So here I am at the five month mark. Back on meds right now and ok with that. Flares have lessened considerably, I have had only two since getting back on meds. But they were huge flares that lasted for over a week with every day just as intense as the other, which is very unusual. But I'm still celebrating that there were only two!
Still eating with the AIP restrictions, but falling behind on the "added nutrients" that is really important with AIP. I'm not juicing regularly or drinking as much bone broth as I was in the beginning. I did make some killer broth with chicken feet that I bought at the local Famer's Market, but I ended up freezing most of it for "later". In my defense, winter is officially over and it's been a typical Midwest late spring. Which means it's already summer here. It's amazing how quickly we forget those below zero temperatures and how hard it was to keep warm just a couple of months ago! We had our typical cold early Spring and then a few really nice days (and I mean very few). And now we are hitting the 80's with some sticky humidity thrown in and people already have their air conditioners running. Today was one of those days where I broke into a sweat just making the bed. But our central a/c unit died this week. We are acclimating until we get it fixed, but you can understand why drinking hot broth is just not appealing right now.
I have no excuse for not juicing other than just pure laziness. The same for not taking vitamins. It's not even the fact that I'm out of vitamins and haven't had a chance to get more (which means buying on line). I have vitamins in the fridge, it's just been a matter of getting off the recliner and walking about 20 feet into the kitchen and getting them and swallowing them.
But mostly it's just forgetting. I got out of the habit, so I need to get back in the habit of taking them every day. And juicing and warming up some broth while it's still cool in the morning. And making sure I'm eating several cups of greens every day. I think for just a few weeks, I just wanted to focus on something other than my health. That's sounds crazy, but it sometimes feels like a never ending, tedious effort (which it is). And I just wanted a break from it for a little while. I was still eating mostly AIP compliant food (with one cheat that I will confess in this post), because I'm in the habit now of turning down gluten, sugar, dairy, etc. But, I just didn't have the energy/gumption/ambition - whatever you want to call it - to add a lot of nutritionally dense food to my every day eating. I just didn't want to deal with it. For just a short time.
But I am working my way up to full compliance once again. Because it's such a necessary part of eating this way. My most recent blood tests shows that my hemoglobin is slightly below normal, meaning my iron is low (which may explain my equally low ambition). And my creatnine levels and glomerular filtration rate which both have to do with kidneys were slightly abnormal. Nothing too earth shattering, but enough to make me realize again how seriously I need to take this. And how important nutrition is for us.
Here is my one cheat a few weeks ago. I had some baked beans left over from a family function this month. Beans are not allowed on AIP. Especially beans with brown sugar added. I ate about a cupful maybe a little more and they tasted DELICIOUS. I ate them stone cold, too. My stomach hurt later and I told myself that I've come too far to start falling off the wagon now. But they were really good. I passed on the potato salad, desserts, pop and other non-compliant food. But I had to have those beans for some reason!
Because of a flares, fear of flares, and just feeling tired, I haven't been exercising much. But today I took a good walk. And drank tons of water. And I took a beef heart out of the freezer to cook all day in the crockpot tomorrow to try a new recipe. The Farmer's Market is up and running and we will be buying more and more fresh veggies. And our own garden is planted and growing (thanks to my husband's hard work). Onward and upward.
I will start sharing more recipes, too, in my 6 month post. Those I've tried and liked a few that I wasn't crazy about but I'll share anyway. Because it may just all be a matter of taste. :)
