Any incident that happens with one does not effect the other as if they are two separate entities. Another new thing thats been happening is i feel an out of body experience and almost feel like i'm watching things happen as if i'm on auto-pilot. Anyone else out there feel that way? Not that i don't feel like i can control what i am doing in the moment just that i'm removed from the situation.

Anyways i am slowly working down my list of foods to something a bit more concrete. One saving grace is that my organic lemonade from whole foods and espalon blanco tequila makes me very happy!

I recently tried out this margarita mix with the lemonade and tequila and it was quite delicious!

So i think i am FINALLY over the carbs "hump". I feel like i no longer crave that entenmanns raspberry danish or those coffee cake slices when i go to Panera. I means its really all about the small victories anyways right?

But i do find that because of the allergies and diet that its been hard to regulate my blood sugar and i find myself crashing. For the time being there is no developments in that area sadly. So i carry about little unjunked candy bars and jolly ranchers for when i start to dip a little too low. 

So i think i am finally over losing weight now too. Its been a month and my weight is slowly creeping up. For the first time in a long time i am totally okay with this. I started to take my weight lifting a little less intense and eat more protein immediately after i work out so i don't miss the anabolic window. Theres no complaints on that because i found a Luna protein bar thats GLUTEN FREE and not to mention freakin delicious!

Lastly i went on a spur of the moment adventure with a friend to Mystic Seaport last week and got the chance to spend a day outside kayaking and checking out some cool old building in the sea port. 

We went out to eat at this amazing Vegan/Vegetarian restaurant called Kate's Cafe. I literally can't say enough. I spent the whole meal freaking out that i could literally have anything on their menu. All dairy/gluten free and whatever was made with soy was clearly labeled  I don't think people really understand how amazing it is when i go somewhere and this happened. But i seriously ate like it was my last meal. It was gluten free foccia bread, sweet potato fries, roasted red peppers and portabello mushrooms. 

PHENOMENAL. 

Oh and lastly how could i have forgotten? I signed up for a 100 mile virtual race challenge from Dirt in Your Skirt a while back. You run 100 miles from Memorial day to Labor Day. Well i did it and got a fancy belt buckle/medal to add to my growing pile!

Till next time :)

Not so Happy Birthday to Me :(

Hello everyone! First off today is my birthday and i wish i had better news to share about whats been going on. I wish i could say that i haven't been writing was because i've been so busy being happy and healthy elsewhere but sadly that is not the truth. 

All my AIP/Paleo peeps can feel me on this one..

The past couple months i have been getting worse. I gained a few pounds (165 to 168) and my health seems to be drastically declining. My sleeping patterns have become really erratic or non existent. My adrenal glands are way overactive and stressed and my thyroid is being lethargic. My sugar levels have been insanely low, along with my magnesium, calcium, iron and zinc all being in a funk. She also thinks that i may have a gene mutation called MTHFR (Methylenetetrahydrofolate Reductase) that would account for my thyroid being funky and having serious adrenal gland issues. I have been to two of my doctors over the past week and lets just say i'm tired of hearing bad news. I was in such a good mood for a long time. Happy with the insane progress i have made and the changes seemed to really be paying off in all aspects of my life.  

About three weeks ago i started to notice my sleep was getting really bad. I was consistently waking up late for work and it was clearly impacting my energy levels throughout the day when i was sleeping a shoddy four hours a night (more if i was lucky). I was going to the gym every day after work after working 12 hours three days a week and two four hour days. I feel like any time i find things start to go well my body has other plans. Can we all remember that like two seconds i had abs? That was pretty cool..

The apple cider vinegar that i was taking (which is UH-mazing for de-bloating) was now giving me sever migraines  I am now on all sorts of new medications! YAY. (i will post names and pictures later i just don't have them on me right now). Lastly i have upped my medications for the enzymes and probiotics to double aka (3 or 4 pills of enzymes every time i eat-depending on how heavy or large my meal is; 1/2 tsp probiotics twice a day).

So now here i am. On my 22nd birthday, slowly slipping back from all the progress i worked so hard for. So forgive me for bitching a bit because i am pissed. It has taken me a very long time to "come to terms" with the fact that my body does whatever it wants, whenever it wants without consulting me...and it sucks. So i'm a little bitter and pissed off today. And god forbid i actually would be able to drown my sorrows in some german chocolate cake or half baked froyo because we all know that would end in me rolling around on the ground swearing and crying.

Thank you Leaky Gut for proving that i am your bitch.

Happy birthday right?

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!

Medicine Galore!

So i have been asked by many people about the specifics of my medications on a daily basis so i figured i would write you all a post!

So this is my current medication routine. I have previously been on other antibiotics, l-glutamine, and other enzymes and juices that are suppose to sooth my stomach. I just found this to be the best combination for me.

FIRST

So first thing in the morning when i wake up i take a probiotic. 

This medicine needs to stay refrigerated (as you can see in the picture i keep it in my guacamole drawer.. and yes i have a whole drawer of guacamole.) I take 1/4  teaspoon per day and it is in a powder form (i'll do this twice a day if i am feeling sick to boost my immune system). I have a starbucks cup i got for christmas that i use to drink it all out of since its a larger glass. I have found that sometimes the taste can be a tad weird so you just have to grin and bear it and add more water if you need to. Although this comes out more like little granules and doesn't really mix too well and DO NOT MIX WITH HOT WATER. The Ultraflora was made to break down in your warm belly so it gets really gross in your cup when you do that. If you can wait like 30mins before eating anything after taking this. Although in all reality i don't follow that because i wake up way too late all the time.. I take this and then get started on making breakfast which usually gives me about 15/20 minutes. 

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NEXT

I take digestive enzymes WITH my food. 

I take two of these pills every time i eat. I find that for me if i stop taking them or lower the dosage then i don't find it to be as effective. Now when i first started taking these i was advised to take 1/2 a capsule per meal (3x a day) to start then up them by 1/2 a capsule until i get to 2 per meal a day. I've heard from other people who tried diving right in that it bothered their stomachs especially if you already have a sensitive stomach. This i do like to mix with warm water because i find that the powder mixes easier. Now you can always swallow the capsules as well but i personally like drinking them better because i feel it working faster. Now if i was smart i would take it like 15 minutes before eating but again time management isn't really my strong suite. 

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LASTLY

I take apple cider vinegar WITH my meal. 

Sometimes i don't have the stomach to finish it before i eat so it does the same thing if you sip and eat. I do 2 tsp with about 16 oz of water before every time i eat. Now i personally like Bragg's vinegar because i'm all about it being organic and gfree and cheap. Just makes sure you mix well before putting this in your drink. Now i like to mix this in my big cup with my straw and just suck the whole thing down. I'm going to warn you.. This is for sure a taste you need to get use to. Because well.. its vinegar and not so tasty at first. I feel a huge difference when i skip the vinegar when i eat though so its 100% worth the temporary yuckness. I have heard from other people that cutting it with some organic apple juice or pineapple juice can help with the taste and make it more bearable but i would rather just water it down a ton. 

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TIPS

So i like to drink from a cup with a big straw for these (especially the probiotics) because #1 when you're chugging it down there is nothing splashing on your face and i find hat you get more of the probiotics when you use the straw instead of chugging it because it won't stick all over the walls of the glass. 

Gfree people- ALL OF THESE ARE VEGAN AND GFREE. I personally forget that certain medications have gluten in them and i love these ones

I do NOT recommend buying any medications from third party sites. Metagenics i purchase straight through my doctor's office but you can purchase it straight off their website. Digest Basic i buy from amazon and they have super fast shipping usually 2 days and i would only buy from amazon directly not another dealer through the site. 

And as always if you have any questions or post ideas send them to my email :)

Phillips.katie@live.com