Recognize this potato? We grew it last year. 'He' eventually became a rather delicious batch of potato cheese soup.
Poor guy.
Food is a weird thing around here. Our food journey has taken many abrupt and unplanned turns. Each one has been welcomed and usually brought some sort of great relief with it.
I could break this into several posts, but decided to just get it done. To understand how we eat you need the story of how we got there. I think as this blog continues to develop will make more sense with this information.
Food and fitness have been eye-opening and educational for me. A journey that continues each day.
I would never tell anyone what they should eat, but I also have no problem defending my food choices either, with correct information, not presumption.
So I spend a lot of time reading books [some of my favorites are listed on the right side of this blog], as well as educating myself with current happenings in the food 'industry' [that word makes me gag].
I grew up eating pretty healthy. We had a garden, raised chickens, my dad hunted. I can't say we relied heavily on processed or prepared foods very often. We ate a pretty meat and potatoes sort of existence.
When we were out playing my siblings and I would just snack on something from the garden or apple trees, or berry bushes if we got hungry.
When I became an independent young adult I went bonkers for fast food and donuts and tons of junk I never really ate much of before.
Early to late 20's I started to adapt a media driven 'healthier diet'. But really, it wasn't that great. Refined carbs and sugared up yogurts and pre-packaged diet foods. Yuck.
My pretty lean figure seemed to disappear more and more the
healthier I ate. So I joined a gym and became a fitness nut. Loved it, so I became an instructor. Ate 'healthy' and lost a ton of weight. While I was in great shape, it was always such hard work, but I was determined. I struggled with endurance, but kept pushing.
Then all kinds of weird stuff went wrong.
I started training for a natural body building competition, followed my program and diet to the letter, and then my body went haywire and kind of shut down. I gained 20 lbs in one month. I all but freaked out.
I felt horrible, weak, sick, fatigued all the time, headaches, lost all muscle endurance. Very bizarre things started going wrong and continued for years. Doctors got to the point that they were convinced I was depressed and kept trying to treat me for that since no other tests came back with an answer.
But weird things continued. The scariest was after working out on a Friday, I began to notice swelling in my biceps. 24 hours later my entire upper body was swollen to twice it's size. A trip to the ER yielded nothing and
they sent me home!
The next day I visited my doctor who called in several other doctors and everyone poked and prodded me, and discussed me like I wasn't there. Grrr...
A few blood tests later, I received a frantic call at work from my doctor telling me to do as little as possible and start drinking a LOT of water. Apparently, my CK (
creatine kinase) levels were over 48,000 signifying sever muscle damage. I was on the verge of renal failure.
More tests. Nothing.
I became frustrated, but I kept going to doctors. Eventually, a new physician took me very seriously and was convinced I had something auto-immune going on.
Her persistence finally paid off when I was diagnosed with celiac disease.
First abrupt turn.
Complete diet change, much relief to almost all of my symptoms. Except the muscle weakness, fatigue, and these weird hypoglycemic events which continued on for almost another 8 years.
The gluten free diet wasn't so bad. We modified our diet to be more whole foods based, but processed foods were still a big part of our diet.
Fast forward 8 years to the birth of my daughter. Still dealing with the muscle weakness, fatigue and blood sugar problems, immediately after giving birth I had an almost complete muscle shutdown.
I could barely walk across the room and stairs were torture. My muscles would burn sooo bad just climbing a few steps. I thought I was just in need of some gym time, even though I taught fitness classes right up to the night I went into labor. I couldn't even sit up, I had to roll over onto my stomach.
My doctor said my stomach muscles were just weak from being stretched out... it would take some time. Seriously? I could NOT sit up!
Fast forward another 3 years. After a lot of determination, and hard work I had regained some of my fitness strength, but endurance was almost non-existent. I had a rough week where I could sense something wasn't right and had been visiting a new, thankfully persistent, doctor weekly trying to figure out what was wrong. Within 24 hours he witness my muscle strength decrease so much I couldn't even push his hand away. No joke.
I was scared.
He went into super-doctor mode and begged a local and very respected neurologist to find the earliest possible time to see me. And he did, he made a special time for me to visit him during rounds.
My life changed after that.
He believed me and was sure he knew what was wrong. First possible diagnosis was
Myasthenia Gravis. Somewhat frightening, but further testing revealed
not MG. Thank goodness!
I went thru an excruciating
EMG, that he ended before he was finished because it was conclusive that something was wrong with my muscles. Next up muscle biopsy.
Finally, after 15 years of doctors and just thinking that
I was 'out of shape' an answer!
I have a rare genetic disease called a
Mitochondrial Myopathy. There are around 2500 genes that can be defective and cause a Mitochondrial disease, very few are named because it's so difficult to identify what gene is defective, so they are grouped into different categories.
Myopathy, meaning mine affects the muscles and organs which derive energy from mitochondrial cells. Energy processes begin in the mitochondria.
It's hereditary and is passed from female to female in my family. Yes, I worry about my daughter.
Second abrupt turn.
So what does that have to do with my food journey. Everything really. It is very difficult for me to lose weight. I cannot do an hour of cardio, my body simply cannot keep a continuous supply of glucose available. Therefore, I must eat to provide my body with the best nutrition possible but also be very careful of excess calories as well as non-nutritional foods, otherwise I quickly gain weight, even if I am eating within my daily caloric needs.
Also, the less excess weight I carry, the easier it is for my muscles.
It's a bitch. While long exercise sessions are out for me, especially since I run the risk of cannibalizing muscle tissue, short, very intense workouts are not if done with care. Since high intensity exercise and anaerobic exercise use different metabolic energy systems my body works perfect with them, as long as I listen to my body.
I train in short periods of time, but with very high intensity intervals and body weight strength exercises interspersed with short recovery periods. It's actually pretty awesome and you see more results with shorter workouts. No complaints there. Such a shame I can't workout for hours on end.
Boo-hoo... Ok, I'm totally kidding there.
On a serious note, I'm pretty lucky that my career in fitness happened, it gave me a lot of knowledge to enable me to design a safe and effective exercise program for myself. My doctors have even learned quite a bit from me on effective workouts and supplements for those with MM. I'm quite the successful case. :]
With all that in mind, my research into whole healthy foods led me to information on big agriculture and what all the ingredients in processed food are really made of (frightening, seriously, pick something and research it), GMOs (more horrifying), as well as the toxic chemicals that are used to grow our food.
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| my typical lunch. this salad rocked. |
So I started researching whole foods, which led to books on Paleo Diets, and Vegetarian and Vegan and Raw food diets. And one of my favorite authors
Michael Pollan.
And we kind of ended up somewhere in the middle. Real food... organic fruits and vegetables, grass-fed/pastured meat, poultry, and dairy. I try to keep grains at a minimum opting for buckwheat, almond and coconut flours instead. Occasionally oats, but only if they are soaked first. Sugar is used with discretion and mostly for treats.
And fats, we definitely eat fats, I cook with good old fashioned lard and butter. And you know what, we haven't gained a single pound. And we feel great and satiated after a meal.
Kind of like how people ate in the old days, but without the grains.
My daughter functions very well eating like this. Soy is a problem, but that's another post.
My HE, well, he eats what I feed him without complaint. He tries when he is not at home, but well... he's a work in progress. :] There's some things he just won't give up. Maybe someday, I don't push him, it has to be his decision.
So......
My real food diet has helped me feel amazing.
I think clearer, I'm more focused, I feel better, I have no cravings
and don't even snack between meals anymore, at all.
I feel satisfied after each meal. I eat less without trying.
Real food is pretty awesome and powerful. Because I know better how to fuel my body, especially to deal with how my muscles use and require glucose to function at different levels of intensity, I feel better than I have in 15 years. And see improvement in my muscles every month. I have limitations, sure, but I don't let them hold me back.
Transitioning my family to a real, whole foods diet has taken a lot of work and a bit of a learning curve, but I did it and get better at it all the time.
Anyone can do it if they want to.
If I can find a path to fitness and find a way to work out hard, and do pushups and crazy stuff like that... you can to. I love to say to my fitness class when they are pushing through tough workouts... if I can do it.. you can do it!
