The Paleo Approach

Recipe found HERE, I substituted chia for eggs, and cashew flour for almond flour :) 

It is a crazy thing that Hashimoto’s Hypothyroidism is. I didn’t realize just how damaging it is. I also didn’t realize just how much it runs my life. It determines my plans for the night, because heaven forbid I go out on a night that I have a stomach ache. It determines the kind of clothes I buy. No one wants to wear cute, tighter fitting clothes when your stomach is so bloated and it makes you look pregnant, I literally only wear yoga pants and comfy shirts that aren’t too tight. Anything else irritates my stomach. It affects my non- existent dating life because I can’t eat anything and I am that high maintenance girl that must ensure more than once what exactly is in the food that I am ordering. I often find myself apologizing to those around me saying “Sorry I have to be that girl”. It is to the point now where I don’t trust any restaurant. I don’t want to risk cross contamination and risk losing all progress I have made. Cuddling isn’t comfortable; I would rather not be touched when I feel sick. I can’t sleep at night. My mind races and sometimes even when I am lying in bed trying to relax, I get really light headed and feel like I am going to pass out. It is the weirdest thing. And the worst part of it all; I am a 20 year old girl who eats like a champ and runs 6-7 miles a week (training for a half marathon) and I don’t lose weight, or if I do, it fluctuates from day to night.

 I pay the big bucks for my food because I realize clothes wont save my life, but my diet will. I was staying away from the things that my doctor told me to stay away from because I have allergies to these foods: Dairy, Wheat, Soy, Eggs, Oats, Peanuts, and Almonds. I thought that it would be enough for me to just cut these items out of my diet. But I still don’t feel better.This Auto-Immune disease is bigger than me. I needed help because over the last week or so, I felt like this would be how I would live my life forever, even with the few major changes I have made. (I’ll post all of my symptoms later down the road, still trying to figure out all of my symptoms and record them because man oh man, there are a lot.) It was discouraging and depressing. I thought that as soon as I cut out those few allergies that I had, I would be cured within 2 weeks. Well that is far from what happened. 

I recently called my cousin who is very knowledgeable about the subject and talked to her about my symptoms, and problems facing my Hypothyroidism. She suggested that I read The Paleo Approach: Reverse Autoimmune Disease and Heal Your Body. I only got it in the mail yesterday, but I am so excited of the optimism I have felt since diving in and reading it. It definitely seems overwhelming because I will be on an even stricter Paleo diet called the The Paleo Approach. I took a look at the list of foods that she suggest a person with an auto immune disease cuts out to get on the road to recovery. A lot of the foods she suggest I cut out I was still eating on a daily basis. For instance, I was eating Buckwheat every morning for breakfast because it was quick and easy. I ran out of it all last week and didn’t buy it until last night. I had a nice bowl of Buckwheat for breakfast, but about 20 minutes after I ate it, I felt more bloated than I have in a while. That means no more buckwheat to me. The book has a list of foods to avoid, and I look at the back on the list of foods that could contain gluten and sure enough, Buckwheat was one of the foods that could be cross-contaminated with gluten. You better believe I cut that out of my diet this morning. 

I was wondering why I was working out so hard, and not eating anything I wasn’t supposed to, but still not losing weight like I had hoped. I now can see that I am still feeding my body things that it can’t digest. Beans, peppers, chia seeds, and nuts are a only a few examples of the things that I will be cutting out of my diet starting tomorrow. So I apologize body, I will be better to you from here on out.  I am going to read this book, and start on the Paleo Approach Diet. I am really hoping this is the answer to all of my prayers. 

I have been very fortunate to have supportive people around me during this challenging time in my life. I am thankful for people with more knowledge than me about my Auto-immune disease. They give me hope that I will be able to pull my life together and be happy with how I feel. I am not going to sugar coat these blog posts, so I apologize if you are looking for an uplift to your day. I will try and do that with my posts that aren’t about my Hashimoto’s J. Also, I am still learning everyday. As you can see, just last week I posted about eating Buckwheat. When just today by the way my body reacted to it (Bloating, sharp pains, feeling hungry even when I know I am full) I know that it is now on the list of things that are no no’s for my body. This blog is about my journey and my road to recovery. I am reading and learning about it and talking about it with other people with similar issues, so it is not perfect. Auto-immune diseases are much more complex than just a simple diet change. It is a whole lifestyle change. I.e. learning about ways to cope with stress, necessary things for well-being, taking time for one’s self and much much more. This is just my way of keeping track of what does and doesn’t work for my particular Auto-immune disease. Everyone is different, this is just my approach J I know all this talk about Diet isn’t fun for everyone, but I find that it is one of the things I talk about with most people. I can talk for hours about it. I love learning more about lifestyle and Paleo diet and everything to do with it.