Eating my way to a healthier me

[eatlikeaGFgirl]

Heyy guys,

I've migrated from doing low GI SW to a slightly modified version of the stone age diet. I have ME and am following recommendations from a ME specialist after reading her book, so I hope you folks dont mind me parking my diary here .

I get confused with paleo/primal/stone age lol! but think they all follow the same basic reasoning! The modified part for ME peeps is no dairy, no potatoes, sweet potatoes, swede, parsnips or rice, no fruit apart from berries and I'm only allowed root veggies at night. In addition I'm allowed oats and oatcakes (but not before lunch), pulses (only in the evening and soya yogurt (but yet to find a sugar free version), oh, I'm allowed peanuts too! The aim of the diet is to sort out mitochondria function, I'm trying to sort my sleep patterns out with herbal tablets which *touch wood* seem to be helping me chill on a night.

So quite restricted for now but I am desperately trying to find energy, I've spent the last 18 months trying to ignore the fact I have ME but lets face it that was a stupid plan! I'm a student and need to get through the rest of my first year at university (and exams- which is a dirty word at the min) in one piece, as I'm finally following my dream but dont want it to destroy me. I cant exercise at all at the moment but hope this will change the longer I stick to this way of eating.

I have coeliacs in addition to the ME so already used to being gluten free, and have a lactose intolerance so havent drunk cows milk for years, and love the Koko milk so thats all good, I could tolerate a small amount of cheese so thought that I'd miss that, but 4 days in and no cravings for well anything as yet

I have raw coconut oil on the way (hope it tastes good, I'm a bit of a wuss sometimes at trying new foods lol!) along with some, ground almonds and coconut flour, so hopefully will have some energy to experiment in the next few weeks.

So I started on friday and weighed in today (my normal weigh day at SW shussssh!!) with a 3lb loss!! which is A-MAZ-ING for me as I'm a reaaaaally slow loser normally, and although my primary focus is health I really want to shift this half a stone or so I seem to have acquired! I'm now 9st 8lb and would love to be low 9s!

My food has been soo yummy and filling, I this way of eating already and its such a stress free way of eating

Friday:

bacon with eggs and tomatoes fried in olive oil

tinned mackerel with gluten free oat cakes

small handful of raspberries, walnuts and hazelnuts

gluten free, sugar free oat and seed muesli with coconut milk

Saturday:

bacon with eggs and tomatoes fried in olive oil

tinned mackerel with gluten free oat cakes

spiced sesame chicken wings w courgette ribbons, leeks and cabbage fried in olive oil

Sunday:

raspberry, nut butter and coconut milk smoothie

tomato soup (olive oil, tinned toms, onion, pepper, courgette and fresh basil) with oat cakes

small handful hazelnuts

sesame, lemon and basil trout with roasted peppers, cauliflower and broccoli

Monday:

scrambled eggs with coconut milk, bacon, spinach and cabbage

tomato soup with german salami and oat cakes

slow cooked beef paprika (braising steak, toms, onions, mushrooms, peppers and spices)

Tuesday:

boiled eggs, salami and cherry tomatoes

tinned sardines, toms, cucumber and 3 strawberries with oat cakes

aubergine pizzas with bacon

Tomorrow is going to be off plan for the most part, will have a good breakfast but off out to celebrate my sisters birthday- gluten free afternoon tea at a hotel and then bella italia in the evening, so will just get back to 'real' eating as quick as I can, will probably choose meat/fish with some kind of veggies at bella but going to enjoy the afternoon tea, I must admit I am excited as havent had a afternnon tea since dx with coeliacs. I really hope I can lose more weight this week as will have 6 and a 1/3ish days fully stone aging it before I weigh in.

Wow that is one huge post! lol!

xx

 

[Plumfoodie]

Hi and welcome. I have CFS/ME and have found eating paleo/primal really good for me. Are you going off Dr Myhill's recommendations by any chance? I must admit I just stick with paleo/primal as there are so many nice recipes so I don't worry about her modified version of it. (I forgot to say, the book From Fatigued to Fantastic is also really good for supplement suggestions if you are interested in that)

Great that you are already used to avoiding gluten as I have found that cutting it out has made the biggest difference for me personally.

WRT to sleep which herbals are you taking? I take Quiet Life tablets at night and also a calcium/magnesium supplement and sleep a lot better for it. I recently also started taking non-herbal Nytol (well boots own brand, haha) on nights when I just cannot drop to sleep after seeing it recommended on Dr Myhill's site, and used melatonin while travelling (again on her saying it was ok). Getting your sleep sorted should help you a lot.

Hope you find this way of eating suits you and helps you! I personally feel much better on it, I think having more good fats and no gluten/lower carbs has done me personally a world of good and when I research into inflammation etc I can really understand why.

plum x

p.s. am really jealous if you found somewhere that does gluten-free afternoon tea!!!

 

[Plumfoodie]

Oh and a huge well done on your 3lb loss!!!!

 

[eatlikeaGFgirl]

Aaaarrggh, cannot quote on my galaxy tab for some reason!!! Anyhoo..

Heyy Plumfoodie,

Thanks for the welcome, its really good to hear that this way of eating has helped you, I'm excited for what it'll bring for me too.
Yeah, its Dr Myhills recommendations that I'm following, think I will try stick to her plan for a month then maybe try a more pure primal/paleo approach. Gonna check out everyones diaries for a bit of inspiration

I will definitely look up that book too, I'm looking into buying some supplements, I've heard a lot about magnesium for ME so gonna give that a go, Im trying to get my GP to give me B12 injections for a 6/10 week trial, shes going to research it, but is insisting on doing a blood test to check levels, so fingers crossed, she is great but said she wasnt comfortable with the idea.
If its a no go, I'm gojng to buy a B12 spray and try that. I'm also thinking of trying NADH, Co enzyme Q10, D3, Tyrosine, and D ribose (may get this in powder form so I can sweeten food with it), pretty sure this lot with cost an absolute fortune! I already take a multi vit complex, omega 3s and vit C.

For sleep I'm taking a tablet from holland and barretts which contains hops, valerian and passionflower, I find this makes me more relaxed when I wake in the night and my brain isnt so frantic lol! I have some herbal tea to try , but I'm a wuss as it contains fennel which I hate so reluctant to drink it lol!

I'm hoping the gluten free afternoon tea is amazing lol! I'm uber excited, will report back!

I'm sooo chuffed with 3lbs off, this never happens to me lol! Especially as I've been inactive and laid up all week due to my ME, just hoping its not a fluke and I can shift the last bit of weight.

 

[Plumfoodie]

Hope you will find Dr Myhill's plan helps you! Sounds like you are trying a lot of good stuff so you should hopefully see some improvement with things. If you decide you want to transition to paleo/primal, I can't recommend the book Practical Paleo enough. There are different tailored meal plans for health conditions; at the moment I am following the one for CFS and not only is it great having the menus planned and shopping list to print off but I am feeling quite perky on it. She is also good about re-purposing dinner leftovers for breakfast and lunch which means a bit less cooking which is better if energy is low.

How much more weight are you hoping to lose? With a condition like ME where it's easy to put on and really difficult to lose a 3lb loss is such a great boost!

Good luck with your GP, I find it is really a mixed bag with the NHS. My GP didn't want to do a vit D test until I told him I was taking 5000 units of D3 a day - then he got freaked out and did the test so he could reassure himself that I wasn't going to die on his watch. LOL! That's why I have gone down the supplement route mostly, plus I found gentle stretching and yoga/pilates really helpful when I was at my most unwell.

Of the supplements you mentioned, I have found all really helpful except tyrosine which I admit never having heard of!! The powdered d-ribose is more versatile as you can adjust your dose easily and it's ok mixed into yoghurt or a smoothie. It's got a kind of caramelised taste which is hard to describe but although it's sweet it doesn't taste like regular sugar to me. I buy most of my stuff off Amazon on the subscribe and save programme as it's 10% off and I also don't have to worry about forgetting to re-order it!

Really hope you enjoyed the tea, do let us know what it was like!! I was naughty a few weeks ago and tried some GF crumpets but found them too much like cake which was a bit disappointing. But in New Zealand had some amazing gluten free breads and cakes! x

 

[eatlikeaGFgirl]

So yesterday was a huge amount of fun but extremely tiring too! Had a good breakfast of eggs, bacon & tomatoes, the went for the most amazing gluten free afternoon tea at The Queens Hotel for my lil sisters birthday, dressed up as a lady n everything!!! Was a huge amount of sandwiches, cakes but somehow, man won! Lol! It was epic! Then got dragged round the new trinity shopping centre, which is way too cold IMO, but got 2 tees in river island for £12 so yaaaaay!

Was excited as my parcel arrived with my coconut oil, ground almonds, coconut flour, ground flaxseed and alfalfa seeds to grow!

Only managed a short rest before getting dragged out to bella italia (yes, more food) but made good choices, shared the gluten free antipasto misto, left the mozzarella and just ate the salsa (gorgeous, need to try recreate this), the ham, salami and rocket. For mains I had pollo cacciatore, which was a tomato based chicken and bacon stew with roasted veg and salad, gave my dad the potatoes too, so think I get a small halo for that meal choice also didnt drink any alcohol as hate drinking when I'm having a ME dip (otherwise id have been drinking cocktails lol!)

So not too bad food choices all in all!

Today.... had an iffy stomach, wasnt glutenated but too much dairy, just goes to show really, so didnt eat til 2 today,
So todays food:
strawberries

GF oat muesli w coconut milk

Might have some homemade tomato and roasted pepper soup w oat cakes for tea,
Can't face much and definitely not meat today, so this is the best I can do!

Have ordered some supplements: D ribose in powder form (gonna sweeten food with it)
L carnitine, D3, magnesium, coenzyme q10, vit B complex and a B12 spray. Couldn't afford the NADH but hope this lot will give me a good start

 

[eatlikeaGFgirl]

WRT how much I need to lose I'm currently 9st 8lbs & just want to get to the low 9s so only a few more lbs, just feel more comfortable at that weight. Took me 2 years to lose 1 1/2st to get to this weight lol! keep putting a few lbs back on but hope this WOE will stop that.

I'd love to go to New Zealand, would really like to do the Lord of the Rings tour! Can imagine it would be hard to resist the gluten free goodies, they are supposed to be really good for GF there, along with Australia.

xx

 

[Plumfoodie]

GF tea sounds amazing! Yum! Sounds like you made good choices the rest of the day too.

Weight loss with ME can be really slow so good on you for sticking with it!

NZ was amazing and it was really nice to be able to go to any cafe or restaurant and know there'd be GF options. We toured Hobbiton and saw some other LOTR sites like Mount Doom/Mordor which was cool. I would like to have done more but had to be a bit careful about how much I did!

 

[eatlikeaGFgirl]

GF tea sounds amazing! Yum! Sounds like you made good choices the rest of the day too.

Weight loss with ME can be really slow so good on you for sticking with it!

NZ was amazing and it was really nice to be able to go to any cafe or restaurant and know there'd be GF options. We toured Hobbiton and saw some other LOTR sites like Mount Doom/Mordor which was cool. I would like to have done more but had to be a bit careful about how much I did!

Man, I am so jealous that you toured Hobbiton lol! Bet you have an amazing trip

 

[eatlikeaGFgirl]

Yesterday's food was a lot more on track!

Tomato and roasted pepper soup with chicken wings

small handfull of berries and hazelnuts with some German sausage

oven baked river cobbler and trout with rosemary and chilli roasted carrots, roasted peppers and tomatoes

a couple of squares of green and blacks dark chocolate - think its going to take a while to get used to the 70% chocolate!

Managed to order some NADH to try for 2 months too.

Also started on my nutrition case studies, so will hopefully get everything done before the deadline! Freaking out a little that its April in a couple of days, so not ready for my exams in may, so really hope I get some much needed energy to crack on with work soon. Unfortunately I seem to work best when deadlines are near and run on adrenaline, not good at alll! I hate myself for it lol!

Have also booked in for my wrist injections for my carpal tunnel syndrome on 2nd May, was the first appointment available so hope it will kick in before the exams start or I wont be writing much!

Todays food plan so far is:

handful of blueberries

Tomato and roasted pepper soup topped with boiled eggs, german sausage and seeds


I'm so happy that the sun is shining and melting all the snow (not that I'm off anywhere lol!) But feels more spring like now

 

[eatlikeaGFgirl]

Right, have sorted the rest of todays food:

Strawberries
couple squares of dark chocolate - this is a really good pick me up in the afternoon and really enjoyed it todays, would like to be able to increase to a darker chocolate at some point (mini goal lol!)

pork belly with leeks and cabbage - soooo looking forward to this dinner

I'm happy that I've managed to get some more uni work done - have submitted some things for my eportfolio (this is the bane of my life lol! really hate writing personal objectives and doing study skills and writing reflections... dont get me started on reflections, absolutely H.A.T.E them and got 17 left to write :cry Why oh why have I chosen a career where I have to do a portfolio for ETERNITY!! lol!
Sorted part of my nutrition cases studies, just need to look up the food in my composition of food book (snorefest!) it takes agessssss! So will have to get that done, wouldnt mind but the book is just full of food data tables and I really struggle to read it as I get dyslexia type symptoms as part of my ME so have to use a blue screen but not easy in that book.

Not happy as have a poorly guinea pig in residence poor Chester has a chest infection and the vet found a lump too. Hes not well enough for an op so thats out of the question completely (wouldnt want to put him through that anyway) and considering he was fine until this chest infection hopefully its not that big of a deal. So hes on antibiotics and soft food, off back to the vets tomorrow morning, so hope he has a good night. Hes hutch buddy will miss him whilst hes inside, though as he cant stay in the pod with him as we are poop monitoring lol!

Not getting any chocolate for Easter, my mumma is buying me a present of a lamb shank for when I go back to my flat!! *yummmmm!* We are also having lamb for dinner tomorrow, I'm 18 months an ex-veggie lol! but lurve eating meat now!

Got more uni work to be going on with tomorrow, need to do some online training thingy so going to crack on with that and guess I should probably write some reflections lol!

 

[eatlikeaGFgirl]

Well, pretty rubbish start to the day as my guinea pig just passed away, he wasnt that ill until late last night when his chest got really bad, he had seemed to pick up earlier as he was eating but they go downhill so quick. Will be glad to see the back of this bad weather, its been a long winter. He was such a pretty little guinea, with mental quiffs!

Last night's tea was nice but I think I'm a bit intolerant to pork, seem ok with bacon but only actually eaten "proper" pork cuts a couple of times (in my life! ) and definitely was ill after it last night, terrible heartburn and indigestion so will stay away from it. Im always a bit iffy about eating pork, sometimes it tastes just too piggy for me to eat.

Just made myself a berry smoothie with 4 fresh strawberries, handful frozen raspberries, a bit of frozen spinach, a cup of coconut milk & a tbsp coconut oil, its soooo yummy! I added the oil right at the end and it blitzed into little coconutty shards. Im having a tablespoon of peanut butter with it.

Dinner is going to be a leg of lamb with cabbage, green beans and broccoli.

Dont know what else I'll be eating today yet....

Edited to add that I had roasted carrots with dinner and for tea had some boiled eggs, oat cakes and a little bit of dark chocolate

 

[Plumfoodie]

Really sorry to hear about your guinea pig. x

 

[Plumfoodie]

p.s. Your food is looking good! I am the same with pork, I can eat a little bit sometimes but not too much or too often. They say that foods you are a bit intolerant to can smell funny (just to you) and I have found this to be true. Ordered pork medallions in a restaurant once and couldn't actually eat them as they smelled so strong, but mr plum thought they were just fine (so, bless him, he swapped with me).

 

[eatlikeaGFgirl]

Really sorry to hear about your guinea pig. x

Thanks hun

p.s. Your food is looking good! I am the same with pork, I can eat a little bit sometimes but not too much or too often. They say that foods you are a bit intolerant to can smell funny (just to you) and I have found this to be true. Ordered pork medallions in a restaurant once and couldn't actually eat them as they smelled so strong, but mr plum thought they were just fine (so, bless him, he swapped with me).

Aww, you always know a guy loves you if he gives up his food!!
That's quite interesting though, everyone always looks at me like I'm mental when I go on about how pork sometimes smells piggy when being cooked! will definitely avoid it for now. Think this way of eating is a good way to evaluate food intolerances and triggers.

 

[eatlikeaGFgirl]

Its so crazy but I'm just not really hungry since starting this diet!

The plan for today is...

Berry smoothie (with added spinach!)

eggs & sardines on oat cakes

chilli con carne - going to make it with coconut oil, onions, garlic, spices, mince, tomatoes, peppers, courgette.

 

[eatlikeaGFgirl]

So maintained my weight this week, wouldve liked a lose but as least its not going up not getting weighed for 2 weeks now as have a biochem practical next Tuesday morning.

Going to try keep berries for my breakfast smoothie as have been snacking on them and trying to limit oats. Think I need to increase the fat content of my meals, as read that each meal shoukd have fat in it, so going to aim for that. Really want a lose when I next get weighed, inly got I off plan meal planned on sunday which I can't change as off to a Chinese in Manchester that does gluten free food, my first Chinese in god knows how long, so will make the most of it!

Hope my supplements arrive this week too as back to uni next week.

Food for today...

Blueberries and strawberries

garlic sausage and salami wih cherry toms and cucumber

Will take some nuts and pumpkin seeds to the library with me incase I'm hungry

tomato soup, GF sausages (found some with 93% meat so hope these will be ok)
With fried onions, mushrooms and some cabbage

Bought a new travel mug as mine died so no excuse to not have my breakfast smoothies! Going to stick to smoothies during the week and if I have time and energy on weekend will have something different, that's the plan anyways.
Made 2 extra portions of chilli last night to freeze, and will try build up my freezer to make it easier for next week.

Was supposed to be at occupational health today to get cleared for placement but they messed up my appointment, so off tomorrow instead. Hope they realise it was there fault as its a £75 charge for not turning up which I just dont have.
Its annoying as we had all had our occy health checks but uni decided to outsource halfway through the year, the files got lost and we had to go again.. I do need CBG and another MMR but my doctor won't let me have Hep B so although this has alreadh been sorted it'll need explaining again. Hopefully my health will improve on the diet so can have it in the future as it limits where I can go on placement and ultimately where i can work. Just hopjng the CBG and MMR dont knock me sideways as thrres no other time really to have them before June.

Meeting a uni friend soon for a epic library session, blurgh! Nutrition, biochemistry and physiology in one day but needs must as need to finish everything so I can focus on revision for exams, as geeez, its April
Can't believe I've nearly done first year, its soo scary!

Need to buy more funky teas, loving my cherry and cinnamon one. I don't drink coffee at home and have done really well resisting when out as will only drink black or with soya milk, pretty sure I'm better without the caffine so will have to try not cave and get one today, my frind just text saying we arent leaving he library til we are done, so definitely taking snacks!!!

 

[eatlikeaGFgirl]

Just realised I'm such a waffler!! Its really therapeutic writing thinks down though!

My apologies if anyone is bored enough to read it... I hope you don't die!!

 

[eatlikeaGFgirl]

Had the pre vaccination test for TB today and off back on Friday to see if I need the TB vaccine, will also have a MMR too. Not feeling great, did a helluva lot of uni work yesterday so not too far behind but need to rest up today.

Some of my supplements arrived and the ribose powder too.

I've had a breakfast smoothie (spinach, raspberries, coconut milk, coconut oil, ground flaxseed and ribose powder)

Lunch was tomato pepper soup, 2 fried eggs and salami

Not too sure on dinner yet, probably finish the sausages off fancy fried onions!

 

[eatlikeaGFgirl]

So have decided to have the sausages with fried onions, mushrooms and cabbage, yum

My plans dont alway go to plan but going to do a shed load of uni work tomorrow, need to get my eportfolio nearly completed as have a tutor appointment on tuesday so want to look on top of things. Hoping if I do enough I can chill and spend some energy on having fun, really want to go to the cinema!

Off to have a mosey through some recipes now, need some easy snack ideas that are tasty! Want to try crispy kale but struggling to get any kale in the shops