Clean eating to heal from the inside out

My new eating plan is basically a carb cycling plan. I have 2 days of moderate carbs followed by 4 days of low carbs and 1 day of HIGH carbs. I am not so concerned with my protein intake right now but by trying to get 70% of my carbs from vegetables. Green vegetables. My allowed fat intake is also somewhat higher then I'm used to but I am finding that on my low carb days, that's what I crave. The body wants what it is losing!

Admission: Meal planning, food preparation and "counting" consumes me.

Although it is very time consuming and somewhat tedious, I don't actually mind it most of the time. I am committed to being as clean as possible not only for my competition training but also for my overall health.

Not many of you know this, but I have an irritable bowel disease. These diseases are not talked about in the open very often for the simple fact that the symptoms are not an easy or pleasant thing to talk about. They are ugly, painful, and intimate. For that reason, I will not even attempt to go into what happens to my body when I am in a flare. It isn't pretty. Or fun.

I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease in early 2003, shortly after Niyanna was born. I started having some serious unexplainable symptoms a month or two after she was born that just got progressively worse as the time went on. After 3 doctors and lots of prodding plus a colonoscopy, I finally had a diagnosis. The diagnosis only gave me an answer but not necessarily clarity.

I don't often complain of my in-between-flare symptoms because compared to other people w/ this disease I have it easy. I've only had 3 flares since my diagnosis 8 years ago and for that I am extremely grateful. Unfortunately, I am in the middle of a flare now that began shortly after I got food poisoning the first week of July. The thing about a flare is, there is no telling how long it will stick around. The last 2 I had each lasted about 6 months before my body healed itself. This time, I have decided to take things into my own hands.

Yes, there are some medications that I can take, the main one being a steroid that I refuse to put into my body. There are also anti-inflammatory drugs I can try but the one I did try gave me migraine headaches w/in 2 days of taking it, had no generic which made it $50 for a month's worth, and needed to basically be taken everyday forever to work. (Well, maybe not forever but it only works if you have it in your system constantly.)

I have mostly been able to keep my flares at bay by eliminating and restricting certain foods from my diet. After doing some more research, I discovered that there were many more things I needed to change in order to help my body heal itself from the inside out.

Since I was going to be somewhat restricted with this new eating plan, I decided to implement a few other guidelines. I am trying to eat as many anti-inflammatory foods as possible, eliminate as much processed food as possible, eliminate dairy and weed out sugar. It's been a challenge at times and by no means am I perfect yet but today I was thinking that just like my process of changing my eating and fitness habits 13 years ago, this new lifestyle change will also take some time to perfect.

The anti-inflammatory things I am eating are broccoli, asparagus, spinach, blueberries(any berry, actually), green tea, ginger, salmon, Asian mushrooms, sweet potato, olive oil, flax seed. There are a few more that I will try to also incorporate over time like pineapple, papaya, and cauliflower (of which I am not super fond).

Sugar, as I am learning is not only very inflammation promoting, but also like heroin to your body: the more you eat, the more your body craves. Although I have eliminated table sugar and even stevia from my diet, it is difficult to remove it completely because like dairy, it is in almost everything! I am trying to stick to the natural sugar content of fruits, sweet potatoes and nut butters. I have also been trying to  use agave nectar to sweeten my food, although I haven't actually used much of it.

I am a self professed sweet junkie but surprisingly the one thing that I am actually having a hard time with is giving up my yogurt. :-( I gave up cow's milk a long time ago and have been gradually restricting my cheese intake so that now I actually don't miss my cheese. I thought that hell would have to freeze over in order for me to give up cheese. I miss it sometimes, but not as much as I thought I would.

After eating clean for a week, I can see my body responding to this new diet. That gives me motivation to keep it clean for as long as I can. I would like to make this a complete lifestyle eating change but not w/ complete rigidity. I would still like to enjoy some things once in awhile. ;-) The key to this being eating clean most days but allowing myself treats on occasion.

After all, life IS too short to not enjoy your food.