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| Nice hibachi dinner at Sake House. Skipping the soy and other sauces helps keep it gf, but does not guarantee there won’t be cross-contamination. |
Yes, I was (and still am) heavy, but that is not a sign of laziness or lack of trying to be healthier. I’ve tried on my own and with medical professionals to find out what could be causing some of the problems. My last doc sent me for GI films (and oh man is the Barium smoothie horrendous) and blood tests (twice without telling me to fast first) and prescribed meds left and right. When I told her I was at loss because my weight was not changing and I felt horrid (and still dealing with chronic pain), she said I needed to suck it up a work harder and that I must not be honest about what and how much I was eating. I was counting points and measuring everything. I worked out at Curves, and she said ‘only chubs go there. You need to find a real gym and really work.’ I felt stuck. I had to see a doc for help, but she wasn’t helping me. She was mocking me and blowing off my concerns because I weighed too much. I left that day and did not go back.
The past few months have been particularly bad. My migraine had gotten out of control and the scale refused to budge. My body hurt all over and my stomach was bloated and ached constantly. I had no energy and had trouble sleeping. Just fracking miserable. Veggie eating was not helping me and I kept my calories and fat in check. Nothing seemed to be working. I wanted to crawl into bed and stay there.
I broke down and called a naturopath. She told me to cut gluten because it seemed to her I might have gluten sensitivities. So I started cutting. I didn’t go completely gluten-free, but stated feeling better. I had more energy and a lot less tummy distress. And it seem to be shrinking. The scale still didn’t move, but my clothes were getting looser. Two weeks ago I went completely gf, no cheating. I had multigrain gf bread, muffins, and fantastic vegan and gf cookies from Little Whitney’s Cookies. My energy level skyrocketed, I had no headache all week (for the first time in years), no stomach issues. I ate really well and did not exercise because of a sore ankle. I switched my usual whole wheat flour and pasta for gf options and made no other changes. And I lost 8 pounds and did not have joint pain. My blood pressure was the lowest it had been in years with meds. And I cried. Then I got angry. I’ve been suffering for years and my doctors did not help me. They made me feel like a failure instead of helping me. They had me return often for drugs and abuse.
As soon as I said screw docs, I’ll do this on my own, I felt a little better. I called a naturopath when what I did stopped working, and she helped me more after one consultation that my former docs did in 8 years. The moral of the story? Trust your gut! You know when something is off, so do not let the doc tell you it’s nothing. Do some research (real research, not fly-by-night stuff), talk to people dealing with whatever you’re dealing with, and go from there.
