Big Decision

A couple of days ago I decided to go vegetarian. Meat doesn't hold the same appeal it once did and it plays havoc with my gut so why not.

A FB friend asked if I wouldn't miss bacon. I told her that I haven't eaten bacon since I contracted scleroderma - too greasy/salty/rich. In fact eating with scleroderma is all about giving up the things you love to eat but in the long run, they're probably the foods that aren't good for you anyway - french fries, hamburgers, lasagna, ribs, fish and chips, the list goes on but in their place, now that I've committed to vegetarianism, I'll be on the lookout for new ideas.

So, to mark the occasion, I found a recipe for mushroom gravy, went to the market and bought some cremini and shitake mushrooms and proceeded to make the recipe. It was a lot of work but boy was it worth it. It may just be the best gravy ever. I made some substitutes like fresh herbs from my garden in place of dry and regular flour instead of rice flour (gluten free isn't an issue with me) and ghee instead of olive oil.  Froze most of it and plan to take my own gravy to Thanksgiving dinner at my son's next weekend. Today, I cooked up some mashed potatoes and slathered them with the gravy. Absolutely delicious. Vegetarianism might just be okay despite some trepidation.

Of course, because I am on TPN which supplies all my nutritional needs, I won't have to be concerned about making up for the lack of meat.

Update: Thanksgiving dinner at my son's. As planned, I stuck to mashed potatoes with my mushroom gravy, lots of mushroom gravy!  Didn't miss the other fixin's at all. Still, I ate too much and was a little bloated last night but not enough to ruin the good times. BTW, the gravy had been frozen and wasn't affected at all. Tasted jut like the first day I made it.

Antibiotics for Gut

Grandson at 3 months

Had a visit with my rheumatologist this week. She prescribed flagyl to clean out my gut as I'm not able to eat again and will set up an appointment for an infusion for my osteoporosis. Other than that, nothing to report.  Don't have to go back for a year which is a first as I've been going every 6 months. 

As for the food intake problems. Things have gotten to the point where they were last winter (January/February?). Every time I take food orally, I vomit and get diarrhea. The last time my GP prescribed flagyl, 250mg 3/day for 10 days. It worked and I was able to eat uo until recently so as much as I dislike taking it, if it'll give me another 6 months of eating it's well worth it. Durig the ten days I am only eating 3 crackers on some days to take the edge of my hunger pangs and that's it. Well, almost, as I am allowing myself the luxury of a morning cup of coffee which doesn't seem to be doing any harm and the pleasure I derive from it is worth any problems it may cause.

More on Exercise & Meditation

Starting into my second week of exercise and meditation.  I am happy to report that I never missed a day of exercising or meditation although my meditation was cut short by about ten minutes yesterday evening when my nurse arrived early.  Not a problem as I'd already told myself that 10'/day meditating was my minimum goal.  Did the full 20' today though.

I told my PT yesterday that I'd been doing well so we agreed that I should add some more exercises.  I don't believe I mentioned that the first set were all done form a sitting position.  Consequently, the new set from yesterday are all standing.  I tried them out today and found that three repetitions was a bit much so started doing two.  Will stick with that untilI I feel ready to do three.  Oh, and I was doing a couple of neck stretches but felt that they were irritating my neck so my PT suggested I simply stop doing them.  Done.

It is a fact that exercising actually decreases pain and, with the exception of my neck, I am finding that general body/joint pain, has in fact decreased over the last several days.  I'm well on my way to becoming the new me, and it's only been a week! Life is good.

Exercise & Meditation

Now  that I am getting my diet under control (it's still a work in progress but coming along nicely) it's time to turn my attention to exercise. After all, it's no secret that diet on its own can only do so much and the same can be said for exercise.

So, before Christmas, I asked my physiotherapist for a new set of stretching exercises and suggested that, being the music lover that I am, perhaps it would help me get motivated  if we set the exercises to music of a suitable tempo.  I had already done some experimenting with this idea and decided that a waltz beat would work best, something with a tempo of around forty beats/minute or thereabouts.  Since I had recently purchased Diana Krall's latest release, 'Glad Rag Doll', I looked there first and found a couple of waltzes, 'Prairie Lullaby' and 'Wide River to Cross'  that seemed to work.  Also found a couple of Holly Cole tunes later on and added them to the list.

This past Thursday, my PT gave me the list of exercises and I started doing them along with the music on Friday.  Have done them every day and am finding the experience quite enjoyable and satisfying. Will be looking for some more waltz tempo songs for the future in case I get tired of these ones.

I simply do a stretch for two three counts which means holding it for between 2 and 3 seconds, rest for the same amount of time, and repeat two more times before moving on to either the other side or a new stretch.

Following the exercises, I thought it would be a good idea to meditate which I have done on all four days.  Even though I have been meditating off and on for close to 20 years, I decided to use an app on my iphone to get me going.  The first part is loving kindness or 'meta' meditation followed by mindfulness of breath meditation, the entire session lasting 20 minutes.  Once I get into a routine I will probably switch to a less structured technique but for now this s working well. It really feels good to be meditating on a regular basis again.

I must confess that, even though I am aware of the benefits of exercise, I have been negligent in doing any since I was diagnosed 9 years ago.  The reason, laziness is the best I can do.  But when it has taken my neck three months to heal from a simple sprain I realized just how poor my muscle tone was and it was this realization as much as anything which prompted me to ask my PT for a new set of exercises.

New diet for daily exercise for the body and meditation for the soul, things can only get better, right?  Wish me luck.

Scotch Oats

Bought some scotch oats, also known as, Irish oats or steel cut oats, yesterday and had a bowl full for dinner. I moistened them with rice milk and used a bit of maple syrup as a sweetener. Tasted pretty good and went down well. This morning, however, I did have a bout of diarrhea, but just one and and as soon as it was over, all was well again. In fact, I felt really well. Been good all day in fact. So my thoughts are that this might be a solution for when my diet constipates me as it has done a couple of times, although only mildly and no longer than a couple of days.  And there's also the fact that oatmeal is one of the healthiest foods going.
This evening I made a stir fry using leftover chicken breast, and a stir fry veggie mix I bought at the market containing, red, green & yellow peppers, mushrooms, zucchini, and onions, the last item being the only one not on my edible list, but it was a small amount and I knew they'd add to the flavour considerably so decided to risk it. Used about a tsp of ghee to fry up the veggies (surprising how far a little bit of ghee goes), added the cooked rice and meat. Scooped out about half the mixture added a little soy sauce and gobbled it down.  Absolutely delicious.  Now about to enjoy a cup of peppermint tea and settle in for the evening.
By the way, I attended an open house at the arthritis Society this afternoon where there was an abundance of delicious looking treats but I ate nary a one. Wasn't easy but glad I resisted. I did bring a gingerbread cookie home which I may have with my tea. Better idea, save to eat next time I have ginger tea.

New Recipe

In my research looking for alternatives to pasta with the traditional tomato sauce (not on diet), I discovered that fennel met the criteria for my current diet. The recipe included chile flakes/hot pepper which I didn't include, and a small amount of olive oil  which I also eliminated. Instead I pre-cooked the ingredients in a small amount f chicken broth.

The verdict- delicious. Admittedly I was a bit sceptical as I couldn't imagine anise (liquorice) flavoured spaghetti but the taste was very mild - perhaps because I went easy on the fennel seeds. In fact, if anything, the result was a little flat.  Perhaps  a little more parmesan, or mild spices.  Will definitely try this again but not before I try another recipe I found using carrots and ginger.

Generally speaking then, the diet is going extremely well. My stool is firm, having regular BM's and no longer am in fear of going out lest I have diarrhea. Better than I've been in months if not years. Life is good.

Oh yes, one item missing from my diet is snacks. Crackers are supposed to be okay but haven't had much luck with them.  Bought some pretzels today. Just had a few and they appear to have less salt than most which, I guess, isn't a bad thing.  Time will tell if they work for me.

January 18,2013 Update:
Made the fennell spaghetti again. Used Ghee to sauté ingredients and added some stir fry veggies.  Topped off with Asiago cheese.  Even better than the first time. Today I will finish it off and have added some cut up cooked ham to the mix.

Lesson Learned

This past weekend I thought I would try a little experiment and eat something not on my anti-diarrhea diet. I bought an organic type Kraft dinner.  Shouldn't be too risky I thought because pasta is allowed and cheese has never bothered me, even though my research indicated that all dairy products , with the exception of yogurt, should be avoided. I'll spare you the details and just say it was a big mistake. About two hours after eating my experiment I paid dearly. So back to the diet it was and I've been good all week.
I have also tried a less risky experiment. Had a panini sandwich today made with half a white kaiser roll, lean sliced organic roast beef and cheddar cheese. No butter or oil.  I know, the cheese was a risk, but like I said, I've never had a problem with it.  That was five hours ago and all's well. This morning I had plain yogurt with sliced banana and dried blueberries. Tasty and nutritious.  And I'm still hungry but will resist eating anything else this evening. Don't want to push my luck.

*Update: Thought I'd try another stab at fish baked with olive oil. Big mistake.  No diarrhea but pretty bad reflux. Won't do that again.  I don't believe I spoke about reflux being a consideration in my diet but it s almost as much as a factor as diarrhea.

Update #2:
Fish again, this time brushed with ghee, about a tsp, and baked in oven.  No reaction, so I think ghee might just be the answer to the oil dilemma.

GI Problems

After enjoying several months of eating on a daily basis with no real restrictions, I started having problems about a month ago with frequent diarrhea and vomiting. I can only guess that after indulging in a wide variety of foods my gut has a build up of undesirable flora causing my problems.  Last week I researched foods that are good to eat when diarrhea is a problem and consequently went out and bought some chicken broth, rice noodles, chicken breasts, bananas and applesauce. (BRAT diet- bananas, rice, applesauce & toast).  I was okay for a few days but then the problems returned.  I haven't eaten in a couple of days now, just a cup of tea each day, but will make another trip later today to replenish my supplies.  My shopping list contains the following:

applesauce
peppermint tea
dried blueberries
carrots
white rice
bananas
yogurt
potatoes
pasta (made w white flour)
rice noodles
white bread (for toast)
chicken breast for steaming/poaching
chicken broth
fish. also to steam/poach
white rice
rice milk
Bambu - a coffee substitute

All of the items on this list except the last one are purported to be helpful in easing or eliminating diarrhea.  The last one is just something I remembered from a few years back which I thought I would try as a drink I could enjoy since I miss my daily cup of coffee which I avoid due to its obvious negative effects on my bowels.

Won't be buying all of these today but will see what I can find.

Update: It's November 24 and I am pleased to report that my gut is doing much better. No diarrhea or vomiting at all this week and I am generally feeling much better. In fact, if anything, I may have been too successful as I am leaning towards constipation.  Guess I'll have to find a happy medium.
My diet this week has included the following foods:
bananas, yogurt, dried blueberries, mashed potatoes, rice milk, steamed fish, soy sauce, peppermint tea and Bambu made with rice milk, peppermint tea
I had some fish left from the other day so plan on reheating that along with some rice.
-put blueberries in yogurt
-mashed potatoes made with yogurt, no butter/margarine
-soy sauce to spice up the fish and rice a bit

Admittedly, it's a pretty bland diet but it's worth it and once I've been on it for a while, perhaps I can add in a few items not on the list above just to spice things up a bit.

Update #2: Another week has passed and all's well.  This week's diet included chicken breast poached in broth and then adding some rice to make a soup, applesauce, yogurt w blueberries and plain, lots of peppermint tea- very soothing, mashed potatoes, again with yogurt,, some gluten free crackers, and today *fish but baked with herbal olive oil and salt and pepper - a bit of a risk I know because of the olive oil but I think I'm going to get away with it.  So much tastier than poached or steamed.
*See following entry.