Category Archives: digestive system

Sometimes It Is About Control

Posted on June 18, 2016 | Leave a comment

I wrote this post in my head while taking a walk. It was awesome…then. We’ll see how it goes now.

I, like many teens/young people, danced with anorexia in my teens and then again in my 20s. I was chunky from fourth grade on. My cousin was slim, all the popular girls were slim, and then there was me.

High school sucked. Most of the people around me were mean or indifferent (NOT the aforementioned cousin–she was and is one of the best people in my life). I didn’t know how to fit in at either of the schools I attended during Junior High and High School. Nothing I did helped. I felt like I didn’t have any control.

And then I learned to control my food. I could skip as many meals as I wanted. That, I could control. So, I ate less and less. And I lost weight.

Bonus.

I got down to 84 pounds.

But hunger came back and so did the pounds.

Right after high school I discovered exercise and a healthy diet. I took the weight off right this time.

And it stayed off.

Then I got involved in a relationship. A really unhealthy relationship. Let’s call it for what it was…an abusive relationship. And they only thing I ever did that made him happy was losing more weight. He loved to show people how much he could overlap his fingers when he put his hands around my waist. So, I kept losing weight.

Praise the Lord, he and I split up, but again life was spiraling for a while there and food was one thing I could control.

Until I met my now husband. I was happy with him. I had someone to eat with again. I gained weight. Then I lost weight…in time to get pregnant with our third baby…and then I lost all control of my weight with the various psych meds I was on and the depression I was in.

Control was again missing from my life.

I have slowly regained control my mind. I am slowly regaining control of my weight.

I have lost 17 pounds since January.

2016-06-09 19.28.26

As I have written about before, I have had to radically change my diet. I have had to eliminate or severely limit many foods. It is not always fun, but it is worth it. The FODMAP diet has eliminated much of my stomach pain. It has made losing weight much easier, and, an added benefit, it has given me control–healthy control–over my eating again. I know what I can and cannot eat. I know how much I can eat. There is no guesswork in my food.

It is good. Very good.

A Nibble Here A Nibble There

Posted on May 28, 2016 | Leave a comment

A nibble here, a bite there can’t hurt, can it? Why yes, yes it can. As you may know from the world of dieting, it is important to keep track of everything that passes our lips. I have always struggled to count those, but lately those bits here and there have gotten me in trouble. Not on the scale, that is finally headed in the right direction (down 15 lbs), but in some health issues.

I know I have mentioned the low FODMAP diet before, but here it is again. I have had stomach issues for the last 15 years. I’ve tried medication. I’ve tried surgery. Nothing helped. And my small attempts at figuring it out via diet modification were unsuccessful. Well recently I figured out that sugar was a big issue, but I didn’t know which sugars it was exactly or how to figure out how to figure it out.

One day I was whining in my Facebook fitness group and a wonderful lady mentioned the low FODMAP diet. I tried really hard to brush it off. I didn’t want it to be an issue with my nutrition, but the next day was so bad pain and nausea wise, I knew I had to give this diet a chance. So, the next day, I did. And by that evening I felt quite a bit better…and each day that week was an improvement…I couldn’t argue with the evidence, it was apparent this was the answer to my 15 year journey.

And the beginning of the rest of my foreseeable future.

Foods are broken into low FODMAP (good) and high FODMAP (bad) groups. I depend on this list to guide me on this new road. FODMAP stands for fermentable oligo-, di-, and monosaccharides and polyols, meaning short chain carbohydrates and sugar alcohols. That part doesn’t mean much to me, what does are my food lists. I have certain fruits I can have (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries) and others I can not (apricots–still mourning that loss) among others. It is the same for veggies (green beans/carrots). Some cheeses are good, others are a total no. Wheat flour is not allowed, so add gluten as another consideration. Sugar is definitely the issue I thought it was. Garlic and onions are two others that are high on the list of no-nos.

All of it is a big adjustment. And honestly, I think I am doing okay with the adaptation. I have given up a lot of foods (don’t even talk to me about the pizza the rest of the family is having tonight) and started eating a lot more of others. I even had my doctor look over it to make sure it was not eliminating necessities. She was fine with the diet, just sad for me that avocado, mangoes, and garlic are on the don’t touch list. It is not sitting down and eating the wrong foods that get me in trouble, it’s the crumb here and the crumb there. I really am trying not to upend my entire family’s eating, so the forbidden foods are still around…and the Costco muffin crumbs are undoing me today. I don’t even like the muffins that much, but the kids keep leaving uneaten portions behind and it is so hard to outright throw the food away, but I am getting better at it.

I am thrilled with how much better I feel overall, but I am a slow learner. I have a couple good days and I think…eating this can’t make my stomach hurt that badly…and I am proven wrong again. Over and over. I feel bad for those friends and family members who keep listening to me say how I messed up again. But I keep trying and at least now there is less time whining about the pain and not knowing what is causing it.

There is also always the weight loss to make me smile. My wedding ring is now loose on my finger, my jeans are no longer tight, and I have lost an inch in my waist in just the last two weeks!

2016-05-26 19.32.18

Bit by bit…progress is being made…

I’ve Been Avoiding This

Posted on November 25, 2014 | 4 comments

You may have read my whining about my stomach issues.

I had tests done.

I went to the hospital.

I got good drugs.

I had more tests.

I took medicine.

I had allergy testing done.

I lived for weeks on a liquid diet.

I cried.

I got no answers.

I had no relief.

But I had a niggling thought as to what it might be. No, oh no, it couldn’t be that. I would never be able to give that up. That couldn’t be what it would take for me to feel better. The thought continued to bug me. I continued to tell it to shut it.

Back and forth. Over and over.

I finally couldn’t deny the possibility…

Processed sugar appears to be my enemy. You know, yummy sweets. Candy. Cake. Cookies. Many beloved foods.

Sigh.

Now I know there are other contributing factors. My medications, abdominal migraines. Those are a bit out of my control. But this one–as hard as it might be, I have to at least try.

Last night was a bad night with my stomach…I had eaten a pop tart and a kids mini twizzlers pack. I paid the price. It was not pretty.

My motivation today has been pretty solid. I have not strayed. Right now, I am eating baby carrots while one of my girls has a yummy pop tart. The smell might be about to make me crazy, but the stomach issues feel like they are going to kill me, so…here goes!

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Posted in #nablopomo, digestive system, exercise

There Are The Elite

Posted on September 23, 2013 | Leave a comment

There are those we see as the REAL bloggers, the REAL moms, the REAL homeschoolers. I am not one of those. I am not the elite, but I am pretty proud of myself right now.

Saturday we went apple picking. While we were riding the wagon, Caitlyn leaned over and asked if we could study the digestive system and learn why her tummy rumbles. Absolutely, so I set out to find ways to make it relevant and understandable.

First I headed to youtube and found some videos to intro the thought. I started with a fun Winnie the Pooh video singing about the rumbly in his tumbly, here’s a pin for it, then used a quick intro from the Arizona Science Center. We then headed to Wonderopolis for an overview of why the stomach growls.

But what kind of homeschooler would I be if there wasn’t a hands-on experiment? For that, I headed to Teachers Pay Teachers and found a messy, but fun hands-on.

I dyed noodles black last night with this recipe, again from Pinterest. It was as messy as you might imagine. I don’t know how to use black food coloring without making a mess of myself.

I bought some bananas and drug out my blender. And we were off.

First we needed to eat our food, so we broke the banana in pieces put it in the blender.

Supplies are one banana, a section of silk stocking or nylon. Has to be open at both ends, bowl and noodles dyed black. I started with the blender, but with just one banana, it was not very effective, so I ended up just mashing it myself.

We broke it into pieces to represent biting up the food.

Smash it up to represent chewing.

Put a couple black noodles in the section of nylon. Hold it closed, put in some banana. Mash it up and wring out fluids in the nylon to show the action of the intestine, then push it out the bottom, you know, show the “end product”.