Healing Treatment Plan – Take 2

Last summer, a year tomorrow actually, our family embarked on what would end up being a 5 month healing treatment plan. We had every intention of completing it around April of this year, but then in January I discovered I was pregnant, and immediately derailed the family’s treatment regime.

Then came the month of March from hell. I had a miscarriage, hemorrhaged and had to have emergency D&C surgery. We thought that was bad, but then we found out we had to move out of our home and find a new location for our home salon business… Over the following 3 months our life became pure survival. Packing boxes, moving most of our stuff into storage, living in a small cramped studio at my parent’s house, limited space for cooking or storing food, opening a new business location with expanded services, and finally moving into our new rental home the middle of July.

So here we are. The 10th of August. I finally have a moment to sit down and take a self inventory and I am not pleased with what I see in the full length mirrored closets in our master bedroom… I’ve regained 10 of the 23 lbs I lost last year. My clothes are tight. With good reason… I am drinking copious amount of coca-cola and coffee with sugar, and eating large portions of my typical comfort foods – woodfire gourmet pizzas, shells & cheese, crackers & cheddar, artisan bread slathered in butter, homemade cheesecake (thanks, B!), Backyard BBQ Kettle chips, and caramel chocolate coated Haagen Dazs ice cream bars… Sure it tastes good… but the aftermath is not pretty…

Health wise I am not doing well. Last week I was diagnosed with anemia (see my last post about being tired all the time) and plantar fasciitis (ouch!). I ache all the time, I have very little energy, and I’ve been having way too many stress related tension headaches. I feel puffy and ugly all the time. I swing back and forth between constipation and diarrhea. I am literally sick and tired of feeling unwell.

Enough is enough!

Time to make some positive changes…

I’m not getting any younger…

I need to lose about 120 lbs, build better digestive enzymes, and heal all the inflammation in my body. B and I had a talk with our son this morning and we’ve decided to re-start the healing treatment plan we did last year – as a family! It’s just too difficult to for me to do it alone, and we’d love to see B’s chronic cough cleared up, and M’s asthma and allergies resolved. For financial reasons we plan to eat up all the forbidden food currently in our pantry and stock groceries and supplements to fit the plan, which is why we’re starting on the 23rd of August and not tomorrow…

I figure posting this publicly means we must actually follow through with the plan. Now hold me to it!

If you would like to read more details about the actual treatment plan, click here.

ETA (August 12, 2010): After emailing our Traditional Chinese Medicine Doctor, she wants to do a re-evaluation, and will not be able to send us the results till after Aug 29th, so we are postponing starting the treatment plan until we know what supplements/diet restrictions we will have this time around and have all the supplies in stock…

So very very tired…

This morning I woke up disoriented. I thought I heard Rodents Of An Unusual Size (ROUS) chomping on the drywall of my parents work studio where we’ve been living since the end of May, but when I opened my eyes I discovered it was a dragonfly trapped in the skylight above my bed. His wings were clicking against the glass. Delightful. So much better than ROUS.

I tripped my way over boxes and piles of stuff I had started unpacking last night and made my way to my master suite bathroom. As I peed I smiled to myself. I am the proud recipient of a lease that says I get to enjoy a master suite bathroom for a minimum of 2 years. The ROUS infected studio is a thing of the past.

I’ve been intentionally avoiding posting on my blog because I’m overwhelmed and tired. My life has been seriously de-railed over the last few months.

Remember that healing cleanse I did last year? Well, our stop-gap home at my parents had very limited space, and they had no room to store prepared food in the fridge so we started eating a lot of easy quick food. Pizza, frozen meals, cheese sandwiches, chocolate, soda, chips, ice cream, and a LOT of restaurant meals…

It’s mid-July now and my menses have been regular since my cleanse (less the 11 weeks I was pregnant), but ever since the D&C my monthly has been incredibly heavy and energy-sucking, and then I spend the rest of the month completely drained and exhausted.

I keep trying to break the cycle of bad eating and low energy, but by 10 AM I don’t have the energy to get through my day so I grab something quick for that boost – usually full of caffeine and sugar.

Last weekend we moved into our new home. It’s fabulous. It has the best view of the ocean and Mudge Island, a large fenced garden that I’m sharing with the landlord, and the space works incredibly well for our family. I love organizing. It’s just a weird quirk I have. Yet, I have no desire to unpack. Each day feels completely overwhelming. This is not like me. I usually enjoy setting up in a new place. This time feels different. Tiring. I just want to go to bed and sleep with no interruptions. Don’t touch me. Don’t talk to me. Don’t ask me questions. Just leave me be so I can sleep.

The things that motivated me in the past aren’t working.

We took a vacation in mid-June. It was a whirlwind holiday to Seattle, WA. We rode the Amtrak train from Vancouver to Seattle, saw Bill Cosby live, took our son to the Seattle Zoo, took the monorail to the Space Needle, visited the Science Center, IMAX theatre, Music Experience Museum, Sci-Fi Museum, and basically wore myself out more than I was before we left. I need a holiday to recover from our holiday.

I cut all my hair off (see pic above). I love the new look, but still no umph.

I weighed myself. I’ve gained 15 lbs. I’m too tired to truly care enough to diet or exercise. I tried restricting my calories for a week or so and ended up eating 4000 calories one day. So yeah, not exactly helpful.

I re-started the Colonix Cleanse three days ago. I fill my water bottle with 8 cups of filtered water every morning. And drink it too! I take a handful of chlorella to help cope with the detox. I drink a protein shake with a high protein egg breakfast, and take an iron supplement every morning. I have such a bad headache by 1 PM that I usually cave and buy a skim latte and load it with sugar or buy a bottle of coke to get through the rest of the work day at the salon. I don’t have the energy to eliminate sugar and caffeine and dairy and wheat and whatever else it was that I wasn’t eating on the healing cleanse.

I bought a new bike. It was delivered Saturday night and we tried going for a bike ride Sunday morning. We made it as far as the cemetery (not far – but morbidly ironic). The bike ride and the heat completely laid me out and we had to go home so I could sleep.

I LOVE cooking organic healthy whole foods for my family. I am so exhausted I can barely stand long enough to make dinner. I thought the excitement of moving into a house with a kitchen and a fridge of my own again would motivate me, but instead I feel paralyzed and unable to function.

I don’t cope well in chaos. I have half unpacked boxes everywhere and nowhere to put stuff cause this place has so little storage. I did find a dresser at GIRO last night (thanks to a friend with a truck!), so that’s a start, I guess. I don’t have the energy to figure it out.

Is this depression? Are all the events of the spring finally catching up to me emotionally? Am I deficient in something? Is it my thyroid? Low Vit D? Anemia? What? I called to make a doctor’s appointment but they can’t fit me in till Friday, August 8th. It feels like a lifetime away.

April’s Incredible Shrinking Act – Down 23.4 lbs to Date!

August 1st I was at my all time heaviest weight. 280 lbs. More than 20 lbs over the weight I was when I was 9 months pregnant in 2003. Emotionally I was at an all time low. Physically my body was giving up. I was in chronic pain in my hip, ribs and back, and I felt really sick all the time.

My SIL is a Traditional Chinese Medicine Doctor, and she offered to treat our entire family. We started the full body healing cleanse on August 11, 2009. The first month I lost 10 lbs just by eliminating sugar, dairy, caffeine, soy, wheat, yeast, vinegar, and citrus.

The second month I started regaining weight at the rate of about 0.4 lbs a week for 3 weeks running. I felt angry and betrayed and wanted to give up. In desperation I consulted my MD about a referral for weight loss surgery (WLS).

After getting my hopes up that the surgery might actually be a possibility, my hopes were dashed when the Vancouver Island Health Authority slashed gastric bastric OR times. I re-consulted with my MD and he decided to try me on a WLS type diet without the surgery. He had me eating around 1000 cals the first week and a half, and then I had to up it to 1350 cals cause it just wasn’t enough food. I lost 13 lbs in a month!

I am continuing with this weight loss program in addition to the healing cleanse my SIL, Dr. D has me on, and I am loving the results I’m seeing! Scroll down to see my progress pics. I will be updating them regularly…

Goal Weight: 150 lbs

Weight Log

Aug 1, 2009: 280
Sept 1: 272.5 (-7.5)
Oct 6: 270 (-2.5)
Nov 2: 262 (-8.0)
Dec 7: 254.6 (-7.4)
Jan 4, 2010: 253.5 (-1.1)
Feb 1: 255.3 lbs (+1.8) + pregnancy test Jan 12th
Mar 1: 258.8 lbs (+3.5)
April 5: 256.0 (-2.8) miscarried March 4th
May 3: 256.6 (+0.6)

Healing Plan – Take 2

I’ve been off my healing plan since January when I found out I was pregnant… then I had a miscarriage and needed time to heal… then I got a new job and was too busy training to menu plan and cook… then I found out we’re moving and have been too busy arranging all the details… What will the next excuse be? And by the time I get it under control will I have regained all the weight I lost last year?

I’ve allowed my health to take a back burner because it was “easier”, but I really believe that my ability to handle stress is hugely impacted by the dietary choices I make. And not in a good way. Sure it’s fun to eat comfort food, and it’s easy to excuse it too, but my body is really not happy with my choices lately. I feel tired and low energy, nauseous, and my stomach hurts all the time. I’ve noticed the scale is starting to creep back up as well, which is NOT cool. I worked way too hard to lose this weight in the first place just to put it all back on because I’m too busy to deal with it.

It’s time to get my diet (and health) back on track. I do better when I have an organized set plan, so I spent some time today writing up the following healing plan, menu plan, and grocery list for the month of May. I’m starting on Monday to give myself some time to go grocery shopping and cook some decent meals.

April 26 – May 3

Breakfast
On an empty stomach, take 2 Paranil Capsules with 1 cup of water.
Wait 15 minutes, take ½ scoop Intestinal Cleanser powder and 2 scoops protein powder in shaker with juice up to line. Glug as fast as possible, and drink 1 cup of water
Eat breakfast with 1 cup of water

Lunch
Have with 3 cups water

Dinner
Have with 2 cups water

Bedtime
1 cup of Kleritea – steep for 1-2 minutes
Chlorella with sugar cravings

Avoid sugar, soy, caffeine, citrus, dairy, wheat, spelt, and yeast

May 4 – May 31

Breakfast
On an empty stomach, take 4 Paranil Capsules with 1 cup of water.
Wait 15 minutes, take 1 scoop Intestinal Cleanser powder and 2 scoops protein powder in shaker with juice up to line. Glug as fast as possible, and drink 1 cup of water
Eat breakfast with 1 cup of water

Lunch
Have with 3 cups water

Dinner
Have with 2 cups water

Bedtime
1 cup of Kleritea every other day, or more often if needed for a regular bowel movement – steep for 2-6 minutes (start at 2, and work up to longer steeping if your bowel movements are not regular)
Chlorella with sugar cravings

Avoid sugar, soy, caffeine, citrus, dairy, wheat, spelt, and yeast

MENU PLAN

Restrictions:

Vegetarian
No dairy, soy, sugar/honey, caffeine, wheat, spelt, citrus, yeast, vinegar, or beer
Nut-free home due to DS’ ana-allergies (we use seeds and seed butters instead)
Allergic to carrots, hazelnuts, and soy

Breakfasts:
Ryvita crackers with egg fried in coconut oil
Rice cracker with sunflower seed butter & agave nectar

Lunches:
Brown rice, chickpeas, spinach sauteed in sesame oil, garlic & ginger
Leftover chili and tortilla chips or other dinner leftovers

Dinners:
Chickpea curry & brown rice
Roasted veggies, beans & brown rice
Pesto arti-tom with brown rice pasta
Lentil soup with kamut soda bread
Kale lentil stew with soda bread
Refried bean tacos with avocado and tomato
Brown rice salad with pesto, falafel balls, and loads of veggies
Polenta with marinara, brown rice, & roasted veggies
Brown rice spagetti & marinara sauce
Quinoa salad
Veggie burger on kamut bread
Egg & spinach pesto frittata
Miso soup and rice noodles
Thai stir-fried veggies & rice noodles

Snacks:
Popcorn with coconut oil & salt
Fresh berries or other fruit
Decaf tea or coffee with rice dream & agave nectar
Kamut banana bread
Hummus and rice crackers
Ryvita rackers with avocado & hummus
100% juice with club soda

GROCERY LIST:

Refrigerated:
Coconut Oil – great for baking, sautee’ing, drizzling on popcorn
Eggs

Inner Aisles:
Artichokes – canned
Agave nectar
Beans – pinto, chickpea
Club soda
Coconut Milk
Coffee – decaf
Cranberry Juice (unsweetened)
Falafel ball mix
Herbs (fresh and dried)
Lentils
Marinara sauce
Miso (wheat free)
Olive oil – great for drizzling on salads
Pasta – brown rice, asian rice noodles
Popcorn
Quinoa
Rice cakes
Rice crackers
Rice (brown)
Rice milk
Ryvita crackers
Salsa (check it’s sugar & vinegar free)
Sesame oil – toasted
Seeds – pumpkin, sunflower, flax, sesame
Seed butters – sunflower, pumpkin
Spices
Sundried tomatoes
Taco shells (corn/hard)
Tahini
Tamari (wheat free)
Tea – decaf & herbal
Tomatoes – diced canned
Tortilla chips

Produce:
Fruits – faves are bananas, apples, strawberries, blueberries
Garlic
Ginger
Vegetables – faves are avocado, tomato, lettuce, kale, spinach, cucumber, bell peppers, squash, mushrooms, green onions, leeks, beets, sweet onion, red onion, potatoes & sweet potatoes

Frozen:
Veggie burgers (check it’s dairy & sugar free)

Bakery/Deli:
Corn tortillas
Hummus
Pesto (make dairy free)
Polenta

Healthfood Store:
Chlorella
Colonix
Kamut flour
Rice protein powder